I’m really excited about this latest entry in my “Uni-Geezer” series, and feel that this is the best one yet! There’s a mix of hops & drops, and the most elaborate comedy and visual bits I’ve done so far!
All the participants were eager to join in, learned their lines quick, and each person seems perfectly cast for their part! I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it!
One thing though; I had to edit “blindly” for the most part because windows movie maker got to the point where it would not play back the timeline, so all my edits, including music had to be inserted by trial & error…and just plain guesswork, until it was right. What a pain!
Yeah, I know I need to upgrade (badly!) to a professional editing program, but hey, based on the fact that I’m using an entry level vidcam, all shots are static w/tripod, and I’m using Movie maker with all it’s flaws…I think it turned out pretty dayum decent!
There’s lots of variety packed into this relatively short (3:30) video, and it’s also in DVD quality res., so I would recommend that you view it in the youtube BIGSCREEN for best viewing.
As always, your comments/reviews are appreciated! Thanks everybody.
Another excellent video now with product placement. (advertisement for Piano Tuning) Loved the domino blocks, good use of the DTS sound bite and the canned laughter. Imagine what you could do with a real editing program. You had me squinting trying to read the story about the “Crazed senile old fart”
Yeah I let the fake newspaper headline zoom to full and held it there for what I thought would be long enough to read.
There’s actually lots of little things that you might miss on first viewing, like the name of the ficticious newspaper, “Torrance Tribuni” instead of Tribune, and the scissor jacks I used to try to stabilize that paper rack…it almost collapsed when I hit the mid-section!
That’s why I used my trials instead og the Muni to minimize the weight. I finished just as the store manager came out to tell me I couldn’t film or ride my uni in such as way that I could get hurt or cause harm to anybody standing too close.
That “read all about it” guy was a lucky pick; he did a great job! Now that “Pie” scene was tricky due to low light, and the fact that I only had one shot to get it right, so we did several “dry runs” before we shot the keeper!
When I see you hop on those cinder blocks I expect the blocks to be pushed away when you hop on or off of them. Especially the stacked blocks. It all looks dangerous to me. But, when you do them, they are rock steady, I am amazed.
I can hop, but don’t have much height, not steady or accurate. I’m willing to hop up a low curb now and then, but it seems that for me hoping up on to a loose cider block would be a mistake.
In one of your previous videos, your hoping between tree roots showed how accurate you are. There again, for me, I might as well be hoping in a minefield.
So, I’m gonna work on hoping accuracy this summer, thanks for the great examples.
Those cinder blocks would tend to move as you hop, it’s your skill that allows you to keep them from sliding, right?
Hope you keep having fun with those videos, thanks for sharing!
I like your vids. But it seems to me as though your hopping too much. Like across those newspaper stands. It looks as though you could ride when you choose to hop across it. But other then that I really liked it.
Hard for you to tell because of the camera angle, but there was no way to “ride” over those newspaper stands because the coin slots smack dab in the way!
There was just no room to roll through there without hitting one, and if I had, it would have bucked me off, hurling me to the hard pavement below, and that would not have been good!
Plus, the hopping looked more extreme than just rolling over them, plus the crashing sound everytime I bounced was cool!
Actually when I set out to make a video, I pretty much know what I’m going to do because I make a list of the places to shoot before hand, write out a scenario with dialog for the comedy bits, etc.
The whole process, including filming, uploading the raw footage to my 'puter, editing and upload to youtube takes maybe a day or two. But yeah, I tune/repair pianos 5 days per week, and have plenty of free time for other activities.
I feel that I’m becoming quite addicted to making videos; I love the creative process and it’s a fun challenge to see what I can come up with each time.
Man you are so right about “accuracy!” Those cinder blocks were a bit “shaky” and because of the tiny area of each block made it all the more difficult to land each hop in just the right spot without crank-striking a neighboring block, or just plain losing balance if I didn’t nail each landing.
It did take me several attempts to get a good take. Harder then it looked for sure. I wanted to set up about ten blocks in the tall upright position, have them about 2 feet apart so I could forward hop all of them, but they were just to unstable in that position and when I hopped on one just slightly off center, the block toppled with me on it!
I really enjoy your videos. You do a great job. I am also an old guy. I started unicycling about a month ago. It’s good to know that there is do much diversity in the unicycling community.
Thanks so much! You won’t have to wait too long…I’ve got a NEW video coming soon, and this one has probably the most funny, embarrasing upd EVER caught on film!!! Look for it later today!
PS: Welcome to the Uni forum!
I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it!
