Dark Horse - Part One (Foreplay on Film)

The week leading up to Dark Horse was like any other, setting, setting, more setting, tweaking, setting...but oh wait...FILMING?! We threw in another little monkey wrench to our well lubed machine. We wanted to produce a short promo video for every day leading up to the Dark Horse! That's five awesome videos...we made two. However, it wasn't for a lack of trying, it was a huge learning experience for me on both the creative and production side of Less Than Sponsored. I was up until 1:30a on the first two mornings to make sure the videos got out daily. You throw in 10 hour days of setting, forerunning, and taking care of logistics for the biggest comp we've ever put on and you quickly realize how difficult that goal truly is. Our eyes were bigger than our stomachs as they say, and our plates were stacked full of delicious goodies. The two videos that we released I thought were great! However time reared it's ugly head, spit in my eyes, and slapped reality back into my brain. We needed more time...time that we did not have. So the first two videos were released and we all got back to focusing on making the Dark Horse Championship what it eventually became, the best comp we've held hands down!

None the less, here are the two videos that were produced in the week leading up to the DH Championship:

This first one named "Shocking" I had mapped out in my head for about a month (something I should've done for the others). The idea came to be when Dave Wetmore pointed out that shuffling your feet around like a mad man on the gym floors can produce enough static charge to jump start a Chevy. The build up is ridiculous, I know, but it all came together with Dave's amazing faces and the static shock (real by the way) that makes me chuckle. The Danger Nate mini-series at the end was an idea that I had that paired along nicely with both videos. It took a bit to convince him to douse himself with freezing cold water while half-naked on film. When I pulled the kid's large Star Wars swim trunks out of the Target bag, Nate's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. He was "all in" and magic was made...in the shower...half naked...

The second, "Nightmare," was exciting for me. I loved the idea of having a horror-filmesque feel to the video. The challenge was to tie it into the Dark Horse which we barely did. Looking back, I wish that we had done a little bit more, but Tuesday was crunch day for setting and tweaking finals so what you see is what you get. We all loved the idea of having it be a joke and Nate getting "punished" at the end. I did have footage of VZ and Boof torturing the gorilla after trying to scare them but I thought it was a bit over the top so I left it out and went a little less Pulp Fiction for the masses.

I do apologize for the absence of the remaining three videos. I may have been more excited about making these videos than I was about setting for the Dark Horse so believe me when I say that it was a heartbreaking decision for me. Hindsight does allow for better decisions in the future however, and next year the idea is to make the videos ahead of time and release them one a day on the week before. Wait...what? That actually makes sense!!!! Hey, nobody ever said we were the smartest crew in the world.