Little Willy Billy Bragg Goes Shoe Shopping

Storytelling At The Seaside Park Sandbox

The Baa Kimba Roonians

Staycation Rule #2: Use Your Tools

Get out and build something. I'm working on a tree fort like the one I found on this site:

http://www.olimu.com/notes/TreeHouse/TreeHouse.htm.

I just finished a miniature version of my favorite baseball team's ballpark. But hey, there's all kind of great things to build out there. This guy in Vermont built a dinosaur he called the "Vermontasaurus" out of a bunch of scrap wood and stuff he had hanging around. Just make sure if you're gonna build somethin' big (like a Vermontasaurus) you get the proper permits from your local government, 'cause people I guess have different ideas about "art." If it were up to me, I'd say build what you gotta' build, cause as my grandma' says it's a lot better than sitting around on my duff. Build Something!

Willy Billy Bragg

Staycation Rule #1: Stoke, Stage, Swathe, Shoot, Assemble, Sell-ebrate, Scrutinize

Stoke your vision. Stage your scenario. Swathe yourself properly. Shoot the thing. Assemble the parts. Sell-abrate your film. Scrutinize the process.

1. Stoke It! Get your game plan together (I find a bag of toy dinos inspiring). Add a character or two from some different epoch or world (i.e. knights, pirates, Star Wars, Harry Potter is always good--my favorite is the caveman). Conjure up somethin' good!

2. Stage it! Find Dad's old video camera or other digital device (an ipod video nano would be nice, but I don't have one of those either). Storyboard what you conjured up. Use thumbnails (little stick figure sketches) and sentence fragments. Don't get too detailed here. Leave plenty of room open for thespian improvisation.

3. Swathe it! Find or fabricate the right duds (I had my Mom fashion me a crunk troglodyte tog for this flick). Props are critical (I found this skeleton femur in one of the Halloween crates). Choose your backgrounds carefully. Open fields are essential for battle scenes. Stone walls and wood fences make great locales. Remember, if it's natural it's bueno, but if it's artificial, it must be edited.

4. Shoot it! Act! Action! Use stop motion for small action figures. My bronto dino looks awesome in this pic, but you ought to see the whole movie--I'll put it up on my blog when I finish editing. Words are great, but action moves the film along. Make the words count, and then do something! Anything! Stick a sword into something! Club something!

5. Assemble it! Find a computer that's less than 5 years old and edit the video (This is where Dad's old Mac comes in handy). It can be a real pain, but a well cut film will reap a multitude of rewards. Don't Forget the soundtrack!

6. Sell-ebrate it! Create a buzz throughout the neighborhood. Put up opening night posters on telephone poles. Decide on the venue (indoors--a garage works well with the right decorating touch; outdoors--a sloping backyard onto a concrete patio is a nice find). You'll need a LCD projector if you plan to put it on the big screen, that and a white non-glossy background (I always call Grandma for her old movie screen). Have plenty of munchies and drinks on hand, as well as paper plates and cups. Don't forget to design, print, and sell tickets! The "sell" part is important, because it provides proceeds for improving on the next film (it also buys cokes, cakes, candies, etc... for the staff during production).

7. Scrutinize it! Hey, these are all great ideas, but I'm sure you already have or will come up with some even better ideas (comment here, if you do, 'cuz I take all the good ideas I can find). What worked well? What didn't work well? What worked well but could be improved? What other resources can you get a hold of that would enhance your movies? Always be on the lookout for promising locales for filming.

I hope "Staycation Rule #1" was helpful.

Willy Billy Bragg

Take A Vacation -- (lyrics by The Young Veins)

"Leave the past out to pasture

And take the days as they come

And leave the sand in a suitcase

So we don't forget the fun

We're going, going, going very far"

-- NOT!!! Mom says it's going to

be a "staycation" this summer.

Time for full throttle imagination!