My Music Videos (VeggieTales)

Some people might remember that several years back I made a whole bunch of VeggieTales music videos (in like 2005ish, in the summer back when I had that temporary nanny job). Well, a lesser known fact is that around 2013-2014, I started making them again and remaking the ones I did back in 2006.

I've complied them all here with some fun facts about them and "behind-the-scenes" info on how they were made. Because I KNOW you're all so interested! But you know, a one-man video is pretty hard to pull off, and my green-screen editing program is not exactly top-notch, so I have to make do with what I have.

These videos are kind of different from my old ones because I use the green screen. The green screen is hard to work with because I have to imagine the other character(s) and remember how/where they're moving at certain times. It is nice to have though because now I don't have to cut back and forth between characters all the time, plus I can add in backgrounds.

Why VeggieTales, you might ask? Well, I grew up loving them and I know all the silly songs in and out. Back in 2006, I just decided to film The Hairbrush Song for fun and because I was bored, but then it just continued from there. Then in 2013, I wanted to remake some of those (because honestly my 2006 videos were really poorly done, plus I had a green screen). So that's that.

And here's the complete list of what I have (at least so far ):

Bellybutton

Sometimes I think this one should be my favorite. It's really well done (if I do say so myself) as far as my videos go. I mean, it's hard synching up movements and stuff when I've got more than one character. The backdrops are pretty well chosen, and the "camera movements" are flowing. It's all pretty smooth. I really like it, but for some reason, it's not the first one I think of when I want to watch one of my videos. The sun was a real pain when I was filming the bits on the table. I have a lot of bloopers where I have to cut because it kept getting in my eyes.

Biscuit of Zazzamarandabo

Well... it was a valiant effort. You can see what I was trying to do, but it didn't come out so great. And then I forgot to film some parts and sloppily tried to cover them up. Plus the windshield was dirty in some shots. Just, fail.

Dance of the Cucumber

A remake of one Afton and I did a while back. This one is actually kind of a boring concept, just one character dancing around the other, but I kind of enjoy it. I was only imitating the original video with Larry and Bob. I didn't have a sombrero, so I found the closest thing I could find: Afton's huge sun hat. I didn't even have anything remotely Mexican, so I created a make-shift poncho out of a blanket and some pins.

Donuts for Benny

I thoroughly enjoyed filming this one because I got to stuff my face with donuts (well technically, Afton did, but still). I just got a cheap bag of powdered donuts and went with it. I achieved the mangy dog look from my natural bed-head. I woke up one morning, threw on an old sweater, put fuzzy socks on my hands, then drew on my face. Voila! I'm a scroungy old dog. Then I took a shower and filmed the rest of it.

Endangered Love

I managed to convince Afton to reprise her role as "Bill", because our original video was so classic in our house, she had to come back for this one. I took over as Larry this time though, and used Brady's old stuffed elephant to play the stuffed manatee. This one wasn't very time consuming because I didn't have to use the green screen.

Gated Community

This one is my mom's favorite. She says the guys in the gated community crack her up. They weren't too hard to film, but I'll tell ya, filming Larry's part was a pain in the butt. Because I had to set up the camera on one side of the fence, start it, then run all the way around, climb up on the fence, sing, then run all the way back around again and turn off the camera. It was quite a workout. Actually at first, I attempted it without something to stand on, and was just holding myself up on the fence. Yeah, I lasted about ten seconds before running back for a chair.

Hairbrush Song (Oh Where Is My Hairbrush?)

This was the first one I filmed originally back in 2006. This remake is pretty much exactly like my original except better quality, updated costumes, slightly better camera angles, etc. Also I added the narrator who pops up at the bottom. I'm not sure if that's an improvement or not. I wanted to show that I do actually know all the words, including the narrator's which are the most difficult, but then it looks like I'm actually reading them and not just looking at a blank binder. Oh well.

I Love My Lips

This is also an exact replica of my original video, except I used the green screen rather than cutting back and forth between the characters. Also I think I look slightly less ridiculous when I dance around (although I still do). Plus the costumes are updated.

Lance the Turtle

Well it's not as much of a fail as Buscuit of Zazzamarandabo was, but it's definitely not that well done. I tried, I really did. And it was a really hard one to make! There were so many characters going every which way, I had to keep track of where they would be and what they would be doing at all times. The hula dancing ones totally got off synch in the back, which wasn't fixable without filming it again. I tried my best to keep it all together in editing, and this was the best I could make of it.

Monkey

This was the last video I made before I took a break for a couple years and then started doing remakes. You'll notice the two characters are kind of different colors (like one's reddish and the other's very white). That's because I shot them at completely different times of day. I originally shot them at the same time one night, but when I put them in for editing, I realized one of them was wearing a yellow shirt, which was really close to green, so it disappeared into the background. I had to refilm that character entirely the next morning.

Moo Shoo

I made this one up in my room (which was the guest room at the time) in the middle of the night, literally. It was really quick. It probably took me about 20 minutes to set up, put on costumes, and film everything. Also, we don't exactly keep a stock of fortune cookies on hand, so that's actually a graham cracker.

Oh No! What We Gonna Do?

Somehow I roped Brady into helping me with this one. Although he was always asking "now am I done?" the entire time. I kind of debated on actually showing what the wisemen were doing to Daniel or just showing them singing the whole time (because believe me, I put some effort into synching that up). But I eventually went with recruiting Brady to play Daniel, because I thought it would be more entertaining (and Brady needed to be in one of my videos somewhere).

Pizza Angel

This one is my favorite. It's not a remake of anything, but it's the video that got me started on VeggieTales again. I can't pinpoint exactly what it is that I love so much about it. I guess I love the drama of it. Not to toot my own horn, but I think I captured the whole over-dramatic spirit of it. The camera pans, the dramatic turns of the head, looking off into the distance, slow motion, fade out-fade in transitions, all of it. But then it's just so stupid, I mean it's pizza! Anyways, I love it. Also, I originally had singing angels in the background, I even filmed them, but they were too lame and didn't show up very well against the green screen, so I cut them. And another fun fact: I had been planning on filming this for weeks, but I didn't have a pizza box. And we just weren't ordering pizza! Finally I asked my mom to go out and find a box… She went to Chuck E. Cheese, lolz. They gave her an unused one, so I tried to make it look authentic like there had once been a pizza in there. There wasn't any grease I could use, but I think that's pieces of bagel in there XP.

Sippy Cup

This is literally an exact replica of the original video, just with different costumes and a green screen. The original video actually wasn't made that long before this one. I wasn't really sure how I was going to pull off the judge part. I just filmed him against the green screen and then chose a backdrop later. I had no idea what I wanted at the time (which is bad, because I might decide later and then what I've filmed isn't right for what I want). However, I think the backdrop works even though it totally doesn't match the setting at all.) I like the piano player, he's my favorite part. I don't really know what made me decide to put him in. He was in the original, so I kept him for the remake. I do actually own a sippy cup, but I had left it at BYU-I, so I had to make do with the straw cup. Also, the "spilling" of the juice at the end really did a number on my hip after five takes. I was falling on to tile! And if you're curious, the way I accomplished that feat was by taping plastic wrap over the top of the glass (and I had some towels on the ground just in case).

Sneeze If You Need To

I like how this one turned out. I was a little worried for it because of all the characters and height differences, but it turned out pretty good. The hardest part was with the doctor and the patient and synching up their movements. I particularly had a lot of bloopers with the doctor and his props.

Waterbuffalo Song

A remake. I actually really like this one too. It was really simple as you can imagine. Super short, only two characters. The hardest part was the tackle. Since there weren't actually two people, I faked it as best I could (several times) and hoped for the best. Then when I edited it together, it actually looked believable. I was surprised and impressed.

Where Have All the Staplers Gone?

I can't even tell you what a pain this was to film! So many props! So many movements! And two characters! It seriously took me like two hours just to film it. Because I had to do it all in one take and if I messed up on anything, I had to start all over again. So if I forgot to pick up the notepad on cue, cut! The sharpie got stuck in my pocket, cut! I forgot to move to the left on cue, cut! The paper fell down, cut! And that went for both characters! Argh! I'm getting anxiety just thinking about it again... And I don't even like the video that much.

Bloopers

There are SO many more, but these are just a couple of the my personal favorites and the more interesting ones.

Explaining (the) Supernatural

So a couple weeks ago, I was drawing just a silly little cartoon of some characters from one my favorite shows, Supernatural, and my uncle saw it. He asked what it was, so I searched the internet and showed him the first picture of the three of them together I could find, which unfortunately was not very good…

Seriously, it looks like a super cheesy show trying to look all serious and boss-ish, and lots of girls are all into it only because the guys are pretty (well that is part of the reason XP) …Also, what is Cas wearing? This is a promo picture! Shouldn't he be wearing his normal costume, for crying out loud!? It looks more like Crowley's costume.

Anyways, I then proceeded to simply point to each character and tell him who they were, which went something like this: "Well, the show's about two brothers, these two guys, Sam and Dean, who hunt monsters, ghosts, and demons, and stuff. And this is their angel friend, Castiel." He wondered about the angel part, like an angel was hanging out with humans and killing things? I tried to explain, very poorly I must say. I mentioned things like how the angel possessed a human like demons did, but they needed permission. And I KNOW I completely repelled him away. I just ended it all with, "It's very compelling, okay!" I'm still face-palming myself.

So, I'm making up for all that here.

Here's a more accurate picture of Sam, Dean, and Castiel. Or as they're known to the fandom, Team Free Will:

Supernatural is in fact about two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, who drive around the country in their '67 Impala, hunting down ghosts, monsters, demons, etc. That's the basic gist of it. They use fake credit cards, fake FBI badges, fake IDs, fake everything to get where they need to go.

Now there are three main selling points to the show that really keep it running, I think. The horror/drama, the brothers, and the humor.

First, the horror/drama. The show was originally written as a horror show. In fact, the entire first season is set up as a "monster of the week" type thing. But then as is goes on, the plots thicken, things get more complex, and universes expand, etc. In the end though, it is all very intense, scary, sometimes pretty gruesome, and all together freakishly awesome. You've got demonic possessions, all sorts of monsters, different takes on classic monsters, jump-out-of-your-seat moments. It's all there. Like I said, as the show continues on, things get more complex. The characters start to have to deal with more intense stuff, like the apocalypse, the devil himself, angels, selling their souls, purgatory, and so on. And boy is is intense, not to mention dramatic. I love it!

Second, the brothers. The show would not work without them. Dean is the older brother, he's the jock, the protecter, the cool one, you know? Sam's the younger brother, he's the sensitive, geeky one with long flowing locks ;P. They would do absolutely anything for each other, walk to the ends of the earth, take a bullet, sell their soul, because they are all each other has and they care so much. Now, before I get sounding too sappy (too late), they do act like normal brothers would too. They tease each other, Dean often unfairly asserts his authority as the older brother, they know each other's quirks and tastes to use to their advantage, and so on.

Third, the humor. Now for the most part, when you think Supernatural, you don't think Supernatural: a comedy. It is a pretty funny show at times, though. Sometimes just small moments, sometimes entire episodes. Because of the supernatural elements, practically anything can happen. For example, the brothers get trapped in TV land and are forced to "play their roles" in order to escape. So they pretend to be doctors in a soap opera, characters in a sitcom, cops in a cop show, contestants on a gameshow, etc. and it is freakin' hilarious! There are also small, more subtle moments throughout the show, simply because you just know the characters, or just a funny line (seriously, where do they come up with some of this stuff? It's actually a thing out there "Actual line from Supernatural or Not?"), etc.

And since I mentioned him, I might as well expound (and save my previously horrible explanation), Castiel. He's Sam and Dean's angel friend. I mentioned above that the show takes a new spin on many classic monsters (like werewolves, vampires, and stuff). They did the same with angels. In pop culture, angels are peaceful harp-playing little people with halos and wings, sitting up on their clouds in their white robes, right? Well in Supernatural, they're more like warriors of God. They try to make peace in any way they can. They're giant powerful creatures, so when they come down to earth, they must possess a human so as not overpower the "weaker creatures" with their power. However, they can't just take a body like demons can, they need special permission. As I said, angels try to bring peace in any way they can, always focused on "the mission" and "God's work". They're kind of like robots, and complete JERK-WADS!!! They don't really have much free will of their own, or feelings, they just do what needs to be done without a thought… This is where Castiel comes in. He's the first angel who developed feelings like doubt and regret. He chose the Winchesters over his angel brothers. The more time he spent with them, the more human he became. He's freakin' adorable. So ignorant and naive, and yet so unbelievably powerful.

So… amazing show! I hope this was a better explanation than my first.

Here's some videos for all three aspects:

Horror/drama:

Brothers:

Humor:

(And why not?) Castiel:

(Background: Cas was supposedly dead, but then randomly 

shows up alive, living as a human and amnesiac)

And if you're interested, this is the cartoon I was drawing (now polished off and finalized on the computer):