THIS POST HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH JAPAN.
I'm posting this because a fellow of mine made something interesting, and this is the only soap-box I have. Also, I want to make fun of him. So there. Deal with it. If you want crazy Japanese stuff, er... come back in a day or two.
The subject of this post is one of my closest friends, and a man I certainly look up to. After all, he's six feet and about thirty two inches tall, so it's hard not to look up to the man. A few years ago, he found himself with a four year liberal arts degree and fewer job prospects then the brochure had promised (sound familiar, any of you?). Anyway, this fellow mustered the guts to go back to school and acquire an education that would lead to actual employment!
So he thought about all of the things he loved, and settled on movies as the top choice. Yep, he went to film school. Not the film school where you sit in a dark room, wear black, watch movies, and comment on how brilliant Orson Welles was. No, he went to the REAL film school, where you get out of the dark room, wear black, make movies, and prove how brilliant Orson Welles was.
/that was said in love. The upcoming short piece is WAAAY more colourful than "Citizen Kane".
Anyway... the fellow's name is Aizick (pronounced like "Issac" or "eye - sack", if you want), has decided to put his technical and directional* skills to work. For subject matter, he decided to go with something he enjoyed, was familar with, and which requires a reasonable amount of work in the special effects department. Also, in the interest of ensuring a wide audience, he was also smart enough to select subject matter that comes ready made with a large viewing audience.
Slick.
So, any guesses? What subject matter requires special effects, demands action sequences, and includes enough in the way of popular cultural awareness that even a single word or symbol can make all but the tiniest fraction of viewers fully aware of the general setting and background for the story? *
Hmmm.... ok. It's pop culture time. What is today's subject????
Well, I can get you there with two words. Or one picture.
Yeah.... that's right. My boy Aizick put together a mini Star Wars movie. And, it's damn good too, or I wouldn't have felt comfortable mocking his skills so much.
And so, without further blathering from me.... I give you
"Days Laid Waste"
You can also watch a higher quality version at this website: www.dayslaidwaste.com
And... you can feel free to post comments for him on YouTube as well.
Bravo buddy! Way to go! Remember that this is primarily an exercise in production and technical skill, so appreciate it for what it is: a really fun way to enjoy the the process of bringing together a lot of technical skill with a lot of imagination.
Interesting trivia (aka "more blathering that's not really related):
1) If it was *my* sister in the video, she would have been performing in a turtleneck and a snowsuit, no matter how much of a hellion*. I assume she is at university. And I certainly wouldn't be encouraging her to kill people with her tentacles! Sheesh. What kind of older brother are you?
2) Aizick's last name proves that we were meant to be friends, and to balance each other out.
Let's see.... he's tall, relatively slender, and his last name is Grimman. Er... I'm...uh....er.... named.... Merri...man.
3) This film was shot in a park right down the street from my family home north of Toronto.
4) That park is also right behind the hospital where all of the SARS stuff went down the other year.
4b) Yes I was quarantined. Shut up.
5) For the record, the words I was going to use to make the star wars connection (before I thought of using a picture) were: 1) Lightsaber, 2) The Force, 3) Jedi, 4) George Lucas
*English notes:
directional(adj): related to direction. Using it here is a joke, to make it rhyme with "technical". The correct word for planning and organizing the various camera shots and actors in a film is "directing".
hellion [hel-yuh
n] (n): Someone who is dangerous and out of control. My sister probably isn't, but I like to make fun of her too. popular cultural awareness: Pop Culture is the stuff that everyone knows. The things the mass media cover. Things like "The Simpsons", or "SMAP" in Japan. Tom Cruise and his ilk are in the pop culture "landscape" just about everywhere. People are aware of Star Wars practically eveywhere that movies are watched.
The basic meaning of the huge sentence that "popular cultural awareness" is taken from is: "Lots of people will know things about Aizick's movie because Star Wars is famous."
Grimman: "Grim" means sad and serious. The opposite of "Merry". Aizick isn't really a Grim man, but he sure is a Grimman!
/Oh... it's so very sweet to make that joke about someone else. If only we'd had a friend named Ilovebuttseckswiththeoddman.... I'd never have heard a single "You married a man?!" joke during all of elementary school.
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