{"id":11065,"date":"2014-02-03T00:38:31","date_gmt":"2014-02-03T00:38:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.zennioptical.com\/?p=11065"},"modified":"2023-07-17T05:56:43","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T13:56:43","slug":"michael-darling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ca.zennioptical.com\/blog\/michael-darling\/","title":{"rendered":"Zenni Video Contest &#8211; Second Place Winner!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Michael-Darling.jpg\" aria-label=\"Visit blog wp content uploads 2014 01 Michael Darling.jpg page\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11125\" title=\"Michael Darling\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Michael-Darling.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\"><\/a><br>\nMichael Darling wrote and directed a video in which his longtime friend Jay Preston played a kind of latter-day Mr. Magoo whose myopia gets him in a lot of slapstick trouble, especially with an ending that packs a wallop that knocked out everyone who watched it \u2013 and him! Darling said the inspiration for his video was because his \u201cnatural vision is bad enough that I would never consider leaving the house without my glasses, but it was fun coming up with what <em>could<\/em> happen if I tried.\u201d With his winnings he\u2019s going to invest in a new camera, and he said, \u201cI\u2019ll probably be getting some new specs as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Check it out below and be sure not to leave home without your Zennis!<\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"720\" height=\"400\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qGn4nJBUhgY\" class=\"optanon-category-C0004\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h4>Getting to know our winners:<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Did you write, direct, and perform in the video?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Mike: <\/strong> I\u2019m Mike Darling, and I wrote and directed the video. I also performed the voice-over during the graphics. My good friend Christopher Bailey composed the music for us.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Who were the actors in the video?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Mike: <\/strong> My good friend of almost 20 years (since high school), Jay Preston, is the actor.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>How long did the shoot take?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Mike: <\/strong> The production took place in an afternoon, with about 5 hours of shooting time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Did any funny or weird or troublesome things happen on the shoot? \u00a0<\/em><br>\n<strong>Mike: <\/strong> Jay was a little nervous about the script calling for him to fall down the stairs. \u00a0I had him ready to perform the \u201cstunt\u201d until right before we shot, when I let him know that it would be an editing trick that sold the gag.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>What were the special challenges you faced in making this video?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Mike: <\/strong> Of course the bus shot was one of the most difficult to make work. \u00a0I had Jay cross the street many times to make sure the action was just right, then waited for the bus to come by so we could have both shots cut together into one scene. \u00a0Also, editing was a challenge because we had many more gags that we shot, but that time wouldn\u2019t allow. \u00a0The final cut came after hours of adjusting cuts frame by frame to make sure the comedy was well received.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Have you won in other contests before?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Mike: <\/strong> I\u2019ve won a few contests over the last couple years including 2nd place for the<a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/4pmiPO4ezMc\" aria-label=\"Visit Pizza Hut Hut Hut contest Page\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Pizza Hut Hut Hut contest<\/a> and 1st place for the<a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/j6GmunN4ARU\" aria-label=\"Visit One Campaign\u2019s \u201cOne Thing We Agree On\u201d contest Page\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> One Campaign\u2019s \u201cOne Thing We Agree On\u201d contest<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>How many Zenni Pair you own?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Mike: <\/strong> Actually, right after the contest I ordered my first pair of Zenni glasses! \u00a0They\u2019re great!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>How long have you been shopping with Zenni online?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Mike: <\/strong> I only recently discovered Zenni thanks to the contest, but I\u2019ve been telling everyone about you!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Full-rim, half-rim or rimless?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Mike: <\/strong> That depends on the day. \u00a0I ordered full-rim, but I\u2019ll definitely be buying a few more styles soon.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>How did you come up with idea for your video?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Mike: <\/strong> As a contact lens and glasses wearer, I know the pain of trying to do every day things without your corrective lenses. \u00a0My natural vision is bad enough that I would never consider leaving the house without my glasses, but it was fun coming up with what <em>could \u00a0<\/em>happen if I tried.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Do you have other hobbies apart from filmmaking?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Mike: <\/strong> Yes, I love photography, camping, hiking, playing music, and I play on volleyball and softball teams.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>If you had only two words to describe Zenni Optical what words would you use?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Mike: <\/strong> Economical Quality!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Why do you wear glasses?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Mike: <\/strong> Contact lenses are my go-to, but sometimes I need a change of look, or just a chance for my eyes to relax.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>How will you spend the money (Will \u00a0you spend your money on new glasses?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Mike: <\/strong> Well I\u2019ve been looking to upgrade my camera gear for sometime, so with any luck I\u2019ll be able to invest in a new camera I\u2019ve had my eyes on\u2026or maybe some new lights. \u00a0Either way, I\u2019ll probably be getting some new specs as well. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<h5>Questions about the crew:<\/h5>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Has any of the things you depicted actually happened to you?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Mike: <\/strong> Before my glasses are on in the morning, I\u2019ve been known to trip over couches, drop things <em>near \u00a0<\/em>tables, and it must look pretty funny when I\u2019m trying to read something.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>How did you do the hit-by-the-bus special effect?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Mike: <\/strong> The hit-by-bus effect is actually made from three different layers in the editing program. One is of Jay crossing the street normally, with no bus. \u00a0The next is of the bus driving through, with no Jay. \u00a0One more layer is Jay flailing his arms which i cut out frame by frame and pushed off the screen. \u00a0A little motion blur sells the movement.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Has anyone told you that you remind them of Jason Lee (we think so!)?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Mike: <\/strong> I\u2019ve only hear Jason Lee once before, but I also get David Grohl from the Foo Fighters, Johnny Depp when my beard is trimmed, but most of all I get Jesus.<\/p>\n<p>For more info on Mike, you can visit his webpage <a href=\"http:\/\/themiked.us\" aria-label=\"Visit here! Page\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[149,37,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eye-health","category-fashion","category-our-customers"],"acf":[],"contentshake_article_id":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ca.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ca.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ca.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ca.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ca.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ca.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11065\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ca.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ca.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ca.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}