The store was called Cash Converters and I was in it. Past the portable DVD player aisle, and way past the "Guitars with one string" aisle. There I stood looking up at an array of cameras in a glass display case. Even though It had some hot chocolate stains from years prior and no lens cap, it was the "nightvision" function that was advertised on the side of the Sony Hi8 camcorder that jolted my brain into buy mode. It was the size of a football and I was 17 years old and needed to make a video for a class project on William Faulkner's, As I Lay Dying. It was one of those, "you have the option of writing a paper or making a video" assignments. What 17 year old ever writes the paper?
As I Lay Dying.. the warming tale of the Bundren family, who take their deceased mother to the burial site of her choice. While I was editing one morning in class, exploring the world of splicing, swapping, and cross-fading for first time ever, another student walked into the room. He looked at me for a moment with a "I ate 1 too many Bojangles breakfast burritos" expression, then dropped to the floor and had a seizure. The CMD Z's would have to be put on hold. I yelled a couple newly acquired High School words, and without a google how-to tip off, I sprung into action. Looking down at his foaming mouth and pounding legs, I held the guy's head steady so it wouldn't smack the floor. He finally stopped seizuring, help came, and they got him out of there. A little time went by and I sat back down, looked back at my screen, and continued my first editing assignment...on..... As I lay Dying...
From that day forward, my soul was sold to the video production world. Wiggins, the guy who had the seizure, came back to class next week and the Faulkner video was turned in on time. The Sony Hi8, however, would only go on to spin its little tapes for another couple months..
