Category Archives: i heart this video

i heart this video, who doesn't love posts about advertising

Foreground Extras

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There’s audio and video commercial outtakes floating around the Internet featuring an irritated and/or inebriated Orson Welles.

This is a pretty popular video. It’s funny. Watch one time for Orson Welles, then watch it again. Let’s focus on something else the second time around.

You probably know what an extra is — a person in a non-speaking role in a TV show or movie, typically used to decorate the frame around the main characters. They are frequently used in settings where a lack of people would be distracting. For example, restaurant scenes typically have extras.

Extras are also commonly known as “background actors”, and in these commercial outtakes, you can see people behind Orson Welles pretending they are having a delightful time.

But WAIT. There are two people AT HIS TABLE. They aren’t talking. If you were talking about champagne to them and they started acting like that you’d say “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?”

These people are FOREGROUND EXTRAS. I don’t know if foreground extras are something you’d ever find in a television show or a movie. I think they are pretty common in commercials.

Look, here’s a voiceless Paul Rudd selling Super Nintendo. Sure, he’s the star of the commercial. But he has no dialogue. He’s doing some pretty solid foreground extra work here.

Now look at these weirdos. They are all apparently talking, but we don’t hear any of it. It’s all YAHTZEE YAHTZEE YAHTZEE music and singing. All the actors are foreground extras.

What I find so weird about the Orson Welles commercial is that there are literally silent foreground extras interacting with the star of the commercial. It’s clear these aren’t actors at the same level as Welles. I don’t mean acting ability, I mean like its some kind of status hierarchy within the commercial itself.

Orson Welles > Foreground Extras > Background Extras

Notice that the two foreground extras don’t crack up, don’t do anything as Welles completely bombs his lines. They stay focused on doing what they are supposed to do. They can’t risk being unprofessional. They’re foreground extras.

i heart this video

Pee Wee Does Sly Stone

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I don’t need to convince anyone of the awesomeness of Pee Wee Herman (Paul Reubens), but it never hurts to have a periodic reminder.

Our house had HBO and I saw The Pee Herman Show when it was first being broadcast. It pre-dates the kid’s show by several years. It was a stage show before a live audience filmed at the Roxy Theatre in Hollywood.

I was ten years old. I looooved the show. My favorite part by far was Jambi the Genie, but man, this whole show was just weird and joyful and bubbly and GREAT.

This clip starts with a little bit of Jambi, then segues into a medley of songs by Sly and the Family Stone, performed by Pee Wee, Brian Seff and Monica Ganas.

Enjoy! (or don’t!)

i heart this video, stuff-you-may-have-missed

Rian Johnson Breaks Down a Scene From Knives Out And Did He Get Benoit Blanc from a David Bowie Song

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I know it might be weird highlighting this video and other videos that have views in the millions. I’ve also found at least I personally have numerous gaps of knowledge of very popular videos. It seems pretty easy to miss the boat on any variety of videos because sometimes that just happens.

So, this video is so great. He talks in detail about a pretty complex scene from Knives Out, where we are first introduced to Chris Evans’ character Ransom.

Johnson is just a delight as he breaks down not crossing the 180 degree rule, little moments the actors brought to the scene, neat tech background details, etc.

It’s just a wonderful video.

**********************

ALSO THIS IS SOMETHING I DISCOVERED TODAY WHICH IS PROBABLY NOT A THING AT ALL

You know that David Bowie song “Golden Years”? I was listening to it today and I definitely heard the words “Benoit Blanc”.

Sure the lyrics are supposedly:
In walked luck and you looked in time

But judge for yourself, people! It’s at around the 1:07 mark.

BENOIT BLANC.

I have asked Mr. Johnson but he has not replied yet.

UPDATE (total bullshit):

experimental film, i heart this video

Necrology

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I have a B.A. in Film which I am not using in any career. I have made a couple movies since graduating, but I don’t think I really gained any skills at school that I did not already have.

I didn’t learn much. I don’t think my education was particularly good — it was during the last gasp of a tired faculty that gave up on the promises of 1970s independent cinema 10 years before I got there. I’m a little sour on the whole experience.

However, one really neat thing I cherish was seeing lots of documentaries and experimental films that I would likely never see otherwise.

Experimental films and documentaries are not readily available. One thing that really kills me about the show Documentary Now is that it parodies lots of real documentaries that most people have never seen. Hey, assholes, why don’t you show people the real Salesman or Original Cast Album: Company as a public service instead of poking fun at something really hard to find. Assholes!

Anyways, I saw lots of documentaries and experimental films. Experimental films are even harder to find than documentaries. I can find some online, but the quality is often pretty bad. I found several bad transfers of the 1970s silent film Serene Velocity with audio added. NO. NO LIKE.

One of my favorite experimental films I saw at school is the Standish Lawder film Necrology. I found a copy of it that has pretty nice resolution and preserves the soundtrack, even if it is a bit faint.

Enjoy! (or Don’t!)

P.S. After I wrote this post I had a sinking suspicion I might have talked about this film before. I mentioned it in passing and shared a video of it (now gone) in 2007.

I think it warrants a mention every 16 years. Don’t you?

i heart this video, music

People Have The Power

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I said this before in a post about my wife’s art —

This is what makes me happy — bringing some magic and joy into the world for no other reason than that — magic and joy.

Only a few weeks into this resurrected blog and I’m quoting myself. YEESH.

Anyways, look, these guys are doing this very thing — Choir! Choir! Choir!

It was started by two guys as a weekly drop-in singalong in Toronto in 2011, and has transformed into a really amazing phenomenon that tours around the world. If the show comes to your town, you can buy a ticket and join hundreds of others for several hours to learn a song split into choral arrangements, and then after the rehearsal you will perform it.

They have come to Chicago multiple times. My wife has participated in several concerts — I have made it to one with her and some friends. We rehearsed and sang the Chicago song “25 or 6 to 4”. It felt really special to be part of something that is creative, communal and all-too-brief. I still think about that night from time to time.

Choir! has a lot of these collective concerts on YouTube. The majority of the videos there are only the two founders, Daveed Goldman and Nobu Adilman, plus the choir/audience. However, sometimes they will have special guests. David Byrne joined the choir to sing the Bowie song “Fame”, Rufus Wainwright sang the Leonard Cohen song “Hallelujah”.

My favorite of these “celebrity” choir concerts is the one with Patti Smith. The song is “People Have The Power”. You can feel the energy and warmth during the performance. I can’t imagine being in the choir for this — it must have been overwhelming. Smith herself seems pretty emotional about the whole experience.

Oh, Stewart Copeland is there too, for some reason, playing a skillet. I like Stewart Copeland, whatever and whenever weird place or time he shows up.

I hope you love this video as much as me. People have the power.

family, i heart this video

Demolition Derby

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I’ve been to one demolition derby in my life. I was probably ten or younger. It was near the home of my maternal grandparents in Mt. Carmel, IL.

I went with my Uncle Bob. When you’re a kid, or least when I was a kid, you can be pretty dumb and oblivious to how adults act. I didn’t see him that much, but I feel like I did get a sense of him. Bob always struck me as a little bit goofy and mischievous, but very sweet and kind-hearted.

I remember the derby being really loud, cars smashing into each other, etc. I also remember seeing something really strange — a pretty large object on fire gradually crossing the nighttime sky and burning itself out. I have no idea exactly how big or far away it was, but I could see literal flames trailing in its wake. It was a memorable night.

Anyways. I miss you, Bob.

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The Department of W.W. Beauchamp

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Here’s a slightly less popular video which you hopefully haven’t seen.

I know Clint Eastwood may have done some embarrassing things in recent memory, but he remains an important actor and director.

I think Unforgiven is one of the greatest Westerns ever made.

This is an interview with character actor Saul Rubinek which covers a lot of topics — the interview process, how Eastwood behaves as director on set, the history of the script, etc.

It’s a fascinating 12 minutes and well worth your time.