Go Ahead, Move Over Scorsese, That Next Oscar’s Mine

Some of you may know that in a former life I was a broadcast journalism major at Boston University. I mastered the fine art of 10-word sentences, one minute packages, and supers flying across the screen. I even worked for WCVB ABC Boston as an evening news intern—nobody could hand out scripts like I could. And who knew all that training was preparing me to one day edit my very own BOOK TRAILER!

Oh, yes. I busted out the vacation video I shot in Puerto Rico last fall—from the fort in Old San Juan to my dad’s old church in Utuado. Then I headed over to Suburban Square Shopping Center on Monday to take some photos and video deep in the heart of the Main Line. I also promptly Googled “royalty free production music” to download some killer tracts to lay across my images (and who says elevator music can’t be awesome?). And, of course, I wouldn’t be a film producer if I didn’t have a script—so I banged one of those out too.

Then I spent about fifteen minutes reading the “Help” menu on Windows Movie Maker (did you know this comes free with your laptop? I had no idea until I checked ‘Start’ and ‘Programs.’ Go look, it’s there.). Turns out it’s a pretty easy program to use—granted there was a time when I could edit footage on professional news equipment. But trust me, this is way easier than adding “color bars” to a VHS tape before you can lay down the voice-over audio. However, I do now wish I owned a Mac. I was limited in the transitions I could use, and I couldn’t change the timing of those transitions or lay graphics over video (other than plain text). So, Santa if you’re reading this, an iMac would make an excellent stocking stuffer.

Thus, without further ado, here it is….my directorial debut! All shot on location in Puerto Rico and the Main Line—by the author! (So I guess that makes this my cinematography debut as well.)

Ladies and gentleman please rise for…. Amor and Summer Secrets, THE BOOK TRAILER!



Well, what’d ya think? Did you like it? Send me a comment and tell me your thoughts!

Also, it’s on YouTube (though the quality there isn’t as good, it looks like it got distorted during the compression process). But if you’ve got a YouTube account and you’d like to rate my video and give me wonderful feedback, CLICK HERE!

POP-CULTURE RANT: Beach Volleyball

So, as you know, my watching of the Olympics has reached addictive levels. I think there is a part of me that always wanted to be on a Wheaties box—though I sucked at sports (wait, does cheerleading count?). Anyway I was watching beach volleyball, and I noticed that in between every play the “stadium” blares music at unusually loud decibels considering that there are only four people on the court. And their song choices are hysterical even if they were playing in an arena football stadium. But somehow watching the Olympics in Beijing and hearing “Kung Fu Fighting” after a serve seemed particularly odd. So was “Walk Like an Egyptian” after a spike. And “Fight for the Right to Party” after a block. How are the players expected to “Go for Gold” with that as their theme music? At least play the Rocky anthem or something. Go USA!