Video Contest Entry--Statuesque Subliminals

This is my humble entry into the ATS video contest.



For those interested in a bit of commentary on the video: These are local area items. Statues, Parks and even a tombstone in a Cemetery. The statues are all found in Hamilton, OH. The Voice of America Park is in West Chester, OH which about 2 miles from the tower in Mason, OH. The cemetery is across from Fort St. Clair just outside of Eaton, OH.

The film was shot on a JVC Everio G (model GZ-MG630). Not the best but it records directly to an internal hard drive which makes for a better transition to the computer for editing. Editing was done via iMovie on a Mac Mini. Again not the best, but it worked with a little arm twisting.

I had the idea for this video for some time. The first time I saw girl on the bicycle. It looked too lifelike with the enamel paint. Honestly had I not seen that they were not moving, my gut reaction was to pull over and stop the guy. There is a deleted shot of Abe Lincoln subjugating a woman that is in Cincinnati. I would loved to have included that shot but the setup angle was rushed due to a shooting going on at the time a few blocks away. And the graffiti on the statue detracted from the tone anyway.

All told there were originally some 55 shots and about 45 minutes of footage not counting the couple takes of me in the beginning. This included a few shots in Cincinnati. Overall with the driving to locations, setups, shoots, editing and post production I have invested roughly 15 hours (editing and voiceover was about 3 hours), and half a tank of gas. And it seemed formating to ATS standards without being pixalated beyond acceptable was the real trick and I had to sacrifice a bit of sound to keep it under the 50MB mark.

I hope you all enjoy. And yes I already have a few more ideas to bring to you.

reply to post by Ahabstar


interesting indeed ,I am particularly interested in that tomb stone
good video btw

reply to post by Ahabstar

Hi, Ahabstar.

I like the mysterious ambiance ! B-)
. . .and the documentary type.

Blue skies.

reply to post by C-JEAN


WHats up fellow hamil-tonian!!! well, just assuming your from hamilton... cool vid! Me and my friends always made fun of that wierdo chasing that kid down by the fitton center!!! Theres definitely more creepy stuff you could do about hamilton tho... OH! You shoulda showed how horridly large Alexsander Hamiltons bulge is on that statue!! Thats friggin scary, lol Plus, theres all those ghosts sites, like the old indian mound out by hueston woods, or that place where all those people died of small pox out by oxford, i know this one place where theres a bunch of old graves, and this one grave is always hot as hell while everwhere else around is cold.. ??? But anyway, its crazy to see a video about my own town!!!

reply to post by mariobrother


Actually, I do live in Oxford now. But I grew up in Camden.

Since you know of the Indian Mound, have you seen where their village might have been? It is a large circular clearing nestled in some rather thick woods. The only logical explanation for it was that is where they lived while building the mound.

I have a few ideas for some places and topics in the future. One I have considered is some shots of some Underground Railroad stops. Not sure of availability to get the interiors filmed. But a general shot of the site with commentary of what it has without giving a specific location (for the privacy of current occupants) should be interesting to some, I suppose.

reply to post by paradiselost333


It is a local thing. Well local to where I grew up, I live about 24 miles from there now. I always enjoyed it and thought it would be a nice bonus feature. The hazy focus to sharper image of the night shot was quite accidental (due to auto-focus at night of a distant object) but made for a nice transition. Hence I declined to edit it out.

I think your way out there...

Originally posted by Vendric
I think your way out there...

Is this one of those videos like the one with the ninja skull? I hope it is because I am kind of concerned about the child molesting part.

Out there? Indeed. It has been said that people do drugs to get where I am naturally.

But the commentary is more of a small sample of my dry sense of humor. It is an off-beat critique of what an artist never intended as a perspective of their art. Although everyone looks at the Hamilton statue with a "WTF?" on the first view. It is actually entitled "An American Cape".

As for the girl and her father teaching her to ride a bicycle, the paint job made it very lifelike. Almost everyone had a queasy feeling as it is a taste of Uncanny Valley for people. The child molester comment is humorous outlook to break that uneasy feeling. That touches on why some people fear clowns. Because they are human but not human enough because of the face-paint.

Subtle humor and subliminal suggestion share a common ground. Hence the documentary style with irreverent commentary.

Originally posted by souls

Originally posted by Vendric
I think your way out there...

Is this one of those videos like the one with the ninja skull? I hope it is because I am kind of concerned about the child molesting part.

Naw, it's just cuz that statue guy is chasing some kid, ADDED to the fact that he's just got "registered offender" written all over him,



to the OP: No, i haven't ever even heard of that circle place, but i went out there with a couple of my not so cool friends wanting to get some video of the mound at night, but do to everyones passion for milwaukees best, it never really happened,

Still, i did end up gettin some peeps to go out to this graveyard by our camp site up there, got some nice orbs on my friends girlfriends cam, and some nice mists! But alas, all my friends suck and were like "we're bored, lets go get drunk!, er, booze!",