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Home ? Your Videos ? SKWERLEFEST! Episode #: The Sam BushyTail Band!

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09/04/2016 03:52:13

PatMarrNCMuvizu mogul
PatMarrNC
Posts: 1738 		This is a spoof on a local North Carolina bluegrass festival at which I volunteer every year. I made it for the Merlefest volunteers facebook page... and as such, it contains a lot of insider humor that might not make sense to anyone who isn't familiar with the festival and the bands who play there.

This episode pokes a little fun at one of my favorite acts, the Sam Bush Band (but since these characters are squirrels, it becomes the Sam Bushytail Band)

I really wanted to spend more time on this, but Merlefest is rapidly approaching and I wanted to get SOMETHING on their FB page in a timely manner, so I had to wrap it up, ready or not.

Also, a tree fell in my yard and obliterated my fence, so I need to do real-world stuff for a while and leave this imaginary world stuff alone.

Regarding time, it's amazing how much time it can take to develop all the resources needed for a project! I had to write the song, and its lyrics, record the song, mix & master it, model all of the attachments and accessories etc etc .. you all know the drill. But that's why I like to keep things fairly simple.

Anyway... the video:


Comments, criticisms or any kind of observation whatsoever will be greatly appreciated!
edited by PatMarrNC on 09/04/2016
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09/04/2016 03:56:55

PatMarrNCMuvizu mogul
PatMarrNC
Posts: 1738 		lyrics to the song, in case you can't understand the combination of squirrel voice, and contrived southern accent:
==============================
Well I'm a rodent if you please
the kind that climbs up trees
I love it when it rains and I get wet

I got a fuzzy little @$$
that just loooves to play blue grass
I play it each and every chance I get

My GPS tries to reroute me
and hunters sometimes try an' shoot me
none of that can steal my joy away

as long as festivals recruit me
& bands I'm with don't ever boot me
I'll keep on bein' happy every day
----------------------

My front two teeth are gappy
as squirrels go I'm quite happy
performing here for all y'all's the best

I'm joyful as can be
My spirit's been set free
appearin' on this stage at SkwerleFest

Though friends of mine sometimes upset me
and carnivores may try an' get me
none of that can steal my joy away

If nature doesn't second-guess me
and folks like you show up and let me
I'll keep on playin' music every day
------------------------

Well I'm a happy little squirrel
Not a worry in the world!
except for... maybe cats and hawks and things

but what I fear the most
is when my music turns to toast
cause I played it way too hard and broke a string!

When mixed emotions swell within me
or taxidermists want to skin me
none of that can steal my joy away

If fans are showin' up to hear me
& Folks I love are well and near me
I'll keep on feelin' thankful every day
(and so should you!)
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09/04/2016 22:47:32

mrmuviz
mrmuviz
Posts: 51 		Great vid Pat, love the mic feedback....gives it that realism touch.

Hesh
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10/04/2016 15:29:25

ziggy72Muvizu mogulExperimental user
ziggy72
Posts: 1988 		That is a fine performance, and some fancy pickin' from a squirrel The set is a little drab, but like you said you didn't really have time to get too elaborate with it - nice!
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10/04/2016 17:57:11

PatMarrNCMuvizu mogul
PatMarrNC
Posts: 1738 		ziggy72 wrote:
That is a fine performance, and some fancy pickin' from a squirrel The set is a little drab, but like you said you didn't really have time to get too elaborate with it - nice!


Thanks for commenting, Ziggy! I was starting to think I forgot to post it here!

Yeah, drab is pretty much what you can expect from me, even when I have time. My philosophy is to be a minimalist. Especially in a medium like comic strips where most of them are limited to a small 2D square in a newspaper, the mindset has evolved to show as little as possible to get the point across. So, even in this environment where there's much more potential, I find myself working the middle ground.... which will generally be quite unspectacular to those of you who are visually detail oriented about your projects.

And, regarding this particular project, I was imitating the look of the actual stage at Merlefest, which is just bare planks throughout. Drab. Good word. You nailed it. <--(plank pun intended. )

https://s.yimg.com/fz/api/res/1.2/qYKTlAZigSY8OO4Wia6u6g--/YXBwaWQ9c3JjaGRkO2g9Mzk4O3E9OTU7dz02MTA-/https://s3.yimg.com/ls/img/1024/38bdc3b4-9575-3784-a342-10750b401de8
edited by PatMarrNC on 10/04/2016
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10/04/2016 20:14:03

mystoMuvizu mogulExperimental user
mysto
Posts: 471 		Great video PatMarrNC! Nothing like a squirrel band to brighten up a day! Makes me want to get the Garage Band Blues guys back into action. I also like to design things with a "less is more" kind of attitude. Again great video!
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10/04/2016 22:45:47

PatMarrNCMuvizu mogul
PatMarrNC
Posts: 1738 		mysto wrote:
Great video PatMarrNC! Nothing like a squirrel band to brighten up a day! Makes me want to get the Garage Band Blues guys back into action. I also like to design things with a "less is more" kind of attitude. Again great video!


Thanks Mysto! Yeah, you definitely should get Garage Band Blues guys back into action! I want to see them play!

Regarding my own version of minimalism: I like consistency. It bugs me to see one aspect of a project done professionally, while some other aspect of it is amateurish. So I try to keep my elements all at about the same level of suck. ;-)

Also, My goal is quite different from a lot of others here... I want lo-res speed more than hi-res detail. None of my projects will ever span years. Ideally, I want to get to a point where I hear a news story in the morning and by that evening I have a song and a video about it. Muvizu is capable of that... but at this point my skill level is not. Detail is an obstacle to speed, which is probably the biggest reason why I take the shortest path to completion.

Having said that, let it be known that I LOVE to watch the videos made by those of you who go all out for the rich detail... I think that's awesome to watch, and I am highly impressed by the skill it takes to make that happen... it's just not me, and I doubt it ever will be no matter how long I use Muvizu.
edited by PatMarrNC on 10/04/2016
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11/04/2016 04:27:02

clayster2012Muvizu mogul
clayster2012
Posts: 645 		Wow PatMarrNC, that was Great stuff, you really got those Skwerls down good, love how your getting it together with the attachments, your animals look awsome, but most of all I find that you writing your own song for your muvizu video was the most impressive, i really loved the lyrics, maybe I could use you to help me make a good funny song for one of my spoofs one day, anways my friend, keep up the great work, i give it 99 thumbs up!!
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11/04/2016 17:19:15

PatMarrNCMuvizu mogul
PatMarrNC
Posts: 1738 		clayster2012 wrote:
Wow PatMarrNC, that was Great stuff, you really got those Skwerls down good, love how your getting it together with the attachments, your animals look awsome, but most of all I find that you writing your own song for your muvizu video was the most impressive, i really loved the lyrics, maybe I could use you to help me make a good funny song for one of my spoofs one day, anways my friend, keep up the great work, i give it 99 thumbs up!!


Clayster, thanks for the kind review of my video! And for the record, I would be happy to provide original music (funny, serious, cinematic, whatever) custom made for your videos. Just let me know what you need. I collaborate on other forums, and it makes sense that if I want to be an active and contributing member of this community that I would also collaborate here.

Regarding the squirrels and head attachments: it occurred to me late in the production, but I'll pass it along for the sake of others who use head attachments...

I usually create the attachment so the character's mouth is visible... that way they can respond to dialog. But it has always bugged me that I couldn't conveniently add a lower jaw that would move when characters with a snout are talking. It finally occurred to me that the DOG character has a protruding lower jaw, so by starting with the dog and adding a head attachment, you can get a better mouth for animal characters.

As a comparison, note the difference between the singing squirrels' mouth (made from one of the male potato heads) and the announcer character (made from the dog). having the extra jaw length on the announcer makes a BIG difference in making the head attachment more believable (in my opinion)
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12/04/2016 01:23:14

Rocque
Rocque
Posts: 359 		Hello PatMarrNC,
I saw the topic of your SKWERLEFEST! on the side bar of this forum and had to go have a lookie see (trying my Skweraneese language).
That was so great! Since I am just working on my first real video here and might be attempting to go too "big" for my first attempt, I appreciated everything you did.

I used to animate on Go!Animate, and music videos were one of my favorite things to create. However having your own original music is so much better. I enjoyed everything about the video. The skwerls were so much fun to watch that I think too much other distractions would have taken away from the fun to watch animation.

Thanks for sharing.
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12/04/2016 01:46:04

PatMarrNCMuvizu mogul
PatMarrNC
Posts: 1738 		Thank you for the most gracious review, Rocque! I appreciate the fact that you took time to encourage another person on the forum... and I especially appreciate that it happened to be me!!

I'd guess that most of the people here are primarily interested in directing, and video creation in general. This is evident by the kinds of discerning choices they make about what to leave in and what to leave out of their videos. Across the board, the quality of videos here is VERY high in my opinion... there are so many people here making truly good videos, its almost impossible to find and watch them all!

I, on the other hand, am primarily a musician using video as a way to involve one more of the senses in my songs. As such, the video and the song and the modelling and the voices all get lumped together and in the end the song is no more important than the squirrel voice, and the video is nothing more than the glue that binds it all together. Interesting how people perceive stuff like this.

Any time you put a bunch of ingredients together, you have to leave air for the composition to breathe... otherwise it gets overwhelming to the viewer/listener. Usually editing is a SUBTRACTIVE process. You know you're done when there's nothing left that you can remove without undermining the message. At least, that's my philosophy.

Thanks for your observations... I value your opinion and I thank you for sharing it!
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