One of the things The Office the best thing was to make some of the most common, most common moments – like waiting for a DVD logo to fall perfectly in the corner of a TV screen – look stunning.
On the latest program of the Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey talked about the first half of Season 4’s “Launch Party,” and dived deep into their favorite cold-open DVD brand.
As an update, the program opens with the Scranton team in the conference room listening to Michael deliver a boring spiel about building quarterly reports. Apparently everyone is deeply animated by Michael ‘s comments, little does he know that they are watching the television screen behind him in the hope that the DVD logo will be seen kicking perfectly into the corner of the screen.
In fact, it ‘s a no – brainer – one so influential that Fischer and Kinsey have said that even people have written to them saying that the watch parties have their own DVD logo at their offices.
If you want to thank someone for the brilliance of the open cold, program writer Jen Celotta – who was genuinely interested in a DVD logo that inspired the scene – deserves credit.
From the writer’s room to the conference room
Like several other plot and comic lines in the series, this cold opening was inspired by experience in it The Offices writer ‘s own room.
In the scene is a talking head where Pam swears she saw the DVD logo perfectly one day when she was alone in the conference room, and another cold open where Jim questioning her claim. Basically, Pam Celotta played.
“The inspiration for the open cold is where the DVD logo bounces around the TV screen and everyone is definitely turned over by the writer ‘s room. I was happy with it. We would all be looking at a logo. the DVD is small and I remember seeing it once tucked perfectly into the corner – the edge of the logo was lined with the edge of the TV, and it felt so good, “Celotta explained.
“I remember there was at least one non-believer in the room and he would kind of clap near the corner and they would say, ‘That was it. That must be what you remember. No it’s not going to hit perfectly in the corner, ‘”she continued. “And so I was overwhelmed by the brand and seeing it a lot of the time … So that’s where the inspiration for it came from.”
How was the cube placed in such perfect time?
The cold opening, which literally overshadows conference room scenes with talking heads from Jim, Pam, and Michael, was well timed. The replay scenes – both positive and negative – surprisingly showed the DVD cube banging on the edges of the screen, and the final excitement was happy when the cube did the right thing.
If you’ve ever wondered how the team and the team coordinated such unique scenes, the secret in response matters and a blank TV screen.
“I didn’t remember how we would film the DVD logo as part of the scene, so I asked Dave Rogers, who edited the program, and he said we installed the DVD screensaver more later, “Celotta explained.” He was fired in later. So there was only a blue screen on the monitor while we were filming, which allowed us to play with the moment when the logo would hit the edges of the TV. “
While filming, director Ken Whittingham also took throwing matters so they knew when they should express certain feelings.
“I think Ken was telling us as either like thumbs up to lifting spirits or toes. And we had certain words that Steve was going to say like Michael, right? That we knew ? “Kinsey asked.
“I remember that for sure. I remember Steve’s conversation being written. And this was unusual, because many times we would get in those conference room scenes and we could play around. tour and we could improvise, but not with this because it was too important for us to respond to some of what he said, “Fischer said.
All the design and dance they did eventually paid off, and Celotta got her DVD brand cube justice.
Be sure to listen to the full podcast for more behind-the-scenes stories about the cold opening, Meredith’s pelvic shot, and other “Launch Party” filming memories.
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