Yobi Film Again?

After finishing in 2nd place of the Yobi Filmmaking Competition this year with my short, The Geology Student I have had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to create a brand new short to try again. To my surprise however, I noticed in my junk email folder yesterday that Yobi had sent me a message stating that on Sunday night I was actually voted as a Top 3 weekly winner with The Gizmo Tree.

This comes as a big surprise not only because I had made the semi-finals with The Gizmo Tree in season 1 of Yobi Film, but because this time around I hadn't even made any mention or done any campaigning for votes. This season (#3) of the film competition has seen a change in the rules to try to get even more films into the mix - and potentially even more films into the finals and going for the top prize.

I haven't decided what my approach is going to be yet. With the new rules I can still lose this round and then submit something new again in the next one. As much as I'm proud of my past work I think I'll feel more charged if I come up with something completely new - a more polished narrative short of some kind.

I sometimes feel like I'm not creating new videos anymore and then I remember that I am - it's just for other people now. I don't want that to be an excuse to not still keep the personal projects going though. So I'm inadvertently a weekly winner again, but I'd still like to get something new in the running. You can see the original promo I made for the Gizmo Tree below, when I made the Yobi Film Semi-Finals back in early 2009.

Changes

For the last week everything has been on hold because of my move. I'm just glad I was organized. I've managed to completely pack, move, and unpack over the long weekend to the point that I'm comfortably easing into my new routine for the start of another work week. There's a lot to be said about moving within the city you're already living too - it was far easier than trying to fit everything into a single vehicle and driving for several hours like I did so many times throughout university.

Things feel significantly different already despite everything else remaining the same. My new loft feels more personal than any place I've lived so far - although the only competition was my parents' basement and the dorms - there's something about finally being in a position to pick the place I want to live, purchase the furniture I want have, and commit to something that seemed out of reach just a year or two ago. I can't deny that things have gone exceedingly well this year in so many big ways that I'm still fighting to try and soak everything in at once.

It's amazing how you can see your life transform so quickly sometimes - all the hard work, luck, and timing just sync up and it's like it was meant to happen this way all along. That student mentality of 'I want to be' is quickly being replaced with 'I am'.

Canada Day Fireworks!

Happy Canada Day to all my fellow Canucks! I hope you're all enjoying the holiday and get a chance to go out and see the fireworks tonight. I'm currently in the process of moving so I'll likely either be exhausted or still hauling furniture by this evening, but you can have a quick look at some of my firework edits from past Canada Day celebrations if you'd like a small preview. The first is from Medicine Hat, Alberta in 2004 and the second is from Regina, Saskatchewan in 2007.