Internet Star (Ch 9 posted 11/28)

[fyunch]

Very nice.  Coming along well.  And the parallel plots are very promising.  Can’t wait for more.

[kerry]

9. Jump in!

New York, New York, that toddling town

The bronx is up and the Battery’s down...

NYC...what is it about you?

You’re big, you’re loud, you’re tough…

Start spreading the news

I’m leaving today

I’m gonna be a part of it:

New York, New York…

NYC...I go years without you

Then I can’t get enough...

The people ride in a hole in the ground

New York, New York, it’s a wonderful town!

Geneva sat in the giant crib wearing the frilliest dress from Naomi’s collection and a diaper that was far too visible, as far as she was concerned, strumming her guitar while Naomi looked on from behind Ryan, who was filming the whole scene on a camera that looked as if it had come from a movie set. Why he even owned such a thing she was not sure, but Naomi assured her that it would make all the difference in the world for the quality of the video.

She still was not completely sure she should have let Naomi talk her into this bizarre opening to her song. A montage of “I love New York” songs from various musicals seemed so much at odds with what the song was trying to say. But Naomi had been insistent, and anyway if it didn’t work they could always cut it.

“We’ve got this seemingly four-year-old singer singing, like, the most depressing song I’ve ever heard,” Naomi said. “We need a counterpoint, even if it’s an ironic one.”

Ironic. That’s one word for it. Another was “absurd.” Or “misaligned.” Or maybe “ill-conceived.” She tried to talk her friend into seeing that this was the one shot that Baby G would have to make herself and the song had to be just right, but Naomi would not be swayed. So Geneva was singing the intro despite herself for the third time. Each time, Ryan had shot from a different angle; he was going to edit it all together later on.

“Perfect,” he said, his quiet monotone not altogether convincing, but she’d gotten used to Ryan by now so she knew that this was about as excited as he got.

“Really?” she asked.

“Genny it’s fantastic,” Naomi burbled. Really, she had enough enthusiasm to make up for several Ryans. “Now climb down into the ball pit.”

Naomi, who had appointed herself director, had decided that the first verses would be sung over footage of Geneva in the ball pit. When Geneva pointed out that it would be difficult to play guitar if she was up to her waist in plastic balls, Naomi laughed.

“That’s why we have the master recording. The only time you’re really singing is in the crib, and the most important part of that is the intro and outro we added. The rest is already on tape, and it’s brilliant.”

Sometimes Naomi was so darned upbeat that Geneva wanted to strangle her. She climbed down from the giant crib—not an easy task even with the set of metal stairs that had been rolled over to assist her—and headed for the ball pit. At least, the ball pit was going to be fun. For one thing, she had always loved them when she was little: burying herself in the balls, tossing them into the air or throwing them against the mesh sides so they’d roll back down and settle like balls bouncing on a roulette wheel trying to find the right hole to settle into. She always tried to predict where they’d stop; once in awhile she was even right. Easily the best part about this ball pit, though, was that, deep among the balls, her ridiculous outfit would be harder to see. 

She eased herself into the pit like she was testing the water in a pool.

“No, no!” Naomi called. “Jump in! Little kids either jump in or fall in.”

Geneva rolled her eyes. She wanted to argue, but what was the use? Naomi was the director and anyway she happened to be right. So she stepped back out of the pit.

“On my mark,” said Ryan so softly that, if there had been anyone else there other than the store manager, who was watching them, fascinated, from a desk in the corner, she couldn’t possibly have heard him at all. “Five, four, three…” he said, and then used his fingers to count down “two” and “one,” a tactic Geneva had gotten used to. When he reached “zero,” she looked over at the camera and smiled as big a smile as she could before leaping headfirst into the balls. She’d sort of expected to get completely swallowed by them, but her dive was stopped after the first several inches and she lay there on her stomach, her arms flailing about as she tried to right herself.

OK, that was not exactly a genius idea. Finally able to raise her head, she saw Naomi laughing on the sideline and talking quietly to Ryan, but she knew better than to react; that would just mean doing it all again. So she settled in and did what came into her head: squiggling down beneath the balls, bursting out, tossing them around and laughing. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she heard Naomi say “Cut.”

As she climbed out, it surprised her that Ryan was coming into the pit. 

“We need a headshot of you diving in,” he said. 

She rolled her eyes. “I have to do that again?” she asked.

“Hey,” Naomi said, “You were the one who chose how to enter. Live with it.”

Shaking her head, she positioned herself as she had for the first take. Directly across from her, half-buried himself in the balls, was Ryan, holding a smaller camera. 

“Now,” he said, “try to do it just like before.”

“If I can remember,” she said.

He gave her the signal, and she turned toward Naomi like before and gave a huge smile before swan diving into the balls again. This time she was careful not to let herself sink in too deep, and she righted herself easily. Ryan had stopped filming but, she could see, he was ready for more. 

“I just want you to do a few of the things you did before,” he said. “Jump out of the balls. Toss a couple at the mesh.”

Once she was finished and Ryan gave her the all-clear, she climbed back out of the ball pit. Ryan, though, carefully put the camera down just outside on the mat before strapping a Go-Pro to his head and taking the same spot she had before diving into the balls himself.

When he came up, he looked at her. “Point of view shot,” he said simply.

“Won’t there be a noticeable quality difference?” she asked. 

He smiled. He hadn’t done that much, and she thought he should do it more. “I’ll minimize it with filters,” he said. 

After the ball pit there was a shot of Baby G playing in the huge playpen with giant stuffies. By this point she had given up on keeping the big baby clothes in check; she just rolled around with the bears and the elephant and the giraffe with reckless abandon, letting herself enjoy the silliness.

Legos were next. She played for several minutes with the giant Lego set and, halfway through, decided to make a wall that spelled “Broadway” when seen from the top. Ryan realized what she was doing and filmed from several angles. Naomi applauded.

Finally she was back in the crib doing the rest of the song, which she understood would be spliced into the final video as desired.

In her dreams

She was a part of New York City

In her dreams

Marquees lit up to spell her name

But it seems

The truth is rarely very pretty

And extremes

At times can turn out just the same

 

In her eyes

There was the sparkle of elation

In her eyes

There was a future to be seen

Now she cries

Her tears an awful condemnation

Something dies

When you get caught in the machine

Ryan was using the big camera again, and Naomi once more stood near him, watching and evaluating. The store owner was with her now, and Geneva could see him quietly saying something to her that made her smile. He shook his head, apparently surprised at her answer, before wandering back to his desk.

Geneva was really hearing the words in her song by now, by all appearances a little child singing about the loss of dreams and the death of hope. And all of that over video of her gleefully playing. It was so incongruous that, if she had the time to consider it, she’d probably laugh out loud. But Naomi swore it would work, so on she went.

In her dreams she used to see 

Herself the way she knew she’d be

But truth and dreams don’t always intertwine

For the city is unforgiving

And some dreams aren’t for the living

When the world leaves you beaten and broken and scared

And the universe seems like a shattered affair

And there’s nothing for you anymore anywhere

And you stand on the bridge and look down at the brine

And the water looks fine

The second verse, if anything, was even more depressing than the first, but Geneva sang and played with all of the emotion she could muster in her Baby G guise. And when she finished, she added the silly outro that Naomi had come up with, the reprise of the first four lines of “New York, New York.” And as she sang them, she realized that something different was happening to the lines. The upbeat lyrics and tune didn’t sound the same to her: she was slowing the whole thing down and singing it more quietly and the whole thing sounded both great and thoroughly ironic. She hadn’t even realized before that she should do that; it just felt right in the moment. Maybe Nay was onto something here?

Or maybe the whole thing would completely suck.

As Ryan put his equipment away, Geneva climbed down from the high crib for the final time and started putting her guitar into its case. Turning to Naomi, she asked what the manager had said to her. Her friend smiled.

“Oh, he was wondering the same thing as you: how all of this fits together. I told him our idea—”

“Your idea,” Geneva interrupted.

“—and he pretty much thought we were insane.”

“Yeah, I do too.”

Naomi smiled again. “You’ll see. Once Ryan splices it all together with the footage he took last year in New York, it will be genius.”

Geneva shook her head. “Why couldn’t we just do a more contemplative video?”

“Genny,” Naomi said in her most didactic voice, as if she were speaking to an actual four-year-old, “can you imagine doing that here among all of these silly props? The visual would end up being absurd anyway. But if we go out of our way to make it absurd, we’re in on the joke.”

Geneva was silent for a moment. “Why didn’t you explain it like that before? That actually makes sense...in an odd sort of way.”

“I couldn’t have.” Naomi laughed. “I only just thought of it.”

“You’re very weird.”

Naomi was still laughing. “And isn’t it a great thing?”

 

[YourFNF]

On 11/28/2018 at 3:25 PM, kerry said:

9. Jump in!

Naomi was still laughing. “And isn’t it a great thing?”

 

I'm amazed at the level of professionalism and quality these kids bringing to this production. I think they nailed the tone somehow with it being mostly improv. Wish I had a like to give this

@kerry

[CDfm]

It’s about time. Just kidding of course. Although I was missing the story and it was really good to see a new chapter I would never actually criticize for when new chapters are added. I want to see the video. Is sounds like they are doing a great job on it. Well worth a like and I am really looking forward to seeing more.