Yesterday I heard "So Happy Together" by the Turtles on the radio. It reminded me of (what I think is) an awesome story from my college days. So travel back in time with me now, to the 1996-1997 school year. I was a freshman Telecommunications major and life was just starting to get good.
While most of my new friends were taking freshman-level Theology classes, I had classes with projects that required me to run around campus with a school-owned video camera. I also worked on a student-run tv show called "Take One" that aired on a local access channel. I did the sound for the show, which was done "live to tape" so we didn't really have room for screw-ups. Now keep in mind that God and I talked on a regular basis anyway, but the Almighty never heard an 18 year-old pray harder than I would in those five minutes before we started taping. I confessed to stuff I hadn't even tried yet; all in hopes that I would be rewarded with flawless pushing of all those volume knobs for the next thirty minutes. Plus I had a crush on one of the show's hosts, who was also a freshman. Imagine how hard it is to score points with a girl when your mistakes make it sound like she's screaming into her lapel mic. AND THOSE MISTAKES ARE THEN BROADCAST THREE TIMES A WEEK, FOR (what felt like) THE WHOLE WORLD TO SEE! But I digress...
There's something to be said for the bonding that takes place in an editing booth. Especially in the pre-digital days of the late 20th century. The rule of thumb was that a minute of tape was worth an hour in the editing bay. Plus we were perfectionist freshman, new to the ins and outs of all this video editing stuff. So we helped each other out with various class projects requiring five or ten minute video packages. We hashed out ideas, worked out schedules of checking out the equipment, and from time to time we agreed to do stuff on camera for each other. Enter my telecom friends Kelly and Kristie - two of the nicest people I ever met at school.
The way I remember it, Kelly had what sounded like a cool idea for her video final. It was some variation on the "boy meets cute girl, boy somethingsomethingsomething, boy gets cute girl" story. Now this was the final, so it required some voiceover work, a few different pieces of music, and other video stuff we should've mastered by then. But the editing stuff was for Kelly to worry about...and perhaps the pressure of such a project led her to make The.Worst.Casting.Decision.Ever. Yep, she asked me to play the part of "the boy" alongside Kristie as "the girl." So I said yes, possibly still basking in the false glory of the A I got in high school theatre. We spent an afternoon location scouting, in search of a city park that still had a see-saw. I forget the exact plot, but I remember shooting various scenes at the park: Us swinging, see-sawing (with me falling off the see-saw at one point), then talking / fighting / making up while sitting at a park bench, and then walking off hand-in-hand into the sunset. The video ended with this long, steady shot of us from behind, walking towards the sunset with "So Happy Together" playing in the background. Ahhhh...Holly(Brown)wood Movie Magic at it's finest. I think of that shot every time I hear
Imagine me and you
And you and me
No matter how they tossed the dice
It had to be
The only one for me is you
And you for me
So happy together
So happy together
How is the weather
So happy together
We're happy together
So happy together...
On paper it was a chick-flick tearjerker. And it was a tearjerker; but mostly in the vein of My Gawd, How Awful Is The Male Lead In This??!!! Get Me A Kleenex 'Cause I Can't Laugh Any Harder. The worst part is that we had to show the final cut to the entire class. I cringed so much that day they thought I was having a seizure. Looking back, and ignoring my Depression-era poor man's Keanu Reeves performance, I can appreciate how fun an experience that really was. Nine years later, thanks again Kelly H. And if you didn't make an A in that class, you can blame it on me.
if bankhead or cory hines were reading this story, they would ask if you were wearing the overalls in the flick. so in honor of those two, were you? have a great Christmas DB.
Posted by: grego | December 17, 2005 at 12:02 AM
Your welcome David. I didn't make an A in that class, but I can assure you it wasn't because of your acting. I think it had something to do with not passing the tests. Anyway, I enjoyed your observations. You made me laugh. That was a fun day. And please don't tell me that it was nine years ago!! I can't believe that. Those were good times. Thanks for helping me remember them!
Posted by: Kelly H. | December 18, 2005 at 09:15 PM