The Ticker and the Talker

Reporting from the epicenter of this Instant Video SHOCKER. The above photo finally reveals the invisible fretwork that holds up those words on the screen.

I enjoy the painstaking process of transforming each word from the hand scribbled lyric torn from Tammy's notebook into one video brick at a time on a word WALL. It's like a puzzle.

OMG. It strikes me now that this is virtually what I did ON CAMERA in last week's video!

In my virtual world, I had to create 96 video tracks in order to have separate control of the timing of each word's appearance. Each word is on screen for about a full minute. That's just the DEFAULT

I had other ideas of ways to use the words on the screen but the reality is even the laissez-faire approach takes hours of overnight computer rendering.

BLAH. This video is nothing without TAMMY, Tammy's voice and music. Tammy's words. And some of that pixie dust.

I build the invisible structure of WORDS before she sits down on the chair to play. This is the moment where the idea merges with the unexpected...

We manage to do just ONE full take before the Looper simply stops working! GASP. For the moment, this tool of Tammy's trade is dead.

(For those writing screenplays, this is the "All is Lost" moment where we find the "whiff of death.") Will there be a fresh idea, new inspiration, or last-minute action or advice from the love interest in the B story?

Will the TICKER ever mind the TALKER? Tune IN next week...



SHOCKER
by Tammy Lin Foreman

ONCE UPON A TIME
MY HEART AND MIND
COULD NOT AGREE
SO I LOCKED UP MY HEART
MY MIND IT HELD THE KEY
BUT THE THUMPING GOT SO LOUD
I COULDN'T THINK NO MORE
MY HEART WAS BEATING SO STRONG
MY MIND IT OPENED UP THE DOOR

THAT OLD STICKLER'S
ALWAYS GETTING A SHOCKER

YOU'RE NOT IN LOVE
SAID THE BIG BRAIN ABOVE
LET MY LOVE GO
SAID THE HEART BELOW

HOW DO YOU MAKE
THE TICKER MIND THE TALKER?
THAT OLD STICKLER'S
ALWAYS GETTING A SHOCKER

HOW DO YOU MAKE
THE TALKER MIND THE TICKER?
THAT OLD STICKLER'S
ALWAYS READY TO BICKER.

Instant Gratification

An unexpected surprise came from Mike Morritt through YouTube: a cover of Tammy's Instant Video #13 - Sweet is Low and he takes the song in a surprisingly new direction. His choice of song astonished us for sure. As we gathered around the glow of the laptop to watch the video, I told the family: "You know you've made it when...you see a cover of your original song on YouTube!" Sunny spoke up: "You know you've really made it if Weird Al does the cover..." Yes. And having an extraordinary musician like Mike do this... It's definitely a pleasure and an honour.



As for exactly how many hearts in last week's video. The correct answer is 169. Esther V. won the DVD with a guess of 187.

Instant Video #21 is coming really soon.

How Many Hearts?

Midway through rehearsal, Tammy gets fed up with Defibrillator. "I can't do this song!" she declares.

Jump-start my heart.

Clear!

That's what the emergency medics say on TV just before they apply the slick cold metal of the defibrillator to a patient whose heart has stopped. That's what that machine is called.

Not "a device to stop us from lying..." as heard in the song Tammy is rehearsing, ie. to De-fib... Ha, ha. But a machine to "restart the heart when it is dying..."

Then, she starts singing a different song called Shocker.

This shocks me! Like a defibrillator. Shocker, it turns out, is just more fun...more alive! Whumph! Like a lubricated metal shock to my ticker.

Whoo!

It's close to ten o'clock. We won't finish until 3 am.

This is our intimate process of creation. It is like lovemaking. And this kind of foreplay is shared with the whole household when the video is in production...

Just because it's a labour of love doesn't mean it's always easy. Every week, I'm painfully aware of the artistic challenge I've set up for myself. It's just because I wanted to put my money were my mouth is. Always. And come up with 101 ways to shoot Tammy's live music videos.

And every week, I trust that something will happen without much planning. And I go with the flow.

I did know ahead of time that Valentine's day would a special day for Instant Videos since we've used the heart shape as a kind of mascot icon with our continuing to discreetly place hearts in every video we upload for the ardent players out there of the I Spy a Heart game... Feb. 14th 2009 also marks the 6th anniversary of Original Plastic the website.

I want to do something special. And my brain jumps to the conclusion that we need the most hearts we've ever had or ever will for this Valentine's edition. How about a contest? How many hearts are there in Instant Video #20? The first one to tell us the answer correctly by any means of communication by the next video gets a limited edition Instant Videos DVD of Season One signed by Tammy.

Wow. A love song called Defibrillator! Tammy, you rock.



Defibrillator
by Tammy Lin Foreman

Half of me
waiting
the rest
debating

defibrillator
defibrillator

Restart my heart.

To look into the eyes of you
is one and one,
one?
or is it two?

Thought it was a device
to stop us from lying
Really a machine that
restarts a heart
when it is dying

It means the same damn
thing to me
I won't live with a lie
will I die lonely?

oh

I've settled for less
now I'm asking for more

If you will be mine
I will be your...

defibrillator.

If you will be mine
I will be yours

Fair, kind and true
with every part
tell me the truth

Restart my heart.

A Pillow and a Wooden Spoon

This head cold is a bother. Just looking down hurts my head. But the show must go on, right? I'm using anything I can get my hands on to get the Instant Video done.

My friend J. takes rectangular slabs of mirror and duct-tapes them together facing each other to make simple kaleidoscopes. J. is a stained-glass artist with scraps of mirror lying around. She helps me make this.

The idea is to avoid putting special effects on the video after the shoot. We built this lens attachment to shoot with straightaway. This is where my head was at a few years ago when I was commissioned to create the video backdrop for a choreography of Chau (martial art) for three dancers. I thought I had it.

Using only straight cuts (no dissolves) and manually speeding up the image with an old VCR and other "manual" effects, I created Rubies under a rigorous set of self-imposed editing restrictions. Tammy's Salutations came out of that process and the same rules applied.

That's the back-story on the lenses while I tell myself: everything I need is right here, under my nose, waiting for me to discover. Those old kaleidoscopes are just inside this old box. Keep it simple and hand-held. Spit and shoe polish on a shoestring budget. Use an old idea. Use a darn pillow and a wooden spoon! It's like making Dogme 95 style music videos. It's just a matter of committing to a concept on-the-spot right from the get go. I imagine it's like bungee jumping.

That's what it's like. Picking up the camera and ready, set, go, go, go.

Rock and roll it a bit. Why not? It's the time and place, after all.



Is it Alright?
by Tammy Lin Foreman

Tonight
I am wonderin'
is it alright?
to sit tight
and not
paint the town
bright

RED

Everything is something to be ashamed of
...if you look at it that way.

So I'll change my mind
leave it behind
let it all go
until tomorrow
and when tomorrow comes
I will pack up my drums
and my angels

And move on
I'll move on
until the next dawn
'til there's no wrong
and then

I'll unpack my drums
and beat...
a rhythm
beat...
a rhythm

I wanna
hear...
the rhythm
I wanna hear, clear,
clear
the rhythm

Move on move on
'til dawn
move on move on
no wrong

and when tomorrow comes
I will unpack my drum
and beat a rhythm...

Everything's something to be ashamed of
...if you look at it that way.

6, 12, 18, 24

6, 12, 18...

Going up the creaky steps, I'm looking for clues, flashlight in hand.

It's corny. Midway up the stairs, my mind jumps to the fantasy puzzle game I've been playing with the kids on the computer these days...a sequel to Myst.

I read a guided walk-through out loud so Sunny and Georgia can follow along and click for themselves.

Turn around and notice that the linking book is lying on the ground. Turn to the left a little and go forward three times. Zoom in on the hatch of the vessel. Enter the code. Click on the amulet. Zoom out. Turn around and go forward one time. Turn to the right and enter the Memory Chamber...

Really, I'm just looking for that box of neck-ties I have somewhere in this attic. Tammy wants to wear a tie (he's in my memory...) for the video.The attic yields some other junk that might come in handy as props.

What is this red lens thing anyway? I borrowed the precious heavy debris from a serious collector. Stuff I don't want to throw away. For some reason.

I'm taking some stuff back downstairs with me. Collect the parts to assemble this enigma machine.

The video itself is the puzzle this time. What is the shape of the message? It's all hush hush. This is Instant Video #18 - and 18 is one of the numbers mentioned in the song: 6, 12, 18, 24, right? But how exactly do these dots connect?

Turn around and go forward six times...



Memory
by Tammy Lin Foreman

six doors
away from me
lies a sleeping messiah
i can hear him breathe
it's long and low
deep and slow

he's in my memory
he's in my memory

twelve stories
above my head
there's a spot
in the sky
i want to meet
there instead
tell him to rise
from his holy bed

he's in my memory
he's in my memory


eighteen wheels
and all of them squeak
it's been driving me mad
the whole damn week
i drown the sound
whenever i speak
about his memory

he's in my memory

there's 24 hrs. in a day
you'd think all of that time
once i could say
there's a part in my heart
that will always stay

he's in my memory
he's in my memory

six...twelve
eighteen...twenty-four