We recorded our first video Sci Fi SadCAST last night - What an experience!

Setting up a video podcast is no mean feat - it's complicated and can be disasterous if done badly. There are few regular video podcasts for good reasons.

The actual SadCAST preparations started on Wednesday when I finally plucked up the courage to go out and invest in some equipment for making the audio part of the podcast. The problem with the audio is that we were having four people in the studio (my front room) and three or four other Sci Fi SadGeezers (and lady SadGeezers) joining us via Skype, so the audio equipment was going to need fabrication. I bought four headsets (mono) a mic mixer, a Pre-amp and made a speaker mixer myself so that people could hear what everyone was saying on Skype and in the studio without feedback or echo. It took two days to get all this fabricated, wired up and working (and two visits to the electronics shop to complain that the kit they sold me didn’t work – in the end I took everything to their shop and got them to assemble it for me - and exchange the faulty pieces!).

At 6.00 pm on Friday (the day of the podcast) I got everything linked up and tested and only had about an hour to prepare the show. At 7 pm nobody had turned up. I was waiting for some of the crew and panellists to discuss the show and help organise the content/script. 9pm and no one showed up! It was two hours before the show was due to be shot and I couldn’t contact anyone by phone. Newkate (the lady wife) was so nervous about being on the video podcast that she went and had a lie down (and fell asleep).

At 11pm (half an hour before the shooting is due to start) I’m sat on my own in the front room feeling glum. Then they all arrive at once!

Headgehog and Lexxrobotech arrived via Skype then Mike and Sam and Newkate all surfaced. A little later we were joined by theFrey. We all rushed around for a frantic half hour trying to get the video cameras fixed up, everyone mic'd up and sound tests done. Mike started on the whiskey to calm his nerves a bit.

Finally, we were sort of ready – Mike was enjoying the atmosphere and the whiskey, which had seemed to go straight to his head. Then the show started!

I introduced everyone and immediately died a death! Half way through each sentence I wondered ‘what the hell am I doing’ and ‘Jes..s! I’m sweating already!’ and ‘oh crap, I forgot to say that’ (you know the sort of thing – all the stuff you should’ve said but was too nervous to remember.

The following few minutes can best be described and frantic, amateurish and (possibly for the people of the Skype line) scary. We seemed to wonder into disjointed elements of sci fi books, news, anime, shows and animation (non Japanese). Most of what the guys in the studio wanted to say was missed out and a HUGE amount of what we didn’t want to say like ‘F…ck’ and ‘F..ck..g’ and ‘oh god my eyes look awful’ etc. was uttered at various levels of loudness until finally we wrapped it up!

Don’t get me wrong; theFrey, Headgehog, lexxrobotech and Newkate gave some excellent and entertaining segments, which were both informative and interesting for all sci fi fans! But those of us who were a little less that sober completely bolloxed it up. I mean, this wasn’t freezing in front of camera because we were a little nervous; this was an all out, high decibel monologue of drunken drivel along the lines of, “Seriously…. No.. seriously you have to support this, this guy, no… seriously f..cking buy this right, coz f..ck man, this is f..cking great – hey you, do you know what I’m say… no seriously he did this in his garage, f...cking buy it right …..” etc. In that particular case I don’t think Mike actually mentioned what it was that he was actually reviewing.

When the recording finished and we said our goodbyes, I seriously wondered if I would ever live it down or if the show would ever be published. All the preparation, nailbiting and nervous exhaustion seemed for naught!

Me and Newkate went out for a breath of fresh air (it was about 1am at this point), we hugged and I said something like, “Wow, that was … erm…” And then we both just burst out laughing. The strange thing is, I’ve had lots of chats with sci fi buddies that have gone just like that and been just as much fun. I was dripping with sweat from nerves and regretful that it had not gone exactly the way I wanted, yet my dissapointment seemed less and less important.

We got back in to find that Mike had fallen over in a drunken stupour and knocked most of the equipment off the table, he was sitting, laughing on the floor with a cut lip and bloody chin. Both Sam and Mike thought that the recording session had gone very well and were pleased with the result.

!!!?!?!?!!!!

They were frantically checking video to make sure that it had all recorded and triumphantly affirmed the show was in the can!

I should point out that Sam Shearon (known as Mister Sam is a nationally recognised artist and sculptor (checkout his website http://www.samshearon.com/ [1] and checkout the press reviews of his exhibitions! - they'll crack you up!)) and is a qualified and experienced media communication expert. Mike Bedd is probably one of the most talented Flash artists and animators that I’ve met (and I’ve met lots! - he designed this site), so when they say that things went well, I’d believe them, however sceptically.

We then went on to have a long discussion about post production techniques, masking, clip enhancement, street interviews as additional material, linking, captioning and various techniques for enhancing the video and making it into something that we (the sadgeezer sci fi community) would be proud of.

They left at 9 am this morning, confident that within a couple of days, they would have a masterpiece!

I can’t wait to see the finished product! I’m also nervous, sceptical, enthusiastic, frightened, and euphoric. This, in every scense of the word, has been real!

SadCAST # 01 should be available on iTunes, SadGeezer.com and various podcast directories in the next 5 days. Stay tuned!
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