Matt Harding never expected to become world-famous for his dancing. The 29-year-old from Connecticut, and self-described bad dancer, only ever wanted to play and design video games. After doing just that for several years, Matt took all the money he’d socked away, quit his job in Brisbane, Australia, and set out “to wander the planet until the money ran out.” A few months into his trip, a friend suggested that Matt capture his unique dancing style on camera everywhere he went, and an internet sensation was born.
Beginning in May of 2003, Matt traveled all over the globe, making stops in India, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, the Czech Republic, and the United States, among others. At each stop, he asked a traveling companion or a stranger on the street to shoot video of his footwork using his digital camera. He made his last stop atop Mount Kilimanjaro in September 2004. Matt edited his footage and paired it with a dance remix featuring a recording of a folk lullaby from the Solomon Islands recorded in 1970 by UNESCO ethnomusicologist. Matt posted the video to his web site, http://www.wherethehellismatt.com, which he created to keep his family and friends apprised of his world travels. The video became an internet hit, even inspiring several video tributes featuring dancing travelers around the world. In December 2005, Stride Gum approached Matt and offered to sponsor a trip around the world to capture more dancing footage. Matt took off, this time visiting, among many others, Antarctica, Rwanda, Bolivia, the Galapagos Islands, a jelly fish lake in Palau, and an indoor ski resort in Dubai. Six months and 76 flights later, Matt returned with footage but no idea how he was going to put it all together for the Stride campaign.
I don’t know of any video editing software that is easier to pick up and more robust than VEGAS. – Matt Harding
“A friend recommended VEGAS, so I went out and got it,” says Harding. “On the same day I started using it, I already had a rough version put together. Within a week, it was finished with all the polish I could put on it. VEGAS is incredibly simple to learn and very powerful. It’s all there. Every time I think of something I want to do, I just tinker around for a few minutes until I figure out how to do it. No need for elaborate tutorials. I hit the ground running.”
Matt’s 2006 travel video is again making the internet rounds. You can see his videos and find out more about his travels at his web site, www.wherethehellismatt.com.
