Here's what is trying to be an article about my first movie that I made using a new video camera back in 2008, and I planned on making some points about filmmaking or something, but I need to feed that cat again, and I keep getting distracted. That cat!
Sooie the cat. When I adopted her, they called her Connie, but as I lived with her for a few days, Connie became 'Connie Sue', then Sooie Sue, and eventually just Sooie.
As a kitten, Sooie had found herself alone on the side of a highway in the dark with no food. Being naturally equipped with a powerful siren for just such an occasion, she had engaged the infernal thing as my friend was driving past-- her shrill cata-sonic bellow from the nearby ditch had nearly shattered the glass on the passenger side of his car.
He'd turned around, and the rest of the story is; I volunteered to keep the siren-faced cat quiet as often as possible for as long as I could, by giving her cat food and a warm place to eat.
Sooie relaxing between meals
New Video Camera
It wasn't long after I'd started that large cat-feeding project that I got a new video camera in the mail. Soon I was playing with shutter speeds and zooming in and out on my world with the new camera, learning video photography in between cat duties.
Sooie and The Camera Meet
It didn't take long for the two to meet. No time at all. Sooie is a hungry cat, haunted by memories of scarcity and loneliness- she is always handy. Likewise, my new video camera was hungry for a subject to film, and I was ready to put something on Utube besides slide shows of my art with my music.
After much strenuous rehearsal and training, I began filming, and my camera was soon stuffed with cat footage.
First Movie
I excitedly put together my first moving picture video using my old trusty iBook G4 with it's iMovie app. After many hours of interrupted editing and computer time had been done, what I liked to call "My movie", was ready for Utube-- featuring me playing a yoga/meditation junkie of some sort, while the little story that we wrote, filmed and directed is STARRING Sooie The Cat.
[to get directly to the featured video sooner, quickly scroll past this image]
Sooie relaxing between "some different projects"
Safe Filming Conditions
All of the stunts and tricks in the film are performed by trained experts! Months of commitment, repetition and relentless devotion to the craft are what makes a good animal stunt-coordinator, and Sooie the cat is truly a natural at what she does. (All I did was hold the camera, mostly on auto-focus.)
If it looks like she does this for a living, it's because she does, and Sooie works harder that anyone else I know in the biz. Obsessed with each scene during pre-production, Sooie would be on set, ready to work when I arrived, and would let me know when I was late for rehearsals!
The cat is great, now finally here's the video
There were some other things to write about, but without letting things get too long here, and before I get distracted again, I'd like to share my first moving picture video, a little (6:11) film that may have a slow beginning, but there's plenty of cat in it before it's over. Enjoy!
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thanks for reading, more to follow
all images mine
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