This page last modified on Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Original content and all photos Copyright © Thomas R Gough, All Rights Reserved.
Do not reproduce without permission.

Join us for all the exciting action at the paddle-
pop stick gutter skulls. Peter Morrison and
Johnny Charisma call this thrill-packed event!

Had the idea for a long time - put a paddle pop
stick into the gutter and call it like an Olympic
event with timer, points overlay and replays.

Needed the ideal conditions, though - a video
camera at the ready for one thing. A sudden,
torrentail storm (ideally immediately followed by
bright sparkling sunshine) for another.

Happened at last, though the first time I wasn't fast enough off the mark to catch the flood. I had to quickly buy and eat a paddle-pop and get up the road to shoot, but by the time I did, the much-more-effective-than-childhood gutter had swept the torrent into the storm drain leaving an enfeeble trickle. Luckily I kept the stick hand, and about a week later a clone of the first storm rolled overhead and I was able to get everything I needed. What I should have done, of course, is shot it at the moment of conception - I had the vodeo camera with me and the rain was light, but for whatever reason I didn't shoot it way back then.

The creative spark of Peter Morrison is what really made Widescreen Action Network Channel lift off the screen. Peter is one of the most insightful and clever observers of society ever to not have his own chat show on the ABC. Peter immediately understood the nature of the movie - all those insane sportscasters turning every twist and turn of their event into the Battle of Agincourt - and added his witty and unique brand of irreverence to the action.

The commentary was recorded along the whole overlength duration of the "camera negative" so that I could chop it into a more-or-less realistic Highlights package. I also got to select the choicest bits of the commentary that way. This was then overlayed with a timer (just the frame counter of Final Cut Pro with a colour change) and a points score.

All in all, a few day work.

But what would a "live" sport event be these days without the ticker scrolling across the bottom of the screen? I used our ticker to present a 500 work essay on the state of TV in the early 21st Century. A few heartfelt words about that annoying thing they do these days of squashing the credits out of the way for an ad for what's coming up next - or later in the week! Channel 7 even dumps the original credits altogether in prime time for their own promotions-friendly generic brand - retyped from scratch! A few other comments as well - and it was good to get them off my chest.

Rewarded by a screening at the Short Fuse Film Festival where it met with a satisfactory response. Because of the ticker, it stands up to repeated viewing and unfolding layers, so the Short Fuse DVD has hopefully given it a pleasant afterlife.