Day 1103: Just In Time

It feels like just yesterday that I finished the Band Trip video for Walt Disney World, which easily stands as one of the things I'm most proud of in my life. That video took over three years of work if you include all the footage that went into it from various trips, and it began long, long before we even knew for sure whether or not we'd be heading to Florida. I loved working on that video, and I honestly believe it's part of the reason that I'm still editing videos for a YouTube channel today.

You can imagine, then, my excitement when I was invited on yet another band trip, not as a student but as the official videographer. For four days I traveled with the band this past summer to the Twin Cities, capturing video and pictures the whole while, and over the past week I spent the majority of my time working those pieces into a complete video, which came out much longer than I even intended at 42 minutes (the Disney video was 58). I won't lie...it took a lot of effort to get it done, especially when it meant sitting in front of my computer for hours at end. Somewhere around Thursday I got really restless and had to get up every few minutes or else I would have gone insane, but I did get it done, and just in time too!

I can't wait for the band to see this newest production in a couple of weeks, because just as I was with the Disney video, I'm extremely proud of what I accomplished with this. And now, thankfully, I can take some time off and head to Florida. Even my band director told me when I handed in the video that I should go to Disney and take a break.

I think I'll listen to him.

Have a magical day!

Day 1102: Work Stops for No One

I sort of feel like I've been working forever.

First, I had the end of last semester, then it was Christmas, then catching up Everyday Disney before the end of the year, then the band trip video, and now I'm about to leave for Florida with a whole new set of challenges to face when I return. This is, I suppose, a part of life, but it certainly hasn't help my brain process the fact that I'm heading to Florida in just a few days. While packing and such, I kept wondering what in the world I was doing, because I certainly didn't feel like I should be packing for Walt Disney World.

It's actually sort of a weird feeling for me. Part of my mind chimes in every so often with a "you're going to be at Disney in three days" and then another part seems to just laugh at that prospect, because with everything else going on there's no way I could be going to Disney. But when I do remind myself I get excited, and then promptly forget about the trip before going back to whatever work I have to be focused on. Usually I'm bouncing off the walls with excitement about going on a trip.

Then again, the fact that I don't even know what day of the week it is half the time probably has something to do with my confusion about leaving for Florida. In fact, I haven't been able to figure out what day it is for about a month...actually since Once Upon A Time ended for the midseason. That's when I really lost track of what's going on. Luckily, my work has kept me from getting bored over J-Term like I usually do. My freshman year I ended up watching almost the entirety of How I Met Your Mother, and last J-Term...I went to Florida? Gosh, I don't even remember what else I did!

Regardless, there's something to be said about working like this. It's exhausting, first and foremost. You get to a point where you never want to look at your computer again, even if it's just to watch Netflix. People text or message you about meeting up for something and you carefully pick through your planned out day to make sure you can allow yourself an hour or two for lunch and some shopping. But I think more than anything, work like I've dealt with this J-Term almost makes the actual semester seem easy...although I do enjoy having the whole of the coffee shop area in our library for myself.

The great part though? Everyday Disney will be caught up before I go to Florida, the band trip video will be done, I'll film a bunch of new YouTube videos while at Disney, and things will get a little bit easier...I hope.

Have a magical day!

Day 1099: The Daily Grind

Usually when you finish the semester you get to take at least a bit of a break, but it's been right back to the daily grind for me. A busy semester has put the editing of the band trip video from this past summer very, very behind, so now I'm hurrying to finish it before I head off to Florida. And so, once again, my life is filled with coffee and days sitting in front of my computer, which means that, really, life isn't that interesting.

Actually, the most interesting parts of my day are my drive to college (where I work in the library) and my drive home. Sometimes there's Starbucks involved, sometimes I'll go grab food, and sometimes I'll just grab a pop tart from the vending machine because it's too cold to go outside willingly if you don't have to. As you can see, it's a bit snowy here.

And so, I don't even have much to report, although sometimes that's just how things are. There's always something that needs our attention before we can turn our focus to more important things...like Disney vacations. It's the Disney fan's favorite thing to do after a long day of hard work...plan a trip to Disney, although we'd probably settle for a Disney movie in the meantime.

As for me, it's back to the daily grind, because I'll be here at school doing this tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that and the day after that and the day after...wait, then I go to Disney. I should probably get back to that video editing...

Have a magical day!

Day 752: One Big Project

Originally I was going to share some top secret information about the band trip video on this particular blog post, but I've decided against it. After all, there's plenty yet to be released in relation to the giant project I've been working on over the past how many weeks, and I'm really looking forward to the prospect of having a premiere for the whole thing. Megan even said I could go get a nice new dress for it. So maybe I'll actually get to "walk the red carpet" for a night. Just kidding, we won't have a red carpet. Unless we use the band room carpet thing we have. I suppose I could walk along that.

Regardless, if you haven't figured it out by the completely crazy schedule of blog posts over the past month or two, or by the constant tweeting about it on my Twitter, I spent pretty much my entire winter break at my laptop, editing video. Now, I'm insanely proud of the product that is the Seymour Community High School Band Trip 2014 Video, which I really should stop calling a video because it's actually more of a movie, but I've been calling it the band trip video for the last two years, so I figure that will be a difficult habit to break.

But despite the fact that I'm trying to save at least a little bit of the surprise for the actual possible premiere, I can share a little bit about what I've been doing for the past two months, even if I can't really share any videos or pictures. So here's some facts about the band trip video:

• Off the top of my head, I can think of at least 9 easter eggs that I have hidden in the video, although I'm sure there's more than that. I had a jolly good time trying to throw little things into the sequence, from the nearly constant references to Captain Hook or Colin O'Donoghue to references to my roommates and beyond. 
• There's a total of 23 songs in the video, which, speaking of Easter Eggs, could be an accidental one in its own right. 
• The final product is 57 minutes long, which was just under my set maximum of an hour. I knew while editing that I had more than enough to get it past that, but for time and entertainment sake, I wanted to keep it to that 60 minute mark. 
• Those 57 minutes are selected from over 30 hours of video and over 3,000 pictures. Yes, I watched every minute and looked at every single photo. It took me an eternity. 
• The video component of the video (that was a strange way to say something) was shot between, I believe, 5 different trips: July 2013, January 2014, March 2014, June 2014 and January 2015. You probably will find a few differences here and there, but for the most part, you can't tell what was shot when. I paid a lot of attention to consistency. The pictures included, however, were all taken on the trip in June. 
• Every person on the trip appears at least once in the video as a whole. I tried really hard to make sure everyone was there, but if you edit videos like this, you already know how difficult this is to achieve. 
• Also in an attempt to make sure everyone felt included in the video is the reasoning for pulling footage from 5 trips, despite the fact that everything included could NOT have been achieved in our one day at each park (or in the case of Animal Kingdom and Epcot, less than day). I went through a checked to see how many attractions I included and there's under 15 from the entirety of Walt Disney World that didn't make it into the final product. My thought process was this: I could have easily gone on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin in June, but I didn't make it to that attraction. However, while interviewing members of the band at the end of our Magic Kingdom day, I found that one of the members LOVED that attraction. Therefore, thanks to some film magic, I have that attraction included. It's all about making it apply to the most people, and when I only have one video camera that's in my hands (or the hands of a trusted friend) at all times, things get tricky. 

And since you're all wondering, I'm sure, it took me approximately 150 hours to simply EDIT the video. That's not counting the time it took to find the songs, tag the pictures, actually film the video, brainstorm, animate the beginning and end (because it IS animated) or a variety of other things. Yep, it took me a really, really long time. Oh, that's also not including the extra hours I had to put on when my bloopers section corrupted. 

So this video means a lot to me. I'm going to try and figure out a way to upload some clips so those of you who aren't in our band but would like to see can get an eye on what I've been working on, but that won't happen until after the "premiere," sadly. But new vlogs will hopefully be coming soon! 

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on January 26 due to a busy schedule).

Day 718: Editing Day and Night

Would you like a picture of my life right about now? Here you go: 

The appropriate captain here would be "Edit, edit, edit, edit, edit, edit..." and just let that repeat forever. 

You see, somewhere along the line of homework and school and music and homework and blogging, I didn't really have time to edit all of the band trip video that I should have been editing for the past six months. This, of course, is a problem. I don't want to make people wait forever, and considering the fact that I return to Disney in (now) just over three days, it means that I needed to get through some of this footage to make sure I don't need anything else when I go (which I do, so this is good). 

The problem is this: I end up spending around 5 hours a day, at least, editing video. There's a lot of it, and at this point, I've spent around 50+ hours in the past few weeks just staring at my computer editing the band trip video, much less blogging or anything else. 

Of course, this is also kind of fun for me, simply because I do enjoy editing video of Disney World. It's kind of a strange feeling. I mean, for instance, you could be editing video of it's a small world and just find it completely weird to be watching the video when you know it so well that you can just picture it all in your head without even seeing the picture. It feels so natural to be walking there, and much less natural to be watching footage that you personally took months previous. 

On the bright side, I'm almost finished with the main parts of the video, after which I have to return and put them all together with interludes and more pictures. It'll take a while, but in the end I have a feeling everything will work out pretty well, especially since the vlogs are now finished and are just waiting to be uploaded to YouTube this week before I leave. 

But, you know, let's just not talk about the 9 new vlogs I'll have to edit when we return in a couple of weeks. 

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on December 29 due to Holidays and Computer Issues).

Day 560: Sentimental After All

To be quite honest, it's been months since the band trip. Just this week I was spending a good amount of time working on the band trip video (which as you already know is a larger undertaking than maybe I initially intended), and the thought came to me that there's a good portion of me that doesn't even realize anything happened.

The band trip video is long, it's going to be long, it's taking a long time to edit. It's just...long. Now, that doesn't mean that it won't be spectacular, because I certainly strive to outdo myself every time I get my hands on a new project regardless of the time and effort it's going to take to do that, and I do hope that the band enjoys the final product...even if it takes me months to edit. But that editing does take time, whether or not there is an extreme emotional attachment and connection to the project or not. When you add that connection in though, that's when things get crazy difficult.

I know I tweeted the other day about this particular project, saying "Trying to edit this video is so difficult for me due to the extreme range of emotions involved. Anger, happiness, pride, heartbreak." And it is difficult. There's a lot that went on behind the scenes of that trip, things you won't see in the vlogs that will hopefully be coming out before the end of the month (October), and things that some people, a lot of people, didn't even experience or realize.

Now, I make a serious effort in life to not hold grudges. The world is already filled with so much hate that it seems pointless to add more negativity to that. But it sure seems to me that no matter how much we attempt to let go of that hate, there's a certain percentage of it that continues to stick with us long after the situation has burned down. And when the people that caused you pain pop up on things like that video, it makes it harder to work on.

In the end, though, I guess I'm still pretty sentimental about the entire trip. It's changed me in more ways than one, and it gave me a chance to bring my best friends home (and to encourage them to return...gosh that's weird!) And no matter what happened with everyone backstage, I still have pictures from the trip covering my desk. Maybe it's not the same group of people previously in those frames, and maybe not every memory involving the trip is a happy one, but when something like that happens you have to remember it for the good moments instead of the bad. You have to edit all the video in a positive light, including everyone and as much of everything as possible, because that's what's going to make an impressive outcome. And that's certainly what I'm striving to do with this band trip video.

I hope to accomplish that (and I guess this is like a little bit of a pep talk for me). At least, I hope to accomplish it if I can ever figure out a way to include everything that needs to be included!

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on October 10).