One, I want to show one of the something
that I think is easy for people to do
that is, I think therapeutic as well as
product oriented, this is going to be our
Holiday Rock Parodies
that we do every year.
Oh, I have one, too!
OK.
They're so much funVideo War! OK.
We didn't do it this year.
OKWell, we did an adaptation.
We didn't put it out in public this year
just because we were trying to not do
something that could get us
flagged for copyright things,
which is a whole separate,
I think, topic or very quick one.
Don't it or do it or do whatever..just be
willing to have your
video flagged basically.
And if where you work, you know, get them
on board or get their opinions, if they're
employers with their opinions are.
Which is why I think some things
that we're showing on our Center's
YouTube page is different than what
what we might have used to show.
Which is evolution. B
ut the Holiday Rock Parodies
is something that, it started years and
years ago, just sort of doing it with the
kids Dynavoxes or Tango devices,
AAC devices to like fill in
the blanks, like rewriting
pop songs and rock songs to the holiday
related because I was tired of just
having them fill in Jingle Bells. It
's fun to get a little
more creative than that.
So we used to do that live.
And then I think
one year, we were like "lets just film,
all the different neighborhoods or units
and have them all create their own."
So it was a community based project
that our
Holiday song is based off
Rock or original song. And then we write them, practice it, film it.
You know, its one day just go for it.
It's also like I think stems
from Jimmy Fallon's like
The little instrument ones?
Yeah, little instruments.
Yes,
Definitely inspired. A lot of my stuff
inspired by Jimmy Fallon, I think
He's he's a very creative Videsually guy.
Yeah.
All right.
Here we go.
[Holiday Parodies]
So creative.
Oh, my gosh.
It's fun just rewriting the lyrics
and getting..
there was one of the gentlemen in the back
playing guitar who's actually and has
worked with engineering and does a lot of
painting around.
And he's an amazing musician.
So it's it's a great way to like pulling
some ringers
from all around that might have some
pretty good skills and give
them a chance to just jam.
You know, they might not have
opportunities otherwise.
And feel welcome.
Just like bringing everybody in together.
But it's still hard to do
this year with masks on.
So my question is, so some of the
some of the clips that we saw.
It looks like some of the residents were a
little bit younger.
So how did they... I see that some of them
are kind of playing, but they actually
contribute to the lyric writing?
It will depend on, I
think, one's population.
We try as much as we can
and then also like to include, like if
we're singing a
Hanukkah song to be inclusive of people
who might be celebrating that holiday,
every mindful of what their family's
preferences might be as well.
So a lot of the residents
that we have here
are minimally conscious or have profound i
ssues. S
o treating the process
as like a regular group.
A lot of them require one to one
staff to fully participate.
So definitely with the playing
and then what we might do is offer them
choices between like an A and B type thing
and have the staff with them, help them
decide which they might want to do.
Mhm, got it.
Yeah.
So, navigating thosethose..
.
So navigating participating in a in a
typical therapeutic construct,
I think can help with
heightening people's participation.
Right.
So, again, it depends, I think,
where you are you as a clinician, you as a
producer is definitely always be mindful
of who you're working with and do what you
can as a therapist to
bring everybody together.
Mm hmm.
So, like your normal group, leadership
skills should come into play with the
planning and production of a lot of this.
That's a good question.
Also goes into a whole topic about the
consent and assent especially for
those that don't have a
voice or might be younger.
You know, are you automatically going
to assume that they want to be in it?
And how do you maintain
those boundaries of how do you maintain
those choices and that freedom to
participate or not participate?
All right.
That makes sense.
Another one shot video that shows quick
and easy that I'd like to share is just
finding the song and rehearsing
it and playing it and recording.
So this is from my internship
at the, the Agusta V.A. Medical Center.
And we had a band that was made
of therapists and clients.
And this is a little
"Mele Kalikimaka."
[Cover Video]
Love it, yeah, it's such a great
way to bring everybody together.
I like that you hit record
and then run into your spot.
Yeah, it's subtle, but
I was like, oh, I see.
Yeah,yeah.
It was just a
really quick we were recording...
we were working on rehearsing for a
concert that we were putting
on for the facility.
And we're like, "Why don't we
just make a video? Let's do it.
And it can help, you know, promote the
event and also just be a fun thing to
do." So that was spur of the moment.
Just we already rehearsing
it and then record it.
And then boom, go.
I think it's a good time to bring out the
like just the simplicity behind
a classic lip sync battle.
Oh, yes, And how do we..
as a video, I think opens it up to
so much more than just doing it live.
So a lipsync battle, like,
you can do it live and as a group of
people just lip sync or
or you can set up a green screen behind
and you could put pictures or
the actual music video behind.
And so what I really like what I would
what I like to do is, you know, host it
like you would a normal like
just to lip sync battle
to the camera, but then had the green
screen curtain behind, and then in
post-production fade in
the original audio track
because recording the audio from the
microphone from a live performance,
you know, it's going to have
lots of other stuff there.
Yes.
Which which is totally fine.
But the battle is about lip syncing.
So, I sync it up and then have
it with the video behind it.
I think it just gives us like this
is dimensional quality to it.
That can be just really funny, really fun,
really silly sometimes, very
you know, however you know.
And then what's also good about doing it
like that is that you could also record it
separately and not have it live.
So that way it's inclusive to everybody
that might not be able to make it, to
watch it live. So we recorded live
and then we hosted it and let people vote
on it, like for a week or
one year, we had to because there
are lots of neighborhood closures.
We I went to each neighborhood and
recorded them all separately and then.
Then put them all out at the same time and
people who watch them at their leisure,
vote on them, voting is optional, but
it's kind of a nice fun touch to it.
Yeah, I and I,
I've gotten a 3D printer recently
and this past year when we did a holiday
one, you know, I made this little
3D printed ugly sweater trophy. S
o, you can have like a gag of sort of
bragging rights to the group that wins.
Yes.
So I think the one that I have is me and a
resident just just hamming
it up, just having fun.
Singing Whitney Houston, I think.
Whitney Houston.
[Lip Sync Video}
Oh, my gosh,
I thought, you know, showing off sort of
our relationship in a different light,
I just
can see through the rest of it, like, her
legs are kicking all over?
I put my hand out.
She would grab grab.
Those are things that I think
that's how she participates.
And I think that's something that people,
other staff members watching
will be like, "Yeah, she does she
does love grabbing your hand.
She does love moving around. There's so
much to her." You know, as much as she
might not actively be doing the lip
syncing part its with the dyad. I
t's this this team, this partner,
together, building with memories, t
his experience,
as well as, you know, being goofy.
Yeah, it's so great.
Yeah, that was on the first things I
noticed was how even though you were doing
most of the mouth moving, she was still
participating by, like, reaching out and
communicating in her own way.
Yeah, yeah.
And one of the I think one of the best
rules that I think I came up with early on
with these is it's like having people pick
the song and then I will edit it down
to like a minute and a half because, like,
there's nothing more awkward than a song
that goes on too long. A
nd everybody just loses steam like I
wanted to be successful and fun and just
like just boom, boom, boom, boom without
too much worrying or rehearsals.
So, like, I mean, like, you guys
pick a song, I'll edit it down.
I'll give it back to you guys so you can
rehearse it, because I think, you know,
for them as staff members being able to
rehearse and the children, their their
attention to to to rehearsal,
that might not necessarily be therapy or
therapeutic. Mo
re functional that is not part of their
therapy. To sort of make it as easy and
setting them up for success.
But it's much easier to learn a minute and
a half or fake your way through a minute
and a half to a three minute long song. L
ike we've all been to karaoke bars where
somebody tries to do that
really, really hilarious song.
But it's just way too long.
And it's funny, at first "American Pie"
that one
or "Piano Man," you know them all.
S
etting them up for success,
I think is, setting participants, and
anybody up for success, I think is, it
would be part of your job
as the producer and thinking of it
in this therapeutic construct.
You know, you wouldn't go into therapy
and try to set them up for failure.
Yeah, I mean, I'm sure there's instances
where you want them to fail? I'm sorry.. that came
out weird.
Where we're working through a struggle
might be therapeutic, but that's not
what this would be for, necessarily. Or
something or whatever or not
what everybody is signing up for.
And then if they don't have a good
experience, they're going
to have to do it next time.
Yeah, I think it's important to note, in
addition to, like for this specifically,
it's a sign that you're cutting down.
I think, videos in general, like there's a
... like when you're first approaching
videos, you know, the videos that you've
seen are like large movies or large, you
know, different music videos and like,
"Oh, man, I can't create something like
that!" But it doesn't have to be that big.
It can be something really small, like
something that's 30 seconds or minute.
Minute and a half.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And that reminds me of like the best, I
think a really great way to start your
first video is just like
some of my first ones.
Just copy something.
Like shot for shot like take
away some of those decisions,
those bigger, harder decisions.
What do I film? How do I
film it? Just be like..
.
You know, you learn through learn through
mimicry, I guess?
Yeah, mirroring,
mirroring, yeah, yeah, a fugue, is a
formula. Rondo is a
formula. Find a formula.
And then your creativity can
go within those parameters.
And it makes some of those decisions and
the daunting task of figuring out what to
do a lot easier if you can use
like something else as a template.
Yes,exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's what we did for
that other song video
"Baby Shark," "Beetlejuice," no
No, "Under the Sea." We did
a remix of "Under the Sea,"
again shot for shot of the
animated "Under the Sea"
from Little Mermaid.
What we did is we we took screen
captures of almost every shot.
And I Photoshopped the characters out.
And then on the green screen, we had
the kids and staff dress
up and be the character.
Hmm.
And then we would animate
in FinalCut to match up.
That's awesome.
Really, really fun because it was just
it looked, it looked pretty cool.
I got to say, like this was
probably one of my favorite ones.
One of my first ones that was like really,
really big on the postproduction side
and with the green screen.
Let's watch a little bit.
Yeah, let's watch it.
[Green Screen Video]
So
I like that...
so much went into it.
It like it looks like it.
Every week there in this group, it was
this group we call
the evolution of this group.
We used to be called Dynavox Orchestra,
and it was based it was a music therapy
group using communication devices to
participate.
And then we got iPads and Dynavox's with
like 10000 dollars and iPads with a couple
hundred bucks. And then we couldn't call
it anymore because nobody
was using a Dybabox.
So we changed it to
Digital Voice Orchestra.
And then we started doing things more than
just music, like making videos or
recording. We're we like "We're more of a
studio." So now
it's called DigiVoice studios.
And so this is
a great
evolution of this group that is very
musical based, but
I think it's more than that.
And just like roping people in each week,
setting up the green screen and just like
getting people to be like, "Hey, we need
this character. We need this character."
and getting staff
and the residents involved.
And  it was, short, quick little
snippets for almost everybody.
Like we had a couple
leads, that we would film.
But then everybody else was just like, we
need somebody to be the blowfish or
we need somebody to be such and such.
Yeah, yeah.
And that's a good example of like for
those who don't, who, you know, aren't
able to pay as much attention during a
session. And so just filming 30 seconds of
them acting like a blowfish and they're
still a part of this huge production.
Yeah.
That would take a long time afterwards.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, it's it's a lot of work in post,
but yeah
it's like putting a puzzle together.
Oh yeah
Right.
Like, you know, it's the delicate
balance of, like, piecing things in.
It's a puzzle that you
can change as you do it.
But like I find it very calming and
serene, just like staring
at the computer for hours,
Me too
Lights turn off behind me because
I'm not moving for a long time.
But, you know.
Yeah, yeah.
These labors of love
that
that I think I think it's something that
everybody is, that a lot of people are
scared to do or to try to to proposing.
But I think, you know, it's like learning
a new instrument, like it's going to be
hard at first, you know, but you just got
to do it, you know, like the worst thing
that happens is, you know,
you're not happy with it, you know?
Yeah.
Yeah, that's OK.
Like
you learn from that.
Yeah.
Yeah,
I'm curious what you used
to make this like, how did you put
everyone's videos into the
different characters faces?
That's probably a good whole separate
Photoshop and green screen.
OK, so that was, But in a nutshell,
that's how that was all done with
photoshopping the frames, like
they screen capturing parts of the video
and then Photoshopping
out Sebastian in aerial.
Yeah,
Yeah and sometimes using the actual video
itself and then just masking like covering
over the original character with because
there were some there were
some original animated...
original animation from the original video
there. Don't tell
Disney
or they'll hire you.
It's OK, you know.
And then using green screen
and then just basically..
it's like making a collage
is the best way to think about it.
So instead of, you know, you got all your
magazine clippings and your poster
board and you got scissors and tape,
you do...
It's digital.
You use your mouse, you draw around
somebody with what's called a mask
and it basically cuts them out.
And then you treat that
as its own little cutout.
And on the computer, on the timeline, you
say, you know, at this point in time,
they here, and at this point
time they're over there. You
animate in between.
And yeah,
and with green screen, basically
the the idea behind it is.
The computer..
you tell the computer, whatever is green
or blue or whatever comes your screen is
whatever is green, make it invisible.
So it's basically like cutting it out.
Yeah.
So you've got to make sure whoever's in
the shot is not wearing the same color as
not wearing green.
Yeah.
Unless that's what you want to do,
because I have a green man suit that
the staff will put on.
So its just they're head
and then they stand in front of the green
screen and then it's just a floating head.
Hmm.
Yeah,
that makes sense.
Lighting and getting the wrinkles out is
is really important. But that's
that'll be in the green screen video.
Yes.
