Now that everyone has had a chance to view and comment on the official entries I thought I'd post mine.

Here's the links:
Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY_PUfNAvT0
High Res http://www.heron-media.com/review/nightmare.mov

Here's my story:
The day before the theme got announced I got a bit of inspiration. It ended up being entirely off theme - as you'll see - but I just couldn't get it out of my head. And then I started geeking out at lunch with a musician friend of mine about the emotional impact of sound design, and that was it, I just had to make it. Once the theme got announced and I realized we weren't going to be anywhere near it I stopped worrying about whether we'd be anywhere near the deadline either.

I have lost access to all the good (free) gear that I used for all the past DVCs, so this one was shot with a little Panasonic camcorder on a still photography tripod. Edited in Final Cut. Not sure what Kenny used to do the music and sfx, might have been Garage Band.

Hope you enjoy it.
Smile,
Kris

Kris:

Wow! That was a great little movie. And you've proven that one doesn't need an $8,000.00 camera to make the auduence grin and laugh! You wrangled that little guy well, lit excellently and cut to the music wonderfully. I wish there was a DV Challenge for that movie. It would have my vote! Thanks you!

Outstanding!!! I laughed so hard at the climax my own dogs tore out of the room. Great shooting, editing, sound design. Blue deserves an Oscar for this one...

*in addition*

Kris, thanks so much for finishing this and posting it. You made my day with your cutest little Blue and your funny, funny take on things.

My border collies love the vacuum cleaner. They tear around it trying to herd it, which kind of drives me crazy, but it's great exercise for them. It's also a circus. Come to think of it, my little terrier mix does manage to quietly disappear while all that is going on. Must be a little dog thing? Or is Blue really afraid of yours?

cut to the music wonderfully.

Not cut to the music actually, the music was scored to the cut. We'd been tossing ideas back and forth while I was editing and then when I got to picture lock he really scored it. It was great fun to really work with a musician rather than scrounge something off the internet and hope that it sort of fits.

Thanks for the kind words.

Smile,
Kris

Or is Blue really afraid of yours?

To be honest I vacuum so rarely that she tends to retreat to the far end of the couch and give me that look of "What in the world are you doing?"

I wouldn't say she likes it, but she was more afraid of the tripod than the vacuum. That cowering at the top of the stairs shot was because the camera was right down in her face. She only really ran from the vacuum when I rolled it right toward her.

She is my best little actor.

Smile,
Kris

Being "dogless" for now, I really enjoy seeing something like this. You folks really created a mood of heavy suspense around Blue. The "soundscape" really suggested something ominous comes this way.

Good job, Kris.

Kris, this was a very cute one, lovely dog and nice editing which made it flow just perfect :) Hope the dog it's not too traumatized after all this.

Thanks for the fun!