Sunday Film Series: Sunset In Key West
Posted: November 4, 2012 Filed under: Sunday Film Series | Tags: iphone video, key west, Key West Florida, Mallory Square, Time-lapse photography, you tube 23 Comments »There are many places with great sunsets, but I think Key West is near the top of the list. Here’s a time-lapse of the sunset from Mallory Square.
I obviously need to buy a tripod for my phone, but the result without it isn’t unwatchable.
The Sunday Film Series: At The Airport
Posted: September 23, 2012 Filed under: Sunday Film Series, Uncategorized | Tags: iPhone, movies, Time-lapse photography, US Airways, you tube 17 Comments »
The Sunday Film Series is back. It apologizes for its absence, but asks your indulgence because the time away was unavoidable.
In this edition, you’ll note that I have a new tool to use in creating the films for the series – time-lapse. Lapses are pretty much the story of my life. It just seemed a natural fit to build that into the films. Despite the new technique, be assured that I’ll still shoot all my films using only my phone.
A recent trip to see some great friends gave me a chance to focus my directorial talents on US Airways. I tried to direct the action in this film, but the actors seemed to follow a script written by someone else. Perhaps that is for the best. Read the rest of this entry »
Sunday Film Series – Grass That Cuts Itself
Posted: August 19, 2012 Filed under: Sunday Film Series | Tags: Grass, Lawn, Lawn and Garden, lawnmower, Lego super hero movie maker app, postaweek, you tube 16 Comments »A few weeks ago, I posted a video of my concept of the ultimate lawn mower. It was not only self-propelled, but it was also self-motivated. Unfortunately, manufacturers haven’t beaten a path to my door. I’d say that was their loss, but really, it is my loss too. I was the one mowing again yesterday afternoon. Read the rest of this entry »
Sunday Film Series: The Intersection
Posted: August 12, 2012 Filed under: Sunday Film Series | Tags: humor, intersection, Lego super hero movie maker app, postaweek, traffic, you tube 16 Comments »Filmed near my office, today’s film involves a cast of thousands. The entire cast is made up of extras. Take that, actors!
The intersection portrays, well, a busy intersection.
After I shot this film, I went back to my office. Someone said they saw me standing on the hill looking like I was shooting a video. I told him that I was shooting an artistic depiction of the area we worked in. He laughed, and said “where do you come up with this stuff?” Sometimes the truth is enough, isn’t it? Read the rest of this entry »
Sunday Film Series: I Hear The Train A Comin’
Posted: July 15, 2012 Filed under: Sunday Film Series | Tags: amtrak, humor, Lego super hero movie maker app, postaweek, railroads, stop motion animation, train, you tube 11 Comments »This week’s film is highly significant. The significance isn’t that I created it using the largest, heaviest props I’ve ever worked with. Well, the size of the props is part of why this is a big deal, but it isn’t the most significant thing about it.
The really big deal about this film is that I manipulated all the props with my mind.
I have such a headache today from doing that. Sometimes an artist like me must pay a high cost for our craft. Read the rest of this entry »
The Sunday Film Series: Ducks Like Bread
Posted: July 1, 2012 Filed under: Sunday Film Series | Tags: humor, iPhone, Lego super hero movie maker app, postaweek, Stop motion, stop motion film, you tube 18 Comments »It was a quiet morning. Nothing special about it. I grabbed a bagel at my usual spot, then found some place to pull over and eat it.
Little did I know that someone else had designs on my pretzel bagel…
Analysis Of The Landing Of China’s Shenzhou 9 Spacecraft
Posted: June 29, 2012 Filed under: Foolishness | Tags: China, chinese rocket, comedy, humor, postaweek, Shenzhou 9, you tube 11 Comments »Let’s start by looking at the video of the landing:
The video starts with the capsule heading off on its return to Earth. Every trip has to start somewhere, this one starts fairly high up and heads south.
Next, we see the capsule descending on a parachute. This is a really welcome sight. I’m sure the astronauts and their families welcome it more than I do.
Practical Joke 101 – Musical Greeting Card Desk
Posted: June 20, 2012 Filed under: Foolishness | Tags: Greeting card, humor, office jokes, postaweek, Practical joke how to, practical jokes, pranks, vlog, you tube 21 Comments »Periodically, I will do something to liven things up around the office. This trick is one of my favorites. I’ve had success with it though the years and I’m going to walk you through it step by step.
We are going to use a musical greeting card to rig up a desk. When it works (and this has always worked for me), opening a desk drawer triggers the card’s sound mechanism. Positioning the card correctly will enable gravity to shut the card off when the drawer closes.
The effect is magnified by the fact that there is very little chance the trick will be detected before it does it job. Everything looks normal…and then the desk starts singing.
The first step is to get a musical greeting card. Look for one that operates with a tab attached to the front of the card, like this one:
Look for a tab like the white one on this card
Cut the card, removing most of the front and back. Doing so makes the card more compact and easy to conceal. Leave a long strip extending from the tab. Be very careful around the sound device in the back of the card. The wires are fine and easy to cut.
When you cut the card, save the scraps and the envelope. You’ll use those later.
When you’ve finished cutting, the card should look like this:
We’re going to focus on the portion at the top.
Make a chain of rubber bands and tape them to the front of the card. The rubber bands will connect to the back of a drawer and the drawer’s motion will activate the card. Using rubber bands provides enough slack to keep the drawer from pulling the card apart or dislodging it once it is in place.
Correctly assembled, your card should now look like this:
When you cut up the card, you’ll have scraps left over. Save them. When you put your device on your victim’s desk, take the card scraps and put them in a trash can next to the desk of someone who is not in on the joke. Your victim will go looking for who is responsible for pranking him. By deflecting attention to someone who had nothing to do with it, you get the benefit of playing a prank on two people at the same time.
Remember, not your trash can. Pick someone and put this in their trash.
Your homework is to go get a musical greeting card. In the next post, I’ll show you how to set your device up on a desk and provide a video of how it works.
Speaking of video, here’s one that I created to explain what we’ve discussed so far:
People that have blurted back