Grant's 2008 Advent Calendar Video Countdown.

So you're probably asking yourself, "What's with the Grant's 2008 Advent Calendar Video Countdown." Well here's the story so far...

On Halloween, Nikolai, Caleb, and I released a video marking the start of the countdown to Grant's 2008 Advent Calendar. Grant thought the video was awesome and has since featured it in his Advent Calendar Feed and on YouTube.

We asked Grant if he wanted us to put together another promo video for Thanksgiving and he said he was keen on seeing what we could come up with but doubted that we could top the first video... Sounds like a challenge to us.

So we thought about it and came up with the answer... For the second video promo, we're gonna need video and pictures of even more people watching the countdown clock!

So here's what you do:

1) Pick a random spot on the video and play it back on your computer, iThing, or other video playing device.

2) Video tape or take a picture (or multiple pictures) of yourself staring at, watching, distracted by, engrossed with, etc., the countdown clock. Check out our earlier video for an example.

3) Email the final product to me at dancingwithelephants@gmail.com. Make sure to include names and/or websites in your email so I can make sure you get some credit.

4) Make sure to get your final product to me by Tuesday, Nov. 25th in order to make the Thanksgiving Day release date.

That's basically it.

Now there are some things you should think about when shooting your video or picture. First and foremost, this is a Family Friendly Podcast, so please keep images kid-friendly. The video will most likely end up on YouTube, so make sure what that you shoot is suitable, as far as you are concerned, for public consumption. The original sound will be replaced to feature "Christmas Brought Me You" by Jody Whitesides so don't worry about the audio. We're hoping for a montage of different images, so don't worry too much about pristine quality. I think I can handle most video types, if I have a problem I'll let you know. Gmail can handle files up to 20 MB, so keep that in mind. I think that's pretty much it for the basics, except to add, please feel free to share this with your friends and/or listeners.

Be creative. Use the video playback on your iThing to shoot the scene anywhere. Use your camera phone to take the video or picture. Use your iSight or webcam and a mirror to film yourself, filming yourself, filming yourself, watching the countdown. If your car has a entertainment system that handles video, use that for your setting. If someone can figure out how to get the countdown on a billboard in Times Square, I'd be most impressed. And I know that some of us talk with @_S_A_R_A_H on Twitter and I'm pretty sure her monitors can handle video. Anyway, have fun with the shot.

Now I could name names to encourage certain people that I know to help with this project, but I hesitate doing that mainly because I can't name everyone one and I live in constant fear of offending someone that I may accidently forget. That said, if anyone knows anyone from the cast of A Christmas Story (one of Grant's favorite movies) and you can capture them watching the countdown video, that would be great.

Each year, Grant Baciocco, Doug Price, Jody Whitesides, Greg Baciocco and especially Brandon Baciocco do a lot of hard work to make Grant's Advent Calendar podcast a success. Think of this as away of saying thanks and participating in the fun.

Finally, please take a moment to check out Christmas Brought Me You by Jody Whitesides which is available on iTunes.

Thank you very much and I look forward to hearing from you.