That was great. My wife and I have been watching the Captain America serial this week in fact. You actually have the same build as the actor that played the part in the original serial. That was one of the best student films I've ever seen. Excellent job. John W
________________________________ From: Captain Bijou <captainbi...@comcast.net> To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 11:21:38 AM Subject: [MOPO] The serial you never saw.... Forty years ago, I was a drama student at the University of Houston (--Randy Quaid was a classmate of mine and we even appeared in a training film together for the Houston Police Department--), an avid comic book collector and a fan of the old movie serials...just like we used to see at our local bijous on Saturday mornings. I was also an aspiring filmmaker. I made 8mm and Super 8mm short "ama-films" for years. Sadly, most of those films have been lost through years. However, I did manage to hold on to my final film, Captain America, which featured friends and fellow students at the U of H in a heartfelt homage to the old movie serials. On weekends and evenings -- whenever I could get a cast and enough rolls of black and white film together -- we'd travel to such exotic locals as the Houston Ship Channel, the air conditioning plant at the University of Houston or Todd Shipyards in Galveston to shoot our serial. Unlike today, when broadcast quality movies can be created on one's laptop, we had only an inexpensive camera, a guillotine splicer -- to make tape splices that would not generally show up when projected -- and equal amounts of enthusiasm and imagination. Primitive the result was, to be sure. Years later, I added a musical track from a portable cassette player and narration which I improvised on the spot. Given the time and inclination, since the technology is already on my computer, I could now tighten up the edits, add dialogue and sound effects and re-score the music. One day maybe, I will... Naturally, I was Captain America....after all, I owned the suit and tights!! For a time, I aspired to be a stuntman and even knew some of the best in the business: Yakima Canutt, David Sharpe, Jock Mahoney and Tom Steele. To make the fights seem realistic, I had only to call upon my experiences growing up on the Houston's northside. I had, as they say, plenty of opportunities to perfect my technique!! Anyway, here it is for you to enjoy. If nothing else, it's proof positive that we were all younger and innocent once upon a time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4tHIyvs82Y Earl Blair CAPTAIN BIJOU www.captainbijou.com Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
