Another sad day in video production history

My computer is doin’ funky stuff and yesterday wouldnt start. I had to work in the evening but my parents brought it to the ol’ Apple store to see about repairs and now it’s stuck there for diagnostics to find the problem…for the next couple weeks probably. Yarg. Frustration.

Ratatat...Hope they check their email.

So I just a few days ago emailed and Myspace messaged Ratatat to inquire about the possibility they would be interested in a fan made music video to use on their site or like the others I have seen in their shows..who knows..just was curious and found out via anonymous comment on this blog (thanks management) that one of the members is originally from my home town o Kent, Ohio…so who knows. Kinda worried now cause no response yet and that one feature with the whole checkin' if ppl have read your message or not thing has me obsessed cause they read it and..well no response..but once again who knows.

RRRRAT A TAT

Well the last few days the gang, Brandy n Austin, Todd, Tommy, Jay n Sarah, Bosh Dorgan, Audrey, and Myself have been hangin bout shooting a boombox that Todd long ago found in the trash at the Kent post office. The resulting edited piece will hopefully be a slightly entertaining Ratatat music video.

In the midst of shooting though it came across my brain that in the long run this won't be a viable usable project cause..of course Ratatat is all big n stuff. Thus very little chance they would give me the rights or time of day when designing a music video for them.

As a result of this realization I decided to contact the local Akron, Ohio band Trillit to maybe see if they would be interested in a music video with the same sort of concept. To my surprise they actually contacted me back about the proposition and now I am gonna try n dazzle them into using something. So hoping for the best here. Ya'll soon will be seeing at the very least the Ratatat version of the project.

Goodwill's dumpsters call my name

The other day, I believe it was a Tuesday, Austin, Brandy, Sara, n I ventured out into the night to raid the dumpsters of Chapel Hill establishments like a crew of giant raccoons.

Personally I didn't come along anything that I personally found to be a real find...except maybe an Empire magazine missing it's cover in the ol' Borders dumpster.

Soon I'm hopin to make another few ventures and this time to the Goodwill because when it comes to dumpster diving in this area that is your most reliable outlet to get good shit.

Stress

So as of lately I have been cramming as much work as mentally possible into each day editing a wedding video for my friends Josh n Val. Edie Lane. Val's mom. Has been breathing down my neck a bit, you could say, about gettin' it finished.

Maybe stress is too weak a word.

Strangely though even with the extreme push to polish n burn the project looming constantly I am actually a bit relieved with the incentive, of sorts, to get this project out the way. Since the purchase of a Lynda.com account from Chris Leppz I have been learning a lot about more efficiently using all of my programs. So with this wedding out of the way it will open time that I can really get goin' on making something fun as a Showreel to hand out and or even just cruise through with my friends and reminisce about the good times filming.

Unfortunately new shit would would B.A. but this damn battery situation is looming over my head, time, gas money, music video ideas. Anyone reading this wanna get on some Youngstown road trippin?

Lost equipment

Well not exactly lost but misplaced temporarily.

A couple weeks ago I was in Youngstown with my dad shooting his Origami presentation and came home completely unaware I had left my XL2 battery and charger plugged into the wall at the museum he was performing at.

Then at the worst possible time. RIght after I got a good idea and busted out my equipment to shoot it I realized where it was.

Sad day in the history of filmmaking.

Luckily the day after though my dad was able to contact the women who hired him in an email and she assured us that the battery and charger are both still there and safe behind the front desk. This fact though has yet to make Youngstown a closer or easier trip... thus still have not been able to trek to retrieve it.

Hopefully soon though...wouldn't want them to get fed up with keeping it and chuck 3 or so hundred dollars in the trash.

Once I do finally have my camera up and running again with power and such I am planning on shooting a music video for Ratatat..not sure what song yet. The newest album has some real winners on it but as I shoot I will probably decide once I'm in the process of the editing.

And speaking of editing I am in the midst of throwing together some sort of mock music videos for Sigur Ros. Nothing spectacular just little bits of old footage to a few of the song of the newest album.

I need to quit my job

So lately the thoughts of how unclear my future is have started to consume my mind and the possibility I might never get to work in anything creative.

So in comes the thoughts of Film School n such all over again.

Thus I'm considering runnin off to NYC for 3 months or so to go to New York Film Academy...

Hmm thinkin...who knows...

All Quiet On The Film Front

Unfortunately nothing has been moving along that much right now except Rodney Wilson owner of Scribbles gave the definitive go ahead for filming inside of Scribbles after hours for Psychology of a Coffee Shop. So soon we will hopefully be going in some day after hours and filming some blocking and familiarizing ourselves with the place for the actual shoot.

If you have never been to Scribbles Coffee Co. in Downtown Kent across form the Brewhouse I highly recommend checking it out sometime. They serve delicious Fair Trade coffee and sell awesome clothing from SupaStarr Clothin.


Love Song To Scribz Coffee Co. "NEWLY UPDATED!" from Dylan Baldridge on Vimeo.

Well it's been a year...

I am really bad with updating and blogging in general but I am gonna try n start this up again. In the time I've missed I've purchased an XL2 and that is extremely exciting. I have shot a few things with it and also discovered a really nice video hosting site that now allows me to host videos at a more respectable quality.

CHECK IT GUYS!

I have also purchased a nice kit of sound equipment which includes...

Short Shotgun Mic
Shock Mount
Boom Pole
20' Cable
Really Short Cable
& Rycote Softie

It's turned out to be pretty sweet especially paired with the new camera and the short Suck It Up Bitch On Vimeo gives a good example of its quality.

Besides those purchases and the tests with said equipment not much else has been happening. Since I last posted Still Remains was shot and is now stuck in a really long drawn out Post-Production process because of maaannny things that need to be fixed from production.

At the moment two productions are in the process... one Psychology of a Coffee Shop a short script written by my friend and fellow filmmaker Randy Shaffer of "Bob Hotchkins Rent-A-Cop" fame.

The other is a series of shorts that will start appearing on a regular bases on Vimeo soon hopefully that is just a test of dream like storytelling and surreal filmmaking called "Ten Thousand Sheep" the name is kinda pending but thats the best I've come up with yet.

Updates soon hopefully. Thanks for reading!

Website up.

Well you can now go to www.happyclapperstudios.com and it will just reroute you back to here...but soon I will have some sweet stuff up. Give us some hits guys. Thanks!