What happens when you take an everyday, ordinary story of weed killing gone wrong and throw in some old-school visual effects?

Weed Killer Gone Wrong @ www.TheReelTodd.com
Weed Killer Gone Wrong @ YouTube.com (where you can rate the video and post comments ** hint ** )
(look - choices!)

Told in a style reminiscent of Max Headroom, this is the true story of weed killing gone wrong. The wife brought home some weed killer. The husband used it. Something went wrong. Now the husband and wife are at odds, each pointing the finger of blame at the other.

The style in which this story is told is both an homage and parody of Max Headroom. I was (and still am) a big Max Headroom fan. Video blogging sounded like fun, but can appear plain and boring (to the viewer). I wondered what would happen if I took an ordinary story and added some old-school visual fun in the vein of Max Headroom, as an experiment. I chose a look and style of early 80's computers, with the green monochrome look and ASCII text in the background (instead of primary colored lines). Max Headroom existed 20 minutes into the future. I figured I'd venture 20 minutes into the past with an old school computer looking, Max Headroom-like character - my digital 8-bit alter ego (seen here).

So watch the video, and then participate!

Who is to blame?

YOU decide!

No need to read further if you're pressed for time.





More stuff:

I had originally intended on producing a series of video blogs like this, each featuring a different story from my life. I didn't think it would take long to produce these videos - the visual FX are generally simple. But I was wrong. This was indeed a pain in the ass to complete. It took more than the estimated 3 or 4 days (couple hours each day). It also ate up more hard drive space than expected (frame processing files, etc.). And it is loaded with technical glitches, and I don't mean the stuttering (that was intentional). From incredibly long video compiling times to buggy and shoddy editing tools, it took well over a week to complete. That, and waaaaaay too much of my very limited free time. Although, most of the time was spent trying to get things a certain way and doing battle on the digital editing deck of doom. I really need a new (much faster) system and better editing tools.

I showed an early edit of this to some guys at work. These guys all got to see On the Cutting Room Floor of Oblivion before I posted it in the net and they all loved it (Cutting Room Floor, that is). They were not so impressed with this video. One complained it looked too much like something out of The Matrix (which was unintentional and explained in the FAQ on my site). They all said that it would have been better if the story were funnier. The whole idea was originally to see if I could take an ordinary, plain story, and make it fun by telling it in this Max Headroom-ish style. The answer is I guess not. I do have some funnier stories that I could do like this, but I'm not sure I will. This was a hell of a lot more work than I expected it would be. With the right tools, I could have completed this in just a few days (couple hours each day). But I don't have the right tools and it damn near drives me insane working with what I've got. Probably not worth the time and hassle to do another. But I figured I'd give it a try.

Please let me know what you thought. AND let me know who you think is to blame.

NOTE: I originally posted this in another thread, but I'm starting a new one because the focus has shifted more toward what this is and not so much where it was hosted originally.