You wanna know how I got this internet show? My friend, had a camera, and a computer. And one night, he goes off crazier than usual. I write a script to defend myself. He likes it. Just. A little. Bit. So, me watching, he puts together a set, laughing while he does it. He turns to me and says, “Why so misleading?” Turns the camera on. “WHY SO MISLEADING?” He points the camera at my face… “Let’s put a smile on the faces of audiences everywhere.” And…
And the rest, my friends, was HOLLYWOOD MAGIC.
Welcome to the blog for the video for the show for the computer, this one titled “Why So Misleading”. If you didn’t notice, this episode marks the second Christmas episode in Franks and Beans lore, the other being “The Gift” way back at the beginning. And while “The Gift” was fairly slow moving (I like to think of it as “understated”), this episode features a number of interesting tidbits that I would talk about if only I had the online space in which to do so.
Oh, right. Moving on, then.
Our 43rd episode revolves around two separate soundtracks, at least one of which is easily recognizable. Both Larry and I were (and are) fairly taken by the newest Batman movie trilogy, and it’d be a tough sell to claim that “The Dark Knight” weren’t the best of the three. One of the things that stands out about the film is, of course, the ominous music that plays every time something truly awful was about to happen.
This, of course, speaks to a larger convention of music in films, and the almost hypnotic power that music holds over audiences, to the point where it’s almost become a parody of itself every time a hopeful or sinister tune plays. Well, I guess we’re parodying it now, so you’ll just have to find some new tropes, movies.
The joke in this episode, then, revolves around the scene playing out in the exact opposite manner in which the music might indicate. The Dark Knight music that lends an eerie tone to anything it touches? It’s just me wishing Larry a Merry Christmas. That happy “Peter and the Wolf” music near the end? I GET A FRIGGIN’ KNIFE TO THE CHEST!
Perhaps I even die. Perhaps.
Some notes from this episode:
– Larry is reading some pretty interesting material, in a manner that is not at all promotional or obvious, at the beginning of the episode. What could it be? Oh, it’s none other than Teddy and the Yeti #1 from Wagon Wheel Comics, probably still available for sale from fine online retailers! We must have been reading it and enjoying it right before this was filmed. What a fun story.
– If I get one, then Larry gets one: the gift I give to Larry is none other than a Dukes of Hazzard DVD. True story: I actually did get this for Larry for Christmas this year. Also true: Larry hated it.
– The happy music you hear at the end of the episode is from “Weird Al” Yankovic’s collaboration with Wendy Carlos in the semi-obscure album “Peter & the Wolf: Carnival of the Animals part II”:
I got the synthetic orchestra album for my birthday a long time ago. I’ve actually listened to it straight through a couple times. It’s pretty strange and very different from any other album from Weird Al. Anyway, it has some pretty light and airy stuff on it, which I thought would be perfect for the sequence of me getting stabbed in the chest (and let’s not forget…I might actually be dead).
There are some technical issues with this episode that keep it from being as good as it can be: sound being one of them (which is unfortunately not something new), and the fact that we should have made the knife more clear at the end. I think that most people get the point (pun!) when they see me clutching the knife, but a close up or, heaven forbid, a clearer shot wouldn’t have killed us, either (obvious pun!!). Overall, though, I enjoy the way that we incorporated music into the episode and I think that this turned out to be a pretty solid episode, front to back. And Larry makes his bid for a catch phrase at the end with his very convincing “Today has been so misleading!”
Our wonderful “NO!” ending makes its return…for the 43rd time…with a bit of auto-tune. We also used some auto-tune (I figured out how to make it work in Garage Band…which I’m pretty sure that I now forget how to do) for the episode “Perfect”, which featured quite a bit of singing, but it didn’t come across nearly as well as it did here. I guess there’s nothing inherently funny about the auto-tune process, but I’ll take it if I can get it. Obviously, I couldn’t let Larry steal all of the spotlight this time around (because I’m a terrible friend), so I stuck my head in there at the last second. Classy.
Franks and Beans 