VIDEO GAMER X'S CAMCORDER

Well, the webmaster extrordinarie has decided to take up videography. I had been wanting a camcorder for a long time, years in fact, and it just so happened that I had some money saved and decided to go for it. I had been doing some online research on the Sony DCR-TRV720, and found this camera to be the most suitable for what I wanted to do. So as it turned out, I called all the electronic stores in my area and only found one camcorder in my entire city. It was the last one at SEARS. I got the camcorder to end all camcorders. To start it doubles as a digital still camera as well as a camcorder. If you have been following news on the Playstation 2, you would recall that the new memory cards for the Playstation 2 will be on these newly developed Sony Memory Sticks approximately 1 and a half inch long, by 3/4 of an inch wide, by about 3 or 4 millimeters thick. My Camcorder saves images on the same thing that the PSX2 will save game files. It came with a 4 MB Memory stick, but I bought an extra 64MB stick for it that holds a whopping 988 Pictures! (Looks like I'll be selling the old polaroid at a Garage sale, because it's now obsolete. Never buy film again for the other camera or pay to have it developed ever again! Yay!) I was amazed that someone has squashed 64MB into something smaller than the size of a stick of gum. Hell the entire Zelda 64 Cartridge is only about 32 MB! I was certanly amazed. And this thing just gets better and better. The camcorder comes with Nightvision, so I can like film and see stuff in total darkness. It Zooms up to 450X, so I can like a telescope look at things closely that are a mile away. It has digital effects that allow for special effects like Solarization, Negative Colors, 16:9 Widescreen Mode, Old Movie effects, blending of video, Pastels, I can create fades, wipes, blends of scenes, titles in the video, "Trails" (trippy drug influence effect), an all kinds of adjustments for filming conditions. It also comes with a 4 Inch LCD Viewscreen, that turns backwards and sideways. What's even better was that I got this receiver that allows me to just point the camera at my TV and it magically (with invisible lasers of course) transmits the image to my TV with no wires. I have an 8 hour battery for the camera, and the camera knows exactly how much time you have left on it right down to the minute. The Camera came with a CD Rom for my computer, and interfaces with a PC or Mac, on a IEEE 1394 Firewire cable. This thing is one hell of a piece of technology. It records digital video information on Hi8 Digital 8 Tapes. When I sit here and look at this it reminds me of something I might see on Star Trek, even better than those Tricorders! The thing has so many functions! The manual is like 100 pages long!

Now here's were the fun starts. I toy this awesome deserved to get played with right away. Those of you who have one probably remember the first day your parents or you bought a new camcorder and taped like the stupidest stuff. I taped cars driving by, family members doing normal routine, neighbors, a trip to the local Taco Bell. The people inside got all nervious because I had a camera and they like gave me really good food for a change! (He, he, god forbid I make a copy of the tape and send it to corporate because they gave me sucky tacos, mwa, ha ha...)

My second feature presentation was done in nightvision view where at night my friends were having a waterballoon launching in the street. I got everyone launching waterballoons at victims (other teenagers) down the road on tape. I also caught a harrowing scene where the guys took an entire (huge) Igloo cooler of water and soaked this girl through and through. (That poor girl)

Ahh yes, Independace Day. That means explosions, and lots of 'em. During the day on July 4th, I took my camera to a local parade in a community near where I live. They had pretty much the cheeziest of crappy floats or like John Deere tractors and regular Dodge Rams decked with red, white, and blue ribbons, with this Jonathan Winters like guy at a podium describing the stupidness of each thing in the parade. About the best thing they had there was an animal car with Tigers, Lions, A cheetah, a Florida Panther, and a Black Panther. (cool cats) They also had some hot rods and some police cars, and some Fire Trucks. I managed to immortalize the entirety this pathetic excuse for a parade in all it's backwater hillbillyism glory. I even got the shot of the person who pelted me with a Tootsie Roll. That night is when the fun started. I got some of the most awesome shots of fireworks displays, and then later of people in my neighborhood making some things go "BOOM!"

My current movie project involves filming everything in the Neg Art and Trail's Filter and breathing like Darth Vader to get that predatory alien depiction down. So far so good. I've ran around my yard and my neighbors yards crashing through the gate, popping up from behind bushes, and the film and realism effect is just awesome. Move over Blair Witch, because here comes Video Gamer X and his camcorder. I've caught some shots of me turning my head, seeing some friends, zooming in on them, running towards them and attacking them, while they scream "What the **** is it?! Ahhhh!" I still have to get some more sound effects together like sticks to break to sound like bones being crunched but once I get the whole thing down it might be one of the best half-assed grade F- films to grace the planet!

I'm also working on an impromptu comedy thing with a Laser Pointer and the Camera's Nightvision feature where I shine it on things like bushes, trees, and reflective road signs to see what people do. So far, some of the stuff I've captured is hiliarious. You would think people had seen a red dot from a laser pointer before. Obviously they haven't. The animal ones are the funniest, where the cat chases the red dot around the house and the dog barks at it.

One of my more serious attempts will be where I start work on an adaptation of Zelda or some other RPG like scenario. Of course I will have to dress up for this, and train actors and write a script, and find suitable props and filming locations, but every great thing starts with solid ideas.

You never know, someday soon, I might be able to share some clips from my so far sad but true films online. On my friends iMac, his program, iMovie, allows me to edit my movies on that program and I can save them as Quicktime .mov files.

Sorry I haven't updated the site recently but as you can see, I've been kind of taking a Summer Vacation. Don't worry I'm working on some stuff for this and all my sites that should post soon.

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