Getting Foolish With The FOOLS FOR HIRE!

Where on earth has this year gone? Talk about a whirlwind!

I've let things lapse around here the last few months but it was with good reason - I've been busy as hell creating new content and some of it just launched on the "internets" in the form of the comedy webseries FOOLS FOR HIRE.

Way back in July I briefly mentioned a new project I was about to go into pre-production on. The series in question is very different from my last web adventure, Libelle, although one probably would not have existed were it not for the other.

I first heard about the concept for Fools For Hire back in the summer of 2011 when Nick Harrison, who was my Assistant Director/Stunt Coordinator/Actor on Libelle, told me about some of his crazy experiences over the years working as a corporate entertainer. At first I didn't believe half the stories he told me but I was nonetheless intrigued enough by his idea to take some of those exploits and develop it into a comedy webseries.

Almost a year later, schedules finally lined up and Nick introduced me to Mike Cavers, fellow actor and victim of corporate entertainment and just like that we were off making the webseries!

Nick and Mike had a gig coming up at the annual Lonsdale Quay summer festival where they would be playing their pirate characters and we all agreed that it would make the perfect backdrop for the first 2 episodes. Given the theme of piracy, we also thought it would be a great way to introduce the show's villain who ended up being played by Eric Breker in another cool Libelle connection.

Eric Breker filling in on slating duties at Lonsdale Quay

The scripts for Episodes 1-4 came together incredibly quickly as did the cast and crew - it helped that our crew was well... Minimal.

Hey! Isn't that sound guy one of the Fools For Hire?

On most days it was pretty much just me and the camera and a different volunteer doing sound each day of shooting with other roles being filled as needed by whoever wasn't in front of the camera for a particular shot.

Shooting the first 4 episodes was a great learning experience, it was a lot of work and it was a ton of fun. Portions of each of the episodes were only loosely scripted and relied upon the cast to improvise but since many of them were experienced in theater sports this came easy. There were a lot of takes that ended with me having to cut simply because I couldn't stop shaking the camera from laughing.

The real work however, was still to come. With almost 1TB of video files on my hard drive there was a LOT of footage to sift through. In addition, we were going to have to learn how to self-distribute our work and though I've dabbled plenty in social media etc. even I was surprised at just how much work this would end up being. I'll write a separate post on the distribution and branding side of things at a later date.

Here for your viewing pleasure is Episode 1 of Fools For Hire.



And here's Episode 2 of Fools For Hire.



Over the next little while I'll be sharing lots more on my experiences with getting Fools For Hire out into the world as well as what our plans may be for the future of the show. A lot of people have put a lot of work into making Fools For Hire possible and it's all for nothing if nobody sees it so please, please check out our Youtube Channel here and don't forget to click the "Like" button, comment and let us know what you think and "Subscribe" for more episodes! Also, please come and visit our official Facebook page here or find us on Twitter here.

As 2012 comes to an end I'm already thinking that perhaps my first New Years resolution should be to pay more attention to this little corner of my world and blog with more frequency. If you're still with me and checking back here from time to time, thank you! With any luck I'll have lots more to share over the coming 12 months.

Merry Christmas to you all and a very Happy New Year!

2011 WEEK 33: Coal Harbour

I'm beginning to think I should take pictures of me working since another week has come and gone and I have very little to offer here in terms of camera adventures.

Feeling like this is another lackluster offering but have no fear, I remain committed and passionate! "Normal Service Will Resume Shortly"...

In the meantime, here's some pictures from Coal Harbour.

Until next time folks!

2011 WEEK 28: Hidden Treasures

Way back when, around the time that I became a proud iPhone owner, I downloaded a bunch of Apps with the intention of being more productive, more technologically in-touch and more adventurous. Of course, half of these Apps have been gathering digital dust ever since. But this week we took one of those forgotten relics for a test-run. The App is Geocaching!

For those of you unfamiliar, Geocaching uses the GPS technology of your handheld device to lead you to hidden caches of treasure left by other users. On booting up the App all you need to do is click on "Find Nearby Caches" and a list pops up detailing caches in your area together with how far away they are, a GPS Google map locator and a description of the hide. Each hide is categorized by level of difficulty and type of cache with some being puzzles that have to be solved in order to unlock the GPS coordinates and others being a series of caches linked together to form an entire treasure hunting adventure.

Being total newbies, Mel and I decided to go for individual caches all of which were ranked at pretty much the lowest level of difficulty and were all within walking distance of our home.

Finding the genreral location of our first cache in the West End of Vancouver was easy. Finding the specific spot where the cache was hidden wasn't so easy... We spent a few minutes shuffling around, our eyes gazing at the iPhone before a nearby "uniformed stranger" pointed us in the right direction (any more detail of this stranger's identity and it would give away the hide!).

Somewhere in here there be hidden treasure mateys!

Not exactly "pieces of eight" or "a king's ransom" for us to retire on but this is what we found:

We added a lollipop to the treasure trove and headed off on our merry way in search of cache #2 mysteriously known as "***** House Blues"...  It was somewhere near this heritage home:

Nestled in the shadows of this noble turreted dwelling...

Again, despite the difficulty level of only "1" we still spent a few minutes wandering up and down searching bushes, looking underneath benches, etc. until we found this little package hanging from a hook:

This is what we found inside:

Inside most caches is a tiny little log for treasure seekers to record the date of their discovery.

Mel added an entry for our treasure find and then we were off in search of cache #3 with the intriguing title of "Cache De Vine".

I immediately knew where the general location of the cache was hidden based purely on the use of the word "Vine" in the title. Finding the actual hiding spot was... well difficult to say the least! We spent a good 20 minutes drifting around a street corner like a couple of idiots. The GPS tracking is good but its not THAT good. In other words, it gives you a location within fifty to one hundred feet but it doesn't pinpoint the exact spot. Further confounding us was the cache description which referred to the hide as a "magnetic micro". We weren't exactly sure what that meant other than it was probably small and it was more than likely stuck to something metallic.

Underlining just how popular Geocaching has become, another stranger passing by pointed us in the right direction. Based on the grin on his face, I'd say he's seen many a fool shuffling back and forth, iPhone or Blackberry in hand, who needed guidance.

This is what a "magnetic micro" looks like and this is what was hidden inside...

If you have a thirst for mystery and uncovering hidden secrets or you're looking for a new way to explore your city then I highly recommend Geocaching. The App only costs $9.99 in the AppStore.

DISCLAIMER: Vignetting and cropping used in all these photos to help preserve the mystery!

Until next time folks...