Hi there --

I just uploaded a South Park-like video of a song I wrote and recorded:

YouTube - The Simple Carnival - Really Really Weird

The video was made with construction paper, a black magic marker, glue, a scanner, a paint program, and some freeware video tools.

I'm a musician, not a video director or cartoonist, but I did my best to work within/around my limitations.

Hope you like it!

Excellent! must have taken hours!

Very surreal. Top-hats on fish

As a fellow muso, I really like vocal sound you have!

Thank you!

The video took two weeks of my free time to do. I did it totally the wrong way, like hand-animating everything with Paint Shop Pro instead of using a real animation program. If I ever attempt something like this again, I'll at least get some of the right tools.

If you do decide to make another animated movie, then you might like to check out AnimatorDV Simple 9.02.

>slaps forehead<

Doh!

So that's a free program? (Or at least a free version of a commercial app?) Thanks for the tip. I will indeed check it out.

Well, you can see all of the wrong ways I went about making this video on an article I just wrote on my blog:

Songs and Sonics » Blog Archive » If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a cheap music video

Enjoy!

Fantastic! I loved it AND your detailed description of how it was done.
The song is stuck in my head now

Some more details on that program for anyone who may want to use it.

AnimatorDV Simple 9.02 serial

The serial is needed to access the software after installation. This is completely legal and if you type in AnimatorDV Simple 9.02 serial in the search box on your browser, you should see the serial number listed in the first or second list of results.

ADV00843072-243

Won't run properly in Vista so try this...

Is AnimatorDV Simple compatible with Windows Vista as I'm having problems running it after installing it. when I attempt to run it I get this message:

"AnmatorDV.dll reading error"

AnimatorDV is tested on Vista system.
What you need to do is set proper user rights for *.exe and *.dll files.

Please try this:

1. Find AnimatorDV executable and dll.
2. Right click on the AnmatorDV.exe file and select Properties.
3. Select Compatibility tab.
4. Select Run this program as an administrator in Privilege Level box 5. Click Ok

or

1. Find AnimatorDV executable and dll.
2. Right click on the AnmatorDV.exe file and select Properties.
3. Select Security
4. Set rights to 'full control'

If User Account Control box appears click Allow and AnimatorDV will run.

Thanks, Tracy!

Nikosony -- thanks for the detailed info on AnimatorDV. I appreciate it!

Just wanted to bump this up...

In honor of Harry Nilsson's birthday weekend, I've decided, for this weekend only, to provide free mp3 downloads of The Simple Carnival's latest release, "Me and My Arrow." (The title track is a cover of a Harry Nilsson song.)

The "Me and My Arrow" EP contains "Really Really Weird," so if you like the video, you might enjoy the other tracks as well. It's available to anyone who signs up for The Simple Carnival's e-mail list. I send out only about one e-mail a month and don't share your e-mail address with anyone.

You can sign up here:

The Simple Carnival - News

Hope this isn't too spammy, but hey, it's free!

Thanks again for the nice comments about the video, and for letting me bend your ear!