Okie dokie. I posted some thoughts on Day 4/September 1st (entitled ‘The Video” – something like that). It had my thoughts as to how the beginning could “look.” We get THREE MINUTES. I personally know – from doing video podcasting, speaking, etc. – that 3 minutes is just about time to breathe in and out, and say one sentence. Unless you want to talk like Alvin the Chipmunk.

Here are TAR’s pointers on the video:

Be yourself!  We want to get to know who you are as a person, and who you are as a team. Tell us about yourself and your teammate. How will your personalities affect your experience on the show?  How will you interact with the other teams? How will you interact with each other? When describing yourself, remember to cite real life examples. We love a good story!

This is a show about relationships, so let us know how your relationship with your teammate will help you win this Race. It’s not about putting together the best skit or wearing the wackiest costumes. We’re looking for real people and we want to see the real you.  Tell us what skills and life experiences you and your teammate bring that will help you do well as participants on the show. Both teammates need to be on one video. We especially are looking for how the two of you interact. If you can not get together to make a video, you’ll have to figure out a way to edit both of you on the same video. We do not accept single submissions for this show.

This all has to be shown in 3 minutes, mind you.

So this is a mock up that I think will GET THEIR ATTENTION, and will
SHOW WHAT COULD BE INTERESTING FOR THEIR SHOW:

First 30 seconds: Star Wars “crawl” intro:

Star Wars “crawl” in beginning (SEE Day 4 idea on this) – ending as noted in that post. Using the John Williams score that’s actually linked to that post, the music begins at 0:03. I believe that a short crawl (a la the one I mentioned in the Day 4 post) would get us to about 0:23, where the “scratch” sound would happen, then my voiceoverand R’s voiceover (as per Day 4).

That will take us to about 0:30.

Second 30 seconds: Robbie’s photos/introduction by me:

Next comes R’s photos, I overdub her story, as we then seem more “together”/as if we “know one another’s story” because we’re telling each other’s story.

So this would be something like:

(photos of R as a kid hunting/fishing/canoeing – in between whatever story is told – now/L.A. entertainment stuff/more desk-related)

I overdub: “Robbie started out as a tomboy kid in Michigan. She learned not only how to swim, climb, and jump, but also paddle a canoe backwards. Now, she’s a city girl, in the Entertainment Industry in Los Angeles.” (That exact phrase, said at the right speed, would be 10 seconds. So it would need 20 seconds more, for the full 1/2 minute, and would need photos to go under the voiceover.)

Third 30 seconds: Sandy’s photos/introduction by R:

(photos of S as a kid – bookworm – in between whatever story I tell – now/more active, lawyer)

R overdubs: “[Photos of me as a kid – the names of the photos could be the “subtitles” of these photos, perhaps shot as if they are in an old scrapbook, with the title underneath?] From her earliest memory, Sandy lived out her life between the pages, imagining what it would be like to climb, jump, and canoe without actually getting dirty. She is happily married [photo of H and me at wedding with Robbie in background, perhaps with an “arrow” pointing to Robbie that says ‘Robbie’ on it] and has traveled with her husband [travel photos go by here], but he is responsible for the planning – she takes care of keeping things light [photo of “making a face like the statue” in Cambodia goes here]. As she approached 50 [photo in orange leather dress at 50th bday celebration], she came to realize that life was more fun in 3D, got up off the couch, and in the past couple years has completed an Ironman triathlon [Ironman finish photo], marathons, triathons, all while raising over $25,000 to fight blood cancer. She’s a lawyer in Northern California, and wants to do the Amazing Race to prove that she can both keep things light and plan.”

This, said at the correct speed, is 30 seconds long. I have Dropboxed photos of me as a kid with books, photos with Herbert, one photo of Robbie from my wedding (standing next to my friend Seb, who could be cut out – this could be used by Robbie or not used); one photo from our wedding where Robbie is doing the video to the side, various race photos.

Fourth 30 seconds: scroll intro of our background “together”:

The screen goes black, Williams score fades back in (at about 3:45 mins, per the John Williams score linked on Day 4), “scroll” starts with:

Robbie and Sandy met over 20 years ago
while interns at Lucasfilm. They were older than the other interns,
but played well with others. They stayed in touch through first email,
then Instant Messaging, then Facebook and Facebook Messenger.
Though 20-year friends, they have seen each other less than 10 times in person.
Their relationship is that of…

(in Starvader script): CYBER PALS

NOTE: To do this right will take looking at the initial Star Wars “scroll” HERE to see the font/scroll (just like the first “scroll” mentioned above) – but in ours, the “CYBER PALS” (which should look like “STAR WARS”) will come after, not before, the crawl.

You hear me in the background shouting “Robbie!  HEY!  STOP THAT!” and the “needle scratching off a record sound” again…it could even cut to “Darth Vader’s theme” for a few seconds if we have time, in a black screen (as if to indicate me, the big bad lawyer/Darth Vader…).

Fifth 30 seconds – our “video” together:

Cut to us on Skype. Video should “fades in” as if the video is “cutting into” a conversation that is already going:

R: It’s all about the visuals. We have to use the Star Wars theme ‘cos that’s where we met – and I think that we should like do a cut of us running across the Golden Gate, now 20-odd years later. It’s beautiful. I can drive up. We could shoot it on a weekend.

S: But that’s not our “relationship story.” The deal is – how will we work together, when we’ve been friends for 20 years but nearly never in the same place? That’s never been done on the show! That’s the story! [me flailing my arms around]

R: [arms crossed, sort of pouting] But it’s not very pretty. We need good visuals.

S: [eyebrow raised] Well . . . I’m taping this. That’s a visual.

R: [Horrified look] Oh, you’re not. [Peers into Skype box] Geez look at my hair….[hand in hair]

Video fades out to black.

<That dialog, as written, is 30 seconds>

Sixth 30 seconds: Finale:

Black with stars (see Star Wars video for what I’m talking about) – you hear R in background saying “you’re not recording this, right? Really?” and then S saying something like “You’re going to learn I snore like a Mack truck on steroids” and R saying “Look, we’ve gotta have better visuals…” ending with R capitulating – “okay, let’s try it” and S then saying “I dunno, maybe you’re right…”

Slowly fade in to the following, in this order: (1) our names and info, then (2) “CYBER-PALS’ fades in (in the Star Wars font)…then (3) the Pick us line fades in, then (4) the last line fades in:

ROBERTA KENNEY, 59 (rlk@rkenney.com)
SANDY SHEPARD, 51 (goodsolutions1@yahoo.com)
CYBER PALS
Pick Us: We don’t even know what we’ll really be like!
Let’s all find out together, on camera!

Ending with the “end” of the John Williams score (in THIS version – it’s from 2:00 to 2:07 – the other score that’s linked above doesn’t end the same).

Finis.

The only thing that we do NOT have is a “photo of the team together” (per the application) – we have everything else once we get this video done. So that’s the one thing that we have to figure out how to have. Could be a photo of the Skype screen….I put a number of potential “single photos” into the Dropbox, for me.

POSTSCRIPT: Just heard a great tag-phrase on an ad: Would love to co-opt it, something like “We want to travel the long distance together, to shorten the distance between us.”