Episode 4.15 - "Working For The Weekend"
[beep]*[Beep!]*[BEEP!]*[BEEP!!] *groggily crawls over the edge of top bunk* 10:00? On a Saturday? *cringe* Oh, but today is no ordinary Saturday... It's Get Acquainted Day, JiMBO! Of course, I'd prefer not to get up at the buttcrack of 10AM, but what can ya do? After taking a bit TOOOO long to shower, shave, and make myself presentable, I finally trek my way across campus to the Ballroom... and after 2 minutes of walking around aimlessly, I figure out I'm in the wrong place. D'oh!
I'm re-directed to the Field House where I help Amanda, Steve, and Viv hold down the SPECTRUM fort for a while. And with all the puzzled looks we get, you'd think these parents have never seen a yearbook in their entire lives!! *parent walks up and bites the corner of an '05 yearbook* "What is SPECTRUM?" ...The yearbook. I lost count of how many times people asked us. And even after they've found this out, the yearbook staff is still a hard sell, especially since we aren't giving away freebies like our media counterparts: the Mercury (lit mag), and the Gettysburgian (newspaper). "Oh here ya go, Sir, a musty old yearbook from 1935. Woo."
Around 11:15A, I get a phone call from Kyle, so I go outside where I can understand him. Anywho, after a few minutes of yelling unsuccessfully into the receiver, I spin around and realize HE'S STANDING TEN FEET AWAY FROM ME!! *sad shake of head* I run over to him. He asks me if I could show some videos of the BOMB Squad on our table's small TV. So, I go home, grab the A/V adapter, extension cord, and my dock, and bring 'em all back to the Field House. However, pretty soon comes the Stroke of Noon... TiME TO DANCE! The BOMB Squad meets outside and we perform the Village Kids routine in the concrete circle... not a great idea. We've never practiced here, so we're dancing in all different directions, but at least the audience doesn't seem to mind. However, I personally feel a bit dirrty when we're humping the air to Diddy (y'know, DO it. DO it, DO it!) while someone's middle-aged mother is standing 3 feet in front of me with an awkward grin. *cringe* UnClean!
At this point, the evil sun has drained every last ounce of energy from my bones, so I jog back home and take a power nap. I'm back up by 7P, at which time I head over to the ballroom (right place to be this time!!) to photograph the Dance Ensemble for SPECTRUM; for kicks, I decide to bring my new HD videocamera, perhaps to make some quick web videos of Ambika, Sara, and Mark's performances. Before the show starts, Miss Molly (Class of '06, Film Studies/ALLiES Alum) pops up and we get to talkin' about "the best coffee ever," her latest film project (a PSA w/ children) and the amazing new cameraphones on the market. Out of the corner of her eye, Dianna spies my tripod and beckons Molly and me in her direction. She asks if I'd know how to film the show. I reply, "Uh... that's what I'm doin'." Her face lights up and asks me if I could submit my footage to Dance Ensemble for their DVD archive. You see, since the IT office is closed for the weekend and no one signed the camera out, they were out-of-luck for both shows. SO... I Step Up and volunteer to tape both shows. SwEEt.
Filming's the easy part. Post-production editing... that's where the real fun kicks in. Since I'm trying to build a portfolio, I've also volunteered to design the Spring Dance Recital DVD ("Dance 'Til Ya Can't Dance No More") on my MacBook. *swoons over laptop* And after 11 straight hours of importing video clips, adjusting gamma levels, repairing audio files, capturing production stills, typing names, and designing transitions & menus, I'm finally ready to burn 27 GigaBytes of info onto a Source DVD--a process that takes roughly 6 hours. By Monday morning, I'm ready to hand the DVD over to the Dianna who in turn hands it over to the 53 members who ordered the DVD. And according to every member I've shown it to, this DVD is vastly superior to last year's DVD, which was just a giant video file without menus or chapters. Wow... Yay, Me. :-D *pats self on back like a crazy person*
I'm re-directed to the Field House where I help Amanda, Steve, and Viv hold down the SPECTRUM fort for a while. And with all the puzzled looks we get, you'd think these parents have never seen a yearbook in their entire lives!! *parent walks up and bites the corner of an '05 yearbook* "What is SPECTRUM?" ...The yearbook. I lost count of how many times people asked us. And even after they've found this out, the yearbook staff is still a hard sell, especially since we aren't giving away freebies like our media counterparts: the Mercury (lit mag), and the Gettysburgian (newspaper). "Oh here ya go, Sir, a musty old yearbook from 1935. Woo."
Around 11:15A, I get a phone call from Kyle, so I go outside where I can understand him. Anywho, after a few minutes of yelling unsuccessfully into the receiver, I spin around and realize HE'S STANDING TEN FEET AWAY FROM ME!! *sad shake of head* I run over to him. He asks me if I could show some videos of the BOMB Squad on our table's small TV. So, I go home, grab the A/V adapter, extension cord, and my dock, and bring 'em all back to the Field House. However, pretty soon comes the Stroke of Noon... TiME TO DANCE! The BOMB Squad meets outside and we perform the Village Kids routine in the concrete circle... not a great idea. We've never practiced here, so we're dancing in all different directions, but at least the audience doesn't seem to mind. However, I personally feel a bit dirrty when we're humping the air to Diddy (y'know, DO it. DO it, DO it!) while someone's middle-aged mother is standing 3 feet in front of me with an awkward grin. *cringe* UnClean!
At this point, the evil sun has drained every last ounce of energy from my bones, so I jog back home and take a power nap. I'm back up by 7P, at which time I head over to the ballroom (right place to be this time!!) to photograph the Dance Ensemble for SPECTRUM; for kicks, I decide to bring my new HD videocamera, perhaps to make some quick web videos of Ambika, Sara, and Mark's performances. Before the show starts, Miss Molly (Class of '06, Film Studies/ALLiES Alum) pops up and we get to talkin' about "the best coffee ever," her latest film project (a PSA w/ children) and the amazing new cameraphones on the market. Out of the corner of her eye, Dianna spies my tripod and beckons Molly and me in her direction. She asks if I'd know how to film the show. I reply, "Uh... that's what I'm doin'." Her face lights up and asks me if I could submit my footage to Dance Ensemble for their DVD archive. You see, since the IT office is closed for the weekend and no one signed the camera out, they were out-of-luck for both shows. SO... I Step Up and volunteer to tape both shows. SwEEt.
Filming's the easy part. Post-production editing... that's where the real fun kicks in. Since I'm trying to build a portfolio, I've also volunteered to design the Spring Dance Recital DVD ("Dance 'Til Ya Can't Dance No More") on my MacBook. *swoons over laptop* And after 11 straight hours of importing video clips, adjusting gamma levels, repairing audio files, capturing production stills, typing names, and designing transitions & menus, I'm finally ready to burn 27 GigaBytes of info onto a Source DVD--a process that takes roughly 6 hours. By Monday morning, I'm ready to hand the DVD over to the Dianna who in turn hands it over to the 53 members who ordered the DVD. And according to every member I've shown it to, this DVD is vastly superior to last year's DVD, which was just a giant video file without menus or chapters. Wow... Yay, Me. :-D *pats self on back like a crazy person*