Unfortunately, I do not have the names of the skater or the bikers, so if any of you see this, or know someone performing in the video, please let me know and I’ll fix the credits.

There are three different stocks used in the short, Kodak Vision2 Expression 500T, Kodak Vision3 250D and Fuji Eterna 400T. Admittedly, the tests really weren’t tests because shooting conditions were never consistent. Nonetheless, for interested parties, I do think some of the qualities of each stock are discernible. I would add that there is no color correction, with the exception of the fish/hotdog close-up. Here I bumped up the whites because the shot was slightly underexposed.

The Salisbury Strangler from annie huntington on Vimeo.

Jimmy writes:

I had to make a little money because the “aquarium” had a crack in it. Contact me ASAP about the TV. This is not a pyramid scheme!

Jimmy writes:

This is my Subaru Baja ride. I had to take a trip to pick up an “aquarium” I bought off Craigslist. I had to leave Boonsboro and move to Ohio, but had to drive to back to MD to pick up the “aquarium.”

Friends from melodic insomniac on Vimeo.

I’m still working to get posted videos iPhone compliant. This one is not, but as soon as I solve the compression equation, I’ll re-upload the video so the iPhone users out there can DL and watch the videos.

Thom there is a iPhone version of the video. The aspect ratio is screwed up though. Don’t know why. TIM RESPOND.

For interested parties, Megan will be posting the video on Melodic Insomniac also. She’ll probably have some different comments on it than I.

For interested parties, Tim has some production stills from the shoot that can be viewed here.

Hope you enjoy the film.

You can view it by clicking here.

Part of I Can’t Wait to Hear Your Excuse appears in Can. However, Can also includes the acting talents of Jon Gillis as well as an original score by lyricist, composer and librettist Frumi Cohen, who has produced and directed over 20 musicals since 1979.

While you’re on the MiND site, be sure to check out their other content. They’ve got a lot of really great and informative stuff that is sure to blow your mind (couldn’t help myself on that one).

Click here to watch Can.

Mike brought a 16 mm Bolex camera home from school over Christmas break, and we shot a short entitled Turkey Breasts. Like many other shorts, we’ve shot over Christmas break¹, it was shot on The Dirt Road². Unlike other ones we’ve shot, this is the first Christmas break film actually shot on film. I think Mike sent the film off for development and it should be back soon…

Pictures from the shoot are here. (Not all pictures are uploaded yet…)

Click here to view the Europa: Holiday Movie II

To watch Brian, click here.

In hopes that people will surf in and watch the movie, or any of the movies on this site for that matter, I’ve drafted some comments below to try and drum up some hits.

Synopsis

The Cave of Trouble in: Search for the Chupacabra remains the hardest hitting documentary and DOCUMENT EVER in the HISTORY OF MAN to deal with the blood sucking DEMON known as the chupacabra. Often derided as a spoof and inept Blair Witch, The Cave of Trouble in: Search for the Chupacabra is a new level of FEAR, TERROR and BLOOD SUCKING GOATs. Shot on location in Salisbury, Maryland, home of FRANK PERDUE, whether you are a hardcore cryptologist, lonely housewife, Japanese exchange student, or the Surf Punks’ # 1 fan, The Cave of Trouble in: Search for the Chupacabra is mandatory viewing.

Details

The video clip in Snoopy-Doo comes from the Disabled vs Wild footage. My initial idea was to make a poor man’s Wavelength (1967), directed by Michael Snow. Using the FCP time remap function in the motion tab, I originally slowed the clip down to match the length of the Snoopy-Doo song I’d recorded. In doing this, I discovered that the clip itself had interesting sounds, particularly near the end. To ensure these sounds were not obscured, I increased the length of the clip so that it had handles extending beyond the duration of the song.

No hidden messages were intentionally put into the video, though people have commented the strobe made them feel nauseous.¹ It is probable that Thom planted some secret messages. Thom has a penchant for secrets and he did bathe with hand sanitizer that weekend.

Note — Originally titled Dodo Bird Facts.

Why the film was called Disco Jesus is a question now lost to time (or at least to me). As I seem to recall, there was an actual script entitled Red Chicken. In the film, “Red Chicken” is the name of the mission to destroy the demon. At some point in time however, everyone stopped calling the film Red Chicken and rechristened it Disco Jesus. It is possible that the rechristening had to do with a character called the Highwayman who does not appear in the Redux edit of the film. In addition to the unhinged soldier, the Highwayman was played by Brian. All that was ever shot of the Highwayman was Brian in a trench-coat with shoe polish on his face walking down, you guessed it, a highway. Personally however I suspect there wasn’t actually a reason for calling the film Disco Jesus, other than we liked the name.

• Note: In the film at around 2 minutes and 39 seconds the painting Tina is featured. An earlier post on Protozoic, discussing the painting, has become increasingly popular with our German readership.

Mike’s Comments: When we were kids, my cousins had two goldfish named Frank Ferdue (sic) and Doo-Doo Head. Tim and I were obsessed with the point as children. Through the years, we’ve continued to talk and laugh about it. It was funny on many levels. One, because our cousins named Frank Ferdue after a Maryland local celebrity. Secondly, that they changed the last name’s first letter to an “F”, creating a half-baked alliteration. Why didn’t they just call the fish Frank Perdue? Because that name was taken? Because they were mispronouncing “Perdue”?

No one will ever know the answer to those questions. However, if an answer is to be found, it is probably to be found in the second goldfish’s name, Doo-Doo Head. This was the whammy, and what made the amusing Frank Ferdue name comedy gold and Frank Ferdue and Doo-Doo Head the Smothers Brothers of fish-comedy.

In Flush Fish, Not Toilets, Jim Ferdue’s name is, of course, inspired by Frank Ferdue. (For those not from the Eastern Shore, Jim Perdue is the son of Frank Perdue and now runs the chicken empire.) There’s no Doo-Doo Head counterpart among the fish, mainly because there is no recreating a legend. There is, however, plenty of potty talk, so Doo-Doo Head lives on in spirit.

Megan’s Comments: I would like to point out that there was a very good reason why I told Mike to flush the toilet, and why I wasn’t going anywhere near it. It should also be known that although Mike walked offscreen with a ever-so-fake look of guilt plastered on his face, he did not flush the toilet for another 15 minutes after I spoke those words.

Mike’s Comments: I can’t remember how exactly The Boy in the Box evolved. There wasn’t a script. I think Peter just put the box on and it sort of went from there. A lot of the reactions we got from people were natural and unplanned. As for the box itself, its from the karaoke Singing Machine and I believe (though I can be sure as it is all so long ago now) that the Singing Machine doubled in post-production as a poorman’s multi-track recorder allowing my lawyer, Paul, to do the soundtrack. Its a great soundtrack too, maybe one of my favorites.

When I edited it originally, I had some problems with the video decks, and there were mistakes (both in the visuals and sound). I’ve been able to correct a lot of these problems in FCP.

Peter’s Comments: For those worried about copyright infringement who had difficulty reading the FBI warning at the beginning of this video due to resolution issues, I’ve pieced together a transcript of the notice below to the best of my ability. Note though that both the statement it’s self and the transcript are protected under their own copyright stipulations so you’ll need to destroy any copies cached on your hard drive or elsewhere immediately after reading.

The program contained in this videocasette is protected under the copyright laws of the United States. This cassette is sold for private use only. Any copying will result in the story of the Jimmy Flouvor(?). It was a Thursday, like any other Thursday and Jimmy walked into the panty(?) shop. Jimmy Flouvor(?) was like any other chum(?), looking for some nice hoisery. He entered the shop and he let the glass door close behind him. The bell n the door chimbed as it came to a close. The shop keeper looked at Jimmy and asked, “Can I help you?” “Sure,” said Jimmy as he picked up a pair of panty hose. “Show me to your change room please, I wanna pull these on real quick.” The shop keeper gave Jimmy the hot(?) eye and said, “I’m sorry sir, but we don’t run that type of establishment here. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” Jimmy smirked. “Stupid mother fucker,” Jimmy mumbled and pulled out his trusty shiv and plucked out the shop keeper’s left eye. “Ahhhh!!!” screamed the shop keeper. “Don’t be a baby,” said Jimmey and he walked out of the shop(?).

Moral: Don’t let bastards push you around if you want to buy some panties. But maybe you shouldn’t stab him in the eye either cause you could go to jail.

With the exception of the lead instrument, me on melodica, the song was made from stock sounds in Soundtrack Pro.

I would also note that the strobe is not an FCP effect, but a crank emergency flashlight I have.

Kettle brew those kittens.

On an aside, I’ve been learning about color correction and I touched up the video (although I should note, I don’t have a broadcast monitor, so who knows what it would look like on a TV). I’ve put two pictures below of the before and after.¹

Uncorrected

Corrected

Happy Holidays with much love, prayers of world peace, general happiness.

Sincerely,
Mike

Now watch the movie.

Click here to download the publicity packet

Unfortunately, for such a short video, the file-size is pretty big. This was due to the fact that there was a lot of visual information and I had to jack up the bitrate.

Is that ectoplasm mist on my watch or a lens flare? You decide. Click the picture for a closer shot of haunted time.

For more information on the cast and crew of The Green Machine download the publicity packet in PDF format.

If you have trouble viewing the movie, please download Quicktime 7.

If you have trouble viewing the movie, please download Quicktime 7.

As always, you need Quicktime 7 to view.

If you have trouble viewing the movie, please download the newest version of Quicktime.

The idea behind the film was to shoot something that was visual and not dialogue-driven. I also wanted to write a script but not actually give the actors a copy of the screenplay. So while significant events in the film are structured, much of what happens on the screen was worked out in rehearsal through solutions the actors arrived at by improvisation. The script was written in Celtx.

The final point that bears mentioning is that Tim and I met Beth, Brian, and Andrew Salerno, the film’s director of photography, at the Philadelphia Filmmakers, Actors, & Screenwriters Syndicate, which is held at Katseye Studio in Philadelphia, PA.

Other Specs

Format: HDV
Location: Studio 5 South
Run Time: 6 minutes 20 seconds
Date of Principal Photography: September 24, 2006

If you have trouble viewing this movie, please dowload Quicktime 7.

Besides being about a Lilliput, the idea behind shooting the film was to try some lighting techniques. Boo-beep-boop.

Nada 
el 
gato 
woof 
woof.

For Kettle Kittens, Tim manned the camera and did the editing, and I wrote the music and the story/plot line. The film was shot on the same camera we will be shooting The Green Machine on.

Click here to see Kettle Kittens in Quicktime 7

Click here to see Kettle Kittens in Quicktime 6

Ant Farm was written, shot, and edited over two days. Besides drawing on Dick’s discussion of his ant farm (also see Ant Redux, Rodent Bot Fly), it owes special debt to Dick’s discussion of torches in Forest Walks: 1, 2, and 3, and Dragon’s post, The Better TP Lantern. And by the way — Protozoic does NOT endorse or recommend anyone making a TP lantern as it is very dangerous.

In terms of movie-making, we’ve attempted to properly light the indoor shots. This was done with two fluorescent lights bought from Lowes for a total of 30 dollars. Considering the cost, we were pretty happy with the result.

We hope you enjoy Ant Farm and have a happy holiday.

Download here in Quicktime 6 format or below for Quicktime 7. The Quicktime 7 video is smaller and looks better but might not play on all computers.

It’s night and I’m in a forest with Tim waiting for him to get his gear ready so we can record a wilderness soundscape for a movie we’ve been working on called Young Goodman Brown. Adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story of the same name, the movie has been an unexpected one-off. Shot on a Panasonic DVX 100 and its sound mixed and recorded on a separate unit, Young Goodman Brown has given us the chance to gauge what our technical capabilities will be coming into the rapidly approaching Ameviathan: The Green Machine. As is always the case though, the one-off has taken on a life of its own.

Details have become absurd. We’ve just recorded footsteps on fallen leaves. While the footfalls don’t sound exactly as Tim thought they would, I’m thrilled with them. The nature-scape, however, is posing other difficulties. For starters, there has been a lot fumbling in the dark of the Jersey bush. Evidently I have far too many CDs in my car. Then Tim treads on a plastic flavored milk bottle that makes an impossibly loud sound. A discussion of milk bottle sonics ensues and then the conversation shifts to why we can’t record the nature-scape. We pause a moment and listen for birds. We don’t hear any. Then we listen for wind. We don’t hear that either. What we do hear are a lot of cheap car mufflers, jet planes and what is very possibly an infinite horde of random and unidentifiable machines. In a master-of-the-obvious flash it dawns on us that we aren’t in a forest at all, but a wooded lot across from an apartment complex in the New Jersey sprawl.

It is here that the wilds of Jersey become like the wilderness Goodman Brown finds himself in. Certainly, Jersey is a different type of wilderness, but one nonetheless that refuses to let us mow out our soundscape. And like Brown’s wilderness, ours also transmogrifies into a hell. Frustration sparks resignation, which become the flames of failure lapping higher and higher till all New Jersey is an inferno. Accordingly, like Brown, we do the only thing we can. We flee.

The question is though, is Brown ever tempted to go back into the forest again? Personally speaking, I know I’m ready to jump back into the creative pyre the first chance I get.

I hope you enjoy Young Goodman Brown as much as we did making it.

A version of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short-story “Young Goodman Brown” can be read online at Project Gutenberg in the etext version of Mosses from an Old Manse.

¹ Note, this is the last video we will be supplying in a Quicktime 6 compatible format, which is available here. The above movie is compatible with Quicktime 7.

Get the video here and the song here.

Enjoy.

I'm walking down the street with my big bag
I'm moving to the beat with my big bag
Got too much stuff in my big bag
Got loads of love in my big bag

Oh girls they're always asking me
     "Can we see your big bag"
Oh girls there always phoning me
     "Can we have your big bag"

Well girl - you hold, and you can touch
     "Ooo it feels so nice"
But I'm afraid not too much
     "Whatever boy-toy"
Listen do not give me lip
     "We ain't given you no lip"
I'm bout' to take a big world trip
     "May we come for a while"
You mean come with my big bag style?
     "Yes with your big style"
Why of course ladies, go wild!
     "Oooooooo!"

Now everyone here's your chance
To do the biggest ever dance
When I wave my big bag in the air
Just scream big bag
And don't be scared

Big bag! (shout)
Full of moves
Big bag! (shout)
Full of sugar
Big bag! (shout)
Full of Grooves
Big bag! (shout)
And lots of goodness!

Now I'm back after two world tours
And the ladies still want more
But the problem is I'm not sure
Just what big bag means anymore

And the girls they're all concerned
     "Can we nurse your big bag"
I'm sure I’ll think of something
     "Can we rub your big bag"
Mmmm... yeah keep on rubbing
     "Rub the big bag"
I feel a good idea coming
     "Ooo we feel good too"
Of course you do now, it's feels so fine
     "Big bag so sublime"
Lets all come and sing one more time!
     "Oooooooo!"

Now everyone here's your chance
To do the biggest ever dance
When I wave my big bag in the air
Just scream big bag
And don't be scared

Big bag! (shout)
Full of moves
Big bag! (shout)
Full of sugar
Big bag! (shout)
Full of Grooves
Big bag! (shout)
And lots of goodness!

Originally, the video was going to be broken into three segments and interspersed throughout the program. Accordingly, the first two parts had a “To be continued” after them. For the web version of the video, we’ve cut out the “To be continued” bits and linked the three segments together.

Special thanks goes to Joe on this one who was an integral component in the brainstorming process and was the one who suggested that we consider the premise of Man vs. Machine.

Download here in .mov format. Quicktime might be required to view the video.

While I living in Essex, my friend Russ (Rebelli0n) told me about a feast he and his friends used to make called Egg Mountain. I was so utterly intrigued by the monstrosity that he described to me, I made him swear that he would show me the art of cooking it. One evening he did, and the now infamous Egg Mountain movie resulted. The video, if I recall correctly, was rather fittingly shot over Easter vacation. Russ’s girlfriend (Caroline) and our friend Tamara helped out with the cooking.

We’ve posted the video on our site in a small format, but it can also be download on Russ’s site, in a larger avi format. Regardless of where you download the video from, I encourage all to check out Russ’s site, Tactical Syntax, which always has insightful commentaries (most recently about the newest incarnations of Dr. Who and Capt. Scarlet) and features the many projects that Russ is involved with. Russ has indicated that he will soon be posting his movie Eldridge (2004), which when he does, I encourage anyone at all interested in independent movie productions and science fiction to watch. It is stellar in every sense of the word.

Finally, for those who watch Egg Mountain, pay close attention to the end of the video where a picture of Dick Van Dyke and a cartoon version of Van Dyke are featured. Russ explained to me that he did not place Dick Van Dyke into the video to be funny and campy. Nor is it a coincidence that both a real picture of Van Dyke and cartoon picture appear. Rather, Van Dyke, and what might be labeled as the meta-Van Dyke, are placed in the video to alert others to what might be Van Dyke’s more problematic connection to the advent of the DVD. At some point, I hope that Russ will elaborate more just what this connection is.

In other words, check his site regularly.

Download mp4 of Egg Mountain here.

The eventual plan was to put an EP that would be part soundscape and then part cicada-electronica. The electronica end of the plan never became a reality, as it was contingent upon a lot of time and most likely outside help. So the recordings sat.

Eventually however, video artist and photographer Meggie Miao (who also happens to be Tim’s girlfriend) approached us and asked us to record a song about cicadas that she could use in conjunction with some footage of cicadas she had shot. So Tim and I went away and wrote a cicada song, though not the song we envisioned. It did however use the cicada-scapes. So part of the original plan was implemented.

The resulting video, thanks to Meggie’s excellent writing and directing, looks absolutely spectacular. And who knows, perhaps there will be an electronic cicada song yet…

The video is available here in .mov format and the song is available here as an mp3. Quicktime might be required to view the video.

Hey little Lucy do you hear that sound?
Do you know what it is?
I'll give you a hint, the shells are in my lawn,
And the husks are in my trees.

It's cicadas.
It's cicadas.
It's cicadas.

Hey little Lucy with your hot pants on,
Do you wanna take a ride with me.
To see a movie about monster bugs,
And make sweet love to the buzz.

Of cicadas.
Of cicadas.
Of cicadas.

And if we make sweet sweet love,
Then maybe we'll get hitched.
Even if the American empire falls,
Man that's a bitch.

But I'll still make love to you.
Yes, oh I will rise,
Seventeen years later, just like cicadas, my Lucy.
Cicadas.

(yelling)

The video is available in small (5 mb) and large (15 mb) version in the .mov format. Quicktime is recommended for viewing.

Here is Spontaneous Combustion in mov format. If you have problems with this format on Windows, try getting QuickTime.

If you’d like to leave us some comments, please do so at the bottom of this page. We eagerly await to read what you have to say.

Mike’s Comments

In my mind, Spontaneous Combustion (2004) is the Cave of Trouble’s answer to director Tobe Hooper’s similarly titled Spontaneous Combustion (1990). Before we began shooting, I saw to it that all of the band watched Hooper’s movie. Most of them complained, probably with good grounds. Sometime after completing the movie, I made my girlfriend also watch Hooper’s movie. I fell asleep at one of the crucial parts, when Brad Dourif shoots hoary flame out of his eye socket. All this however is immaterial. The real issue here is that Hooper has been answered, and perhaps even the SHC community at large too.

The future plans for Spontaneous Combustion are two-fold. The first is to produce a DVD for it, which will include the “May I Have Some Please” video along with a couple other bonuses.

The second plan is the lecture tour and screening of Spontaneous Combustion slated tentatively to occur sometime in 2005 or 2006. For those who are not able to attend, a PDF of the paper will be provided on Protozoic. It is also not completely out of the question that the talk be put up in audio form. Maybe Real if it is still around.

I hope you enjoy the video.

Mike Gray
Lawrenceville, NJ
October 14, 2004

Tim’s Comments

This movie sucks. Making this movie sucked too. To be perfectly honest, about the only thing worse than this piece of crap is the aforementioned Spontaneous Combustion directed by Tobe Hooper. Wow.

This movie consumed my whole Christmas break. I had three weeks off from the grueling experience known as graduate school, and what do you know, I had to work longer hours during my “vacation” than I did at school. That in and of itself would have been ok if the end product wasn’t a pile of steaming excrement.

Tim Gray
Lawrenceville, NJ
October 14, 2004