We’re trying something new. And it has little to do with news.
This attempt at said something new could be viewed in a variety of ways: desperate, innovative, charming, unnecessary. I choose to look at it in a much more tone-neutral way: experimental, maybe. Speculative.
This is only a test.
We – i.e. myself, Mail Tribune web team members Mandy Valencia and Anita Burke, sports reporter Dan Jones and copy editor Dave Sager – call this experiment, a video experiment at that, Dan and Dave Do Stuff.
And it’s literally just like it sounds; not a purposely fallacious or lazy title by any means. It’s two blokes from the Mail Tribune getting filmed doing a bunch of random things in the community.
Ms. Valencia and I film it, chop it up and distribute the results, three so far and still counting. Ms. Burke serves as executive producer, the head honcho that oversees everything, nods at the edited footage and gives the green light for when videos are ready to go live. I told her yesterday it’s a role that suits her, that she needed a big cigar and stacks of money to count while she kicked her feet up on her desk like a backroom loan shark.
Secretly, I think she dug that.
Dave and Dan are the talent, the reason this show exists. The idea started with Dan. He used to star in little videos back in the day called “Hey Dan, Try This!” Plates of food got put in front of him. He ate them. Cut and print.
He wanted to do that again. Can’t blame him. Who doesn’t like free food? We wanted to expand on that, though, make it about more than just eating.
We decided to make the Rogue Valley the focus, visit niches this beautiful area has and try to shine some light on them in an entertaining way. If a restaurant has a challenge to eat 30 tacos in 30 minutes, Dan and Dave try it.
Er, do it. Do or do not. There is no try.
This applies to anything. So far it’s included said taco challenge (Dave was able to gulp down 15.5, Dan 20), an eyebrow wax and, most recently, firefighter physical fitness testing at Jackson County Fire District No. 3.
You can view that video here.
And just what are we hoping to get out of this?
Er, nothing? If you wanted a rehearsed answer, something I could read off a teleprompter with Walter Cronkite-esque poise, I suppose I could tell you there are times I just get sick of hearing about sex assaults and child abuse and dogs being put down and how we’re all going to fall into a deep dark chasm if timber payments don’t pick back up. Sometimes I just need something different, that’ll make me laugh, that’s fun.
But off the cuff, I’ll just say I like making videos with good people I consider friends and sharing them with you.
Sound good? Good. Then we’ll go with that.
