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Professor was able to acquire the use of the University mass-communications studio for the video.
I had formed TAKE A BITE PRODUCTIONS while attempting to acquire funding for the song and short film promoting literacy. “You’re Waterguy.” I had defined myself by what I was doing no matter what else in which I was also involved; my public persona was that which I had become, except in my own mind. Of course, I was also asshole.
Having had no experience in film or video besides being an extra or writing what I believed to be screen plays learning the format from books, different than novels, more structured like the tai-chi form, dynamic calculated movement within a structure with a mathematical formula, I had learned the form well enough to convince others the video was a doable project with me directing and producing since no one else wanted to do the work nor had the instinct or will to pull it off. The fact that Professor had been teaching the form in seasonal classes for years and the number learning the complete form in this manner could be counted on fingers and toes was an incentive to create the video teaching aid.
Professor had created five sections within the seven minute Yang Classical Short form. He had studied and become friends with many masters before drawing his conclusions into a mathematical formula. The only hitch was his wife designed and made the costumes for the women for the Studio shoot—a gesture of modesty and propriety that dominated the relationship of professor/wife and a major hindrance in creating something that we had hopes of being a commercially viable product since there wasn’t anything that seemed to be a teaching aid for the tai-chi form on the market at the time. With no budget to work with I traded water for symbols and charts. Purchased rugs for the floor with water profits and fresh video tapes, three quarter inch tape since the university studio was set for that. After interviewing students two were chosen to be the videographers since I knew nothing. One in particular took the project seriously enough to show up and do the lighting and teach me what I had to know about time code and logging. The only professional was a water customer whose specialty was sound. We began shooting while the school was closed for the winter break. We learned quickly that Professor needed time to work on his verbal instructions and shut down production. Not being prepared the Professor saw it no longer as a game and took time and reflection to create what he thought was an intelligent design and method. Once back in the studio the group shots were completed in several hours over a two week period. The professor returned to perform on his own and in real time, while I read the scripted instruction off camera, performed the solo form in five painstaking sections before school resumed. Fifteen hour long tapes were transferred to VHS with time code and I spent my winter evenings in front of a rented TV with VHS and a separate VHS recorder creating mockup tapes for Professor to view and chose where he thought he looked best doing the form.

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