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Some of you know that we went to Branson and Silver Dollar City 4 times
last year and that we are now in the process of editing the latest video. This time however we think we may call it the Smith Family Video 2000 since we made so many trips it might not be called an actual or "official" vacation.
We shot 4 of the 5 seasons of Silver Dollar City during these trips and have
video material for the SFV-2000 that will be enjoyable as well as vacationally educational.
Logging video tapes is one of the most time consuming things I can think of.
We would rather be editing video, creating graphics or special effects but logging the contents of the tapes is very important in order to create the most impressive video. We take the very best of all the hours of tape we shoot and pack them tightly into a single 2 hour video tape. Any of you who have received one know that we fill the tape from start to end with interesting facts and fun filled antics of Laura and Kristy. Last tape they were "aliens" who came down to the Planet Branson and had so much fun we decided to do it 4 more times in 2000.
If someone would like a copy of it they should e-mail us and we will give you
an address where to send a donation of $10 + $3 for shipping and handling. Of course you can donate more than $10 if you like. That would be fine with Laura and Kristy and would help cover some of their production expenses, making it more fun for them to produce these wonderful, entertaining, cute and sometimes funny videos each year. |
We can't update this website anymore because Windows XP will not
work with Web Studio.
I'm attempting to edit it with MS Frontpage 2002 just so you will
know what's going on in the event you should find yourself on this
webpage.
We have some new website editing software now but the old pages
are not compatible with the new website software.
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SFV-2001
The Latest News 3/17/2001
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If you have been following the Smith Family News here, we
just returned from LA, CA and did all the things we said we were going to do, and then some. We visited 4 production studios. We spent two days at Universal Studios and had a ball and don't forget the "new" Universal City Walk. Yes, Universal Studios is so large they have their own "city" called "Universal City". They have their own mayor, fire dept., hospital and all. The Jurassic Park ride is a blast but watch out, you WILL GET WET. Not to fear, we have video of the ride and though I did get my camera a might wet I managed to get it under my coat before we hit the water at the bottom of the 80 foot drop. Naturally when we do this SFV-2001 we will show some clips from this ride. Splash Mountain EAT YOUR HEART OUT! People were coming back in yelling, "Man, I got to do that again!" And of course they did. Kristy would have just camped on that ride if we had let her. 4th time around though we managed to catch her and pull her out of the line.
Studios we visited..
... Universal Studios, Front and Back Lot. Kristy was
chosen twice on the behind the scenes events. She "fell" from the Statue of Liberty and worked on a Foley Stage doing 3 different sound effects. They were shooting production in several of the sound stages and one TV show was being shot during our tram ride through the back lot. The production crew waved at us when we went by and I do believe I got video of them working there but I have no idea what show they were shooting.
... Warner Brothers Studios, wasn't all we had hoped for.
They would not allow any pictures or video of any kind in 98% of the compound. No Video at all and only allowed photos in places that we could have mostly cared less for, like the old Bonanza western set. The kids saw one star of a TV show as we passed by but it was a show I never watch and I never saw the guy having lunch on a curb outside of the set he was working on. We saw 3 of the original Batman suits and in their museum almost nothing was in glass cases. You could have literally reached out and touched anything there but they asked people not to so no one did that I know of. It gives you a feeling of "being right there" to be that close and able to touch even though you don't. Sorry we can't show you much from in there but I will tell more about this later in the Vacation area of the website.
... NBC TV Studio Burbank, not much to say about it. It
basically stunk and they wouldn't allow any video cameras or pictures either. They did allow pictures in the last two rooms but there wasn't anything there of interest anyway. The high-point of the trip was when the guide took us out the back door next to Jay Leno's stage where we saw Jay's blue and white Ford Cobra car. I was told that was the same car (a different color) that was actually used in the movie Romancing the Stone when the woman was kidnapped and the kid drove the car to the kidnappers. I wanted the kids to see the NBC Studio so they did.
... Paramount Studios, was the highlight of all the
studios we visited. Though the sign and all the info we had on the tour said they didn't allow video or cameras of any kind when we got there we discovered they had just recently allowed people to take pictures in certain areas of the studio. Our Guide here was the best of all the guides we followed around. He told us the reason that Paramount had not touristized the studio was because they were saving it for those who were really interested in production. This way they would take only 20-30 people in a group on a walking tour of the studio and this way it was possible to literally get right up next to the stars and actors during the tour. He said, "Now if you see any actors or stars walking around the studio don't go running up to them, but if they choose to come talk to you then that's all right." He was true to his word and sure enough we not only got to see several stars during this tour, but one star Brian Denehey (not sure how he spells that last name - played the head alien 'Walter' in Cocoon & the Return) and one actor from the set of Voyager did speak to us. The actor right off the set of the Voyager was walking from one of the sound stages to the dressing rooms and walked right beside us. I said, "Are you guys still lost in space," and he laughed and I said, "Excuse the pun, that's from another movie," and he said, "That's all right. We are shooting the last two shows right now. The show has been canceled." Then he went on ahead and had some fun with our guide and the rest of the tour group. Like our guide had told us, some of them are very friendly and are glad to greet the tour groups. At Paramount you can even go into the Commissary and eat with the actors and stars. This is the only Studio that I have seen where the tour groups could literally eat the same food that is served to the stars and actors who work there, and be able to see them all around you while you eat. The food was excellent and wasn't over-priced as you might expect.
We visited the La Brea Tar pits, Long Beach Aquarium of
the Pacific, Queen Mary, and a Russian Sub. Some of you are curious about our ghost hunting trip to the Queen Mary, my answer to you is you won't be disappointed, yes the places is highly haunted and we did capture some ghost "orbs" on video tape in the boiler room of the ship.
Dawn and I also spent the entire day on the Spiderman set
in Downey. When you go to see the movie Spiderman you will be able to find us in some of the final crowd scenes at the World Unity Festival. Yes, we were there with Peter Parker (Toby McGuire) and even the creator of Spiderman, Mr. Stan Lee, and Macie Gray (with her band), with the director, the cameras, the hot lights and what fun. We got a first hand experience of what it was like to work on a real live movie set. NO they don't allow anyone else to have cameras there. Only special people who work on the set can have cameras. Let me just say the set was most impressive and literally like we had been transported in a moment from CA to New York Time Square, right down to the Imperial Grand hotel. This is all built in a large fenced in parking lot in Downing, CA. Is it secure ? You bet it is, they have guards everywhere and once we entered the gate that morning, it closed behind us and didn't open again until quitting time at 6pm. I would love to tell you more but things like that are kept under hat until the movie comes out. Be sure to watch for the new movie Spiderman. Go to my links page and check out the tvtix page and read more about it there.
We saw a few other stars out and about. We were a few
yards away from Jim Carrey while he was shooting in Hollywood at the famous Chinese Theater on the star walkway. Thing is, we left before he came out of the building. We saw a few other actors there who were working in the film with him. The movie they were shooting is Majestic or something like that and time set in the 50's.
We are still working on the SFV-2000 video and when we get
that done we will start on the 2001 video.
I'll be building a new "Vacation / Current Trips" area of
the website to accommodate the new pictures and our SFV- 2001 area of this website.
If you have any questions e-mail me.
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Vacation
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SFV-2000
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The Wreck!
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GHOSTS!
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If you wish to know what's going on with us you should check the
old/new Smith Family Website. I've returned to it and started
doing a little bit of updating.
Ever seen a GHOST ? Would you like to ? We went
ghost hunting in the Queen Mary and yes we did capture some ghosts on night vision video.
Want to know what's new in the Rainbow Studio ?
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Studio News
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Spooky Places
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