Making Movies

After a day, I had a wrap. It was time to roll the credits and upload to YouTube. Then I embedded some YouTube code on the home page of my website.

It was time to get back to my bread and butter. Then I had a chance to spend a day in the desert with some friends. When I got back, a script was in my head, along with some great photos.

“Splendid isolation,” I narrated over my desert photos to slow soft music by Mahler. “A chance to connect ...” Close-up of flowering cactus. “What could be more life-affirming?”

Jump cut to dark screen and pounding screeching Mahler. “Isolation nearly killed me,” read the caption.

Time for my close-up.

Now, I began implementing a few new tricks, plus refinements to “old” ones. Yesterday, I uploaded video number two. Already, I could see vast improvements over my first project. This was highly-gratifying. My recent website overhaul involved my learning a number of high-degree-of-difficulty technologies. Now I was making movies. This old dog was learning new tricks.

Time to be serious: At about my age, bad health forced my late father into early retirement. He had already been dying in slow motion long before. I remember as a young adult vowing never to end up like him.

Instead, I got blindsided by bipolar and wrecked my life no end of times. By the time I reached my late 40s, the only role left for me was that of crazy uncle in the family. If only I could have ended up like my father.

Then a series of healings began. I discovered the internet and got into the publishing business. At the time, I knew nothing about my illness or the new technologies, but I was willing to learn as I went along. Now, I was doing something I never dreamed of doing - I was making movies.

More serious talk: The videos represent a new way to reach out to my community. When our illness has the upper hand, generally the last thing we want to do is read. But even when we are well, videos have a way of packing a wallop in ways the written word cannot.

In turn, the written word has numerous advantages over video. It comes down to personal choice.

My intention is to produce short new videos at regular intervals, based around practical solutions to common situations. My first two efforts are a bit ragged around the edges, and so will my next ones. I’m just entering a long and steep learning curve. I will get better as I go along. In the meantime, I feel sufficiently confident to share my first efforts.

Please check out my work:

At YouTube:

Isolation
Intercepting a Mood Swing

At mcmanweb:

Home page
Videos

At YouTube, you can give me your feedback and provide me with ideas and topics for future videos. At my website, you can contact me via email. And here at BipolarConnect you can post your reactions.

In the past, your efforts have guided me into how to shape my Newsletter, Website, and my writings here. Your views matter very much to me. I have a lot to learn.