Not Just for Hippies Anymore

Let’s talk about flashbacks. Why not? After all, Steve suggested in his post yesterday that I should mention them (or someone should). Let it never be said that I’m not a puppet.

When we learned that we needed to replace Kate’s character, one of the very first ideas that came up was to bring in another agent for Mason, one to which Mason was “willed” so to speak. Someone to pick up the mantle and carry on for Kate who was off doing…well, whatever it is that Kate’s doing (what is Kate up to anyway?!).

Since we needed the new character to be able to jump into the fray feet first, we worked out the idea to reveal that she’s been there from the beginning, hiding in the shadows, taking notes, biding her time until she was needed.

Yes, she. There was really no question about the fact that the new cast member would be a woman. We liked the dynamic we created, and wanted to keep that. Plus, most sitcoms out there are male-dominated. And the ones that aren’t seem to be very…well…vagina-centric (though, nowadays, most male-dominated sitcoms are penis-centric, so…). We like the idea that our show has more women in it, but isn’t a show focused on gender. I guess that’s what I’m trying to say.

Anyway, the idea that we would have to put our new character (Lou) into some of our old scenes was something that appealed to me from the start. I like that kind of thing. I thought it would be fun.

And it was!

THE END.




Why did Steve want me to tell this “story?” there’s really not much to it after all, is there? We restaged some old shots and put Lou into them. Here, end of story.

There were a few stumbling blocks, sure. Tanya and Corrie seemed to have pawned all of their old clothes (probably to pay for drugs). So we had to dress them in “reasonable facsimiles” of their former costumes. However, due to my genius camera work, it went mostly unnoticed.

Sure, you could freeze-frame some of the flashback scenes and see that Ashleigh isn’t wearing the same shirt in the alley scene that she was in Episode 2. That it is instead one of my white dress shirts with the collar tucked under and that her hair is actually tied up in a bun being that it’s about 20 feet longer now than it was then.

You could (if you had the “eaglest” of eyes) also see that Jennifer’s shirt is a different color in the party scene from Episode 1, and that, in actuality, the geography of the scene is all wrong.

You might also see in the fumigation scene from Episode 4 that Guy’s jacket is not the same, and that the “puppet” laying in front of him is really Tanya wearing a red shirt and with very “color-corrected” blond hair (Sam, the Puppet, was off having adventures with Kate and could not participate in the re-shoot).

It’s possible that you’ve already noticed that “Eric” fleeing from Mason’s apartment in the night-vision camera from Episode 5 is not played by Joel Bryant, but is in actuality…me. I say that you may have noticed it because it’s a bravura performance. It really stands out! Even with my face covered by napkins, you can see the talent (and that, Joel, is how it’s done)!

We were able to bring Stephen William Moore back to reprise his role as Sid though! Which is good, because no one poops like Stephen! He’s a natural. Some say he’s been doing it all his life!

And it shows!

There is one thing though that will definitely not stand out. And that is Mason in the laundry room from Episode 3. Yes, I had to recreate the pose and the costume. But, seeing that I don’t need the drugs, I still had my costume. And seeing that I’m a brilliant mimic, especially when it comes to imitating myself, something I do nearly all the time, I was easily capable of recreating the pose.

It doesn’t hurt that I have literally not aged a day since we shot Episode 3.

Not.

A.

Day.

And something else that you can’t tell from the video is the fact that – seriously – the weekend following our shoot in the laundry room, the apartment managers replaced the old laundry room door with a very different, black, hobo-deterring, security gate. And would have replaced it the week before we shot if it weren’t for some kind of worker confusion (the only time worker confusion has ever worked in our favor around here).

So there were cracks in the veneer of our flashback shoot, but like I said, you’ll never see them because only a moron would point them out.

And only a complete moron would tell people to watch the video on iTunes or the “Hi-Resolution” version on our site to see it more clearly.

Thankfully, I’m not a moron.

What I am is a composer. And, while you won’t have to suffer through it now, I’ll be posting the “Distractionation Bossa” from our last video here, in its entirety, next week! Look (listen) for it! I play the flute (thanks for the flute, mom)!

What I also am is an editor. An editor working on our next short. And I’m about to give you a preview!

Here you go:




The short will hit the internet on September 15th! And it’s funny.

ROBB