Adventures In Camera Management

It’s black.  Pitch black.  A male voice sounds out through the darkness…

“And you’re on in 5…4…3…2…1…”

And suddenly we’re live!  We open to see…a pair of feet in high heeled sandals?  Red painted toenails?  What is this?

“Hi there everyo…”

It’s a female voice this time sounding out as opposed to the male voice from earlier.  But she stops suddenly, without any warning.

“…uh, Kyle”

“Yeah?”

“You’re shooting my feet.”

“Oh…”

The camera view raises up past her feet up her legs.  We can see that she is wearing a black knee length skirt.  The camera goes up even farther showing a white floral print sleeveless blouse but it stops at the chest area.  This female folds her arms over her chest.  We can see her hands with nails painted a similar shade of red as her toes.

“…a little higher, Kyle.  You’re shooting my boobs.”

“Sorry, just having a little fun on that one.”

“Just show my face, will you?”

The camera raises up a little higher and we now see the beautiful, lovely image of none other than “The Polish Spitfire” Corey Jones.  Her long red hair cascades down past her shoulders.  A warm, pleasant, yet somewhat confident smile is etched across her face.  She waves at the camera.

“Hi there, everyone!  Corey Jones here, soon to be Corey Butler after my pending wedding to the cameraman Kyle Butler!”

“Thanks for the shout-out, babe.”

“No problem!”

She winks.

“My run in the Best of the Best Tournament didn’t last as long as I’d hoped.  I got eliminated in the second round by Katelyn Buehler.  But you know what?  I have absolutely NOTHING to be ashamed of.  I went down after giving my best effort against the IWC World Champion.  And I made it that far by defeating Greg Cherry, a former four time SCW world champion and an SCW Supreme Champion.  So I am definitely proud of what I accomplished in Best of the Best and I am not going to slink away with my head drooped down in shame.  I am going to use my loss to Buehler as a learning experience.  I am going to learn from that loss and move on to my next challenge, because that’s what this sport is all about isn’t it?  This sport is about the next big challenge.”

Corey nods her head.

“I love my mom and my aunt Kayla, but this isn’t about protesting or freeing Botswana, and I am so glad to hear that they are going to stop that crap and get back to what this sport is really about; wrestling.  This sport isn’t about and should never be about kidnapping and brainwashing the boss’s daughter, it should not be about utilizing the tactics of no-good street thugs to get what you want, this sport should be about competition, fighting with the best in the business, and overcoming the biggest and baddest challenges out there.”

She points at the camera.

“My next challenge is YOU, Ace Marshall.  And as I said before, I am honored to get the opportunity to face you on Breakdown.  You are a former SCW Television Champion.  You are a highly decorated athlete and I know that beating you will go a long way to proving myself here in SCW.  Now I’ve had many challenges in my career.  In GCW I was world champion, in IWC I was Queen of the Ring Champion.  I already proved myself in those companies.  But I have yet to prove myself here in SCW.”

Corey holds up one finger.

“All it takes is one landmark victory to say that someone has finally arrived.  All it takes is one big win to prove yourself.  For most, a win against someone like Greg Cherry would be enough to do just that.”

She shakes her head.

“I’m not one of those people, I’m not going to rest my laurels on one match in Best of the Best.  Blame it on my parents if you want, but because of my family heritage, a proud heritage of successful wrestling greatness, I cannot in good conscience just win one match, even if it is against someone like Greg Cherry, and be able to hold my head up high and say that yes, I have arrived.  For me, my success has to be consistent.  I have to keep winning.   I have to continue being a success here in SCW and one victory in Best of the Best means nothing.”

Corey tilts her head to one side.

“Do you want to know what that one victory over Greg Cherry will mean, Ace?  If I go on to beat you on Breakdown, then yes, perhaps it signaled my arrival here in SCW, perhaps it means that the Corey Jones era has begun.  But if I cannot beat you, if I lose that’s a step back, not a step forward.  If I lose, then that victory over Greg Cherry was just a fluke and nothing more.”

Corey nods her head.

“Yes, I do have high standards for myself, but it’s because of high amount of respect I have for our sport.  This sport is about competition and seeing who is the better athlete.  This sport is not about manipulation or political backstabbing.  This sport isn’t about gangs.  If you want to join a gang, go to the streets and join the Bloods or the Crips.  I may not agree with everything Ethan Von Aaron, Alana Starr, and Kennedy Street do or say, but the recent kidnapping and subsequent assault on Alana Starr was uncalled for and is not representative of what wrestling should be.”

She motions at the camera and then back towards herself.

“You and I, we have the chance to show what wrestling should be about.  Two athletes stepping into the ring, trying to find out who is the best.  But Ace, understand that I don’t just want to prove that wrestling still matters in this sport, but I also want to win.  I need to win.  I need to prove that I belong here in SCW and I can do that by beating you on Breakdown.  So be prepared for the best, the absolute best, of Corey Jones.  I may go down, but I won’t go down without a fight, and I won’t go down until I have given you every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears in my body!  I won’t go down until I have sacrificed everything I can sacrifice!  A win against you would mean a lot to me, Ace, and I would dare say it would mean a hell of a lot more to me that a win against me would mean to you.  I mean, who am I to you, anyway?”

She laughs lightly.

“I’m just Angelica Jones’s kid, right…and that other guy who thinks he’s the shit…”

She smirks knowingly.

“…I’m more than that.  I am so much more than that.  Ask Greg Cherry who I am and he’ll tell you I’m the one who eliminated his ass from Best of the Best.  Ask Silas Mason who I am and he’ll tell you how I played a role in kicking his ass out of SCW.  Ask Tina Valentine who I am and she’ll tell you that I am the woman who beat her ass for the IWC Queen of the Ring Championship.  Or ask Dylan Howell, because I kicked his ass in the SCW Shot of Adrenaline Tournament.  Ask any of them who Corey Jones is and they will tell you who I am.  They will tell you that win or lose, I will push you farther than you’ve been pushed.  They will tell you that if you underestimate me, just as Greg Cherry and Dylan Howell underestimated me, that you will find yourself flat on your back, staring up at the lights, and I will be left to stand over you, raising my arms in victory.”

Corey winks at the camera.

“Dobranoc and powodzenia, Ace.”

The camera view pans downward, showing her feet again.  Next we hear Corey’s voice.

“Was that good, Kyle?”

“Excellent , babe.”

“Great, so why don’t we go…uh, Kyle…”

“Yeah?”

“You’re shooting my feet again.”

“No I’m not, the camera is off.”

“Check again, sweetie.”

“I swear the camera is…on…oops, sorry…”

“Just turn the camera off.”

The camera fades to black.