Beth
SF Classiques 019
14/03/10 15:39 Filed in: High School
SF Ephemera - Part 2
Let's go over some of the groups our team gravitated to in high school.
When we last met electronically, I mentioned the word "Semanon". While it sounds like a cult of some kind, it was just the backstage crew for the high school theater. The school made the mistake of buying very high end equipment for the new auditorium, and it quickly became clear that you needed trained people to run it. That meant that a normal method of a sign-up sheet for backstage crew just didn't work.
So, a regular student crew was trained to run all the stage productions, and the name "Semanon" (no names backwards) was adopted for them. Saylor, Bill, Mike, Steve, and myself were in Semanon at various times. Since we were essentially indispensable (a last minute walkout once threatened to cancel the school musical), we got away with a lot more than we should have.
Also, there were the "Hi-Lo's", also known as show choir. If it sounds geeky--don't worry, it is. I was the lone male SF member who got into the group, but most of the female contingent (Lynda, Beth, Sharon) were in it as well. Saylor and Brenda were in the less geeky A'capella Choir.
There was also a large contingent in the high school band. If I remember correctly: Mike, Brenda, Sharon, and Lynda were in the marching band, and Lynda was the drum major, if that's the correct term.
Finally, to maximize our geek quotient: Eric was the valedictorian of our graduating class, Mike was the salutatorian, Bill was the president of the Science Club, and I was the president of the Science Fiction club.
As I've said before, I'm sure I'm remembering some of this incorrectly. Blame it on my ancient neurons misfiring.
Meanwhile--let's listen to some more bits from Outstanding in Our Field....
SF Classiques 016
23/01/10 19:16 Filed in: Star Trek
A Brief (?) History of SF Productions - Part 16
We now move into the late 80's, and a bit of a hiatus for SF as people went off into the world to get actual jobs, get married, get more degrees (I'm looking at you, Beth), etc. In 1988, Mike and I created a 10th anniversary set (just a set of clips, kind of like what I'm doing here) and the "Is It Love" dance remix played in episode one. This took quite a lot of work since Eric was unavailable, so we sampled his voice track line by line to match the new tempo. Eric was quite surprised to later hear his voice on something he wasn't directly involved in.
We made another attempt in 1989 to do something quasi-professional. We had gone to the well of Star Trek several times, and the Next Generation series was on the air. I made the call that we needed an actual script, and got it into my mind to hold a "writing retreat" away from distractions such as television (and as it later turned out, hygiene). My father had a cabin out in the boondocks which sounded good when he described it, but was quite a mess when I got to actually see it. I made my best attempt to clean things up, but the team wasn't particularly impressed when they opened the door. However, we made the best of it, and with a borrowed laptop, Steve, Mike, Bill, Janet, Brenda, Saylor and I cranked out our Next Gen script.
It took us another year to actually tape the thing in September of 1990. It's probably the slickest thing we ever did. We really concentrated on appropriate background music and special effects. Keep in mind this was in the pre-digital days; each effect was sampled into a synthesizer and recorded in real time on a multi-track tape recorder. It would be a cinch to do it today in Garageband. However, I always felt it lacked spontaneity--that's the downside of a script, I suppose.
So, let's take a listen. Next time I will wrap up this brief (?) history lesson.
We now move into the late 80's, and a bit of a hiatus for SF as people went off into the world to get actual jobs, get married, get more degrees (I'm looking at you, Beth), etc. In 1988, Mike and I created a 10th anniversary set (just a set of clips, kind of like what I'm doing here) and the "Is It Love" dance remix played in episode one. This took quite a lot of work since Eric was unavailable, so we sampled his voice track line by line to match the new tempo. Eric was quite surprised to later hear his voice on something he wasn't directly involved in.
We made another attempt in 1989 to do something quasi-professional. We had gone to the well of Star Trek several times, and the Next Generation series was on the air. I made the call that we needed an actual script, and got it into my mind to hold a "writing retreat" away from distractions such as television (and as it later turned out, hygiene). My father had a cabin out in the boondocks which sounded good when he described it, but was quite a mess when I got to actually see it. I made my best attempt to clean things up, but the team wasn't particularly impressed when they opened the door. However, we made the best of it, and with a borrowed laptop, Steve, Mike, Bill, Janet, Brenda, Saylor and I cranked out our Next Gen script.
It took us another year to actually tape the thing in September of 1990. It's probably the slickest thing we ever did. We really concentrated on appropriate background music and special effects. Keep in mind this was in the pre-digital days; each effect was sampled into a synthesizer and recorded in real time on a multi-track tape recorder. It would be a cinch to do it today in Garageband. However, I always felt it lacked spontaneity--that's the downside of a script, I suppose.
So, let's take a listen. Next time I will wrap up this brief (?) history lesson.
SF Classiques 011
A Brief (?) History of SF Productions--Part 11
1982 was a tumultuous year for SF--we graduated from high school, several members joined the team, and we all moved toward our college years.
The last point was a particular concern for me. Sure, it would it be difficult to get the team together to do more tapes, but the main issue was Eric's move to Annapolis and the military. I had no idea if and when I would see him again, and keep in mind I still had the crazy idea we could make a living doing this. How to keep doing SF stuff without, well, F?
I toyed with the idea of making Lynda a full partner (somewhere I have logos for "SFB" Productions), but it didn't feel right. Then it came to me on vacation in Maine, in a hotel pool. Incorporate SF as a "Bored" of Directors, with each member getting a VP position and supposed "stock" in the "company". I became President of SF, and Eric became Chairman of the Bored. Assigning VP positions would give everyone a sense of ownership in the team, and facilitate members stepping in to Eric's role. That was the idea, anyway--the reality ended up being far more messy. More on this later.
(I know what you're thinking--neurotic much?)
Anyway, we moved into more familiar material with a Star Trek parody (Star Trip II--The Revenge of Mr. Rourke). Trek had been a source of material previous to this, but now we had more people to take the roles, plus better recording equipment. Eric, Sharon, Steve, Saylor, and Mike (who officially became our "token black" member on this tape) joined in, along with new member Beth Guonjian (Pettit). Another refugee from show choir, Beth and I had known each other since elementary school, but I suspect she went along with it because of her friendship with Sharon. Beth went onto to getting her Master of Divinity degree at Harvard and a medical degree in Chicago--making her officially "The Reverend Doctor...". She also officiated at my wedding.
SF also tackled an general movie parody, masked as an ad for the "NBS Movie Cable" channel, and we took a few minutes to return to "Chuck and Diana - 1 Year Later". This tape was mainly significant as the first production without Eric, as he had moved on to Annapolis by that time.
So, let's go where no one (except us) has gone before...