New Birthday Video

Hey Kids!

By the time most of you will read this it will be July 15th and Donna Moore, the latest recipient of a Phantom Harbor Birthday Greeting will have watched and re-watched her video enough times to be sick of it. First of all, Happy Birthday Donna! We certainly had a great time making your video.

Because we try to keep certain elements of our videos secret (oh yes - it is SO important what is going on at Phantom Harbor ;-) ) I try not to reveal what we're building so that you won't be caught up in the process but will instead (we hope) just be entertained.

The "big ticket item" this time was a miniature mast and sail. This was something I've been wanting to build for a long time but just never had the opportunity or need. So, with an investment of about $6 I built what you see to the left (as Beyonce would say).

True, my pack rat nature had provided me with plenty of the building blocks: (pvc pipe, muslin fabric, twine, spray paint, etc.) Tracy sewed the sail (which was outside of her comfort zone) and I can't thank her enough. I built the mast with wooden dowels I assembled with hot glue.

On the day it was completed, I shot a really cool test of the wind billowing the sail in slow motion and it really had weight and drama, so you can imagine how excited I was the next day to shoot it for real.

There was a slight breeze coming in from the South/West and in order to shoot the mast free from my suburban location, it was important to elevate it as high as possible and shoot up at it. This was accomplished by setting the piece up on a ladder but because the wind was blowing and the base was 2 feet x 3 feet, I needed something ballast. A weight to counteract the wind.

I grabbed a gallon of paint.

Yes.

It did exactly what you think it would do. The wind filled the sail and pulled the entire base, with the paint onto the ground. Like a true artist, I grabbed the mast before it hit the ground and got ruined but not before the paint can hit the ground and exploded like a cannon...barely missing my neighbors WHITE JAGUAR CAR!

After a multitude of apologies and my high-powered hose, the driveway where I was shooting was cleaned and the sail was again on the ladder, this time weighted with a 25 pound bag of wet clay, with Tracy and my neighbor watching to make sure it didn't crash down again.

Magic hour (sunset) was approaching and I was trying to get a good shot of the sail when it happened - nothing. No wind. No breeze. Barely a God-fart disturbed the air and I had to shoot. I set up the shot, rolled camera to no avail.

In the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter. The video message stands on its own and in some ways is better because you can read Donna Moore's campaign sign (which was printed and affixed to the sail) clearly. In the future, I will re-film the sail to be used in other episodes (for dramatic effect!)

Alls well that ends well, and I certainly hope that Donna Moore had a great birthday and has great success this November during the Port Norris, New Jersey election!

Until next time, I'll see you at the Harbor!

Shannon Shea