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And, while it's downloading, be sure to read through our interview with the creator:

First off, the music rocks. Who is it and how did you discover/select it?

The music is Blink182 - Adam’s Song. I chose it for it’s drum beat and instrumental solo section, along with the fact that the lyrics in the closing section speak of someone who could’ve benefited greatly from CAP.

"Consider this the coming attractions for your life." is an excellent slogan. Is that yours?

Yes, as far as I know I invented that slogan. My original intent was for this spot or something similar to it to be shown before movie previews where there are local ads and such.

I'm struck, just as I was with the encampment video, by how well you match the action to the music. For instance, the cadet crossing the river on the Tyrolean Traverse hits the water exactly on the downbeat. There are other examples as well. How difficult is it to put these 'beats' together?

As with the Encampment (and all others) I visualize shots to the music usually before I film them, in this case I had that shot, and was thinking of the “perfect” shot for that moment, and that cadet made a huge splash, so I slowed it down and zoomed in to each individual frame of footage, and matched the decisive moment he hits the water with the right moment in the music as well. The process of matching and blending Audio to Video is one of the things I love most about editing.

The shot of the Cadets walking away from the B-25 on static (I assume that's COS) looks like a staged shot. Was it?

Basically yes, I was interviewing some of the cadets in the group, and we were by a row of planes displayed on base so I had them walk towards the camera as seen. What’s interesting is that if you were to see the whole shot, I was just behind and underneath a mockup of the (what I believe was) the Wright Flyer.

I'm also struck by your use of sun flares to punctuate shots. This happens a couple of times, most notably on one of the Hawk shots and one of the formation shots. Do you set up for those or are they happy accidents?

Those shots were random, yet coordinated. I picked the angle I wanted and then waited for the right time to begin filming it. The interviews, and the scene mentioned above, are the only times I directed the cadets what to do, the rest is all “real”.

From my understanding, there are only about a dozen people who've seen this video prior to now; you've effectively granted CadetStuff.org a 'world premiere'. Is this true even of the people who are in the video? Is this their first opportunity to see themselves on camera?

Yes, only a few people have seen it, there is a lot to be done with the footage, and it’s gone through many changes. We wanted to have the best version available to show off, and to get people excited about what was to come. The opportunities to use this and the rest that will follow as recruiting tools, as well as to promote Special Activities inside units, is a glorious one. Even this version is a draft to be further “tinkered” with.

I'd really love to see this run at movie theaters right before the 'visit the snack bar' video. Is this feasible considering the quality of the video you shot?

The true quality of the video is at DVD resolution, and the camera has been used in movies before so it is definitely of quality to show in theaters. I outlined this ad just for that purpose actually.

I don't see any Seniors! Was this on purpose? Do you think you have enough footage that you could make a recruiting spot aimed at Seniors?

I did my best to film and interview as much of the seniors I could along side the cadets. This first spot is generally aimed at the cadets, I will be working on a senior targeted spot soon.

So, what's the problem? Why isn't this running at movie theaters all over the country in front of 'Harry Potter', 'Behind Enemy Lines' and 'Black Hawk Down'? Why isn't a 30 second version running during 'Enterprise' or on Discovery Wings? When will it be available for order from NHQ?

The full spot (including an unfinished beginning portion) took roughly 15 hours to make. Though time is spent on the “creative” process, a lot of time is spent “rendering” the final product. And to see each change you’ve made, you usually have to re-render that spot over and over again, and it is a very time consuming process. I’m still doing the work on my home system late at night, as I go to school in the day, and work evenings. We are exploring all avenues to of funding, and are in the process of putting together a dedicated editing system.

Hence the time and limited “release” of the videos so far. We see these and future spots as an amazing opportunity to get the word out about all that CAP has to offer.

We will be launching a new web-based ordering method after the first of next year. (2002) The “Cadet Exchange” will offer the “G3” videos of the past and future. (“G3”, of course, which is the name that Brian and I work under) We will be implementing Visa, MasterCard,and Paypal when cadetexchange.com goes on line. Until then questions may be directed to email: g3prod@aol.com.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank some of the individuals that assisted in the completion of this project:

John Desmarais, Maj CAP - NESA Contact Tim Cheslock, Lt. Col CAP - Hawk Mountain Contact John Davidson, Maj CAP & Tony DeSantis, Capt CAP - AETCFC Contacts Lori Brand, Maj CAP - NFA Glider Contact Mark Bailey, Maj USAFR - NFA Powered Contact Jeff Stuart, Maj USAFR - PJOC Contact Steve Depalo, Maj USAFR - AFSCFC Contact Tim Hansen, Col CAP - NBB Contact

Shawn Stanford & Darin Ninness of cadetstuff.org for getting the word out about this and past video projects, as well as saving me another night at an airport!

And of course my beautiful wife, for letting me go!