Queen guitarist salutes Pioneer student's LEGO music video
Queen guitarist salutes Pioneer Middle School students LEGO music video
A Pioneer Middle School 7th grade student has a rock n roll Hall of Fame admirer. Queen Guitarist Dr. Brian May recently saluted Peter Tuckers animated LEGOs music video on his personal website during an August 24 posting (http://www.brianmay.com/brian/brianssb/brianssb.html.). Set to the groups legendary song Bohemian Rhapsody, May compared Tuckers work to famous filmakers such as Disney and Spielberg.
Thus far Tuckers video has had thousands of online hits. Peters Video Link: (Note: Some scenes are intended for more mature audiences) -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_15G_tIl38&mode=related&search
Peters parents: Kerri & Jeff Tucker. Kerri is a French teacher at Walla Walla High School.
Q & A with Peter Tucker (as he reflects on his feedback from Queen Guitarist Dr. Brian May)
What inspired you to make this video?
I began to listen to Queen music in the springtime, and soon, I became a fan. I had seen some LEGO videos on the Internet, and I wanted to make my own. So I decided to merge LEGOs with my favorite band.
How long did it take you to create?
This video in particular took about two days, including editing and capturing footage.
How many videos have you created?
So far, I have created nine Queen LEGO videos, and I am currently working on my tenth. I expect to continue creating these videos far into the future.
What software did you use to make the video?
I used a free stop motion program called AnimatorDV Simple+.
How did you learn these skills?
I learned these skills very briefly somewhere around 2003. My dad told me about a way to make videos of toys or other objects moving by themselves. Naturally, I was very excited. He showed me how, and I made a few videos. With a little experimentation a while afterwards, I started on my first video when the summer of 2007 began.
Why did you choose Queen?
I bought the album "a Night at the Opera" in the late springtime. I listened to it and ended up really liking it. I became a Queen fan and began buying more albums. There are very few Queen songs I do not like. In fact, I loved this band so much that I wanted to do something special with their songs. They are, after all, my favorite band.
How did it make you feel to have Brian May respond?
It was a shock to hear it! I was checking on my video, hoping I might have a few comments posted on it. One post in particular said that Brian May my all time favorite rock guitarist ever - had posted it on his blog. Curious, I checked his site. Sure enough, there was a link to my video on there. Not only did he put it on his site, but he praised it as well! It was about the only thing on my mind for the rest of the day.
What did Brian May say about the video?
He said that he was expecting the "usual mildly entertaining nonsense" when he was given the link. But he "reeled in shock" when he watched it, and compared it to the work of famous filmmakers such as Disney and Spielberg.
He also said it deserved an award.
How did May find out about the video?
His guitar strings supplier watched the video and sent him the link.
How did you create the scenes? Explain the video making process
First I listen to the song, and then record the time each section or verse begins, to match up with the song well. After that, I look at each section, keep the amount of footage needed in mind, and start filming. The process of creating the video itself is called stop motion, or single frame animation. To make the characters appear to move about on their own, you take a picture of them, move them to the next desired position, take another picture, move them to the next desired position, take another picture, and so on. For each video, I have to have the LEGO characters in literally thousands of poses!
Next I take the video or videos to an editing programAdobe Premiere Pro in my casewhere I add the music and credits, and trim the clips as desired so that they match up with the song better. I also add effects to the video when needed. After that, I combine it all into one movie, and then it can be viewed on the computer or uploaded to YouTube. Due to size limitations, videos on YouTube must be only 320 pixels by 240 pixels. However, my original videosbefore I compress themare 720 by 480 pixels: the perfect size for viewing on a TV screen if I put my videos on a DVD (which I have done before.) In other words, the original videos have higher quality.
How many hits has your video received online?
Last time I checked, somewhere in the 22,000s. Lately, Ive been looking at it occasionally to see how many views it has. At the beginning of yesterday (August 27) it had 11,000 hits. At the end of the day, I checked again to see that it had acquired 7,000 more! As I am writing this, my video hasnt even been up for a week yet.
What do you want to do when you grow up?
I have no idea right now.
Do you plan on making a career using technology?
I think I probably will, since Ive always been fascinated by and drawn towards computers and video games and such. I sometimes even program my own video games!
What other hobbies and interests do you have?
In my spare time, I enjoy drawing in "anime style", reading, writing stories, making stop motion videos, reading manga (Japanese comics,) and programming computer games.
What have your friends said about the video?
Only one of them knows about it. He says that he thinks most of my other videos are better, and also that he feels like hes "friends with a famous guy." I helped him make a LEGO video once, too. In a couple of videos, my sister has helped me greatly. For example, in my Under Pressure video, she did half of the directing and nearly all of the set building! She also helped build the main setting in Bohemian Rhapsody. She built the main layout, and I added on to it a little.
I must thank my dad for a lot of things. He taught me the process of making these videos, he gave me a room in the house to use as an office, he bought me a Windows Vista computer, he gave me a high quality camera to use (after my first two videos were shot with a webcam,) he found the software for me to use, and so much more!
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