A trip on the Grasslander

gregh

electronics, computers and scratchbuilding
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There are five of us here in southern Sydney banded together under the name GRASS (Garden Railway Addicts of Sutherland Shire). After a long, hot day operating we adjourned inside for refreshments and I mentioned having watched Eric Schade?s movie of his trains? trip from Maine to Maryland. We all agreed it would be a good idea to do a similar thing showing a train running through all our garden layouts which would use the same coaches for the whole trip with locos supplied by each of the railways and would show off the best of our lines.

The train purports to run from Australia?s tropical north on an inland route to the more temperate southern climes. With our GRASS name the obvious name for the train was:
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So if you?ve got 20 minutes to spare, pack your bags and come on the journey. (There are subliminal questions throughout the movie to ensure you watch it all. The winner goes into the draw for no expenses paid trip on the Grasslander)

Here?s the Youtube link: http://youtu.be/vGpq_j-6j6o

or this link should allow you to download it to watch later: (select MP4 360p on right of page)
http://en.savefrom.net/#url=http://...=short_domains&utm_campaign=www.ssyoutube.com

After you?ve taken the whole trip you?ll notice there wasn?t a lot of ?grassland? to be seen.
The many reasons for this are that during the time the train passes through the great grasslands,
It was raining,
There was a dust storm,
The windows were too dirty
It was night time
It was sacred land that could not be photographed
It was military land
The camera crew were asleep
The camera crew were eating
The camera crew were drunk.

To find more info on each of our railways use the links at: http://www.trainweb.org/grass/index.htm

The movie was made using nothing more sophisticated than MS Movie Maker2 (I still use XP), Paint, PhotoEditor and VirtualDub (a freebie, for cropping and lightening up dark videos).
It was an interesting exercise in trying to find all the camera angles which avoid all those nasty backgrounds of house, fences, sheds and pathways. Then waiting for a cloudy day, with no planes and no neighbours mowing their lawns!
I used some xml downloads for Movie Maker to create custom ?titles?, which allows me to put black bands on top or bottom to blank out those nasty backgrounds. I also used some ?blue screen? effects in Movie Maker to block out backgrounds and for some views from inside the train.
The birdsounds in the background are just the locals birds. I added only a kookaburra at the end as the locals wouldn?t perform when required! All the train sounds are the actual locos except for the sounds of chains and brakes in a couple locations.
I acknowledge that I got the idea for the movie from Eric Schade?s movie of his trains? trip from Maine to Maryland ? you can watch it here?
http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/Forums/tabid/56/aff/15/aft/127852/afv/topic/Default#291855
 
Really enjoyed that! Some clever work in the editing room too:thumbup:
 
Well that was brilliant! Certainly better than Edwin S Porters work.... Did I spot a near derailment?.....
 
Both excellent movies :thumbup::thumbup:thanks for sharing with us.
 
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