SF Classiques 014

A Brief (?) History of SF Productions - Part 14

We now move into 1984.  This was the year of the Los Angeles Summer Olympics, so I decided our major goal for the year was a video parody of the games.  Mike was involved in electronic music classes in college, so we used that as an excuse to create a new theme for the games.  We spent a concentrated period of a few days in the summer (remember, we still had to rent video equipment) and shot all over town.

We used a local monument that had a number of steps to stand in for the stairs leading up to the Olympic flame.  Of course, we couldn't have an actual flame involved, so for some reason, we stuck a roll of toilet paper on a stick.  Sharon ran up the steps, and I followed her with the camera, interviewing her as she ran--it's amazing that anything was kept in the frame.  A quick cut to Lynda's backyard and the grill stood in for the actual lighting of the flame.  We were still using the toilet paper, so small pieces of flaming paper started flying around--for a moment, there was a real possibility we were going to burn down her house!

We shot Saylor riding a bike on a grassy hill (anybody can ride on cement), we created a set of sport logos with Brenda in a black suit performing each sport, and we created animated network logo in Mike's basement with styrofoam, a model train set, a vacuum cleaner, and some black wire. We shot commercials for the Kmart Financial Network, and bits on souvenirs and the Olympic breakdancing competition in Mike's backyard with Mike's brother Dan.

Dan also was one of the stars of the centerpiece event--cross country golf.  The idea was that you had to hit a ball from one golf course through the town to another golf course.  Brenda, Dan, Saylor, and Sharon were the competitors, and Mike and I did color commentary.  Sharon's character was hit with a ball at the very start of the competition, and Brenda's character was apparently kidnapped, leaving Saylor and Dan.  We shot footage all over town, ending up at the other golf course in town.  Saylor did the "agony of defeat" bit, and Dan was victorious.

Finally, we shot some footage at the NBS Olympic headquarters (Lynda's basement), which should have been enough to let me to put together something coherent.  I haven't actually gotten around to finishing the edit--I suppose I should get to that, being 25 year later...

In 1985, we went back to audio, since Star Trek III came out that year.  We brought Eric's Spock back from the dead with help from Saylor, Sharon, Mike, Bill, Brenda, Steve, and Janet--wait a minute, who's Janet??  You'll find out next time, as the marriage bug infects SF, and we become Outstanding.  Meanwhile, I think there's a Vulcan to search for...