If you're wondering how I got into making fanvids continue reading. I'll try not to bore you too severely.

I may be a professional chef, but one of my first love's is film. Back when I was in high school I was a member of the AV club along with several of my friends. We played around with big clunky B&W video cameras and equipment, taping various activities at and around Forest Lawn Senior High in Calgary. It was seriously geeky, and it was also a hell of a lot of fun. My partners in crime and I also used to make silly little Super 8 films with nifty home-brewed SFX in our spare time. Oh yes, we were definitely aspiring little film geeks with serious delusions of grandeur. It was a good time.

After graduating from high school I wasn't quite sure what I wanted as a career, but making movies was high up on the list along with being an astronomer. One of the technical colleges in Calgary had a excellent film course which was part of their Cinema, Television, Radio, and Stage Arts program. I applied in the spring of '81, did the essay on why I wanted to become a filmmaker, and survived the interviews with the various department heads and instructors. Unfortunately, due to the the high demand for the program, I was stuck on the waiting list (only 75 openings and nearly 700 applicants). The only ways I could get into the program was to wait another year and reapply, hope that someone would change their mind and back out, or that they be abducted by aliens and suffer an unpleasant fate. So I went to plan "B": I signed up for the Culinary Arts program instead. Why? Cooking just happened to be one of the other little hobbies of mine. Becoming a chef seemed like a good back-up plan and at least I would never starve. One of my friends managed to get into the film course a year later. I ended up helping out on a few of his class projects from time to time and I even learned a few new things along the way. He's still in the indie film biz and has written a screenplay loosely based about our high school years which should be quite entertaining if and when he gets it produced.

Okay, enough with the the good old days, now flash forward about 20-odd years to the middle of April, 2003. It was the beginning of the Great Firefly Vid Kerfuffle, and one the primary reasons I got into vidding. I'll try to give you the unbiased short 'n sweet version of the events. You can check out the link I've provided for a little better and fuller perspective on it. It was an interesting and eye-opening turn of events for me in general. You might want to also check out the history of vidding as well.

Anyways, a couple of vidders had made some really awesome Firefly vids. A fan of the TV show with good intentions in mind also thought they were great, and planned on burning them to a CD and presenting them to one of the actors from the show. This was not a very good (or smart) thing to do since fanvids are a very gray area when it comes down to it. They provide extra exposure (basically free advertising) for the show, show off the vidder's talent, and usually the PTB ignore them. That's why most of the vidders at the time preferred to fly under the radar and try not bring too much attention to themselves. The fan didn't get permission from the vidders to distribute their vids in this fashion, and it's not a wise idea to give vids to people involved with the production of the show since copyright issues might come up, nasty C&D letters written, pesky lawyers getting involved, vids being pulled down, and fan-sites getting shut down. This is obviously not a good thing if you make fanvids. The vidders were understandably upset when they found out about this plan and made their displeasure be known on several forums. It got real ugly for a while and all manner of stupid between numerous posters.. The go-se really hit the fan.

At one site, a person put up a couple of vids without the vidder's consent which was a pretty stupid thing to do. The vidder found out about it and politely asked that the vids be removed. She also reminded the webmaster of the site that permission should have been secured before putting the vids up on his site. There was much debate and disagreement on the subject at Firefly Fans dot net. This is one of the links that still works: Kerfuffle at FFF.net. Finally, one of the vidders basically ended up stating in one of the forums: "If you people want anymore Firefly vids, learn the art, and make 'em yourselves. 'Cause we aren't until you learn and play by the rules." Although this sounded very harsh to me, I had to agree with it. So I did some poking around the 'net for a few pointers/tutorials on fanvids, found a quick tutorial at Farscape Fantasy, and discovered that I had Windows Movie Maker 2 on my computer. Not exactly the greatest software in the universe, but it was a good enough start for me. I set out to make my first vids and discovered it wasn't as daunting or intimidating as I thought it might be. Of course the prior interest in filmmaking and movies helped considerably.

I tend to have a very linear and slow-paced editing style when it comes to most of my vids and they also tend to have a slightly rough around the edges look compared to most other vids out there these days. I am a bit of a perfectionist at heart, but I also know when to say enough is enough (most of the time) and step back from what I've made. I could go back and polish the hell out of them, however that would defeat my original intention: I made these for fun and to share with my friends at Still Flying, TWoP, and few other places. I received some good feedback on them and thought I might as well share them with the rest of the world. This is why they are here.

The Natural Edge/The Natural Edge Deux (Remix)/The Natural Edge (Kick Ass Cut), May 11th, and October 5th 2003 (Remastered July 23rd, 2005) - My first vid. It took about 9 hours from start to finish. I basically did the storyboard for it in my head and had a very clear idea of what I wanted it to look like. Started out with a rough cut and took it from there. It was definitely a learning experience because the last time I did any type of editing it involved an editor, real film stock, and tape. "Point, click, and drag" is a whole new game. The music is a favorite track of mine from the Canadian rocker David Wilcox. The crew of Serenity is such a kick ass bunch of individuals and I feel the tune suits them perfectly. There are now three versions of this vid. Back in October I decided to go back and do a remix of the original, hence the "Deux" on the second version. I basically added the Jayne quote at the beginning, some new scenes, and smoothed out some of the edits. When I did the recent remastering I took this process a step further and that's how the "Kick Ass Cut" came to be.

47.7mb (big-ass version) /Running Time - 3:20

The Bug, May 19th, 2003 (Remastered July 8th, 2005)- The second one. I wanted to condense the original pilot down to a 4 minute vid and succeeded. The tune kind of sums up life for Malcom Reynolds and company. Some days you're ahead of the game, and some days life has you bent over the kitchen counter without even a kiss first. It's not a very pretty picture is it, but it's the truth for our gang.

59.4mb (big-ass version) /Running Time - 4:16

I Won't Back Down, May 22nd, 2003 (Remastered July 15th, 2005) - Number three. The song is a personal anthem for me, and I wanted to do a Mal-centric vid. Originally I'd intended to use the version from Full Moon Fever, but it seemed a little too upbeat for what I had in mind. The stripped down acoustic version on American III: Solitary Man works much better with the visuals. Johnny Cash is the man and so is Malcom Reynolds. The tribute at the end is for the son of a good friend of mine who was killed in a tragic car accident in 2004.

30.8mb (big-ass version) /Running Time - 2:10

Pipeline/Pipeline (The Final Cut), August 25th, and October 16th 2003 (Remastered July 7th, 2005) - This one took awhile. I had an idea for a vid involving that red-haired vixen Saffron, but it just wasn't working out. I decided to take a break from it and listen to some Stevie Ray to relax. I heard the song and got a great idea for a Wash vid instead. Hey, the man wears those funky shirts and looks like he could have been a surfer-dude back on "Earth That Was". A little tribute to his cool piloting skills, his love for his wife Zoe, and his love for Serenity. Also my first real brush with the funky scene transitions and multiple episode sources. Up to this point I had stuck with taking the clips from a single ep and simple transitions. In doing this I also discovered how bitchy and spazzy WMM2 could be. The fucking program froze and crashed numerous times during the making of this vid. This is also another vid with two versions. After finishing the first one I decided to go back and do an slighty alternate version, replacing certain scenes from Objects In Space with ones from The Message. The reason? I originally wanted to use the clips from The Message, but all I had was a Real Media copy of the episode at the time.

44.1mb (big-ass version) /Running Time - 3:03

Life by the Drop, August 25th, 2003 (Remastered July 12th, 2005) - What can I say? I'm a big Stevie Ray fan and had a lot of excess energy that day. Just a nice little slice of life themed piece. I basically took the opening dinner/birthday scene from "Out of Gas" and intercut it with scenes of how the various crewmembers ended up on Serenity. This was a total improv vid on my part. I started with the opening scene and took it from there. It didn't take that long to finish and it turned out pretty darnn good.

34.2mb (big-ass version) /Running Time 2:28

Spaceboots, October 19th, 2003 (Remastered version: July 5th, 2005) - This is my first collaborative effort. The lovely Skripka had an idea, a song picked out, and a rough storyboard for a Firefly vid. I took it from there. I'm going to get her to write her own commentary on it.

And here's it is: "So, there was this show... It got canceled. We went through the whole stages of grief, and came out of it creative. Phil made vids, I wrote fic. I bought a CD, though. Loved it. Heard a song, saw the vid in my head. Then I realized that I just didn't have the programs, clips, or memory to make it. So, I sighed, and moved on. Meanwhile, Phil just kept churning them out, getting better and better. And I kept watching them, and enjoying every one. And one day, it hit me. Phil could make my vid. So, I tempted him first with the song. "Listen. Yes, I know it's not classic rock. Yes, I know it's neo-folk chick style. But it's good!" It took a bit (Phil's a stubborn old-school geek), but he admitted he thought it was cool. That's when I nailed him. (Get your minds out of the gutter, folks. Just because I write smut...) He asked to see my storyboard. Sure, I said (frantically scribbling it down). Phil got it, did some searching around for some missing clips, and produced the vid you see. Shiny, isn't it? I loves me some Phil. Oh, and he asked me to write this little intro, too. But I'm nothing if not a procrastinator. Took me a while. Anyway, go watch, enjoy. Be the spaceboots!"

Note: I finally got my hands on some excellent quality source clips for the entire series and decided to remaster all of my Firefly vids. Spaceboots is the first one to receive a makeover using them. I never was completely satisfied and happy with how the vid originally turned out, but now I am. It's definitely worth a second look.

62.9mb (big-ass version) /Running Time 4:23

Mistress For Christmas, November 27th, 2003 (Remastered July 16th, 2005) - My slightly twisted sense of humour strikes again and I finally get around to that long awaited (for me at least) Saffron vid. I was originally planning on using Cruel Little Number by the Jeff Healey Band, but it just was not working for me so I went with something totally different. The song is one of my favorite Christmas tunes from the "Thunder from DownUnder". Well, it's the only Christmas song from them, but it's a great one anyways. There's a couple of slashy, shippy moments that observant NSP's will most likely pick up on and I'm so going to that special hell...

Note: My hard drive died back in early January 2004 and I lost the vid files for both MFC and WUTM. They were the only two vids that I hadn't backed up to CD-rom, but luckily I had a small copy of WUTM and a kind soul sent me the copy of MFC they had downloaded. From this copy I patiently recreated from scratch the original vid file. Of course this little incident has taught me not to procrastinate on doing backups anymore. Talk about learning your lesson the hard way.

57.2mb (big-ass version) /Running Time 3:59

Woke Up This Morning (Chosen One Mix), November 29th, 2003 (Remastered July 20th, 2005) - My latest effort (at the time) featuring the "Box-dropping Man-ape Gone Wrong", Jayne Cobb. This was another fun one to make, and I kinda went to town with the various effects and clips. Unfortunately, WMM2 decided to be a real gorram pain this time. I lost track of how many times that chusleng xai-jiao de xiang huo program froze and crashed on me, but I persevered and the end result turned out rather nice. This one was inspired after watching the fourth season DVD's of the Sopranos (one of the best opening credit songs ever), and one of Irish's fantastic banner ads from TWoP.

60.4mb (big-ass version) /Running Time 4:10

Tainted Love, October 19th, 2004 (Remastered July 12th, 2005) - This is one vid that definitely leans towards the slashy side. My journey to the dark side of the Hoyay! is almost complete. A slightly subtexty look at Mal and Simon's relationship thanks to the inspiration provided by the amazing Naughty Space Pirate Queen. This one's for her!

38.4mb (big-ass version) /Running Time 2:39

Veteran of the Psychic Wars, August 30th, 2005 - Joss's brilliantly evil viral marketing clips gave me the incentive to finish an idea that had been lurking in the back of my mind for quite some time. A dark somewhat disturbing River-centric piece which features the song stylings of Blue Öyster Cult from their 1981 album Fire of Unknown Origin.

69.9mb (big-ass version) /Running Time 4:50

When It Comes To You, September 13th, 2005 - A Mal/Simon flavored concoction with the not-so-subtle slashy and subtexty undertones. The music is by Dire Straits from their On Every Street album and is very applicable to this couple. They should just kiss already and profess their love/lust for each other. This one was nominated for a Strawberry Award in 2005. It didn't win, but it was nice to be nominated.

72.5mb (big-ass version) /Running Time 4:59

Heterosexual Man, September 26th, 2005 - This one features nearly all the the naughty sex scenes to be found the entire TV series and is a tongue-firmly-planted-in-cheek look at some of the sexual dynamics of the series. Also, I simply had to finally do a vid to the song since the song cried out for me back in mid 2003 and I heeded that plaintive call.

50.3mb (big-ass version) /Running Time 3:33

Brain Fever, November 7th, 2005 - My first "Serenity" outing so to speak and it was completed in under 2 hours. The song by David Wilcox from his 1984 album Bad Reputation has that wonderful raunchy, creepy, and unnerving quality to it that works well with the scenes of River and the Reavers that I chose to use from the film. This is your basic unapologetic dark and angsty vid.

44.0mb (big-ass version) /Running Time 3:05

Ballroom Blitz, November 15, 2005 - Another one of my "quick 'n dirty" vids. This one also features River and celebrates in a fashion her amazing ass-kicking abilities. When I first saw "Serenity" that old song by Sweet came to mind when seeing the bar brawl scene at the Maidenhead. Naturally that led to an idea for a vid and this is the end result.

58.3mb (big-ass version) /Running Time 4:02

I Want You To Want Me, November 15, 2005 - A LJ (Live Journal) friend requested if I could make a slashy Mal/Simon vid to this classic tune by Cheap Trick and I did just that. She loved it and if you're a Mal/Simon shipper, the odds are very good that you'll enjoy it too.

53.6mb (big-ass version) /Running Time 3:40

I Won't Back Down (Full Moon Cut), September 22nd, 2005 - This is an alternate version of the vid using the original Tom Petty song which I had intended in the first place, but for various reasons decided not to. Why did I choose to use it now? For the simple reason of "Why the hell not?", and I was very curious to see how it would work with the visuals and the tone of the entire piece. I did have to add an extra minute of footage to flesh it out though, otherwise there wasn't much of a change from the original edits.

42.6mb (big-ass version) /Running Time 3:00

The Bug (The Other Cut), September 23nd, 2005 - Another alternative version using the Mary-Chapin Carpenter version of The Dire Straits tune. This vid went in the opposite direction of "I Won't Back Down" and required the trimming of 24 seconds of footage. The funny thing is that this version has a few more slash-worthy moments compared to the original version. See if you can pick them out.

56.3mb (big-ass version) /Running Time 3:52

Pipeline (The Final Final Cut), October 5th, 2005 - Okay, this vid has been altered more than a few times (this is actually the fourth incarnation of it), but after seeing Serenity I had to find someway to incorporate Wash's immortal words, "I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch me soar" into it. This provided a nice set of bookends and made it a much more poignant tribute vid. I also changed all of the scene transitions that I used so they flowed better with the music.

45.2mb (big-ass version) /Running Time 3:08

Chains of Love/Chains of Love (Sly Remix), October 4th, and October 6th 2003 (Remastered September 6th, 2005) - This was another spur of the moment vid. After seeing the 5th season opener of Angel and noticing that the subtext was out of the closet so to speak, I wanted to do a cheesy early 80's style vid. There are two versions of it, hence the "sly remix" moniker on the second one. The "Sly Remix" uses a poster effect on the clips and a different transition style. If you remember some of the dialogue from the scenes used, it adds to the Hoyay! fromage factor. My first foray into a non-Firefly related vid and most likely not the last either.

52.5mb (big-ass version) /Running Time 3:39

Bad Apple, November 11th, 2004 - A new fandom, Lost. The show is very entertaining and the characters are very addictive. The episode featuring Sawyer was on the previous night and the inkling of an idea came into my twisted mind. This was one of those spur of the moment vids and the original plan was to use the song Confidence Man by the Jeff Healey band, but I didn't have it in my collection and I wanted to get the vid started right away before I lost the urge to do it. The song Bad Apple by David Wilcox came to mind as a good replacement. The whole vid was completed in slightly over 8 hours. I'm a quick and dirty vidder at times. This one's also for the Naughty Space Pirate Queen.

54.5mb (big-ass version) /Running Time 3:48

I Got You, March 18th, 2005 - My second Lost vid. The Sawyer/Sayid dynamic is an interesting one to say the least and to me it has a real love/hate angle to it. The vid does have some slashy undertones and I make no apology for it, after all the show itself is pretty darn slashy at times. The vid also is on the dark side emotionally considering the material used.

52.1mb (big-ass version) /Running Time 3:39

You Shook Me All Night Long, March 18th, 2005 - Another new fandom and my first Deadwood vid. I fell instantly in love with the show when I saw an episode in Austin Texas hotel room on a Sunday night back in May of 2004. You can't go wrong with whores, horsies, gold, and whiskey in the wild west. This is basically a tongue-in-cheek look at some of the major events in the second season opener and contains scenes of semi-graphic sex and violence. You've been warned. It is a HBO show after all...

50.5mb (big-ass version) /Running Time 3:36

So Alive, June 11th, 2005 (Remastered January 14th, 2008) - My first Buffy vid and it also finally gives me the vidding hat-trick with the Joss Whedon shows. A good friend on LJ made a request for a Buffy vid done to the Love and Rockets tune So Alive and I said I'd see what I could do. I had a few eps on the hard drive and "Chosen" was the one that got picked for clips. I think it turned out pretty good. I hope you do as well.

54mb (big-ass version) /Running Time 3:55

You're My Best Friend/30% Less Sarah, November 28th, 2007, January 14th 2008 - A Chuck vid and another new fandom. When I first heard about the premise for this show I was kind of skeptical about it. I didn't start watching the show on a regular basis until about the sixth episode and it quickly grew on me. The song is probably one of those that gets overused in many fandoms, but what the heck. One of my friends made a remark after seeing it that she thought it had too many scenes with Sarah and not enough Bryce so I did an alternative version (The 30% Less Sarah) with slightly less Sarah and slightly more Bryce. Those pesky slashers are everywhere...

40.7mb (big-ass version)/ Running Time 2:52

Viva Las Vegas, January 14th, 2008 - A No Reservations vid. I'm a fan of both Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman so doing this wasn't that much of a stretch or an effort. When you have great footage of a Vegas roadtrip and a ZZ-Top cover of an Elvis tune it's a bit a no-brainer, well, for me at least. Inspired silliness basically.

Running Time 4:32

What You Wish For, April 2nd, 2008 - A Supernatural vid. I offered up my vidding services in a recent Sweet Charity auction and was asked to provide a vid in this fandom by my bidder. I delivered the goods and I think I managed to do a decent job with the material.

52mb (big-ass version) /Running Time 3:51

Another Day, Another Lunch, April 11th, 2008 - A Cajun Charlie's vid. Every so often I would take my digital camera to work and set it up in the kitchen. I eventually ended up with several hours of footage and a slight desire to make a realworld vid. This is it and you get to see myself and my crew in action.

Running Time 3:53

When The Man Comes Along, April 18th, 2008 - A Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles vid. I was estatic when I watched the first season finale and made up my mind that I would have some fun with it. The original roughcut was very different in tone compared to this one, but I received some excellent beta advice from Lithiumdoll after she looked at it and went with what you see here.

57mb (big-ass version) /Running Time 4:06

Downtown Came Uptown, April 26th, 2008 - A Kitchen Confidential vid. 33.6mb (big-ass version)/Running Time 2:24

Gone Away, August 9th, 2008 - A Life On Mars vid. 66.4mb (big-ass version)/Running Time 4:31

Do Ya, September 21st, 2008 - A Swingtown vid. 52.1mb (big-ass version)/Running Time 3:42

It's Bad You Know, December 20th, 2008 - A Chuck vid. 43.9mb (big-ass version)/Running Time 3:04

Blood Makes Noise, January 14th, 2009 - A Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles vid. 27.9mb (big-ass version)/Running Time 2:14

God's Gonna Cut You Down, May 4th, 2009 - A Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles vid. 36.6mb (big-ass version)/Running Time 2:38

The Sack of Coruscant, June 28th, 2009 - A Star Wars vid. 42.1mb (big-ass version)/Running Time 3:03

The Firefly Movie Trailer Octet, May 30th, September 19th, October 12th, 2003, January 3rd, Febuary 20th, March 3rd, March 20th, 2004, and January 9th, 2005 - Me just having some silly fun. Okay, I admit it, lots and lots of silly fun.

The third one was inspired by the stylings of Quentin Tarantino. I had just purchased the soundtrack to Kill Bill Vol 1 and had seen the movie. I wanted to try my hand at some stylish tongue-in-cheek stuff after seeing the work of the master. Originally I wanted to do a video, but then it slowly dawned on me that the music would be great for a trailer. I think it turned out rather well. A few other people thought so as well, including a certain Captain - Nathan F. Shocked? Surprised? Oh yeah. One very happy freakin' geek to put it mildly.

The fourth one is a bit of a departure stylistically from the first three since I didn't rely on any background music at all except for what was on the clips used. I decided to do something a little bit different this time and try to make a trailer that was a bit more authentic looking.

The fifth one is variation of the fourth one. A few different cuts and edits basically.

The sixth? A big time tweaking of the third trailer which meant using dialogue in addition to the music. Hey, just go and check it out. It turned out pretty damn good considering I was still playing with WMM2 at the time.

I went back and redid all the trailers when the official word on the Big Damn Movie came down. I changed the Firefly to Serenity where possible, the release date, and cleaned up a couple of various minor edits that were bugging me. And unlike a certain filmmaker who shall remain nameless, I still have the original versions kicking around and will not make any attempt to deny or hide their existence...

And, I just made another one. It's the seventh and most likely the last one. It's a bit River-centric. I had a bit of a problem uploading the slightly larger version so the smaller one will have to suffice for the time being.

Remember how I mentioned that the 7th one was probably the last one....? Well, here's number eight. It seems that I changed my mind. It's another River-centric one and I simply felt like making another trailer for the hell of it. They're kind of like potato chips, once you start you can't stop.

1.67mb, 1.85mb, 3.67mb, 3.71mb, 4.5mb, 4.45mb, 3.46mb, and 4.64mb respectively/Running Times - 1:04, :54, 2:36, 2:21, 2:32, 3:00, 3:36, and 2:36 respectively

Ballad of Serenity Trailer, April 27th, 2005 - I thought it would be kind of nice to have a trailer for Serenity with the original theme music set to actual footage from the upcoming movie, so I basically took a few clips from the recently released trailer and had some fun. It's also slightly less spoilery than the actual trailer. Somebody found the link I had put up at one of the Firefly LJ communities and it ended up being posted on the official Serenity Movie boards and a few other places that surprised even me. This one definitely made the rounds.

6.36mb/Running Time 1:06

Ballad of Serenity Trailer 2, April 30th, 2005 - This is a slightly different version of the trailer using a great remix of the Serenity theme by Irish, an illustrator friend of mine, who also happens to like playing with music and tunes on his G4. The man is mucho grande talented. It runs about 12 seconds longer than the original trailer.

4.58mb/Running Time 1:18

Sly Serenity Teaser, May 13th, 2005 - Another one of those little spur of the moment ideas. If you've noticed the some of the "subtext" in the series, you'll probably get a chuckle or two out of this one.

2.57mb/Running Time :34

Sly Serenity Deux, June 20th, 2005 - More silly subtexty goodness. More chuckles.

2.71mb/Running Time :34

Brokeback Serenity, February 9th, 2006 - What's there really to say about this little parody trailer? I came across the Top Gun version and the Back to the Future version after somebody posted links to them on LJ and then one of my friends suggested that I should do one for Serenity. It was another easy one to pull off and everyone who's seen it has seemed to get a chuckle or perhaps even three out of it.

4.69mb/Running Time 1:08

Brokeback Serenity:SE, February 28th, 2007 - Since double-dipping seems to be the way to go with DVD releases these days I succumbed to temptation and did an extended version of the original complete with doctored credits. Where the original had a more humorous tone this one ends on a more sombre note. It's still funny though and I would rate it at least four chuckles even and maybe even a guffah. YMMV.

4.29mb/Running Time 1:23

DVD Promo Commercial, December 5th, 2003 - I didn't see a single commercial for the DVD set so I decided to go and make one. It was a quickie job using some online clips and music. Of course, a couple of weeks later, I saw the "blink and you might miss it" spot at the end of the Buffy Season 5 DVD set commercial. Go figure.

1mb/Running Time :37

And if you're wondering if larger and better quality versions of all these vids exist, the answer is yes. If you would like a larger version of any vid or trailer let me know and I will provide you with a copy. Oh, and I do appreciate feedback of any sort. Don't be afraid to lay some kind words or critique on me.