Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Hipness Comes To Fortuna

The editors have learned the city of Fortuna is deep in the plans for filming....er, videotaping something called a LipDub.  And WE WANT TO BE IN IT!  Someone from The Friendly City needs to call us.  Have you seen this LibDub phenomenon all over YouTube.  Mostly created by colleges and high schools, it was launched into the mainstream with the record-breaking Grand Rapids, Michigan version shown here .Grand Rapids LipDub     We hear Fortuna's won't be as elaborate, but will have widespread community involvement.  Did we mention WE WANT TO BE IN IT!

10 comments:

ImBlogCrazy said...

I loved the Michigan video!

I suspect you have to live in Fortuna to be in the production.

I have a good friend who lives there. I wonder if that would count, and my wife and I could be in it? She's the ham bty.

The Editors said...

That's a good question, Dave? We'll will have to pry deeper with the sources we know to see what the criteria is.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Maybe we could do this in Garbereville. We would have to include the Street People of course.

I would like to play the part of the Fireman. (Fire is the devils only friend)

The Editors said...

Ernie, we've heard you WILL be in the Fortuna LipDub video. Supposedly, the invitation is in the mail.

Eel River Ernie said...

There was a presentation on the LipDub a couple of weeks back at the weekly chamber of commerce meeting. Seems like this is a Rotary driven project and will be shot on the morning of September 11th and near the River Lodge. Erin, at the Fortuna Chamber, and Debbie, at River Lodge, seem to be heading it up. Look for me I will be in my drift boat in the 12th street hole.

The Editors said...

Hello Eel River Ernie, it looks like you have the most information so far. We need to check this out. We'll ask the chamber of commerce people what they know. Like I said, we really want to be in this video if even by hook or by crook.

By the way, Eel River Ernie, thanks for viewing this new blog. Possible postings on Weaverville coming up. (wink)

Kristabel said...

So many song ideas are running through my head for Fortuna....

Ernie Branscomb said...

Yeah the song... It's gonna be hard to outdo Bye Bye American Pie! (the day the music died )

Joel Mielke said...

Wall of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio" would be nice.

skippy said...

The long awaited video has arrived. It's a spectacular star studded extravanganza. Well done, Sunny Fortuna folks!

The Fortuna River Lodge Lip-Dub Details; or, Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

THE IDEA comes from a similar video by the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan, setting a world record for community participation. The City of Fortuna-- and the Fortuna Chamber of Commerce—wanted to make their own unique video of their special community. Erin Dunn, CEO of the Fortuna Chamber of Commerce, said the idea originated from resident Jo Anne Center after she saw the Grand Rapids production.

I WONDERED how we could accomplish it-- and thought of the producing team of Erin from the Fortuna Chamber of Commerce and Ross Rowley from Eureka Television Group,” Joanne said.

Erin Dunn, Rotary member and city booster, said this was an idea for the Rotary Club's District Conference that Fortuna is hosting in June 2012 and to promote Sunny Fortuna and the Rotary Conference in a single project. Rotary District 5130, the Chamber of Commerce, and the City of Fortuna sponsored the “Celebrate” video production.

Debbie Reynolds of the River Lodge, Erin Dunn, Ross Rowley, and award-winning video producers Rick and Matt St. Charles of Great Minds Productions, were the initial Lip-Dub organizational team. While the Lip-Dub seems to be done in a single unedited shot lasting only 5 minutes, a lot of preparation took place prior to the actual filming. The orientation, preparation, and filming of the shoot took over 5 hours-- during the course of two days. Launched on YouTube, the video has had 2,400 views to date. Springville’s got step and Ernie reportedly got a free breakfast!

A CASTING CALL went out for community members to participate. The nearly 100 people included were:

the Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department and Ladies Auxiliary, the Fortuna Police, Redwood Auto Expo and Fortuna Rodeo boosters, educators and cheerleaders, city staffers and students and young gymnasts, 4-H’ers in dress blues, familiar faces in town, business owners, movers and shakers, Rotarians and Chamber members, a well known County Supervisor and Sheriff Officer incognito, Huskies supporters and Umpqua bankers, a Scotty McCreery lookalike, Redwood Memorial Hospitalians and the Pink Ladies, Mr. and Mrs. Claus, the Gardening Ladies, a yellow truck and matching Harley, a modified Featherlite stock and people trailer, a red feather boa, multiple banners, globes, and red heart balloons, a kayak, Rocky the Flying Ferret, dogs, horses, and a goat named Buster… among others.

The only thing missing? Fortuna’s infamously friendly tractors.

THE MUSIC? ”Yahoo! Celebrate Good Times… Come On!” You know this one: Celebration by Kool and the Gang; 1980.

(Hat tip to Franklin Stover of the Humboldt Beacon. To note, if you have the opportunity to see Mr. Stover play his uniquely extinct Prussian instruments and rare accompanying music from the early 1900s, it’s a special treat that you don’t want to miss. It’s a spectacular performance rescued from the forgotten ethers of time-- and sometimes seen at the Fortuna Monday Club)