Before I created my blog Vintage Seance, I originally had a Flickr account and YouTube account both with the username Pumpkin Kid Film. I came up with Pumpkin Kid Film in High School after getting accepted to be in our school's film class; a very exclusive 'one class/one period only', 'have to write an essay to get in' sort of class. I was so excited about being accepted and knew that I was finally going to get a chance to direct and edit my own films. The class was only for juniors and seniors so I knew, going into it as a junior, that I wouldn't have quite as much control over the seniors, but I figured I'd better start coming up with some ideas. I started to even think of an identity for myself, a production name, really. I knew I probably wouldn't get to direct too many films my first year but should be prepared to have some sort of name to back them up, and a production logo. Having been greatly inspired by Halloween and an old-school, retro feel, I came up with a representing character and name for this logo: Pumpkin Kid Film.
The character, Pumpkin Kid, has a pumpkin for a head (with shapes carved into it other than just three triangles and a smile - I have always liked the 'x for an eye' idea). The kid's outfit is a simple plaid shirt, blue jeans, and some red converse (an outfit I often wear myself, always been a tomboy). I wanted him to look like a casual trick 'r treater with a candy bag in hand as he walks along the neighborhood sidewalk, a film strip. After completing the original drawing, I realized I had drawn it on lined paper. It hadn't even occurred to me that I had done this, I was so used to using lined paper from school, I didn't realize how silly it was, but then I looked at it again, the whole sketch. It was exactly the way it should have been, after all I was just a kid and so was this little character/representation of my films. Really, it was a representation of me; a simple kid with a lot on my mind.
During the two years in film class, I did get to direct and edit my own films; some were good, some were bad. But overall, Pumpkin Kid Film had become a well-known and well-respected name in my class and among the audiences who attended our film festivals. After each film was screened in class, I was sure to upload it to my YouTube page: PumpkinKidFilm.
After the experiences I had in film class, I increasingly became more and more inspired by thrillers, halloween decor, vintage or antique photography, the paranormal and much darker story-telling. I realized that this had become the way I approach my story-telling through film, by thinking about scenery and often (not always, but often) scary stories. From this inspiration, I wanted to create a blog about all the things that influenced me and my style, particularly the spooky stuff.
So why didn't I title my blog Pumpkin Kid Film? I suppose I chose to give it a creepier title because the blog would focus on creepier, darker inspiration from Halloween and the paranormal. I felt that I needed to make it flow with a grim, but beautiful style. I decided to go with "Vintage Seance" because I was inspired by old, vintage, and antique-looking styles and finds but also very inspired by the paranormal and scary stories. As I created the blog, I changed my Flickr name to Vintage Seance as well and thought about changing my YouTube Channel from Pumpkin Kid Film to Vintage Seance.
Instead, I decided to keep Pumpkin Kid Film, it's my original theme and my channel contains all my films, which are very diverse and don't really go with the Vintage Seance style. Instead I have a second account for Vintage Seance which is in the process of being organized and put together. I guess you could say that the new account will express a newer style, a different style than what I had done with Pumpkin Kid Film- something more along the inspiration I post or talk about on the blog. My style has evolved at least for a time- evolved, not necessarily changed. I think I will always be Pumpkin Kid, but I also believe that I will always be searching for and finding inspiration in many random forms, even if that means finding it in antique seance photos, creepy short films, or very stylized costume or production design or any of the other silly things I blog about here on Vintage Seance.
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