I've been playing around with 12seconds.tv over the past month and I'm starting to really like the short video burst format. Today my sister and I recorded a greeting with a planned pop-in by Tom, but an unexpected one from my dad (audio only).
My Dad (a die-hard Lakers fan) watches the annual Christmas day game featuring his favorite team. He's just a bit passionate for the game of basketball, and decided to watch the game upstairs. It's very faint, but I think you can still hear him, no?
Strangely enough I rarely talk about work, but it does take up (approximately) 60 percent of my time and life, and I've had quite a year -- to say the least.
Working at a small startup company is something that I haven't done before, and I've learned A LOT so far. The ups, the downs, and the reorganization is just a part of the experience. I know I'm one of the lucky ones who continues with full-time employment in this time of recession and uncertainty.
But let me quickly change the tone of this post. The brighter lining involves one of the shows I produce and its definitely something that I am VERY proud to be a part of.
A little over a year ago, I was asked to shoot a pilot on "magic and scams" in a bar. I really had no idea what I was in for, but was intrigued after reading the show pitch and treatment. Little did I know I would start a new journey into comedy, foolery, and yes, intelligent entertainment with a guy sporting spiky hair.
I remember meeting Brian on a chilly afternoon on Market Street in San Francisco, and thinking "Ok, this will definitely be interesting". Brian, Jonathan (his right hand person at the time) and myself, grabbed some pizza and ran through shoot prep. Later that evening we shot for about 4 hours and quite honestly I wasn't sure if we accomplished what we needed.
Our very first attempt at shooting an episode was "The Short Change" (which we re-shot almost a year later). The bar yelled at us for shining a bright softbox light on the main downstairs area, thus rushing our shoot and not getting what we really needed. We were banished to the upstairs area of the bar and shot the rest of the episodes. Asking people to be on-camera was NOT easy. We also rarely use that softbox on shoots anymore.
About two months later I edited "The Human Chimney", "The Puzzle" and "Bang Your Head". I played around with the music and pacing and really had fun with the footage, with absolutely no idea if anyone would like the final product.
Then the feedback came in, and it was overwhelmingly positive! I think a few people were surprised that the pilot episodes were good (including myself). Most of all I was really happy to get the seal of approval from Brian. While I wanted the show to be entertaining, it needed to match his vision as the show is Brian's brand and content. And the rest (as they say) is history and Scam School was born.
Earlier this month we got a little surprise as iTunes announced its "Best of 2008" and we were on the list as one of the Best Video Podcasts of the year! How's that for the little show that no one knew could :)
I like our positioning next to Morningstar and The Pentagon Channel :)
It's been a great year, and look out for more hilarity and scamming in 2009!
If you've been hiding under a rock, then you are probably not aware of New York's Vampire Weekend. Their self-titled album exploded at the beginning of 2008. Check out LoveMeDeux's blog as she declares her love for them too :)
"The Kids Don't Stand a Chance" is the latest single from probably one of my favorite albums of this year. I especially love this live version on Conan, complete with strings!
Today is just one of those days. This Monday, is busy, crazy, unpredictable and this song really helps calms me. The visuals are quite hypnotic too. I think I might watch this every time I get agitated or frustrated. Hooray for the little things in life.
Thursday, December 25, 2008 at 03:05PM 
