Ottawa Fringe could not have asked for better weather for day one of Fringe 2012. At 5pm today the first shows opened their proverbial curtain and it was officially showtime.
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So, not a long VLOG today but my guys are just getting warmed up. And seriously folks, they’re a bit gun shy sometimes so if you see either of them with the camera (they’re the two in the preview video, Matthew and Kurt) go and say hello. The VLOGs are in part about what’s going on around Fringe, but we also want them to be about you guys. We, and Ottawa, want to know who you are and what you’re about. Local, out of town, or out of country, tell us who you are. How are things going?
Quick note for those who don’t really understand what vlogging is: A vlog is a video log. Essentially, recorded and lightly edited conversations. My vloggers take the camera, talk about what they’re doing and talk to y’all about what you’re doing. End of the day comes, I take the video, cut out all the crappy bits, most of the boring bits, and some of the good and juicy bits for time. Then it gets posted. Not a lot of editing, not a lot of time spent setting up brilliant shots or a lot of worry about cinematography. Vlogs are simply about life.
Now, since I’m having Matthew and Kurt do most of the actual VLOGging, I thought I would try and supplement with a written update every day to go along with it. Talking about what I’ve been doing and where the hype is. Only have time for quick day one recap, but here goes:
With only two shows starting at 5pm today and A MacSummer Night’s Dream being a bit longer than the usual, day one opened with Don’t Make Me Zealous, which reminded me a bit of Satanic Panic (an amazing 2009 show which hopefully some readers will have seen). I think it was the ludicrousness of certain scenes and the themes of cat killing that did it. 6:30 meant Kurt was out at his first show: In Waves, while Matthew and I stuck around Arts Court Theatre for Crux: The Musical, for which my tweview was:
For a show that doesn’t make a lot of sense, this show didn’t make a lot of sense.
The easy highlight of the night was The Suicide, a show that was criminally under-attended but has set the bar very high for the rest of Fringe. As with every show I mention here, I’m not intending to review anything in detail (for those will come) but this was an outstanding show.
On the way home, I ran into Patrick MacCullagh (R U Smarter than an Irishman) at Mackenzie King station who let me know that Space Mystery… From Outer Space may just live up to the early hype it’s getting. It’s on my list for Sunday.
Speaking of which, most sadly, I will not be doing much Fringing Friday or Saturday on account of awesome paid work — I’m a freelancer, take it when it comes. I’ll possibly be doing the 11pm both days, but my written recaps will be short. Hopefully, the vlogs will continue to be interesting. Pressure’s on, Matthew and Kurt.
To wrap up, I was fortunate enough to get to meet a lot of you doing promo (and likely many more still), so if you see me around, I’d love to know what’s living up to the hype for you. You tell me, I tell Ottawa. You’d want people to tell me if they loved your show, after all. Right now, you can do that in the comments. What did you see and love on night #1 of Fringe 2012?
As always, follow @thatmackeyguy, @yayornayreviews, or @kurtshantz for live tweets and tweviews (twitter+review) during Fringe - now that Kurt has his phone and twitter speaking to one another. Plus, visit us on Facebook where we’ve already posted a ton of Fringe photos (and I have another gallery going up over the weekend).
About Allan Mackey
Allan Mackey is editor-in-chief of Production Ottawa, which, really, is too fancy a title. He also acts as show producer for Should You See It, making sure you get your answer in just about two minutes every time. He writes stuff and occasionally turns that stuff into movies. Keep being awesome!
[...] you’re not familiar with the vlog “style” of video-journalism, see the brief note in day one’s article for an [...]