The Perfect Storm

A Twist on the Perfect Storm

You remember that 2000 classic, “The Perfect Storm” don’t you? It’s based on a true story where three of the most powerful conditions in nature converge to create a storm of massive proportions never before seen in modern times.

That’s what it feels like in around our house more often than I would like to admit. Unfortunately, this is also based on a true story.

However, today we had our own reverse version of the perfect storm of sorts in our home. Kind of like my last series of posts where I did the opposite of motivation.

In an effort to show my older step-daughter, Suvin the efficiency and effectiveness of doing things NOW, three of us – myself and both of my step-daughters – combined our thoughts and talents with technology to produce a 30 second commercial (shown at the end of this post). It was three to the power of three – we already had the perfect storm numbers beat!

Left on her own, Suvin has the typical pre-teen characteristic of taking a 5 minute project and stretching out over five weeks. Now I’ll be the first to admit that I tend to exaggerate a lot, but in this case, I kid you not. Her problematic procrastinating has been cause for more than one – ah hem “discussion” – if you know what I mean.

Side Bar:

(oh, you’re good… ‘The Perfect Storm’! Now you understand the title selection for this piece. You catch on quick. Good for you!)

End Side Bar

But I was proud of her today. We made it a family project with Suvin spearheading the main ideas and concepts. Little Ambrosia supplied her famous posing and voice-over talents, while I provided the technological wizardry. When Maggie comes home tonight, we fully expect her to contribute the “Oooh’s and Aaaah’s” of praise for our comedic collaboration.

How We Perfectly Stormed This Project

Just so you can appreciate the amount of work that went into this little 30 second commercial, here’s a brief rundown of the many steps required to make this ‘perfect storm’ happen in one day rather than the usual 5 weeks.

Suvin designed, assembled and painted a model car for her gifted school project.
She then decided to make a 30 second commercial on DVD

Side Bar:

Nowhere on her assignment sheet does it say to create a DVD. It only says to make a “commercial”. To cut down on preparation time, I suggested to Suvin to do a simple ’show-and-tell’.

“I NEED to make a VIDEOOOOOO“, Suvin whined.

Since I’ve been put on notice to be more patient with the child during these ‘growing years’, I rather reluctantly caved in to the female persuasiveness that pervades my family just to keep some semblance of peace. That’s what happens when you’re outnumbered 3-1.

So the 5-minute show-and-tell was going to get stretched, no matter what.

At this point I provided the challenge, “IT WILL GET DONE TODAY!”

Note the patient tone.

End Side Bar

We agreed to create a 30 second commercial on DVD
Suvin came up with a story line with 10-15 scenes
We shot pictures we needed for the video (Ambrosia and Suvin were very willing and capable actresses)
I got Ambrosia to record her closing line for the video, “I love my Phaser 5001.”

Side Bar:

That simple little line proved to be quite the mouthful for my little five year old. After trying several unsuccessful attempts to get it all in one take, I had Ambrosia repeat the phrase after me in small chunks. I later spliced the bits together. You wouldn’t know unless I told you now, would you?

End Side Bar

Downloaded a couple more pictures from the web to finish the picture file.
Wrote an audio script based on the story line
Recorded the script and then spliced Ambrosia’s line to the end
Added a music sound track (using Royalty Free clips)
Tweaked and edited the sound balance, mixed the tracks and exported the MP3 file
Opened Windows Movie Maker, uploaded the pics and audio
Timed the pics to the audio sound track
Added text and effects to the pics
Saved the movie file
Burned the movie to DVD using Cyberlink PowerProducer

PHEW!!!

Actual time spent = 2 hours and 38 minutes.

Considerably less than the 5 weeks it normally would have taken had my typical pre-teen been allowed to do it in her ‘own time’.

Moral of the story: We successfully averted another ‘Perfect Storm’. This actually turned out to be a fun family project where we all combined our talents towards a passably pleasing production.

The assignment is due this coming Thursday. It’s great to have a couple days of breathing room instead of the last minute panic attack, or the even more often ‘LATE’ repercussion.

The family co-op got the job done with more smiles and less stress all around. You gotta Love That Feeling!

Enjoy the commercial.