Don't Cry Daddy

My bonus post here to end Elvis week on this blog is a little self-serving.

Several years ago, I took a class at NYU on digital video film making. I have always been an audio and video enthusiast and since I had the time and money, I decided to take this intensive class. On the first day of class, I was surprised to find that we had to develop a screenplay, define a storyboard, and film the script. I had no idea where to even start.

I asked the instructor if it would be okay if I made my own music video (thus saving me the trouble of writing a script). He agreed. I had always considered Elvis Presley's Don't Cry Daddy to be a perfect "story song." I had also watched Toy Story 2 recently and there's this "music video" right in the middle of the movie as the cowgirl tells of her story and how she was forgotten as the kid grew up. If you haven't seen it, it's hard to explain, but it leaves a lump in your throat. I was amazed at the incredible use of video to manipulate emptions and wanted to see whether I could do that too.

So, I managed to find a couple of friends who agreed to act, recruited my son (who was all of seven years old then), and even found a cameo role for my wife (who agreed very reluctantly). We then stole into a local graveyard to film some scenes and then headed to our home in Highland, NY to finish the indoor scenes. The next two days were spent editing this video.

I was very proud of the finished product - as a first attempt from a complete amateur director (me!) It was a single camera shoot. So EVERY scene change required a different take that then had to be edited together so it didn't look like different takes. This is a lot trickier than it sounds. If you don't get the cuts exactly right, there is a tiny little "jerk" that makes the motion appear unnatural (e.g., the guy swigging the whiskey from the coffee cup and setting it down on the counter are two completely separate takes; the guy sitting on the edge of the bed and rubbing his forehead and then getting up to leave the bedroom are two separate takes that need to appear like one fluid motion). Frankly, I thought my editing job was one of the best in the class. All in all, it was a busy, intense, but extremely enjoyable week in that class.

So, in honor of Elvis week here, I'm presenting the result of that film making class. You can find the video directly on YouTube here. Or just click on the image below to have it play right within this blog post. Feel free to post a comment either here on this blog or on YouTube.