B:
Once again we were in danger of falling behind in our rigorous weekly production schedule, and once again we came up with the same solution: We made another “in camera” episode, much as we had done a couple of months earlier with “29 Minutes” (ROX #45).
As we explain during the course of the program, this means that the show is not edited after the fact. All of the editing is done in the camera, simply by starting and stopping the tape.
All this makes clear that one of our biggest obstacles to cranking out a show every week was the amount of time it took for me to edit them. I often felt overwhelmed, and I relished taking a break from the grind. I also enjoyed relinquishing control and just letting shit happen.
In “29 Minutes” we aimed to produce 29 consecutive vignettes of one minute each. With “Back in the Camera Again” we pursued a freeform style, simply attempting to capture the rhythm of our day as it happened. That's more of a challenge.
And so we traipsed from our house to the post office and back. All effects and transitions were done live using our camera's built-in features. In lieu of graphics, we made a bunch of title cards, which are used to good effect when J mixes the Just Say Yes!
I only added two elements in post-production: music and the final credits.
I recall that J and I had a minor argument about the clock-juggling which he attempts throughout the show. I advised against it on the grounds that it would be pointless and confusing. It seemed to me that he was stuck in “29 Minutes.” But he had a vision which he felt compelled to pursue. If he wasn't like that, ROX probably would never have come into existence.
Incidentally, there's a scene in this show where I'm shaving and make reference to my band, but I don't name them. The band was the Submersibles; we played in and around Bloomington from 1992 to 1994. Observant viewers will note that, by coincidence, TBlack is actually wearing a Submersibles tee-shirt in this episode. It was a one-of-a-kind item — he made it himself.
