“Delano This Week” episode now shot, hangin’ out, DDR addicts

Today we shot an episode of “Delano This Week” at Gamer Zone.  Woohoo – basically boils down to a 30 minute long commercial for GZ for free.  Talk about handy 

It was pretty cool to do (I’m not at all shy in front of a video camera when business is involved , and was also cool to contrast the difference between what they were doing and what we’re going to be doing on Friday at 5 PM (for anyone who wants to see the first show get shot).  They use one camera, one camera person, an interviewer, and a lighting pack. It’s shot as one continuous piece, then shoot some b-roll (extra footage that can be inserted into a segment or used with the audio still in the background, or just ends up being saved for future use) to slap in there.  Pretty easy stuff.

We’ve got two hosts (myself and Meredith), two cameras, feeds that have to be recorded on computer from the various games, text titling and effects for reviews and such, and hours of editing per episode.  Oh, and scripts for part of it, then just talking points for other parts.  Lots of prep work goes into it, and then there’s all the work that is going into after the shooting.  Man, what did I get us into 

I’ve done some TV interviews before, and now Delano This Week too.  Meredith hasn’t done any.  So, we have gone through a number of test runs where we record ourselves just using webcams on her and Lance’s MacBookPro’s (Lance is Meredith’s hubby, who is also a very good friend of mine and we worked together for like 3 years at CEI)  Meredith excells at giving the news – when she does it, she follows a pretty tight script.  When I follow a script, bad things happen – I fumble over words, etc.  

Then when we get to reviews, roles are completely reversed – if it’s free flowing with just a couple of “talking points” on the whiteboard, then I’m all good.  Meredith hates that area though – she did great at it, and makes lots of comments (reviews are “lead” by me, then she makes additional comments)

After all the practice, preparation, etc., I am FUCKING HYPED TO DO THIS!!!!   Seriously, I don’t have any nerves over doing it, I’m just energized and ready to roll.  Today is only Tuesday – I’ve got 4 more days to go.

I also got my hair fixed up a bit.  I now have highlights added (thought, what it really does it make my hair look like it did about 10 years ago, where I spent more time in the sun and had a lot of diversity to it) and layered, and a new style.  Now for the funny part… not a single person has even noticed it   Though my hair just looks messy now anyway – but still, aparently no one can tell the difference.  Oh well 

I don’t actually work on Saturday nights – though it’s pretty common for me to be there at the store.  It’s also getting common on Fri. and Sat. nights to find myself hanging out downstairs in front of the store about midnight.  This Saturday was a little more fun than usual – TwItCh’es Cabo Wabo (tequila) kinda helped that a little, but we were having fun beating each other with bottles, walking the parking lot post, etc.  The interesting part is this – at 2 AM on Sat., you get a LOT of attention, including people stopping and finding out what that place with the open sign is (GamerZone, of course  what we’re doing,e tc.   Guys and gals both hanging out of sunroofs of cars (thought we were gonna get flashed, but, she ended up not doing it.  SIGH.  Some guy did try to show us his weenie (his word, no mine) but the kind gentlemen in the truck with him assured us his wasn’t more than 3″ long anyway, and he seemed to be fumbling a lot with his zipper.  Thank ye gods.  Boobs are socially acceptable in my opinion, but weenies?  Forget it – that just crosses the line 

I wasn’t really concerned too much about people hanging out in front of the store late at night before (I think almost all of ’em have GZ memberships anyway, plus I’d rather people hang around here anyway , but I definitely don’t have problems with it now – it’s like free advertising   Plus being a bit anti-social, it’s nice to hang around and do nothin’ but be a PITA for a while 

Have GOT to get DDR back in here soon.  People drive to Tulsa to play DDR.  It blows my mind.  I don’t think people would drive to hours to play World of Warcraft (though I could be wrong), but I think that says a lot about the game.

Davis, 

GamerZone