If you’ve watched any TV in the past few weeks then you’ve probably seen those cool NBA ads where they get two basketball players from different teams to do a cool split-screen commercial. Like this one:

Never one to miss out on a cool stylish bandwagon, Time magazine then came out with their own version of the “THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE” promotion….

And so it wasn’t long before Fred came downstairs to my office, plopped the magazine on my desk, and asked me, “Can we make a video like this?”

The look on his face when I told him “Sure” was like that of a child who just learned we were going to McDonald’s for lunch after church. Fred thought it would be fun to do a video parody of the NBA ads promoting The Get Up and Go Show. Fred and Lisa in a bizarre split-screen mash-up. I loved the idea as soon as I heard it.

I watched a couple of the NBA ads on YouTube for inspiration and then came up with a script of my own oozing with faux-This-Is-The-Most-Serious-Subject-In-The-World Over-the-Topness. Within 20 minutes I had the green screen background hung and Fred was shooting his half.

Lisa hadn’t left for the day and, not being the ham that Fred and I can be at times, I assured her she didn’t have to film her half of the promo right then and there. I think she was a little relieved and the next morning she was psyched up and ready to go.

The editing afterward was fun. Speeding up Fred while I slowed down the footage of Lisa - and vice versa - to match them up as close as possible. I found a couple of contrasting backgrounds (the lobby of a fancy-schmancy building for Fred and a hi-tech green room for Lisa) and inserted them behind my actors. Some dramatic background music and a slow zoom later, we had something close to a finished product. Fred suggested the slight sepia tint and after adding the graphics at the end we had something we were sure would bring a smile — and confusion — to the internet.

Or, as Fred says, “the internets.”

Enjoy!

–Eddie

Today Lisa Landis left her keys in Production Room 2. I was sitting at my desk working away and Kristi Leigh came in. She saw the keys laying by the sound board and said, “Hey, whose keys are those?”

I turned behind me and told her I didn’t know.

“I’ll bet they’re Lisa’s. Look at that huge Honda key.”

I grabbed the keys and gave them a quick once-over. There was a gym membership card on the keyring and I knew it was Lisa’s gym. “Yep,” I said, “These are hers.”

I paused.

“How did she get home?” I wondered.

“She drove the other car today,” Kristi answered. I knew this was true but I was still confused. I also hoped she didn’t go to the gym. Or Borders. Or the grocery store.

I did my good deed for the day and called Lisa to let her know her keys were there. And then, in an inexplicable fit of smarminess that was totally uncalled for, I got within earshot of Kristi and left this voice mail:

“Hey Lisa, it’s Eddie. You left your keys here but it’s OK. I found them and I knew they were yours because of your car key. And Kristi didn’t help at all.” And I just kept going on and on from there. Of course, Kristi is in the background shouting her objections the entire time. It was one big long mess of a message but it was kinda fun at the same time.

I just feel bad for Lisa, who has to make something out of that whole garbled shenanigan-fest.

-Eddie

A couple of weeks ago, Kristi Leigh pointed out to me we were fast approaching our 100th video uploaded to the WJTL YouTube site. We wanted to do something fun to celebrate but most of the ideas we came up with were either too lofty (win a 3-day trip to Nashville and stay in Michael W. Smith’s guest room!) or just plain weird (how about a video of two monkeys fighting over a Wii console).

Later that same day Lisa Landis approached me with an idea for a video. McDonald’s had a commercial on TV set to the “Cha Cha Slide” that was on the air all the time. Every time you turned on the television you’d see that little dude in his yellow track suit bopping around the dining room table eating apples. Lisa had the brilliant idea of swapping out apples for cookies (what do you expect, she’s the award-winning host of The Kids Cookie Break). I loved the idea and the storyboarding process began.

I watched the original commercial over and over and over and we recreated the ad shot-for-shot substituting Lisa, her husband John, her nephew Nick, and her son Alex for all of the main characters. Alex was excited about getting to eat cookies during the shoot but an hour and a half later his sweet tooth was no longer craving chocolate chip cookies.

Because John had to return to work as soon as possible, we shot all of his parts first, which was a little confusing to our young stars. Try as we may, I don’t know how well I explained to them the concept of shooting out of order and piecing it all together later in the editing room.

Editing is my favorite process of putting together a video. It’s a lot like a jigsaw puzzle: You have all of the pieces of everything you shot and it’s up to you to put them in the right order to make the big picture. Of course, since we were parodying something that had already been done, it was a little easier knowing which piece went where this time around.

The KCB Cha Cha Slide Parody is now one of our most-watched videos each month and was a fun little way to celebrate 100 videos. The final product is available to view BY CLICKING HERE. Enjoy!

–Eddie

Who doesn’t love the opportunity to win a prize?

Watch the video of Radio Friend Phil, listen to the music and give your valuable input for Video TEAM survey number 2.

Surf on over to WJTL’s website, then watch the top video in the news section. Rate the songs and submit your email (include your name address and phone number and all the pertinent stuff Phil tells you about in the video).

You could win some cool prizes. Phil tells you about that in the video too. This video won’t be around forever, so check it out today!

Hi! Welcome to the official blog of WJTL FM 90.3!

My name is Eddie Daniels, WJTL’s resident video guy. I’ll do my best to keep you updated on what’s going on at your favorite place to find the best mix of Christian music. You can listen to us no matter where you are by clicking here.

And if you wonder what a radio station is doing with a video guy (don’t think I don’t see the irony in that) then you can stop by our YouTube page and see just what it is I do here.

Feel free to leave comments and questions; I’ll do my best to answer them and keep you in the loop!