The Writers Room

[Flewellyn]

Man, this was wonderful. The realization of what's going on builds, and I love that; it wouldn't work as well if you knew right off the bat what the deal was.

VERY nice ending line, too. Tied it all up very nicely.

Any of you guys ever read Christopher Moore's "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal"? This sketch reminded me of that book, in a non-ripoffy, "great minds think alike" way.

[martinjester]

But the gospels are in the New Testament, and the 10 commandments are in the Old Testament.

BURN YOU HERETIC SCUM

[Graham]

I took a photo of my list on the board, I'll upload it later today.

[Lavos]

I solved the equation on the board.
Great video, the camera was kind of sloppy at times, but it was pretty good.
You guys managed to get morgan while he was stoned eh? 8/10 from me.

[tak197]

Any of you guys ever read Christopher Moore's "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal"? This sketch reminded me of that book, in a non-ripoffy, "great minds think alike" way.

READING IT CURRENTLY!

I like the part about making the Greek statue "Jewish" in the middle of the night. That and Raziel's obsession with Soap Operas.

Anyway, just finished watching the video. It's like Jesus Christ Superstar: the uptight find it blasphemous, the rest see the comedy. This is strong proof to the theory Andy brings up in the Hide a Body podcast, that comedy is varied forms of irony taken lightly. Granted it's his theory, but in using that as a basic rule of writing, he has cranked out many great comedic scripts.

By they way, that's not a "T", the equation is:

Code: Select all

"Crucifix" + "Star of David" = ?

[Graham]

You guys managed to get morgan while he was stoned eh? 8/10 from me.

You'll note that Morgan was delivering his memorized lines on time.
He was sober, you fools.

[Evil Jim]

By they way, that's not a "T", the equation is:

Code: Select all

"Crucifix" + "Star of David" = ?

Yeah, I know what it is. For my representation the lowercase "t" looked more like a crucifix than the plus sign. A font without a lower bend on the "t" would help. Tho in retrospect I probably could have used a dagger: †

[Hawkaris]

It took a moment before I grasped the entirety of what was going on, but when it did hit, it was like a metric ton of comedic bricks. It was awesome.

I, too, must give props to the "Book of Stan". The fan service is always loved, and Door to Door is one of my most-favouriter of the old videos.

Now, did you do the entire six minutes in one cut? Just how much did you guys practice on this one, and how many takes did it take to get this one?

Also, ANDY!!

[Evil Jim]

Now, did you do the entire six minutes in one cut? Just how much did you guys practice on this one, and how many takes did it take to get this one?

It really made me think of Hitchcock's Rope, but even he used cuts in that one.

[Lord Chrusher]

Wow, that was awesome. Great job everyone, especially Andy.

What was the Bar Mitzvah in Damascus a reference to?

[Yukikaze]

Teeeeeechnically, if the cameras had held enough film, The Rope would have been done without cuts.

Not bad. Reminds me of Mr. Diety, except less blasphemous. I definitely found this one funnier. I figure if God doesn't like this kind of thing, he'll take care of it on his own time.

I got the idea that they're trying to outline the entire Bible at once, like it's being done beforehand. In other words, the Gospels aren't going to be written for another three thousand years.

I started to suspect what was going on shortly after the "nepotism" comment.

[robothero]

During a couple of the quick pans to and from Harold, I think they cut the short into more than one take. I noticed a little jump. I want to try a test some time to see if doing a wipe that exactly matches the speed of the pan will be more or less noticeable.

And I initially thought they were writing for Hitler, because the Jewish guy was really angry about it, (and I only saw the star followed by a question mark on the board) and they were dressed like it was the 1930s. Then they started saying their names, and I figured it was the sermon on the mount. That's cool, though. I feel that some element of "I figured it out" is crucial to humour; that's why it's not funny if someone explains it to you.

[-Geoff-]

Morgan was great. Don't really like all the christianity, but whatever. Delivered well.

[Allen!]

LOL I CHANGED MY SIG THIS MORNING


SO FUCKING APPROPRIATE.

Also it's a really fantastic video.
And they fixed the Wiki about Cain and Abel.

[The Pious Flea]

It's not a crucifix - a crucifix has to have a representation of the crucified body of Christ.

It was a perfectly ordinary cross.

I liked the cerebral style here - not so LOL, more chin-stroking.

I'm guessing that Harold was kept as ghostwriter, shared his stash with John the Revelator while telling him about numerology, and hilarity resulted.

[The Pious Flea]

What was the Bar Mitzvah in Damascus a reference to?

Probably St. Paul, whose take on Christianity ended up dominating the field. He would have had to call in sick after being struck blind.

[Motoken]

had to watch it twice, soo funny!

[AlexanderDitto]

It took me until the group said their names to get it, but boy when I did, I giggled like a madman. brilliant, all around. Wonderful to see Andy, but you were all really spot on, especially Paul. Bravo!

I love Andy's scripts. They're packed with so much funny, so many references and ironic moments and jokes, that you just feel assailed by a constant barrage of laughs.

I must admit, there were a few times that the quick camera pans back and forth made me sort of dizzy, but it was all in good fun.

Mor leik thees plzkthx!

[Dedendre]

Just wanted to say how great this week's video was. Great job just about everywhere in the video.

Andy (yay!) did some fantastic writing, I absolutely loved all the small references, and all four of you did an exceptional job acting (even "sober" Morgan).

Keep it up guys.

[Tensen01]

There looks to be at least 2 cuts

When they whip back from Morgan the first time there's a cut and after he takes about his "mellow" there's another cut.

Joss Whedon did the same in Serenity to make the first on-ship scene look like a single cut even though the sets weren't connected.

[The R]

That was incredibly well played with the one take and all. Ive been around for a few shootings and sometimes it was hard just to get one little thing right. Nice show.

P.S: Not to sound picky, but Graham I don't know if you noticed but that smudge on the lens should be cleaned.

[wuzoe]

Code: Select all

Appearing
ANDREW COWNDEN, PAUL SAUNDERS, GRAHAM STARK, MORGAN VANHUMBECK
Writing
ANDREW COWNDEN
Shooting
JAMES TURNER
Editing
GRAHAM STARK


Editing? What? It looked like a one cut video to me ... either Graham is taking credit for editing out of habit, or he did a most excellent job.

Props to Andy for the writing, btw. When I heard all of the names I had to pause so my laughing wouldn't drown out the rest of the dialog. And the pace was excellent.

LRR wins.

[Andy]

What was the Bar Mitzvah in Damascus a reference to?

Probably St. Paul, whose take on Christianity ended up dominating the field. He would have had to call in sick after being struck blind.

To be honest, I didn't have anything specific in mind.

But ... yeah, the St. Paul thing.

I'm so happy people like the video!
Thanks to everyone who made it happen!

[Elaro]

Wow. Third viewing, and just... wow. Awesome. This is truly awesome.

[Evil Jim]

Teeeeeechnically, if the cameras had held enough film, The Rope would have been done without cuts.

The actual cuts were done at the end of each 10 minute reel, but only every other one was disguised (ie. while panning behind someone's back.) There are (I think) four visible cuts at about every 20 minutes. So even if they had enough film I can't say if it would have been done in a single shot. Now I really want to watch it again. It helps that it's my favourite Hitchcock film.

During a couple of the quick pans to and from Harold, I think they cut the short into more than one take. I noticed a little jump. I want to try a test some time to see if doing a wipe that exactly matches the speed of the pan will be more or less noticeable.

There looks to be at least 2 cuts
When they whip back from Morgan the first time there's a cut and after he takes about his "mellow" there's another cut.

Really? I hadn't noticed. But then, I'm so accustomed to the quick pan-cuts in LRR videos that I hardly notice them. Time for a re-watch.

LOL I CHANGED MY SIG THIS MORNING
SO FUCKING APPROPRIATE.
Also it's a really fantastic video.
And they fixed the Wiki about Cain and Abel.

That's a good one. I'm glad they archive old Wiki edits. Thanks for pointing it out.