Blast from the Past: Should I Stay or Should I Go Music Video…

Having a graduating senior has finally forced my hand to figure out how to bring our video archives into this new Internets thingy. Literally force, because my hand prefers creating new over working with old. But here’s a special little nugget I dug out of my college archives.

This is a music video I did for my Advanced Video class at Michigan Tech. The song is “Should I Stay or Should I Go” by The Clash. It seemed pretty appropriate for the job interviews I was suffering through at the time. The quality of the video is, of course, awful. But that’s what you get when you transfer the Betamax master to a VHS tape, let it sit for 25 years, transfer it to a DVD, rip the DVD, edit in QuickTime, and then upload. But I think the story holds up. The video shoot was a riot. The editing was horrific (dodgy analog equipment). And the experience is still paying dividends — this is where I learned to storyboard as well as to improvise when the storyboard became incompatible with reality.

Dom, Meg, Jeff — what do you think about getting together to do a silver anniversary edition?

6 Comments »

  1. Tyler said,

    April 23, 2010 @ 1:11 pm

    Was that Scooby Do inspired door play at the end there? The true inspirat…Wait! They had video back when you were in school? ;P

  2. John Auchter said,

    April 23, 2010 @ 1:26 pm

    Did we have video? Well… barely. The equipment was pre-camcoder, which means the camera was separate from the tape deck. And the tape deck was the size and weight of a Chevette. (Um, that was a compact car back then, Tyler.) Plus I had to haul around and setup light kits for any indoor shots. And all shot on Betamax, baby!

  3. Dominic said,

    April 23, 2010 @ 8:43 pm

    I think we should make a blooper reel for this one. What a hoot! We played it for the kids, they were unimpressed. I forgot we did this, I suspect this will show up at my retirement party with the Incredible Hulk video and the the Christmas tapes (quite a portfolio). Thanks for letting us be part of this video!

    Would love to hear from Jeff! If you are out there Jeff, drop me a line

  4. John Auchter said,

    April 24, 2010 @ 9:18 am

    Actually, somewhere on the VHS transfer tapes I think I have some of the raw footage. I’ll have to look into that. I do remember making you and Jeff do the “fight” scene over and over (the one where he is holding you back with a chair and whip). Finally you got pissed enough to look like you were really attacking him, and it was perfect! I also remember it all taking about 10 times longer than I had anticipated (and promised), but you, Meg, and Jeff stuck with me. Now the tests you bombed the next day are long forgotten, but we still have the video!

  5. Dominic said,

    April 30, 2010 @ 7:43 pm

    Up to 81 views so far on Youtube! We are practically famous.

  6. John Auchter said,

    May 2, 2010 @ 10:26 am

    Once we get to 100 I say we’re offically viral!

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