Corkscrewed

Congrats. The page Robb set up with this TR made it onto ebaumsworld as a Daily eLink (I think for May 23). http://ebaumsworld.com/

ROFLMAO!! Poor Kim! That morbosity was the human equivalent of Flashback!

Well, that takes care of the joke I was gonna make, which was "Say goodbye to good/decent guest service!"

I'll talk about my video at the end of all of this. Dave Arnold's "Fantazyland - Alexandria, Egypt" Oly crap you've got balls! Venturing into a park like that and escaping. This was definitely not the best video, but it would have to win the WTF Award for this year. Talk about a horrible park! There was nothing happy about this video, and that was the point. Even the song choice refuted that. The song isn't exactly depressing, but there's an aura of sadness around it. Normally, I wouldn't recommend using the fisheye lens so often, but in this case, I almost think you should have used it more, because it enhances the feeling that you're sneaking into some drug and gangs infested projects and you're undercover so you can't get caught, but you need to scope the place, so you use some undercover pinhole camera with the fisheye lenses to see as much as possible. The black circular borders gives it a surveilance feel, and at a park as this, projecting that suspicious aura is exactly the thing you need to do. So like I said, this isn't hte best video (not that it needs to be), but this is certainly one of the most memorable! Kevin Gillan's "What We Learned On Vacation" Well, looks like we've got a theme of quirky, interesting, cinematic introductions before an upbeat semi-hip hop song from a popular band. It just so happens that I associate Outkast and Black Eye Peas together in my mind, so at first, I thought you'd used the same artists. Anyway, this was definitely an interesting video, helped by its nifty introduction. It's always great to see something creative to stand out from the crowd, and the intro here certainly did it. And nice cameo by your kid (I'm assuming). The music video itself was pretty good, though not the best of what we've seen. I thought the synchronization could have been crisper, and you didn't take advantage of some of the opportunities in the song, like the first "na na na na na..." part. There were also what looked like inconsistent transitions in the first half, where you went from a straigh cut to a fade or a zoom transition even though the music seemed to indicate a consistent sequence. Still, this is being relatively picky. I'm not sure if it's a little too bizarre for my personal tastes in some parts (mainly where you had people making crazy faces at the camera up close), but it was definitely a good video. Nick Collins' "USA Coaster Trip" I'm not sure if it was an encoding problem or not, but the first minute definitely seems out of sync with the music, especially since the rest of the video is relatively with it. That said, I have to unfortunately place this video closer to the lower half of my ratings, if only for the fact that it happened to strike my theme park video pet peeve: the inconsistent control of audio. I hope you don't take this as an offense, as it's just my opinion, but I personally found the frequent bursts of raw audio to be very jarring, especially since the rest of the footage would be music only, without any background sound. So to suddenly have loud bursts of dialogue or sound effects from the video or live feeds was very distracting, especially since it completely overpowered the video. I remember this being an issue last year as well with your video. My personal suggestion would be to tone the actual feature audio parts down, and also give some background noise to your other clips. They don't have to all be the same volume... where you don't need it, the background audio can be dampened to supplement the music but stay behind it, and when it's featured, the volume can be smoothly turned up. This way, you don't go from no volume to loud volume, and the video doesn't seem interruptive. Again, that's just my personal suggestion and viewpoint. The video itself wasn't bad, with a great mix of locations and that cool video of Dragster rolling back (definitely appropriate to have the music "break down" as the ride "broke down." The video choice, also, I enjoyed. But again, I say the biggest issue with this video was its audio inconsistencies. I hope I'm not coming off to harsh, because it's not like I hated the video, but I feel that making that minor adjustment would have made your video incredible. Dan and Jackie Collison's Epcot So we have a Collins and a Collison this week. Well, I hope I'm not the only one who's going to be confused. And what's with all the Florida videos in this contest? There couldn't be a Florida bias... could there...? Just kidding. First thing I have to say is that your nighttime shots are pretty spectacular. Maybe it's the lighting of the shows, or the good camera, or the steady hand, or the widescreen angle, but they look very smooth and professionally shot. Kudos on that! This is another solid video full of great theme park fun and action, synched pretty well to music and edited pretty well. I can't really say there was a ton that stood out; more fire would have been nice (Illuminations). But I can't really say anything bad about this video either. I love Walt Disney World, even though I've never been there, and you've captured the spirit pretty well. I guess a bit of background audio might have been nice, but that's nothing major in this sort of video, which is more of a "taste of everything" sort of vid (pun intended). Nice job! MY CURRENT RANKINGS: 1. Paul Ruiz De Miquel - "Parque de Attactiones" 2. Julian Johnson - "Don't Look Down 2005" 3. Tom Mueller - "Port Aventura Video" 4. Justin Saxe - "Silverwood" 5. Nicolas Chavance - "Efteling" 6. Jonathan Hawkins - "Midwest Conquest" 7. Lars & Cornelia Theissen - "Coaster Season 2005" 8. Kevin Gillian - "What We Learned on Vacation" 9. Mark Owens - "Busch Gardens Tampa and Cypress Gardens" 10. Erik Johnson - "Expedition Everest" 11. Dan & Jackie Collison - "EPCOT" 12. Dennis 'Park Junkie' Kolodzeizik - "Slagharen" 13. Phil Hart - "Carowinds" or "How to Use Your Camera" 14. Nick Collins - "USA Coaster Trip" 15. Blake Fawley - "Goat Encounter" 16. Barry Hom - "FLCC at Busch Gardens Tampa" 17. Jim Williams - "Six Flags Magic Mountain December 2005" 18. Connor Thompson - "Magic Springs" 19. Dave Arnold - "Fantazyland - Alexandria, Egypt" I feel like the overall quality might be making the latest videos not as "effective," because while they're pretty good, in comparison, they're not special anymore. Sort of a good and bad thing, I guess. The standard's been raised. A Little Bit About My Video: I'd had this video in mind for about two years before I actually did it. In 2003, I made my first-ever trip to Knott's Scary Farm and was immediately hooked. I knew I'd want to do a music video to it, but the only problem was that at the time, I didn't own my own camcorder. So two years passed before I purchased my awesome Sony DRC-HC42 mini DV cam (cheap plug) last summer, and last fall, I went to Halloween Haunt not one, not two, but three times. The song choice was obviously deliberate, but even though I knew an Aqua song *might* turn some people off (because hey, it's Aqua), I knew I had to use this song, because it perfectly captures the horrifyingly fun time to be had. It's campy, it's up beat, it's got appropriate lyrics... this video has been in my head for quite a while, down to what sort of shots to use where, and so forth. I think it's the best video I've ever made (not saying much since I've only made like six), and I definitely spent more time on this one than any other. I'm particularly proud of little details like getting certain shots to match the lyrics or that part where Renee the cheerleader goes "Shotgun! Shotgun! Choo...choo..." and it syncs with the rhythm. But overall, it captures everything I love about Haunt (that I was allowed to film, anyway). This will be helpful next fall when I am in France and unable to experience Haunt firsthand.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I find myself having made it... only to hear there's video evidence of the best--I mean worst theme park in the world? LOL... will definitely download these when I get the chance tomorrow. What a way to end the night though!

LOL, Thanks guys. I love how suddenly, EVERYONE was on that e-stopped train. Altho heck, would been nice to just hang out there for a minute...

Thanks to whoever moved this. Now I know: linked vids -> Donkey Forum :: Uploaded vids -> Videographer Forum.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!! These are awesome, so keep them up! I'm pretty sure Guy, Robb, and Elissa might just be busy at the moment, and I'm sure the wouldn't mind these at all (after all, this very sight requires a sense of humor to get in!). Keep these coming and don't be discouraged by anything. You've got a great talent, and none of these have failed to entertain me so far!

Wow, that looks like a pretty cool ride! It's like a kid's dream attraction.

Hmmm, I guess you're referring to the "must upload" part. That's what I wasn't sure about. I do have my own web hosting that I'm using (I figure Robb and Elissa won't mind if I save them a bit of bandwidth anyway), which is why it's not uploaded. But if this is the wrong place to put a linked video, then my apologies (and if a mod can move it to the correct forum, thanks!). Unless you were referring to something else...?

Off to the members' forum to download the vids, but that was an awesome update! Both coasters look absolutely amazing, and it is just wonderful to see all these new incredible woodies sprouting up. Keep this up and we may be in line for another golden age!

Oh man, I don't think I can ever 100% complain about any American theme park again. You shoulda shot a 1984-esque short movie while you were there or something. Or something you can submit to a film festival.

I'm not completely sure whether this still belongs here or in the main theme parks and coasters forum, since it's about Tatsu's Media Day and I'm not uploading directly. However, I've decided to place it here, and if this is the wrong place, I'd gladly welcome a mod to move it. Anyway, over the past three days, I've been working on compiling a little music video package from the footage I shot at the Tatsu Media Campout and Media Day itself! And now I present it to you! I had an interesting time deciding how to mix the day and night footage together. I didn't feel right just combining them into the same piece almost haphazardly, so ultimately I decided to split the video into two "halves" (more like a quarter and a three quarters). The first part features the night footage and is meant to be like sort of a horror movie trailer--in a campy way. It was also just my way of practicing mixing a whole variety of audio channels into one piece. The second part is the "feature presentation" and is the standard music video, synched and everything. I hope everyone enjoys the video! Definitely spent a fair amount of time working on it, and to my knowledge, it's the first Tatsu video not from TPR to be released, making it EXCLUSIVE!! (not that I'm being serious about being first or anything) Two versions of the same video available for download (both are in .wmv format): SMALL VERSION Resolution: 320x240 File Size: 22.9 megs LARGE VERSION Resolution: 640x480 File Size: 45.4 megs Enjoy!

^ LOL... that wouldn't happen to be Mantis Man, would it? I heard some ACEr's trashing TPR for whatever pathetic reason... most likely because they're a few tacos short of a combination platter. Anyway, for once and only once, I'm going to be a total ego-whore and say that Jim Disney has posted an awesome update at Westcoaster covering Tatsu Media Day (awesome because most of those pics are mine)! Check it out at the following link: http://www.westcoaster.net/updates.php?updateCD=051506 The last pic on page 1, last three pics from page 2, and the rest of the pics from page 3 through 13 are mine. Photoshopped speech bubbles are credit to Jim and were pretty funny. So yeah... I promise I won't be a credit hog and and do a cheap link again, but if you enjoyed my pics in this thread, you can check out some more at the above link. Albert "Hey, gotta not be humble once in a while..." Lam

AHAHAHAHAH!!! Wow, these are good enough to be put on their own web site!

Dah!! I was falling asleep last night when I realized it wasn't Dead Can Dance at all, but rather from Cusco, and that I had heard it from some atmospheric music at Epcot! Still a great song choice tho!

ROFLMAO That was actually pretty clever in its corniness!! Great job! :rofl:

Oh boy... only ten more chances for me now. You're really getting me wrapped in suspense! Phil Hart's Carowinds or "How to use your camera" Definitely one of the most creative videos so far, this was one of the few that was less of a coaster video and more of a short movie period. I like the mixing of the old how-to video footage with your Carowinds trip and the techno music. It definitely added to the unique nature. However, I can't help but think that it didn't really pack a big punch. It was a good video, but aside from the instructional dub part, it's really just a normal theme park video, which puts this video in the middle of a solid pack. I guess you were sort of limited by what the announcer said. It's definitely a helpful video, but I was probably expecting a bit more comedy or something like that. Definitely a cool concept thought! Barry Hom's FLCC at Busch Gardens Tampa Video Pretty solid video. I enjoyed the picture-in-picture commentaries, and the shots were pretty nice. Music choice seemed a little blasse in my opinion, but music is admittedly very subjective. Quality of the shots were pretty nice. And that little kid in the obviously oversized-for-her test seat was very cute! And the nice lady lip synching to the part of the song where the singer just cuts lose and belts out "CRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYY" was a funny touch. Overall, some nice antics and a pretty solid video, but nothing that seemed to separate itself from that pack in the middle. Nevertheless, BGT is always a park I love to see video and pictures from, so I definitely appreciated the video! Blake Fawley's "Goat Encounter" Fantastic concept executed inconsistently. There's definitely creativity here, and I think the comedy could have been absolutely gold, but the video seemed to hurt itself in some places. In the beginning, with the goat footage relegated to a small inset while you showed (admittedly cool) Main Street Chimers, it seemed to contradict what you were going for. But you had some great moments, like the Translations of the Abominable Snowman and the Dynamite Goat. I might have tried to make it into a horror-comedy, sort of shades of Guy's "It Came from the 4th Dimension," but maybe something more like Donnie Darko, except with a goat. Just my personal spin. Definitely a good try, but unfortunately, I have to say that sort of falls short for me. Erik Johnson's "Expedition Everest" Did you use music from Dead Can Dance? I know I've heard that track before, but I can't remember off the top of my head who it's from. This was a pretty solid video and showcased DAK's new ride beautifully. The cuts weren't as in sync with the music as some of the earlier entries from the last two weeks, but the video still has a simple nicety to it. It's good. Period. Nothing flashy, nothing over the top. Just simple quality. The camerawork, especially on the train, was very smooth, something I definitely admire (and envy). You definitely seem to have the natural "on-ride hand" to hold the camera steady and get consistently good, encompassing shots, and your shot of the yeti remains one of the best, most accurate, longest sustained clear shots I've seen. Definitely one of my favorites of the round. Mark Owens' Busch Gardens Tampa/Cypress Gardens I'm beginning to think that music choice DOES sway me. This was a pretty solid theme park video with great shots, good lighting, good sync to the music, and of course, a great setting, but it may be my favorite of this week because the music was upbeat and very happy. Indeed, you can never have enough BGT, and the tour of the park was really nice. I could have done without that last blackout part synched to the music stopping, but other than that, it was pretty good editing. Overall, a very solid video. MY CURRENT RANKINGS: 1. Paul Ruiz De Miquel - "Parque de Attactiones" 2. Julian Johnson - "Don't Look Down 2005" 3. Tom Mueller - "Port Aventura Video" 4. Justin Saxe - "Silverwood" 5. Nicolas Chavance - "Efteling" 6. Lars & Cornelia Theissen - "Coaster Season 2005" 7. Jonathan Hawkins - "Midwest Conquest" 8. Mark Owens - "Busch Gardens Tampa and Cypress Gardens" 9. Erik Johnson - "Expedition Everest" 10. Dennis 'Park Junkie' Kolodzeizik - "Slagharen" 11. Phil Hart - "Carowinds" or "How to Use Your Camera" 12. Blake Fawley - "Goat Encounter" 13. Barry Hom - "FLCC at Busch Gardens Tampa" 14. Jim Williams - "Six Flags Magic Mountain December 2005" 15. Connor Thompson - "Magic Springs" Might be coincidence, but this week's set fell into the middle of the pack for me, just as it came in the middle of the pack chronologically. Still, none of these videos can be said to be bad. After a while, though, with so many consistently good packages, you need to really stand out to rise to the top.

^ Not that I noticed, but that would be pretty cool! Now if I'm wrong and they DO light up, then consider me a bonehead. Thanks for the nice comments about the pics, btw. Definitely flattering.

They're bringing in a slew of flat rides to increase their--PFFTThahahaha... I couldn't do that with a straight face. More than likely it'll be cosmetic improvements for the next few years and a couple of minor attractions. Maybe a hyper woodie in 2010.

Yeah, that would be the "private party" that Rollerman Dan from RC Pro was talking about, I suppose. Sure is nice to see celebs getting pwn'd on the pretzel.

I thought there was an official Tatsu Photo TR thread, but I can't find it, so I'll just post some pics I took along with my "official" TR here, so that I don't clutter the forums with yet another "I RODE TATSU!!1!" topic. We got to SFMM at around 10pm on Wednesday night and caught up with Brent (GoldRusherRocks on WC) and his fiancee, Allison, who had gotten back after buying liquor. Excuse me, I misheard on the phone. I mean licorice. We walk to the plaza and check in with the Theme Park Review booth. Ryan (Xcoaster on WC, and I think he has like all of 1 post here...) arrived about an hour later with his dad. Until about 1, we pretty much spent our time eating pizza and chatting with each other and with various other Westcoaster members we knew. Campout!!! After 1 AM, I lied down to try to get some sleep before 3, when they would let us in. That didn't work too well, but I know the others probably watched more TPR coaster videos, as well as that unintentionally hilarious 1980s "coaster pedophile" film. Those who watched it should be able to fill you in on that. At 3:00 AM, a mysterious light blazed to life in the distance, and we all knew it was time! We got our wristbands that would get us in for free (and later give us access to the Tatsu area as well as free breakfast, lunch, and drinks later on). Half an hour later, we enter the park, and by 4:00 AM, we're well on our way to riding our first rides on board Tatsu! Absolutely awesome looking. A closer look. Reminded me of Haunt lighting. All we needed were Sliders! I was on the fourth train that left and rode the back seat. A quick review of the ride itself... This was my first time on any flying coaster, and it exceeded my expectations. The drop was pretty amazing, hurtling forward unexpectedly, and the inversions were pretty smooth but disorienting for a first time flyer. That pretzel loop... WOW! It is INTENSE. It pulls 5G's at the bottom of the hill and really packs a doozy. It was hilarious, because a lot of times, the train would be quiet as the coaster ran, and then when it went through the pretzel loop, the riders would all start yelling and screaming in terror. Definitely a lot of "OH SHIT!!!!!" and "PRETZEL LOOP!!!!" cries. It is an intense flyer and the best flyer ever built, according to numerous friends who've ridden a lot of them. This thing really takes you by the claws and has its way with you. I felt more disoriented coming off than I do on Batman: The Ride, and that's saying a lot! That last zero-G-roll is especially nauseating, because you spin along an axis paralell to your body, rather than perpendicular to it in all other looping coasters. As a result of that and the lack of sleep, I only managed to pull 4 rides on it, but the next time I go to SFMM, I'll definitely go for more! Going through that first inversion early in the morning. Mmmmm... early morning pretzel! The lift hill as dawn approaches. EXCLUSE SIGNATURE TATSU ENTRY SIGN SHOW WITH ELEGANTLY COMPOSED LIFT HILL AND SKY TOWER IN BACKGROUND!!!11!!!1!!! Anyway, around 6:00 AM, the dispatches got much slower as the news people set up for their live rides and interviews, so they went from trains leaving every 3-5 minutes to every 15-20 minutes. We ate breakfast during this time and just watched. I took a slew of pictures as usual. Pretzel loop at dawn. Yummy. It WAS a media day after all! Sometime around maybe 9 am, Tatsu had its first e-stop as the train stalled on the hill for about a minute. Pretty hilarious at the moment. A news cameraman sprinted over and started filming (obviously, a breakdown on Tatsu's media day would have been huge sensationalist news!). Fortunately, it resumed soon after. The PR event occurred at 11 AM. They hyped the ride, then Six Flags president Mark Shapiro talked about how they want to revamp the chain to make it more family friendly while still appealing to thrill seekers, and laid out the same speech of how to improve the parks with better service, cleaner walkways, more shows and characters, and so forth. Cue the gong. Cue the pyros. Cue Tatsu making its official innaugural run, going through its pretzel loop at the same time a newly-reopened Revolution goes through its loop. Yup, the coasters can now "duel" if they time it right now! Assplosions! 52 Japanese midgets were shredded to make this confetti. :'( We spent the rest of the day riding Tatsu and some of the other coasters as well. Just befor we left the park, we passed by a shop near the front plaza, and we couldn't help but notice that SFMM was selling DISNEY merchandise. WTF?! Talk about weird. We're at Six Flags. But noticed the Disney plush toys on the left. Allison demonstrates everyone's WTFage at this bizarre marketing combo. I left at 3 because I was exhausted and still had school stuff to do. In all, I went about 38 hours without sleep--my longest streak ever! Still, it was definitely worth it, and I had an absolute blast! Here's more pictures. I submitted my batch to Westcoaster, so hopefully, you can see more pics and bigger pics in their next update. Had a blast chatting with Wes and Dan for extensive periods of time. There were several TPR members I met whose names I can't remember (sorry for that!), as well as a bunch of Westcoasterers as well. Some RC Pro people too. Campout was definitely very well behaved and absolutely fun. So thanks again for the 4928th time to Robb and Elissa for holding this! If you're doing another party in July/August, I'm definitely there (if I can make it)!

LMAO at roaming ninja. Pretty commendable effort, though. But geez, that's one long line! How much do you estimate the wait was? Nice to see Tatsu being a hit already, though. I too am glad I got my easy rides on media day.

Late in responding, but man, that was AWESOME. Again, like everyone else who went, I want to offer a huge THANK YOU ROBB AND ELISSA for organizing the campount with the food and drinks and Family Guy and TPR vids and 1980s coasterpedo film feature. Despite getting no sleep, I had an absolute blast! This was my first media event ever, and it was extremely fun. I only rode Tatsu 4 times, mostly because the lack of sleep meant the ride got me a bit nauseated, but I don't regret a thing! This ride is definitely intense and fun and a fantastic flying coaster! The Pretzel Loop is awesome, and it was actually the zero-G-roll after the loop that made me dizzy. Nevertheless, it is a definite winner for the park and everything I expected! Thanks for everything! It was also a blast meeting old and new TPR/WC members and just taking part in this whole experience!

Wow, that's scary! I've never heard of a documented case of coaster restraint failure like that! Good thing it had the seatbelts. That's a good lesson: always buckle the belt properly no matter what.