First Snow, Thanksgiving 1971

This video captures the playfulness of the Videofreex as they frolic in the first snow of 1971. With joyful excitement, David, Bart, Chuck, Nancy and Skip pass the camera back and forth to explore the possibilities for video under the new weather condition offered by flurries. While Nancy tapes, David and Bart create fictional characters stranded after a plane crash. Annie, Francis and the resident dog, Mushroom, join the group for further snowy shenanigans. Later, Bart tries to interview the local snowplow driver for an episode of Lanesville TV, but without success. In the last ten minutes of the video, Chuck takes the camera and Mushroom off on a private walk and creates what can best be described as a video-poem: Chuck combines one-word narration with brief visual vignettes to produce the effect of a video chap book.

—Faye Gleisser