Daft.

Yep, we're daft.  Creating a video for every day is fun.  It is, honestly.  Especially when you get great people to help with the creation.  But there are certain days where it seems that nothing has ever happened, or certainly nothing worth joking about.  And then there's days like St Patrick's, where the main event is like a big elephant in the room and it can't sensibly be ignored.

When we were planning this project, we'd expected that nearly all of the videos would be of Lynn.  The videos would show off Lynn's talents and keeping everything in house (literally), would keep things simple.  We then thought that we might be able to persuade some friends to do a few days here and there, to keep things more interesting.  So first we made some test videos and sent them out to friends for some feedback.  Then two things happened, one we realized that it would be too much for Lynn to perform them all and two, lots of our friends loved the idea so much, that they wanted to help write or perform them.

So I guess we're not the only daft ones.  In fact, I think our St Patrick's Day video proves that!  Tightly scripted and just as tightly choreographed... ;-)

Sometimes it all seems to be too much work and I think we're being beyond merely daft.  And then we have another amazing experience.  Like on Friday, we shot 4 videos with Kathy Baker and I still chuckle thinking about them.  Her first airing will be for Friday March 23rd and I can't wait to share it.  I am that daft.

P.S.  The website is up now and it has the youtube versions of the videos embedded, so smartphone users can get to watch more easily.

JFDI - One Week In.

We've been merrily filming, editing and posting our videos for over a week now.  And we're tired.   So tired that sometimes I find myself staring the computer screen, unaware that I'm even looking at it.

I've made a few mistakes.  Had to reedit.  Had to re-upload.  Had to return home for the letter that I'd set off to post.

Did we under estimate the workload?  Perhaps.

Did we underestimate the obsession?  Definitely.

But here's the rub. I've never felt so alive, so energized and so fulfilled.... Hmm, if I'd read or heard someone else say that, I'd assume that they were lying, or delusional, or both.  Perhaps I am deluding myself, but boy is it fun.  I must delude myself more often!

We film at home.  When people arrive they usually seem a little nervous.  Perhaps that's because of the big steel 'drug dealer style' front door that we still haven't changed, or maybe it's the feeling that internet videos are still considered to be a bit like the wild west.  Soon though, there's coffee and chat and we head up to our makeshift studio, with it's big green screen and bright lights.  Then it's all fun.  Lynn directs.  The scripts are tailored to precisely fit the performer through practice, reviews and re-takes till we're all content.

Lynn tells me that not all shoots are like that.  There can be a fair amount of tension and stress.  Perhaps that's the effect of the budgetary risk.  We haven't got a budget to risk.  We're just risking our time.

I had a wonderful lesson on Friday.  A script just didn't work, so Lynn went downstairs to see what other options she had to hand.  The idea being, that meanwhile I would shoot the next script without her direction, by myself...  So I recorded Jeremy talking about the spring equinox.  And then it was up to me to give direction, give him notes.  There was silence.  A lot of it.  Then we just laughed, it was so obvious that I had absolutely no idea what to do!

I do the studio setup, the camera, the lights, the sound, the editing, the uploading and a whole lot more.  On Friday I got a glimpse of just how much Lynn provides.  She directs the writing, the performers, the editing and a whole lot more.  It's a good feeling to be in awe of your wife.

P.S. Our website is live now.  It's pretty basic at the moment, as all of our effort is being spent on the videos, but it's easier to remember www.ThisDayToday.com  than the blip.tv or youtube addresses.

Our Latest Obsession.

It's 1:30am.  I have to admit my wife is right.  I am obsessed.

Lynn and I had this argument a few weeks back.  Though it's difficult to remember the details exactly, here's my version...

Lynn was moaning about what some exec or other had said to her.  I wasn't listening.  I'd heard it all before and I was bored.  One of our flawed traits is to assume that someone else will have the answer, that someone will be more knowledgeable than us.  It's a flaw, but it's often difficult to spot when you're tired and, let's face it, who wants the opposite situation where you wrongly ignore the advice of an expert because you didn't like what they said?

So I suggested that it might be nice if she put more time and effect into creating our own products.  Why didn't she write her blog?  Those photographs of abandoned couches are nice, but maybe she could actually write something.  Maybe instead of complaining about someone else, we could just do our own thing.

Lynn was angry, so she 'mentioned' that if we were going to do something our selves, it should be short and interesting and follow a structure.  And it shouldn't be live, because it should be scripted and well put together...  There after followed a 'spirited' conversation where we thrashed out a concept for what we've called "This Day Today."

And then we made a big decision!   To employ the principles of JFDI - that's JUST F*CKING DO IT!  We've had good ideas before and not implemented them fully, waiting for the right time, over thinking the marketing, getting too scared of the costs, etc.  Not this time - JFDI.

So we made 5 test videos.  We showed them to friends.  They liked them.  We got some more writers.  We set our selves a stretch target - to start posting the videos in just over 2 weeks time - March 1st.  (A stretch target being one that you think might be possible, but isn't that probable).

From that point on, Lynn was obsessed with getting the pieces written and getting interesting performers on board.  Then as it all become reality, I became obsessed with which video platform, how to do the filming, editing, web presence.......

And then I realized one night.  California is behind the times, literally.  New Zealand is 21 hours ahead of us.  That stretch target became Feb 29th at 3am.  Yes I am obsessed.

So here you have it, we just f'ing did it...  http://Blip.TV/ThisDayToday   And if you like it, we'll keep doing it too.