The Lampwick Continuum

Lampwick Video Rangers

On Saturday, February 21st, The Rangers met to film an assortment of promotional “commercials” for The Lampwick Continuüm.

One of these, “The Search” has been posted on the About Us page.

A detailed write-up by member Karen Morton follows:

The Shoot

We didn’t realize that the date we selected for the video shoot would be icky, chilly… And conflict with Spanish Town. Oh, well!

A small but enthusiastic group came to the video shoot at Matt’s house on 2/21. We had lots of kids there - Donovan, Mark and Karen’s nephews, and Brandolyn’s niece Aurora. I tried to get the boys to do the Lampwick song, but they refused. So, instead, we shot some miscellaneous video with Donovan while we waited for Lucy to arrive. Donovan had lots of cool things to say - As long as we didn’t have a video camera or my digital audio recorder pointed at him.

Matt suggested that we do a take-off of the original Battlestar Galactica opening with public domain space shots from NASA. He and I worked out the text. By the time that was done, Lucy arrived! She looked totally cute in her pink outfit. We started shooting.

Each person standing in front of the blank wall performed the whole song. When Lucy sang, we did several takes on each stanza. After Lucy did the song, I got in front of the camera to do the song. After a few more tries (I’m too embarrassed to admit how many!), I got the whole thing belted out. Then, Matt did the song. To get the shot of the lamp, we draped my black wrap over the chair and shot the lamp unlit. Then, carefully, Matt reached down and lit the light. End of “Little Lampwick” shoot.

We then got started on the “The Search.” Since Mark and Karen were there, I decided that it would be more effective to have multiple people look for the fun rather than just Matt, so I tossed out the first third of the script. We “winged it” with Karen at the carport door, and Mark at the refrigerator. We then returned to the script (um… More or less…). Walter set up the camera in the bathroom, and Matt “surprised him.” The toilet flush you hear is real. I just did some judicious sound editing to improve the pacing.

By the time we were ready to shoot the alien, Brandolyn’s niece Aurora had arrived. Her mom allowed us to borrow her. Aurora and Lucy climbed onto the bed, and Mark donned the mask. I worked with the girls and Mark on a couple of takes (both of them giggled, and who came blame them?). Mark then came closer to the camera, sans mask, to recite the line. And, yes, he did actually say it.

For the final scene, we set up the camera in the hall outside the dining room. Matt did the first section of the scene in one take. I did the “wife’s voice” off camera. Now came time for what folks in the biz call “the money shot.” Thanks to Nebe, we had some very bright lights. Karen held the lights inside the closet while Matt opened the door. We got that shot in a couple of takes.

Now, it was time to pass the lamp. So, I draped the black wrap around myself, added a glittery gold scarf, and climbed into the closet with Karen. Oh, yeah, I had the lamp, too. We shot my passing the lamp to Matt several times before we decided that video was good enough. Walter moved the camera to get the final shot of Matt at the door. Cut. Print.

Since the girls had giggled so much during the filming of the alien scene, Jessica suggested that we ask Lucy to record a scream. I’m surprised she didn’t shatter glass… Great scream! Cut. Print. Wrap! Time for dinner.

The Edit

Sunday morning, Walter barricaded himself in our lab with the Zoom to record narration for Galactica, A-Team, and No Geekdom. Even though we were not able to shoot the A-Team script, I decided to use some stills and video footage to make a “teaser” spot. Then came my turn with the Zoom. I connected it to my Yamaha Clavinova to record the chime and the chorus. (That’s the “ah-h-h” you hear in the Find the Fun spot.) I also recorded the “Lampwick Continuüm” sound byte, and Walter recorded the “Not. So. Serious.” whisper.

Now came the time for me to park myself in front of Ray Tracer (my computer) and work my editing magic. I gathered appropriate tunes from my public domain music collection and found space shots online while Walter downloaded pictures from the Lampwick Website. OK, enough material gathering. Time to start spinning video straw into gold. For those true video geeks out there, here are technicals:

Video Recorded with: Canon GL2 mini-DV cassette Video Camera, Stand Definition, 4:3 Aspect Ratio.
Audio Recorded with: Canon Video Camera (”The Search”) and Zoom H2 Digital Audio Recorder (other commercials).
Sound effects: Yamaha Clavinova + live sound.
Audio Processing: Goldwave
Video Editing and titles other than the main logo: Sony Vegas 6.0.

From my computer emerged the following commercials, which we premiered at our next event:

• “Little Lampwick”
• “There Are Those Who Believe…” (the BSG takeoff)
• “A-Team” style teaser (featuring photos and video shot a previous events + land and waterscapes photographed by yours truly)
• “Let’s Take Some Pictures” (featuring photos and video shot a previous events and the No Geekdom narration)
• “The Search”