MikeVideo 2006

Nantucket Holiday Feature Webpage: The history of the new digital "internet movie series" called "Nantucket Holiday" is presented, along with video captures, and streams of the chapters from YouTube just as soon as I get them online, on the new "Nantucket Holiday" feature page.

Nantucket Holiday Episode One: The Calm Before the Storm( 1999-2006) In September 1999 I travelled to Nantucket Island off the coast of Massachusetts. Since I was spending two weeks in Nantucket for a vacation/lovesearch, I brought along my year old digital videocamera. I announced the creation of the MikeVideo movie "Nantucket Holiday" on my then fledgling website and created a section of the site for the video. The original video is slightly over an hour long, and was mastered to SVHS. Using the master as a reference, but going back to the original digital videotape, I am reconstructing the video as a "movie series" of five or more 10 minute episodes. In the first, Mike arrives on island just in time to hear that a hurricane is approaching.

Nantucket Holiday Episode Two: Nantucket Architecture and Hurricane Floyd ( 1999-2006)The hurricane is approaching and Mike prepares for the worst, but first tours the area out of town and comments about the singular Nantucket architecture, enforced by building code to insure that all structures on the island look as if they had been built in the 17th centrury.

Nantucket Holiday Episode Three:Brandt Point Light, Steeple Views, Whaler's Homes, and Widow's Walks ( 1999-2006) Another 10 minute episode ot the video. Starting with the Brandt Point lighthouse the moring after the hurricane passed Nantucket, MIke makes his way around the island, shooting from inside the Congregational Church tower, the tallest point on Nantucket Island, and describing some of the 17th century Whaling mansions at the top of Main Street.

God's Movie (1999-2006) One of the highlighted sections of the 1999 "Nantucket Holiday" video was a series of shots of the sun setting on Madaket Beach. Now I have used the sunset footage for "God's Movie". Although shot in 1999 on Nantucket, I enjoy watching the sunset into the ocean, and have always called the experience "watching God's Movie." Now "God's Movie" is a MikeVideo

San Diego Dreams (2006) A weekend getaway in September 2006 to the beautiful Southern California beach city of San Diego resulted in "San Diego Dreams", a MikeVideo "travelblogue" set to music. Visits over a three day period to Coronado Island, The world famous San Diego Zoo, and Balboa Park yeilded scenes from each area. The first part of the video was shot on Coronado Island, and since I didn't take a lot of video footage, far less than I had thought, I use some of my photographs to supplement the footage. The second part of the video features shots of animals at the Zoo, scored to Toto's 1980s hit "Africa". The next scenes are from some of the museums at Balboa Park, which are housed in the photogenic buildings of the 1917 Pan American Exposition, a World's Fair. The entire video was assembled, edited, scored, and uploaded to YouTube in one day.

This video was the most popular I had on the YouTube service but they removed the soundtrack in 2009 for "copyright infringement". I now have the stream from Xanga. It has received over 80 comments since it went online on YouTube. At one time picked for the front page of a San Diego travel bureau, the video is only meant to highlight a few destinations (I was only there for a weekend) yet the comments it receives on YouTube usually represent opposing factions of people who either think that the place is the best city on Earth or else it's a gang ridden metropolis too close to Tijuana.) I've always loved to visit there, but I live in the Los Angeles area, of course, and am always cheerleading for my town. In November 2008, I uploaded an "video response" to "San Diego Dreams" called "L.A. Dreams.showcasing my photography of downtown Los Angeles.

Selling Sex at the CES: Video Postcard ( 2000) In August of 2000 I uploaded the "Video Postcard" for "Selling Sex at the CES" to my YouTube Channel, as an "advertisement" for the ambitious "Selling Sex" internet video, a 30 minute three parter which I intended to upload to YouTube as I created it from the original source tapes for the 2001 VHS tape already existing. I shot fottage from 1999 to 2001 at the Video Software Dealers convention in Las Vegas, a trade show I call "The Pornothon". The "Video Postcard" was originally made for the JVC video sharing site online, since my first digital video cam was a JVC. The original digital elements, including the opening credits and narration, was recently found on an almost discarded CDR. I transferred the files onto my present computer, and I have all three parts completed as of November 2006. Sex sells, and at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas every year, all the big porn companies put on quite a show, including a large amount of porn stars and starlets signing autographs and "posing".The " Selling Sex at the CES" Feature Webpage The "Selling Sex" saga is a long one, and the story merits it's own page on MikeVideo. I am offering all three 10 minute "MikeVideo Internet Movies" for download or streaming from this site. The history of the video is related, as is the story of how my first two "Selling Sex" videos were censored and removed from my YouTube channel. Now you can watch the complete MikeVideo "Selling Sex at the CES". I must warn that this video is not for everybody. I am not conflicted about featuring what amounts to soft core porn on my website. I have rated the videos "R" for restricted, and hope to dissuade anyone from watching them if they are offended. Before the videos were removed from YouTube, each one received almost 10,000 viewings, so they were popular. "Selling Sex at the CES" is a documentary, and while somewhat titillating, these are just the latest MikeVideo "internet movies" for your enjoyment.

Clowns (June 2006) I have a "thing" about clowns, and when I created a website called Clowns, this video was begun utilizing the images I had collected for the website. The internet movie lasts six minutes and 23 seconds and is a series of over 250 images of clowns set to and edited to clown themed music. Using the special effects in the Pinnacle Studio 9.4, the images overlay, move, and fade, so that the effect is more of a moving film than what is essentially a slideshow. All kinds of clowns are here, from the "funny" to the "ferocious". A lot of people are afraid of clowns, so their evil nature shows through in this video, as well as their comical nature.The video has proved to be one of my few "YouTube hits" and has been viewed over 13,000 times and has received 15 comments since June of 2006.

With my 2007 videos I have begun to develop a discernable "style" which was begun with this video. The early use, for me, of the chroma key feature has turned into a standard effect in most of my internet videos since "Clowns". There are visible "green" edges in this video, because I hadn't learned how to diminish this part of the chroma key effect until a few videos later. Perhaps I will revisit "Clowns" in the future and clean up the less than perfect effects.

DooDah (January 2006) This MikeVideo Internet Movie clocks in at over slightly over 9 minutes long.Part of my streaming videos on YouTube, "DooDah" is a visual and aural representation of the DooDah parade, Pasadena's "alternate" take on the annual Tournament of the Roses. The parade had gone on through over 30 irreverent years, and I have captured most of the "attractions" like the Men of Leisure and the Bastard Sons of Lee Marvin, plus this year's Grand Marshalls, the "Barbecue and Hibachi Grill Team." The music track for this internet movie is "800mg" from the CD "Evacuation Routes" by Andreas Braeunlich. I plan on using more Braenlich music on future projects.

Some of the groups particpating in the DooDah parade have their tongues planted firmly in cheek, and others, such as these "well hung" gentlemen, have their backs pierced. There is never a dull moment, and hopefully I've captured it all in my new MikeVideo Internet Movie. Streaming to a computer near you.

"Betty Boop Dreams" (Rated "G") 01/06

3 min. 38 sec.

YouTube	Xanga

"Betty Boop Dreams"(January 2006) The composite art featured on The Betty Boop Pages site was only to be the beginning. One of my dreams was to somehow capture the figurines and dolls as video, and then "composite" backgrounds for them. On the aftenoon of January 14, 2006 I created a 3:38 "movie" using the chroma key feature in the video editing software.

From the Betty Boop website: This "internet movie" is presented as an art piece, and is not for sale. Betty Boop is a copyrighted image from King Features. No attempt is made to infringe upon copyrighted material. Most of the images in the movie are photos of Danbury Mint collectible Betty Boop figurines. The backgrounds are MikeVideo videography. One image is used from a copyrighted website, Rita's Betty Boop Site. It is the image of Betty in a nighty on the title card for the video. This is original art drawn by Rita. Most of the images in the still section in the video are my own composites, made with photographs or images from the web, and featured on this website. MFN

"Tempest" (Rated "G") 01/06

8 min. 8 sec.

YouTube	Xanga

"Tempest"(January 2006 ) This was the first video I uploaded to the internet on Jan. 1st. 2006, MikeVideo's 20th anniversary year.It is a "continuous take" music video shot live at the Scottish Festival at the Orange County Fairgrounds in 2004. I had to compromise the visual quality when posting 8 minute movies to YouTube only a month after it started operation. Also I would like to note that the sound quality sucks, due to the fact that I stood directly in front of the speakers with the camera. Next time, I'm setting up a second (stationary) camera with the music track.