Cynthia-Squared (U and J)
Posted by dogtrax on May 17, 2007
Cynthia just sent in her two movies (U and J) and both are incredible pieces of storytelling (I am no longer surprised by the quality of movies and stories being told, of course) about a musical instrument (ukelele) and settling a family score with humor (jacks). In this case, Cynthia ended up emailing me the movies after running into some upload problems and I did the uploading for her.
Here are her movies:
and
– Kevin
May 29th, 2007 at 11:24 am
Script for U is for Ukulele:
U Is for Ukulele
U is for Ukulele Uke
Baritone Uke
It was 1963. I was a sophomore at the University of Southern Mississippi. It was during Rush, and when we were not at parties, we had to stay in the dorm and entertain ourselves.
Cherry, one of the girls across the hall had a baritone uke. We marveled at how with only 4 simple chords, she could play dozens of songs. I decided right then and there that I had to have a ukulele of my own.
So I bought one–cost me–rather, my father–the sum total of 11 dollars. Before long I was playing Blue Moon, Cherry Pie, Michael Row the Boat Ashore, and Today. Who would have thought 11 dollars
I sing alto, and there was nothing I liked better than sitting around with my Tri Sigma sisters,
strumming the uke, and harmonizing as we sang the popular folk
Those folk musicians like Peter Paul and Mary, the Kingston Trio–protest songs, satire, perfect harmony–they had it all.
My two favorite groups were the Chad Mitchell Trio and the Letterman. One was all about satire and the other about love. But, both groups sang in perfect harmony, and harmony was what we needed in our lives in the 60’s.
It has been more years than I care to count since I was in college. But, everytime I see my baritone uke standing in the corner–worn and battered– my thoughts are drawn to my days at USM, my life-long friends, and the music that we loved.
While the 60’s were by no means harmonious, our music was. For a musician–yes, I finally say with confidence that I am a musician–that’s what I need most–harmony.
U is for Ukulele!
May 29th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Script for J Is for Jacks:
J Is for Jacks Script:
J is for Jacks
When I was in elementary school, I could play jacks with the best of them. However, this story is not about my prowess at jacks or
even about this kind of jacks.
No, this story is about these jacks–big jacks, brass jacks, heavy jacks–these big, brass, heavy jacks, and the part they played in our family memories and folklore.
Win was ten and Adair seven when we moved to our log cabin in the country. They were normal siblings, always arguing about something. I tended to turn a deaf ear most of the time. I don’t really remember this incident, probably because of selective amnesia we mothers have on occasion, but Win and Adair each definitely have their own version of the event.
According to Adair, Win was “messing” with her dolls and wouldn’t stop, so she picked up one of the jack bookends and clonked him in the head. According to Win, he was minding his own business and out of the blue, Adair picked up a jack and hit him in the head.
Regardless, Win was hit and Adair was the hitter. And Adair claims Win should be grateful to her because that one clonk on the head is what made him smart and led to his getting his Ph.D. The one thing they both agree on is my reaction to the incident. Both claim I refused to punish the instigator!
I’m sure Win vowed that one day he’d get revenge on Adair, no matter how long it took. Approximately sixteen years later he got his chance.
It was the night of Adair and Tom’s rehearsal supper. Win stood up to give his toast. He said all the things a big brother should say to his younger sister, and then he told Adair he had a little something for her to remember this night. He handed her a gift bag.
Inside was–you guessed it–a big, heavy, brass jack.
After welcoming Tom into our family, Win mentioned that he had a gift for him too–one he was certain would come in handy as Tom adjusted to living with Adair– the mate to Adair’s jack. Needless to say, Win’s toast brought the house down, and embarrassed Adair to no end. He finally got his Sweet revenge.
J is for Jacks
May 29th, 2007 at 11:50 am
Reflections of J and U:
I’ll have to admit that upon receiving my assigned letters, I thought, “What have I gotten myself in to? Who except Kevin can make a movie about the letters J and U? What am I going to do?” My mind began racing, but the only revelation was: at least I didn’t get X. For several days I had no idea how I was going to make my movies. J and U were elusive. I was sitting at the dining table one evening waiting for Larry to come home from work when I noticed my ukulele standing in the corner by the sideboard. Ukulele–that starts with a U. I can make a movie about USM and my ukulele. One down. Now I just had to think of J. Then I remembered the jingle bell wreath hanging on the coat rack. Don’t ask! Jingle bells–Christmas music. Here was my J–or so I thought.
When I shared my ideas with Adair, she liked the idea for U but thought I could do a better movie about the jacks. The only problem was–I was in Woodville; the jacks were in Dallas. However, I would be in Dallas over spring break and could take pictures then. Problem solved.
I thought taking the pictures was going to be the easy part. Adair and I arranged the jacks, and I took the pictures. We changed lighting and position as needed until I was satisfied. However, when I returned to Woodville and began importing pictures, I was sorry I hadn’t borrowed the jacks because I didn’t like what I had at all. Here is where I need to say I’m a frustrated perfectionist, so I’m never satisfied with my work. Thank goodness for deadlines, even extended deadlines.
I thought the ukulele pictures would be easier to take, but I soon realized there is no perfect place in my house for taking still lifes. Since I was also writing about the USM connection to my uke, I decided to use college memorabilia as well as the uke. A good idea, but nothing wanted to cooperate. One of my files became corrupted, so I had to re-take the pictures. Finally I was satisfied that I had enough pictures for a movie.
I had my scripts all planned out in my head and on sticky notes around the house. It was just a matter of getting them down on paper and matched to the pictures. Other than minor glitches, the rest of the process was fairly easy. Then I tried to download to Jumpcut. After several attempts and calls for help, I decided to e-mail my movies to Kevin. That also took several attempts because I did not convert the files to e-mailable size. Live and learn.
I’m glad I participated in this project. I’ve not only learned so much about the technology used, but also about my learning process. Hopefully this will help me better understand what my students go through when they do something that takes them out of their comfort zone.
June 2nd, 2007 at 4:47 am
Thank you for the reflection, Cynthia.
Our goal is for us to learn new techniques and ways to tell stories, and you, of course, did a fantastic job all around.
Too bad about corrupt files, and all that.
I had the image of sticky notes in my head and you running around the house, sorting them out and recutting the story as you went along.
Kevin