Coming up with ideas for Dragon*conTV video plots involves a lot less alcohol than you might think.

[pullquote quote="So it's turning into an organization despite the fact that it's just a bunch of nuts shooting Stormtrooper videos in my basement." credit="Brian Richardson, DCTV Exec. Producer"]The creative minds, many of whom live outside of Georgia, keep in touch via a message board where they post notes up to eight or nine months before the convention.

About three months after that, they have a face-to-face meeting where they pitch further and talk about what can be practically created, what can be done on a green screen, what can be shot outside. Can they get someone to lend them needed props? Will this idea still be funny when it’s produced or is it only funny to them?

Dieco

After that, they discuss who they can cast in these parts, can they pull someone from their existing network of people, or grab someone from The Renaissance Festival, the Shakespeare Tavern, etc.

[photogallerylink id=56987 align=right]Now it’s time to break down into production teams – Stephen Grenade will produce the bumpers, Brian Richardson will do the videos, others do the editing, Sketch MacQuinor, a local animator, actor, voice-over artist and writer, does writing, or he may cast and produce videos on his own. “So we are sort of [doing it the way] a TV network would do, where some stuff they shoot in house and some stuff they farm [out]. It’s turning into an organization despite the fact that it’s just a bunch of nuts shooting Stormtrooper videos in my basement.”

Re Your Brains (2007)

The Basement  with a Green Screen            

[photogallerylink id=57068 align=right]Most of the DCTV videos are produced at “Geek Farm,” which is a nickname for the country home where Brian lives with his wife, Suzan, four cats, two horses and five chickens. His basement is set up with a green screen that he built himself, a camera and old props lying here and there from past shoots. Other scenes are set in his living room, kitchen, or the woods and fields surrounding his property.

Tigh’s Fried Chicken (2009)

[photogallerylink id=57006 align=right]I followed Brian and a couple of actors one early summer day on his property as they were filming clips for a video. A rooster followed us from spot to spot, apparently eager to get in the shot. This isn’t “low-budget,” it’s “no-budget.”

But that doesn’t seem to matter. Labors of love are always better, anyway.

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