OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD (2000) unrestricted version
Published · 7:13 · 188 views
About This Video
Off to See the Wizard, July 2000. One of the earliest videos Van ever made, three or four months into filmmaking. Barnes and Noble on Astor Place, east of Broadway in Manhattan, no longer exists. Van was working at Scholastic Publishing and the Harry Potter phenomenon was something he had never witnessed: people waiting in line to buy books. Shot on a Sony TRV8 with his friend Nina, an actress. He used Donovan's "Season of the Witch" on the soundtrack and regrets it. This unrestricted version strips the music.
Transcript
I came across this tape a while back and I figured out that I don't think anyone's
ever seen this and this is one of the earliest videos I ever made
July 2000 so I've been making videos for maybe three or four months and
this version is the um is for those of you who live in places that won't let me use
copyrighted material and what you just missed was a little some samplings from The Wizard of Oz of
uh them all saying oh we're going to see the wizard or the wizard where's the wizard and so this is uh Barnes and Noble no
longer exists on either Aster Place great Jones somewhere east of Broadway in Manhattan
and I was working at Scholastic publishing at the time in these Harry Potter books this was a phenomenon that I had never witnessed in my life
of people waiting online to buy books so my friend Nina who's an actress and I
went to the Barnes and Noble what are you gonna do if they run out of books and just you know shot this with the
Sony trv8 and the music I used very hacky but I used Donovan's Season of the Witch and I
really regret that I wish there was no music at all and then I could just show it to you right now
and I said how come they let you in did you tell them they were you were a big fan and he said everyone's a big fan and that kid's probably 30 now because this
is 22 years ago and these are all strangers I don't know
any of these people and I guess they gave out those glasses and people just put them on and this guy said we don't have any children we're
just here for us and Nina says you've read all three I
assume which one's your favorite and she said the second one and so I asked him how long did it take you to save up all that money and he
said quite a mile I think he said he did I did landscape work with
my friend Jeremy we moved dead twigs and everything he says
have you read each one once or twice she asked and he said twice so I was 25 years old
I guess I don't know how old Nina was but she's younger than me so
and yeah it's a mistake I used Season of the Witch but I am so embarrassed by Donovan and it's a real mistake to use pick a song because the lyrics
are sort of about what the thing you're making is about so like to use go into the chapel you
know for a wedding scene this to me is very very hacky but you know I had just been making movies for
you know a week this is before I mean for a couple months and this is I think it's before Apple music and you had to just get this music buy
this music from a store so Nina asked him have you read all three and he said no
and she's asking these people so they've all read all three and then she asked this guy about the flavor beans I filmed them because I thought he was
just so funny and enthusiastic and he's a grown man and something about Flavor beans I guess from the book and Nina says to this lady
they're just children they're just children they don't know any better
and this is before Amazon I mean before Amazon was ubiquitous and you know the big bad guy was Barnes and Noble like
this was Nina says have you read all three which ones are which one's your favorite one
two three and so you know at some point in my filmmaking career I figured out to export from iMovie this was cut cut on
probably iMovie one I figured out to export from iMovie a version with no music so that
you know you can't remove the music once you've exported it and I can't and I can't remove the music from this
video so you can't hear it over there in Europe this is a guy who went to college with and Nina's harassing him
this is some stranger in a bar and in the end he goes who's Harry Potter and then the wizard from The Wizard of Oz
goes who are you and so I'll just read this to you within 48 Hours of filming
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire went on to sell nearly 33 million copies Barnes and Noble stores alone sold about
860 000 copies in two days following the book's release a company record
at this film's completion nearly one month later Harry Potter 4 still had the number one spot on USA today's bestseller list followed by Harry Potter
and the Sorcerer's Stone Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of azakban and I
spray paint that was some goblet that I spray painted silver I'm pretty sure and I don't know what I used for fuel for fire in that thing
and yeah it's just like uh some event that I thought you know I had no idea why I was filming
it and um I guess I was filming it for you guys for my patrons in 2022.
oh and um the cow in a can thing at the beginning says a cow and a can production there's a rumor in my family
that my great-grandfather invented that little toy that you flip over and it goes mirror so I just put it in there but I don't know if that remember is true
Products & Tools Mentioned
- Sony TRV8 uses — camera used to film in 2000
Books Mentioned
- book release event at Barnes & Noble is the subject of the film (by J.K. Rowling)
Films & Media Referenced
- referenced in title and thematic framing
- Donovan song used in the film