This is a timeline for events that happened before Exploding Rabbit was started. There is also an Exploding Rabbit Timeline, which you may find more interesting. Everything is written from the perspective of Jay Pavlina.
1997 – I discovered my Dad’s video camera and started messing around. I learned a few camera tricks, and I was always excited to find out more. My favorite was teleporting people or objects. It blew my mind.
1998 – I started making simple movies with friends. At first the movies had no stories and we only filmed ourselves experimenting. One notable film here was Amazing Basketball Shots. We also made many movies with toys and beanie babies. Over the summer, we made Duke’s Revenge, my first narrative film.
1999 – About halfway through the year, I bought my first video editing software/hardware. It was called Studio 400, and it was a linear editor. It didn’t work very well so it was frustrating, but I was finally able to edit my movies somewhat. I still mainly shot things in sequence though. I now edited every movie I shot.
2000 – My family bought a new camera, and my parents let me choose which one we got. I bought a mini DV camera, so I could now edit films digitally with a non-linear editor. I experimented with special effects, the most notable being lightsabers. With the new camera and software, my movies got much better. I also began working on Redemption with my brother Eric, which was originally supposed to be a feature film.
2001 – I spent the earlier part of this year in post-production on Redemption: The Battle of Ages, editing and creating all of the special effects. After doing all that work, I no longer wanted to use lightsabers in movies. During the summer, we made Kung Fu and SPK.
2002 – I started working for a small production company called Visioneer Entertainment. I learned tons of stuff and got a lot of experience. I began writing The Kung Fu Warriors, which later became The Kung Fu Mini Series, and we filmed it over the summer.
2003 – As I wrapped up high school, I made a lot of great movies like Jason Paulino, Problem 27, and Behind the Baton. I also performed Mr. Bradford and Immer Kleiner. I spent most of the summer filming Lunch Fu. In the Fall, I began attending Columbia College Chicago and stopped working for Visioneer Entertainment. I spent my spare time at college on post-production for Lunch Fu.
2004 – In the spring, I filmed Attempted Love, The Tribulation of the Nerd, and Agent Suave for my Production I class. I had a very busy summer and could not do any film work. My roommate for the next school year was David Tuber, who I often go to for comedic assistance. In the fall, I shot Intruder and Peace and Quiet.
2005 – I began to grow tired of film school because I felt I learned most of what I was looking for. To keep myself busy, I wrote Romantically Challenged. I filmed Freak in late spring, and spent the summer planning, filming, and editing Romantically Challenged. I spent the rest of the year sending it to film festivals and learning about that whole process. I also made Journey Through the Universe during this time.
2006 – I pursued other interests in school because I was beginning to lose my passion for filmmaking. In a final attempt to restore my passion, I wrote Hero Guy and filmed it soon after without enough time to properly plan it. The intense filming experience put me out of commission and into a mild depression for a while. I feared that I had failed at my dream film. I graduated from Columbia at the end of the year.
2007 – I quit everything I was working on and just coasted for a while. I worked on Hero Guy a little bit here and there. Despite my inexperience, I took a risk and decided to write the music for it. It was a long, slow struggle, but I was making progress. I did not understand why it was so difficult for me to work on Hero Guy.
2008 – Although it was difficult, I finished Hero Guy in April. I was very happy with it. One day during the summer, I randomly filmed Matty McDance Dance Debut Video. At the end of the year, I moved to California and experimented with some lifestyle changes. The experience helped me to laugh through the difficult times in life.
The following video pretty much summarizes this entire page:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDPkGVaQ_EQ