Found Video

Met up with Justin and Chris at Filter, and ended up hopping a train from there to the Siskel for the Found Video show (sponsored by Found Magazine).

. En route, we met up with Chelsea who, it turns out, was on a train ahead of us (and spotted us on the platform). She got out at the Division stop, and waited until she spotted us again and joined us in our car.

At the theater, we met up with Mel, her friend Staphnie and Dave. I got a bottle of water, and proceeded to cool off some in the chilly AC of the Siskel.

I took a handful of pictures, but nothing really came out. At a few points during the film, I wanted to try to record some of it with my camera, but some part of me got paranoid that I’d get caught and be asked to leave. It’s a little silly I guess, since these were all “found” videos… but I just felt weird about trying to film a movie as it’s playing on the big screen.

The videos themselves were all pretty interesting. They did run the gamut though – that’s for sure. There was a blooper reel for a Cat Litter commercial, a training video for Christian Missionaries, a young girl lip-synching to a Dolly Parton song, as well as home video of a US shuttle docking with the MIR space station.

The whole time, Dave was cracking up a lot, unable to contain his laughter. There were several parts that weren’t all that funny to me, but sitting next to him… I found his laughter infectious. Some really funny moments throughout.

One of the more interesting videos was a series called “June’s videos,” or something like that. It was all filmed by this one girl, and starts off with a family vacation to Mexico. There are some references to a boyfriend, and the next thing you know – the video jumps to Prom Night, 1992. From there, we get a glimpse of the afterparty at the hotel… and then another jump to the night of the LA riots. Before anyone can get a sense of what’s happening, the camera pans over a table filled with guns and ammunition (and handcuffs and police badges). In the background, family members are talking quietly, and a lot of people are intently watching the television.

After the show, we hung out a bit and caught up with Jason a bit (last time I saw him was way back in February, I think). We invited him to dinner with us, but he ended up having to drop off a copy of the movie to WGN for some radio interview, happening this evening.

Sidenote: the Found Video is playing again, this Wednesday night at 8:00PM. Worth checking out, if you’re around. I mentioned wanting to get a hold of some video snippets for the blog, so we’ll see what happens. I might be able to swing something from Jason, and get you all a taste of this thing (particularly for those of you who aren’t in Chicago).

Outside, we all headed back to the hood for some food, and parted ways with Mel, Stephanie and Chris. The four of us (me, Justin, Dave and Chelsea went to Piece for dinner, and ended up having a nice, relaxing meal together. Towards the end of the night, the topic of conversation turned to Star Wars, and we all waxed nostalgic for our childhood memories of the movies (as well as the toys).