So wow these past two days have been chuck full of cats and amazing things.
Yesterday we got to see first hand acrobatic cats that are trained to do tricks. I know that seems like such an odd concept to train a cat to do well anything, but it happened and I saw it. The day started off with us getting ready and heading out to our location where we met with this acrobatics instructor of kitties. We met her and her staff and was able to take a tour of her place. Amongst the large number of cats she had there for her act and for her adoption she also had this crazy cool Binturong or more simply known as a Bear Cat!
This guy was so unique to see because I have never seen this animal before in my life, hell I didn’t even know that this thing existed. Of course the first thought I had when I saw it reminded me of the ROUS (Rodents of Unusual Size) from Princes Bride. Still a really cool animal to see.
So after seeing our trainers really interesting animals we got to learn about her act and how she trains her cats. Using positive clicker training she is able to show us how she has been able to train her cats to perform the tricks that they do. She even took a kitten who had never done any tricks before and through her training was able to train it to jump through a hoop in just under ten minutes. It was really impressive. We learned a great lot from her but that was not the end, after all the training it was time for the big show.
We went to this theater where the acrobatic cats were going to perform, they were putting on a benefit show for our local cat sanctuary the same one that put on the fundraiser with the tattoo shop. The show itself was really incredible, the different things the cats were able to do were really cool, including a full on cat band, a cat playing guitar, drums and keyboard. The Acrobatic Cats was also putting up three cats up for adoption as well, which made allot of kids wanting kittens and allot of parents figuring out what to say to there kids.
It was a really great night and I think it will be a really great piece when its all said and done.
Now today today I was on my own separate adventure assignment. We were asked last night if I could go off and get some B-Roll of people who were in our Tattoo segment. I was going to off to get footage of four people with there tattoos and there cats. The day started off a pain only because there was a huge thunderstorm going on at the time, and Chicago rush hour traffic is fun enough on its own, let alone when there is sheets of rain coming down. I met up with our first tattoo recipent. She got this gorgeous tattoo on her upper leg of her cat, so we tried to get some footage of her cat with her tattoo. The one repeating thing I heave learned in these past 50 days of non stop cat filming is this. Cats not matter how nice, or affectionate, or if they have an amazing talent will never ever do it when you want them to let alone if there is a camera involved. So after some finageling and coercing with food we were able to get her cat to sit down and get the footage we needed. My second location was actually the tattoo shop owner and his cat. His cat was very curious but was more curious about how my bag smelled then being in front of the camera. I was able to get some good footage though and his cat did do this really cool trick. The third and fourth people were both really great and had multiple cats, so lots and lots of kitty footage. The best part was the horrible rain let up finally so driving and lighting for shooting was allot easier.
So with my task of kitties and tattoos completed I finally said goodbye to Chicago and Illinois, I really have had a great time here in Chicago and I can’t wait to come back. I even told the Tattoo shop owner that when I get back I might swing by his shop to get a new piece of ink.
So now I am here in Indiana, tomorrow is our final segment for Episode Five and folks its going to be a good one.
In just four days I will be back home in good ole Boston.
