Monday, November 09, 2009

Genesis, with Vikings

Three or four years ago, a couple of friends and I decided to make a short stop-action film because we are gluttons for punishment. The film was to be called "Genesis" and it was to be very funny. That's all I remember. I have no idea what the overall arc of the plot was and it is not really evident from the "footage" on my hard drive, which I ran across tonight while looking for some old picture to post about. Of course, we did not make notes, and we abandoned the project after one night. (Because why work in the daytime when you can work at night?)

Using the poorest possible editing software, and guessing at the story we originally planned, I put this very strange little movie together. It's about four minutes long, it could really use some fine-tuning, and many if not all of you will probably not be able to watch it due to software issues. Nevertheless, here it is.

P.S. Please ignore that I spelled "hastened" wrong. It's too much trouble to go back and fix it at the moment.

11 comments:

Matthew said...

Oh Simon, WOW!!! I totally remember that, and THAT is about the best use of found "footage" ever. Bravo! The way you've described the plot seems to be what little of it I remember. The only other thing I can add was that there was planning for a tree that grew steins of beer. How that related, I'm not sure.

(Also, I cannot remember the last time that I laughed so hard that I actually cried. But it happened just now, and I wish you could've witnessed it. The video put me into fits of hysterical laughter.)

Adam said...

Brilliant! Matt and I laughed ourselves silly. I remember that night as well. Oddly, the main things that seem to have stuck in my memory were the monkeys and the fish wielding ghost.

Katie said...

Wow. Just wow. Bravo filmmakers. Simon neglected to tell me just how funny this would be and I made the mistake of watching it while eating. That led to my coughing and my near dimise. But I laughed so hard I cried and spat oatmeal out my mouth. The things I never knew about Eden. The Bible was certainly holding out on us!

Simon said...

Yay, I'm glad you all enjoyed it! It's always been my goal for this blog to make people cry.

I wonder if I can work in the beer tree somehow for the final cut. I remember that too, now, but not WHY... since none of us are big drinkers of beer. Maybe it was because I had a lot of sweet Olde Worlde-looking Playmobil steins.

Ivan said...

this is eerily similar to the flash forward pilot. I think your plot is fresher.

Instead of posting today, I just watched this video four or five times.

Katie said...

I apparently forgot to post this last night. That's why it ignores Ivan's comment completely.

I hope the goal was to make people cry in a good way, not a "make them lie sobbing in realization of their unworthiness as humans" sort of goal. Cause you haven't met that goal but I might stop reading the blog if you start trying to attain that :)

I love that Playmobil had anything that LOOKED like beer steins. And that you put them in a tree. In the Garden of Eden. That should definitely be in the final cut. I would also like to request a soundtrack. Just to be picky and all. And because I thought my speakers were broken. And because we seem to be requesting things. And by we I mean me. And you are talking about a final cut. So now I am demanding things. But I think that you can put Matt in charge of the music.

Unknown said...

Matt told me about this last night, and I should have watched it then in the privacy of my own home. As it happened I just watched it at work and nearly choked trying to hold back the laughter. Well done!

Simon said...

KP: Unfortunately, we never photographed the steins in the tree. I don't think we even set it up. Maybe I can add it in as a pick-up shot. LOL. I crack myself up. Also, I wasn't sure I could use music and then post it online. Isn't that slightly illegal? We try to stay on the right side of the law here at Simon & Ivan.

Dan: Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it, and also that you didn't DIE because I would have felt very bad about that...

Katie said...

Oh. Ok then. Um. Maybe you could use some music where the Vienna Boys Choir sings Enya. Or you could make Matt and Adam hum random Viking music. I like that idea better!

Also, I sense a trend, cause two of us almost died watching this movie. It is dangerous. There should be an FDA warning like a preview up front. That would just add to the awesome.

Anonymous said...

Excellent!! ****
(that's 4 stars in case you couldn't tell)

I second the call for a sequel, and I propose one (or both!) of these scenarios for the sequel:

1) Vikings on the Titanic (since it is nautical and so were the Vikings) - OK, so a Playmobil pirate ship might not look quite like the Titanic, but that is what special effects are for, isn't it?

2) Since you already have an island, "Survivor - Viking's Island" seems like a natural. Then, getting kicked off of the island would have real meaning, Viking style (feel free to make up whatever you think fits "Viking style").

:-)

Simon said...

1) I knew who this was but it did not strike me until this minute what the Titanic thing was about. I really need to write those words down.

2) A Viking version of Survivor does seem kind of natural. I will ponder this. I just hope it doesn't involve having to watch the actual tv show, because I can't bring myself to do that. However, I have confidence in my ability to work Vikings into any scenario whatsoever, so there is hope.