Reaper: The Music Video
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. ~Dr. Seuss
Act Natural
This week I decided to make a "home video" of the cast and crew for my own memories as well as a competition on my friend Cash Warren's website (www. IBeatyou.com). As we near the end of production for our first season of Reaper, I realize that it would be nice to have video of the people I have gotten to know so well over the last nine months.
The show has not yet been picked up for season two and we have no real indication if it will be. We will find out when you guys do. (Hope that answered Stinger97's question. Thanks for the support.)
We learn to live with a lot of uncertainty in this business. Many people don't plan vacations so that they can stay home and wait for the phone to ring. I have learned that life always goes on and the phone can ring while I'm on a beach in Fiji.
The Challenge
There is a best group lip-dub competition on IbeatYou.com and my buddies Jessica Alba and Cash had shown me their video about a week and a half ago. Cash took me on a tour of the site. I noted the fun vibe and "trash talk" that is thrown around by the competitors.
It was on.
I was determined to get the cast and crew of
Reaper a title:
"Best group lip dub by tv show cast and crew." We would throw down the gauntlet for other tv shows to compete. Who knows if any other shows really would or not. I was not worried. I just wanted to post a clip that said "Bring it." We'd win either way.
All I needed was a dare.
Do the Devil Justice
The most difficult part of the process was selecting a song. Our show has THE DEVIL as one of the main characters. How do you find something to properly reflect this memorable presence but not be typical? I considered the Rolling Stones "Sympathy for the Devil." Too obvious. "Devil Inside" by INXS also made the lineup. Tyler Labine (Sock), Rick Gonzales (Ben), Matt (our Vancouver Producer's assistant) along with our camera crew got in on the brain storming process. There were many 80's songs on the list, including "The Ghostbusters Theme," done by Bobby Brown (we loved anything Bobby Brown), and the "Devil Went Down to Georgia" (from Dana in makeup.)
It was also a great choice because it moved fast, and while many people might know of the 80's rap classic, no one knew the whole thing and it would take people out of their comfort zone. Comedy. Downloading the song from iTunes= 99cents. Blank DV tape = $4.99. Seeing the really white, ultra-Canadian crew lip sync Chuck D? Priceless.
Plus it would be fun. No one would be so caught up in trying to look cool. That holds a lot of people down. My mom always said "the coolest people don't care so much what other people think." Having a good laugh with friends from work should surpass all fear of not appearing cool on the Internet.
A few years ago, I saw a birthday video for a big Hollywood with many big-name celebrities acting totally goofy. One of the best was George Clooney in a janky batman costume trying to "fly" from a chair like any four-year-old at Halloween.
His terrible facemask crept askew on his head and he blurted, "I'm batman!" repeatedly. It was so refreshing to see that he did not take himself too seriously. Adore. Uh. Bul.
Our optimal song choice became clear to me when I heard that Flavor Flav was in town shooting a TV show. There had been sightings of the rapper-turned-reality-based-TV-show- subject all over town. And yes, he was wearing his trademark kitchen clock necklace.
Ding.
My ultimate selection for our performance became a pretty clear choice when I considered that I could get Flavor Flav to do a cameo. I could feel myself living an episode of
I Love Lucy as I plotted to meet Mr. Flav.
Sleepy, the crewmember who was most helpful with this, called me frequently with Flav-watch. Days of alerts and flase alarms and still no avail. Sleepy was so diligent that he even began referring to himself as Sleep-arazzi. As of my last edit, there was no Flav footage for my quest. I still maintain the dream that he might end up on a remix (Keep hope alive
It Looks Easier on TV
The whole process of putting together something like this becomes a little daunting. I shot it guerilla-style and smuggled my small, borrowed DV camera around in my pockets. I was also armed with a boom box to play the music and a stack of lyric sheets. Not the most stealth way to travel around set.
You would think that people who work in the entertainment industry would be less camera-shy than the general population. Not so. When I turned my slightly larger than palm-sized camcorder on, many of the cast, crew and office staff scattered like roaches when a light is turned on in the kitchen at night. (I still love you guys anyway.) It's a little scary. I get it.
Without the help of a few of my more enthusiastic coworkers (you guys ROCK!), I would never have been able to complete this thing.
I got a rough cut to show the crew and get them excited about participating. It worked. My second pass through yielded a lot of stellar performances on the final video:
The Lesson
This experience has made me abundantly aware of my ability to "make it happen" as well as knowing to always have a backup plan.
Some of my favorite performances were Ray Wise's cool stroll. I think it gives an indication of how "hip" he really is. As well as Christine Wiles (Gladys, the DMV demon) whose dance moves and rap style impressed many. Then there's Tony, the head of catering, who was the first member of our family to introduce props (A man with an axe throwing cash is nothing short of pure genius.) Tony's searing drive to locate props left him short infringed on his rehearsal time with the rap lyrics but he did not let that hold him back in the least!
We have several new episodes left for this season. They air on Tuesday nights. Check them out and get a good laugh from a video that wasn't shot on my camcorder.
v-
P.S. After last night's Karaoke party, it's become abundantly clear that I will not be putting out any CDs any time in the near future so I guess it's safer to say my "thank yous" here and not hold out for the liner notes.
"Big ups" to Stephanie, Nicole, Flick, Ashley, Matt, J.P., Erin, Dana, Suzanne, Rick, Elizabeth, Eva, Weez, Sol, and "the Holy Go."
