How it Started and Where It Ended Up
 
My first idea for this project was DRASTICALLY different from the second idea, which then proved to be DRASTICALLY different from the final execution.
 
Improvisation proved to be key in me finding my way through this project.
 
Initially, I began work on a lucid dream inducing machine.  The goal was to create something that would work reasonably well without costing much money at all.
Thus the first trip to Fry’s began:
 
        The idea was a machine that would be able to produce sound and images along with subtle light changes but also keep someone from awakening. The sound could easily be achieved through a pair of $9 speakers I found at Fry’s.
 
 
 
 
 
 
      
       I knew I wanted to use an old computer I had                 ‘borrowed’ from my parents when I left home 3 years ago, however I did not have a monitor I felt I could paint or part with, so I then headed to the Goodwill Computer Store.   There I found a crazy cheap 17” VGA monitor which would suite me just fine.
 
 
 
 
It was then I started to think that it wouldn’t work because it would simply wake me up constantly whenever it turned on. Since I am a fan of having
 fans on at all times, I figured the next thing I should consider is some ‘buffer’ to keep me from awakening.
                             This led me to find a cheap USB powered fan which would be on me at all times in hopes that I’d become more numb to things jolting me awake.
 
 
After a Box was obtained (late night
creepy Wal-Mart trip) I assembled
the ‘machine’.   It woke me up everytime.   It was unusable.  
 
 
 
 
 
From here my project evolved into a short narrative about someone needing to do what I did and then dropping into insanity and delirium.
 
The narrative project quickly took a turn away from that when I started work first on the soundtrack for the piece.  I enjoyed some of the work I did musically, and based the structure of the film and narrative around that instead of vice versa.
 
The audio track consists of several electric guitar tracks, however there is one that goes from start to finish without stopping, and it was that take that formed the narrative I was most pleased with.  
 
After grabbing some camera supplies out of my closet and filming some beautiful sunsets and imagery I found intoxicating, I ended up with what I dub a ‘visual motion storybook’.
 
Recalling some PBS shows I recall as a child, I was quite content with it although it was absolutely nothing like the project I was hoping to present.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Project 2
“Chasing Sunsets”
 
Type: Short Visual Storybook
 
Tools Used: Canon ZR200, MiniDV, Logic Express, Final Cut Pro 5.1.4, Fender FatStrat, Ebow, Seinheiser Mic, Analog Pre-Amp, Bunny Statue, Custom-made ‘DreamMachine’, 17” VGA monitor, parent’s old computer, empty boxes taken out of wal-mart,  
 
 
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