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Yes, if… Productions
Stories that Reshape Reality
Disneyland’s windy detail
Posted by on May 30, 2012
I had read all about Disneyland, about the dream and design and everything that went into making it a reality, so getting the chance to finally visit was very special for me. As I walked around trying to take everything in, I happened to glance up and I noticed something I had actually forgotten all about.
“Oh yeah!” There, high atop the Jolly Holliday Bakery was a weathervane.
I told my wife about Disneyland’s tradition of putting specialized custom weathervanes on top of many of their buildings. This one, an iron Mary Poppins, was one of the newest additions.
“Why would they do that?” she asked. It’s a fair question since the majority of the people visiting the park will never notice the little spinning pieces of art. Even if they do notice them they probably won’t think twice, mostly just letting them drift into the scenery. Why in the world would Disney spend energy on something so small when they have so many massive projects to take care of. (they even design them into their concept art)
My wife is a born engineer. For engineers, there is a right way to do things and a wrong way to do things and everything has a purpose. There is yes and no, on and off, zero and one. She is unique, though, in that she straddles the very exact world of engineering and the very inexact world of design and art. A weathervane that no one notices has no direct purpose and gives no result that can be quantified, but sometimes things that aren’t quantifiable serve a greater purpose.
I love Disney details and Disneyland is a details park. It doesn’t have the “blessing of size” like in Florida and it doesn’t have a blank check behind it like in Japan, but what it does have is a saturation of talent since it’s the home of Walt Disney’s Imagineers.
A weathervane is a small detail, one that by itself doesn’t mean much. Weathervanes plural, however, add up and those together with all the other little touches that make Disneyland what it is slowly starts to change things. When we are in the park we know we are in Anaheim. There is traffic and smog and buildings piled on top of buildings just on the other side of that line of trees. We know this. Somehow, though, the details start to conspire and we begin to believe we are somewhere else entirely. Something happens inside a person as they go from knowing to believing.
Imagineers love detail and know how to tell a story through through that detail. Many of the Imagineers grew up with Disneyland being their park so the desire to make it extra special is very strong. When that happens, no detail is too small. 
Like this:
End with a bang
Posted by on May 29, 2012
Our day in Disneyland was nearly over. We stood and watched Fantasmic, a nighttime pyrotechnics show performed on the rivers of America, followed by the nightly fireworks over Sleeping Beauty Castle. It was the perfect way to end a really fantastic day, and in fact, after seeing the two shows and feeling the final bang of the last firework, it’s hard to remember anything that didn’t go right. The ending was perfect. The day was perfect.
Being home I’ve trained my brain back to local entertainment. The Atlanta attractions get alot of things right, but they can miss the mark when it comes to “Act 3.” Generally when people leave for the day they simply leave. Atlanta’s venues, like most non-Disney/non-Universal attractions across the country, don’t end the day with a bang.
A strange quirk of the themed entertainment business is that the way people end their day completely changes their perception of everything they experienced during their day. People who go home after seeing a big show, a performance or spectacle, tend to rate every element from their day as being better than those who simply went home. Guests rate the attractions better, the lines better, the food better, they even rate the cleanliness of the bathrooms better. Everything raises up to a new level when there is a definitive ending rather than just a, “Welp, time to go.” A grand finale means people will smile as they go out he gate. Smiling faces come back…and they bring friends.
Knowing this, it’s hard to understand why local attractions don’t give more attention to what people take with them when they leave. They try Act 1 (welcome to our place!) have a whole bunch of Act 2 (check out our stuff!), but then forget to finish off Act 3 (yeah, we’re closed). If you were to ask museums and parks what kind of lasting impression their attraction leaves on the guests, they will say, “Well, we hope that…” or, “The goal is…” Nope. That response means you are speaking with someone who doesn’t believe their venue delivers. They may not be sure why the experience sorta fizzles out, but they know it does. Disney knows what their guests bring home with them.
Ending with a bang can be costly (the money that goes into Dsney’s fireworks, water displays and elaborate stageshows could bring most of Africa out of poverty) but quite honestly, it doesn’t have to be. You don’t need to contract the biggest (and most expensive) names in the business to create something special. All that is required is the creative use of the assets that you have on hand, the most important asset being the talent and passion of your staff. People, particularly people from other disciplines, can come up with some amazing solutions to problems when given the chance. A creative person can bring excitement to an academic problem and an academic can bring a realistic solution to a creative problem. This kind of coming together can cause a real bang and bring a solid attraction up to the level of greatness.
Yes, in the film Amadeus Mozart used the idea of “ending with a bang” as a way to insult Salieri (The exchange went something like—Salieri (refering to Mozart’s latest composition): You didn’t even give them a good bang to let them know when it was finished! Mozart (sarcastically): Yes, well maybe I can take lessons from you on how to do that.), but we are talking about entertainment here, not art. Lights timed to music, displays used in unusual ways, a captivating performer retelling the story of the attraction through new and surprising methods can all bring the day to a spectacular close and make people say, “Did you hear what they are doing over at xxx? I have GOT to get over there!”
Obviously you want a guest’s experience throughout their day to be at the highest level possible, but when the day ends, make sure it ends with a bang.
Curious and skeptical, free and trusted
Posted by on May 25, 2012
One of the podcasts I listen to is the Slate Political Gabfest, hosted by Slate’s editor David Plotz. In the episode from May 25, 2012, put on before a live audience, Plotz decided to read a brief passage written by his father as part of a larger series on science education. His father, a retiring scientist, reflected on how and why he became a scientist, and wrote the following about an experience he had when he was 11 years old:
A couple of my friends, Warren and Paul who both were doctors’ sons and became doctors themselves, and I discovered somehow the ingredients of gunpowder. We had charcoal and sulfur but not potassium nitrate. One of us found out about a place that would sell chemicals to any warm body who walked in the door, also magnesium tape for fuse. We took the subway to a seedy place in downtown Manhattan and bought (no questions asked) what we needed.
Back in the basement lab we did all sorts of things involving gunpowder—sometimes just on the floor, sometimes in a small crucible from the lab, sometimes noisy, sometimes smelly, sometimes smoky, often in combination. We didn’t know anything about lab coats, gloves or goggles, nor about bicycle helmets or seat belts in those days.
The moment I’ve never forgotten was igniting something or other in the crucible and causing a great smell and noise and a whoosh of smoke to shoot up to the ceiling leaving a black smear which was still there when I cleared the house after my mother died a half century later.
The point of this story is that, through all of this, my parents and my friends’ parents perhaps sensing that we were not psychopathic or silly, left us alone. They didn’t hover as I did over my sons when they were playing with their chemistry sets (which may explain in part why they turned to words for a living) [audience laughs], or ask where we were going or what we had bought or what we were doing anyway. In addition to being curious and to being skeptical, we were free and we were trusted. On reflection, that seems to have been central and to have been deeply formative. I became a scientist.
When he finished the audience stood and applauded in appreciation for David Plotz’s father who was in attendance.
This is a great snippet from what I imagine will be a fantastic piece. It’s the kind of thing a person realizes in hindsight and passes along in the hopes that it will give others a little foresight. My wife and I are currently in negotiations (fierce negotiations) over the possibility of having a child. If and when I become a father, I hope I will know when to hang on, but also when to let go.
That way I can force my kid to become a scientist.
Turn the world around
Posted by on May 22, 2012
‘Turn The World Around’ by Harry Belafonte, performed by Give My Love To Milo (the music player above may not appear on some mobile devices)
I have been back from New Zealand for a week—a week—and I still haven’t gotten a decent night’s rest. We started in California and visited Disneyland for a few days, hopped over to New Zealand for about a month, came back through Tahiti for a little rest and I slept just fine in all of those places from day one. The time difference was no problem, I just adjusted. For some reason I simply cannot get back into the swing of things at home.
Something tells me my body has decided where it wants to be.
I had never been to Disneyland but I knew what to expect. Great design, great storytelling and great fun. What I didn’t expect, though, was for New Zealand to unfold like a great story as well. We found mountains and valleys and plains and caves—the country’s twists and turns constantly surprised us and there was always a big payoff in the end. I’ve never been anywhere quite like it.
I thought I’d share a song as I desperately try to get my body clock righted (or wronged, depending on my true internal nationality). The first time I ever heard of Harry Belafonte was when he performed “Turn The World Around” on the Muppet Show. Something about the song and the imagery of the tribal puppets stuck with me until I was much older and had to record my own version. Everything you hear was recorded using the same guitar, a very cheap instrument with dulled and cracking wood to give the song a simple feel. Every guitar line was played on it, every drum beat was tapped out on the back of it. I even sang into it when recording the vocals to lend an earthy wooden tone to my voice.
Coming back through Tahiti, while idyllic, made us miss the rugged beauty of New Zealand and the idea that you could just go and feel the world as it used to be. Turning the world around seems like fun.
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Give My Love To Milo is on SoundCloud. Listen. Download. Share.
Taking a tiki tour
Posted by on April 6, 2012
KiwiTikiTour.wordpress.com
Tiki tour—New Zealand slang meaning a roundabout way of getting somewhere, or taking the scenic route.
There’s a pretty good chance you won’t be hearing from me for a while, not here anyway. In a few days I’m leaving. No no, don’t try to stop me. Besides, it’s not you, it’s me. Well, me and my wife Cristi.
On April 8 Cristi and I will be on our way to New Zealand and will be staying for a little over a month. Go over to Kiwi Tiki Tour and subscribe to keep up with us.
For about five weeks we will be going up and down the island nation (no business to take care of, just a long vacation) kicking off the trip with a stop in Disneyland and ending with a relaxing couple of days in a bungalow in Tahiti. There may be time in there to write new entries for this site, but I can’t say how many posts you’ll see between now and mid-May.
So we’ll take a tiki tour of a little corner of the world. From what I’ve heard, when traveling around New Zealand you can’t help but take the scenic route. Don’t worry…I’ll be sure to send back a few pictures.
Like this:
Facebookart: Better Scroll Down
Posted by on April 4, 2012
Playing just to the side of Facebook’s intended use is just too much fun to pass up. For a concept I called Better Scroll Down, I wanted to see if I could use Facebook’s album view (similar to my album Breaking the 4th Wall) to create a user controlled animation. As you scroll down the page the album becomes a film projector and when your eye fixes on to a position on the screen suddenly the character comes to life, bouncing from one side of the album to the other one frame at a time. Here are a few random screen grabs that show the basic motion and Facebook album view layout:
That was the idea anyway.
Unfortunately it didn’t work. When scrolling down the effect was lost entirely, first because the character’s motions were bouncing upwards as a viewer was scrolling down which confuses the brain, but second, and more importantly, it was hard for the eye to keep from moving upwards with the images. Even though the effect works on the same principle as film projection, your eye either needs something stationary to lock on to (like a screen) or the frames need to go by so quickly that your mind can’t perceive the motion for the illusion of animation to occur.
Nope and nope.
Still, it is a good idea that I wanted to share. Below are the individual motion frames (remember, the character is bouncing from left to right between the Facebook album squares so she appears cut off at times when she leaves the visible area. This is a portion. In total it took 200 images). Considering how many people use Facebook, it is the currently the greatest platform for entertainment, storytelling and artistic expression. Maybe someone will figure out how to make it work, or hopefully come up with something better.
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Jacque Fresco and designing your own future
Posted by on April 3, 2012
Jacque showed his latest creation to the men from Technicolor. “How did you do that?” they asked. “Sorry,” Jacque replied, “I’m not at liberty to discuss that.”
In the 1940s Jacque Fresco, industrial designer and futurist, was asked to make a film projector that could show a 3D image without the need for glasses. He discovered a solution that involved projecting the image from behind the screen, but there was one little catch: in order to see the image a person had to sit in a very specific spot, a focal point. Move slightly beyond the focal point and the image would disappear entirely.
Getting to this stage in development, Fresco decided he needed a little backing, financially speaking, to move forward. He met with Technicolor and they were awed by what they saw. They wanted to know everything about how the system worked, but Fresco wasn’t giving up any of his secrets. After talking for a while they noticed something was a little off. “Did you know that if you move to the side a little the image disappears?”
Finally, the point. “Yes, I know,” Fresco said. With their backing, he explained, he would continue the project and find a solution to the problem. Technicolor considered the situation saying that once he had solved the focal point problem they would be happy to back him. He explained again—you back me and I make it work; they explained again—you make it work and we back you.
Stalemate.
Fresco was frustrated by the impasse, but being a logical human being he began to break down the reality of the situation. As he thought he said to himself, “Alexander Graham Bell didn’t receive funding until after he had created the telephone, Thomas Edison didn’t get any support until after he had created the lightbulb.” Jacque Fresco realized when you’ve got something new you have to take it all the way, you have to develop it, before people can see what you are getting at.
You may have a grand vision for a new product, a new technology, a new app, a new cartoon or a new experience that you know will be a runaway sensation. Your concepts would blow people away if only you could get a little backing, if only you could get a little support, if only if only…
In this situation there’s just one “if” and just one “only”—the project will get done only if you go ahead and get it done. You’ve got to build it, you’ve got to develop it, you’ve got to chase it all night and not stop short in hopes that someone else will take you the rest the way. You have to accept that other people cannot see into your brain and cannot automatically see the intrinsic value of what you have in mind. You have to get them there and if you can’t then you just have to keep going.
There is also the temptation to hold back to protect intellectual property. “If I just give them what I’ve got, they will steal my idea and cut me out of the loop.” The truth is no one pays people to have an idea, they pay people to have ideas on top of ideas and, most importantly, to see them through to completion. The breadth of your ability is far more valuable than any single idea and to hide all of yourself for the protection of just one thought is like burning down the bakery to protect one loaf of bread.
Fresco’s 3D projector died, but the lesson he learned did not. This was one small event in the life of a fascinating human being. Learn more about Jacque Fresco in the very poorly produced documentary, Future by Design, streaming now on Netflix.
Don’t Tempt Me, Woman
Posted by on March 31, 2012
‘Don’t Tampt Me, Woman’ by Give My Love To Milo (the music player above may not appear on some mobile devices)
From the book Wicked As They Come—
“You don’t feel safe anymore, do you?” he asked. “Don’t worry. Nothing can harm you so long as you’re with me.:
“But what happens when I leave you?” I asked him. “You can’t spend all of your time chasing me around and strangling rabbits.”
He laughed and pulled at the grass. “Don’t tempt me, woman,” he said.
I watched him playing with the long blades of grass, weaving them into patterns as he hummed an unfamiliar song, a waltz.
Delilah S. Dawson’s new book (she has a BOOK out…did you know?) Wicked As They Come sits on my couch, propped open to page 30. When I read the lines above I smiled and remembered Delilah warning that she had stolen a line from one of my songs. Never mind the fact that she wrote the passage before she ever heard that song, and probably before we got to know one another again, it’s thievery none the less.
I am not a fan of the book’s genre. Wicked As They Come is a steampunk paranormal romance with vampires. In no world does any combination of those words appeal to me, yet a couple hours after I bought the book I found myself 100 or so pages in, desperate to keep reading. I trudged off to bed, barely able to keep my eyes open and hating to put Delilah’s book down.
What’s happening to me?? Vampires? Does this mean I’m a Twilight fan now??? Am I reading in hopes of more references to myself? No, I don’t think so because I know there aren’t any. Maybe I am reading to be a good friend. Wrong again. I’ve quit books written by other people I know only a few chapters in because they were so poorly written. No, I’m reading it because it’s a good book.
Wicked As They Come is the author’s imagination, clear but tangled, tight but free, extravagant yet elegant. It hits that special place of too much and never enough. It’s hard to read a book written by someone you know. Often you can’t help but hear the person’s voice, imagine their cadence and mannerisms when they speak, keeping you in between the author and the book never letting you fully enjoy either. While reading Wicked As They Come I could hear Delilah S. Dawson some, but I could feel the world she created far more. She managed to take a topic that I avoid and turn it into something that I can’t get enough of. It’s like hating pink yet finding one artist who uses the color so masterfully that you forget your preconceived notions and just enjoy. If her book could do that to me, imagine what it would do with you.
Either that or she deviously included that reference to one of my songs knowing that I’d be a sucker. (I must be, right? I mean, I just wrote a whole book review about myself)
That’s probably what she did. I always like to imagine inner dialogue:
“Let’s see…how do I draw people in? I know! I’ll include little inside jokes and references specific to each and every possible reader of this book. Let’s start with some easy ones—her grandmother could call the heroine ‘missy’ and later she could eat a crabapple. That covers a good base. Now let’s get specific. There’s Ryan…bob, maybe a ‘bob’s your uncle’ somewhere? I’ll have to think about that one. Jenny in Ohio…I’ve never met her or even heard of her really but I know she’ll read my book in a couple years when she’s old enough so I should say something about her cat sleeping on her chest.
Now, Plsek. Hmm…haven’t thought about him in years. I bet he writes music…
……………….
Wicked As They Come by Delilah S. Dawson.
Buy it for your Kindle, Nook or your hands and face.
Facebookart: Breaking the 4th wall
Posted by on March 30, 2012
Here’s a fun little photo album I created on facebook called Breaking the 4th wall. To get the full image the album must be seen in thumbnail view. If you look closely you’ll notice a comment from a noted author (an author who has a BOOK out…did you know?).
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