Instant_Video #23 — Country / City by Tammy Lin Foreman (4 min. 2009) Directed, shot, and edited by Lester Alfonso for the collaborative weekly video project that ran from 2008 to 2010.
Check out also: The Instant Video Showcase and Before Instant Videos featuring videos prior to the Instant Video project and broadcast on CBC’s ZeD TV. Audio tracks are available for purchase on Tammy Lin Foreman’s Bandcamp page.
She’s a little bit country…
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
…I’m a little bit rock ‘n roll. Rolling that Earth globe with one hand and lowering the tripod head slowly with the other… Phew. It’s take 17.
I’m not writing this on my usual computer. It feels…different.
First the looper died. Now my computer is on the fritz. It keeps making a painful noise. Making me wince. Each time. I have to get it looked at. Seriously.
The making of the video ultimately killed it. Making the video was epic in Instant Video standards. The computer cacked in mid-compression. We drove to a friend’s house in Toronto to borrow a computer with Final Cut Pro that could open the project I’ve been working on to output a Quicktime file. The video was uploaded from his computer.
I didn’t have time to write this blog. This is a project in creation. You are witnessing the birth. Blah. Blah.
Country / City started off as an elaborate idea based on creating a green-screen dress effect with fancy lights borrowed from another shoot. It got later and later that night. Then Tammy realized that she had to sing the song another way. I started hating the shag rug I tacked up on the wall behind Tammy.
We went to bed.
We had too much time to think about it. The effect didn’t work. I needed more instant in the Instant Video.
The next day, I am thinking about the Instant Video “story” as it was told last week. I’m thinking that Tammy was off to space on a blinking intergalactic transporter in Lights Blink.
If that were true… She would see the Earth from space, wouldn’t she?
My eye catches the glint of the globe in the attic. The globe is so last minute. But that’s somehow “country/city” to me.
The green-screen heart on the banjo is kept in the video as a reminder of the other idea. And hauntingly, the song stays.
Country / City by Tammy Lin Foreman You've got a style a rhythm That comes from within and when I see your smile I can't help myself but grin Come now I know a place Somewhere out of this rat race. Country I want to go off City That's what I want to blow off Let's go off I've got a plan to build a place of my own no more landlords calling me on the phone paying rent is like throwing money out I want to live without a doubt City I want to blow it off Country Say you will go off with me Say you will go off with me Say you will go off with me Say you will go off with me
posted by Lester Alfonso at 8:33 PM 2 Comments
Well – I like it – even if it wasn’t your original intention…
GeoD March 12, 2009 at 12:00 AM
Sorry to hear about your recent technical issues… I have Final Cut Pro (btw) – so in the future I may be able to save you a trip to Toronto. 😉
I might just have to take you up on that Final Cut offer..even if it’s just an excuse to get together… you available next week?
Lester Alfonso March 12, 2009 at 6:40 AM