Mouse Magic HD Blogs

If you are like me, then you always have a fascination on how it is done. I love PUSH the talking trashcan, but I also loved looking and learning how it was done. Some say that ruins the magic but I think it makes me appreciate it more, especially in the case of PUSH. So if you are one not to have the "magic" ruined (not sure how I can ruin the magic showing you my studios) then don't continue reading this post.

What is behind the door?

So you are still here huh? Well you must be interested in seeing a quick behind the scenes tour of my studios. Please come on in and join me on this exclusive backstage tour. You did pay your admission right? Let me check your ticket... yes looks like we are good to go!

Go Gators!

When you first walk in you can see I have a nicely decorated sitting area. Sadly it is not my waiting room as my studios is all just one room, however it is nice to have a place for people to sit and talk with me if they like. Also as you can see I am a Gator, I am happy to have graduated from there in 2007.

The editing bay.

So you walk in and turn around and you see this, my editing bay. The computer on the right is the one that does all the editing, processing and rendering of the videos. Yes, I do use a PC for video editing at this time. I am very happy with the results but of course when the budget allows we will be upgrading. The laptop on the left is more of a secondary computer used for viewing and working on other projects. As of this post it is being the beta test server for the radio station.

What you can't see is another computer on the floor to the right of the desk. This computer will probably become the main radio server. I am currently in the process of setting it up for this purpose (I think, not sure what else to do with it) as well as waiting for a KVM switch to arrive to allow me to use the same monitor, keyboard and mouse as the main editing computer.

Screen shot of editing in progress

Above is the screen shot of what it looks like to have editing in progress. As you can tell I have multiple audio and video layers, of which 4 are minimized as those are layers that I don't need to actually view as they are the same for each episode and used for the intro as well as the HDWDW bug in the right hand corner of all my videos. The software I use is Sony Vegas Pro 8.

QC Bay

After editing and processing the video it is transferred over to my AppleTV in my quality control bay and viewed on my HD TV. The iPod format is transferred to an iPhone, nothing special about the iPhone so no picture there. The TV also proves for a great distraction and background noise as I am working on episodes.

I hope you enjoyed this short tour through Mouse Magic HD Studios. There is nothing overly impressive at all about the studios, but at least now you have seen behind the curtain on where the videos are produced each week... speaking of which... we should start on this week's episode.

On June 8th, DisneyPark (the official Disney YouTube account) posted the following video on YouTube.

For those who can't see the video basically a couple is walking down MainStreet and stops to pull out a megaphone from his bag. He then draws the attention of the crowd and gets down on one knee, but wait there is more! (Tribute to the late Billy Mays) He then breaks out into song and dance which includes Cast Members, "Random" Park Guests and even an ECV! She of course says yes and there is some comments from spectators in the crowd.

Discussion now ensues on if the bride-to-be was really surprised or if this video is all just a very huge marketing ploy. Well sad to say it looks like it is all just thoughtful and well executed marketing. Here is why.

If anyone has been to a taping of the Christmas parade they would know huge production lights are brought in (even though it is the day, they fill shadows, etc.). In order to have enough light to get such good footage those same lights would be used in the video. A guest who was there in the past year would probably feel that something is different on MainStreet. It would be hard to miss MainStreet feeling so bright.

In the wide shot which the entire crowd could be seen you don't see the street level cameras. Sure Disney does a great job at hiding things in plain sight (great example, PUSH the trashcan!) however you would see at least someone holding some type of camera and I just don't see it in those shots.

Now these two points may be too far fetched and more solid evidence may be need so I bring you this next video.

Special thanks to a member at the TiVo Community Forum for pointing this out. Compare the first video at 3:25 and the second video at 1:05. Notice anything different? Look hoe the "groom-to-be" hands the microphone to the "bride-to-be". Clearly these are two different takes. Odd for a proposal.

In the second video at around 0:16 you can also notice the production lights on top of the building of MainStreet. Those are not your traditional MainStreet lighting.

It could be argued that the proposal did happen and then Disney wanted marketing materials so it was reenacted for the viral film, but come on this is Disney, do we really think that? :D

I do have to give props to Disney though as the video is a success real or not. I have now shared it with you and it has been discussed by multiple media outlets. Looks like their marketing campaign is a success!

On Monday, July 6th at 8 PM Eastern yours truly will be MCing a live video Roundtable with hosts from other Disney pod/vidcast. Each of the hosts will be on their own webcam and video screen and you can watch all at once as well as chat with other viewers and us the hosts. The roundtable is scheduled for two hours, however if there is demand I am willing to go until later and other hosts may continue with us as well. Visit http://www.mousemagichd.com/chat/ for the room which will be posted about 30-45 min prior to the show starting.

Below is quite a find. It is footage from when Disney was on "What's My Line". The date was November 11, 1956, remeber Disneyland opened to the general public July 18, 1955.

Before I start this post I am in no way trying to detract from Farrah Fawcett's passing. It is a sad day today for losing two great icons however Farrah was not a huge icon in the Disney Parks.

Today sad news broke as we learned about Michael Jackson being rushed to the hospital for cardiac arrest and then reported as passing away. For our younger crowd they may not know that Michael played a huge part in the parks. Where Honey I Shrunk the Audience now sits at EPCOT there used to be another 3D film featuring Michael Jackson in Captain EO. As a tribute to Michael I bring you Captain EO (in two parts).