Scary Debuts.

My video is out.  Our secret is out too.  Quite early on, in the the start up of ThisDayToday.com, we realized we needed to speed up the process of filming the pieces.  Alfred
Molina is our current record holder having shot the most pieces in one session, but not everyone has his control and memory retention.

So when on a job, I looked closely at a professional teleprompter being used to help some local actors create an instructional video for Japanese doctors...a tricky gig where all the crew struggled to stay focused, as everything was in Japanese and the director was in Japan watching via Skype.  The teleprompter just looked like a piece of glass at 45 degrees, with monitor underneath it.  So I did some research and that is all that's really needed in a studio situation - it's more tricky in bright sunlight etc.

With some left over plywood in the garage, less than $20 for a new picture frame and an old flat-ish screen monitor, I had everything I needed.  As soon as we started using it, we become so much more productive.  We've always striven to pack in the material to keep the videos short, and the teleprompter helps with the precision needed.  And as the performers get used to it, it becomes a guide not a master.  It's funny though, Mr Molina has continued to show his metal and still remains our record holder - recently we shot 12 pieces with him in one session !

Then it struck me.  Who invented the teleprompter?  We should cover that.  Who should write and perform it?... and that's where it went wrong.  Of course, I should write and perform it.  After all, I was that one who built the thing.   Only one snag.  I don't perform.  I guess you could say I write, in that I write this blog, but it's not the really the same thing.  It scared me.  I felt embarrassed.  I've never wanted to perform.  But none the less,  I had to do it.  We shot it on June 5th - that's a long time to get nervous.

On the very day my video went out, my eldest son Fergus started at a new school.  When we arrived in the US almost 4 years ago, Fergus spent a miserable 6 weeks at a local school, that ended with his teachers losing him in a public park.  I know, total incompetence!  He never went back to that school.   So we were all more than a little scared about the new school.  Fergus was clearly nervous, but he rose to the challenge.  He's managed to keep an open mind, stay positive and he's already made a new friend.  He even seems to like his new teacher... that'll change! ;-)

They say, "What scares you, makes you stronger."  Be strong my friends.