a paying gig

   Play the video above.  It's the opening montage for the cable access television show Oregon Music Live which I just finished editing.  Take a second and check it out before you read any further.

    In the 4 years he has produced this show my man Jeff R. never got around to making a proper opening montage like you would see on most shows.  I offered to make an animated clip for him and he thought it was a good idea.  This clip is the result.  He liked it so much he said he would use it for all future shows and, if I heard him right, he's going to go back and edit it into shows from the past. 

    I was happy to have a project to work on and I think the result is a good piece.  I was lucky to be able to talk my brother's band into being a part of this project.  The band you see here is his current pop music combo going by the name "You."  Great band with catchy songs and a largely photogenic bunch to boot.

    As with every other collaboration I've had there was a measure of drama involved.  The shot and the edit went fairly smoothly.  Again much thanks to the band You for being great models and for allowing me to use music from their demo tape in this piece.  

    Upon completion I brought the results to Jeff's attention.  He was pleased to such a degree that he proposed I make a commercial for his business after which he would pay me the sum of $150 for all my efforts.  I just wanted to work on something which would have the potential to be seen by thousands of people on a regular basis.  I would have done it for free but the chance of being somewhat compensated for my efforts didn't hurt my pride either.  

    We decided to do this in terms of a trade.  I should probably mention now that Jeff is my pot dealer.  And he's got consistently good weed.  That is until we started this whole trading idea.  The very first bag he gave me in trade was an eighth.  It was ok weed but by far the worst quality I've ever got from him thus far.  I don't want to slander his name.  I'm sure it was just one of those things. 

    Should I be writing about this?  Fuck it.  He's still a great guy and while I'm not the biggest fan of the music on his show it does have it's moments.  Anyway the next time we meet up I'm gonna ask him to just give me a quarter of good weed which I'll split with the band for their efforts and then me and Jeff will be square.  Hopefully he goes for it and we can get back to our regular relationship of me buying stellar weed from him.   

    Lately he's been hard to get a hold of on the phone and in person which is a bit suspect.  I just want him to use the opening!  I think it turned out great.  Not only that but I'd hate to lose him as a dealer because his weed is amazing.  We've talked briefly about the commercial but have yet to nail down plans or solid ideas for it.     

    I'll keep you posted as things develop.  In the meantime keep an eye out for new episodes of Oregon Music Live with it's snappy new opening.  If he uses it.  I can't tell if he's used it yet because I don't have cable.  

    I shot this video with a Sony DSC-W50 still digital camera.  It was edited in iMovie and Final Cut Pro.  The end of the video where the words come off the page was done in After Effects.  I inadvertently created a logo for Oregon Music Live by using these drawn words found on the set list.  Hopefully they will use that logo.  I created a few "bumpers" featuring this new "logo."  You can see the bumpers here as well.  Although they kind of suck.

   I can't believe how shitty these videos look on youtube.  I uploaded good quality vids and they smeared compression all over them.    If you would like to see this video without the compression I can set up a link so you can download it.



    I shot this piece using a Sony Cybershot DSC-W50.  It was edited using iMovie as well as Final Cut Pro.  The effect where the words come off the setlist was done using AfterEffects.  Thanks for giving a shit.