Tourist vs Expat 3
Two years ago I uploaded “The Map,” which was the first fight video I made for the blog. I’d wanted to film some fight stuff since I was a teenager but had never found the right opportunity. Needless to say I was pretty excited when Dan said he would film something with me and we set to work making “The Map.” It was…rough. We were learning as we went and it shows. Despite the video’s problems it holds a special place in my heart since it was the first fight we did.
And that brings us to now. Two years later. To celebrate I released “The Tree,” which is the third video in the ‘Tourist vs Expat’ series of fights that we started with “The Map.” We filmed it early last year but I hadn’t found a good time to post it. The two year anniversary of the first video seemed like the perfect time. So I finally got around to refilming the one scene that needed a little fixing, added some sounds, and it was ready to go.
The idea for the “The Tree” started when we were thinking about what our story hook for the next video could be. Location is always a problem and we figured filming at my girlfriend’s bar would be easier than trying to scout a location. So we built the story based on location and decided that meeting at a replacement café, since we got kicked out of the one in the last video, seemed to fit. Then while we were working on the choreography we noticed the spiky trees across the street and decided to make that the main schtick of the video.
As for that choreography it started out completely different. We originally tried to poke fun at all the shows and cartoons where characters yell out the names of their moves by having absolutely ridiculous moves. We decided that was a little too over the top and switched to more standard choreography but kept the tree as a central part.
“The Tree” doesn’t have choreography that’s quite up to par with “The Café,” which was the second ‘Tourist vs Expat’ fight that we filmed, but I feel like we ratcheted up the comedy and for the most part I feel like it came out pretty well. I was especially pleased with how well the vomit (which was Dan’s idea) came out. So going forward I hope I can mix the choreography from some of the stronger fights, like “The Café” and “Some Were Lucky” with the comedy that I think we did best in this video.
The ‘Tourist vs Expat’ videos are on hold right now because Dan is busy but when he’s available again we have plans to introduce at least one new character. In the meantime I’ve got some other fight videos in the pipeline that I’m pretty excited about, plus the usual travel and kung fu in China vlogs. So keep your eyes open!
I love how “The Tree” came and and I can definitely see a progression of out videos from “The Map” through “The Café” to “The Tree.” I can’t wait to see what we’re going to film next and am excited to get to work on some new choreography.
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