(#3 of 3) Imagine: You're outside and the moon is out

After reading Liz's thorough blog recollecting all the humorous incidents from our last video shoot (see the video posted below), I'm not sure what I could add, but I'll give it a shot.

I'm proud of Liz. She purchased a "Hello Kitty" lunch box, pretty pink bows, and the tackiest dress you-ever-did-see with admirable courage, but she deserves an apology from me. Liz, I'm sorry I didn't help. I'm sorry I stood five feet from the cash register, pointed my finger and laughed hysterically.

Of course, Liz found herself in even more compromising situations. She spent a good 20 minutes dashing about the New Haven train station while flailing her arms and shouting, "Seriously, this is not a chain letter! It really works!" "Seriously" people, does it really work? Have any of you actually seen your crush's name appear on the screen after pasting the message into three comments?

One of my favorite scenes was the one in which Liz sat at a piano and sweetly instructed Rubinstein to put more feeling in his fingers. There was something about being there in the same room that nearly made me wet my pants. Finding myself completely unable to withhold my laughter, I silently began to pant and wheeze my way into the back room. (I didn't want to disturb her concentration or ruin the shoot!) Unfortunately, en route, Liz started to demonstrate what it meant to "play with one's fingers," playing the Moonlight sonata as if she had never seen a piano before. It was the final straw; I completely exploded. This is only one of several such examples.

A rather embarrassing situation of my own: portraying a split personality (an extremely flamboyant homosexual and a curse-laden scumbucket) in front of streams of passersby. Thankfully, we were in New York City, and very few people seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary.

Alas! The things we do for our art.

I’m going to go tend to my battle wounds - that bench in Riverside park really left a scar!

(#2 of 3) Imagine: You're outside and the moon is out.

Hello, everyone! It's Liz here to report on some of the more laughable moments we encountered while producing this video. (WATCH the video in the post below).

This video was by far the wackiest to create. We conjured up a variety of costumes, hairstyles, accents, accessories, and locations just to add some "color" to the comments. (In hindsight, most of the comments were incredible enough to stand on their own!) Knowing that this video might be regarded as controversial, we had no pretensions of portraying anyone specific; the characterizations were meant to be broad and even caricature-like in order to emphasize the over-the-top nature of the commentary.

This isn't to say that we didn't suffer for our art, however: for example, Greg actually injured himself badly during a scene (his unscripted fall is actually included in the video, if you watch closely enough!), and I had to endure stares from the constantly-streaming crowds and busy traffic at Columbus Circle as I vapidly vamped for the camera. Greg and I inserted lots of amusing and import-laden details which you may have already noticed: a wind-up Beethoven toy that plays the "Moonlight" Sonata, my own tattered Beethoven scores, a "Hello Kitty" lunchbox, a T-shirt featuring the periodic table of elements, a copy of the Village Voice tucked under my arm, our "simultaneous" appearance onscreen and on the computer screen (incidentally, the background music is a composite of our own renditions), a purposeful allusion to Peter Jackson's brilliant Lord of the Rings, and much more...

Although the comments themselves were directly quoted—with grammatical errors intact—we often ad-libbed to get ourselves into character. My personal faves to play were the Minnesotan couple (check out a selection of improv bloopers at the end of the video) and the business woman (I admit, it was liberating to escape my mild-mannered disposition and act short-tempered for once!). And of course, we had the best time making fun of the Anderson & Roe Piano Duo in a particular scene.

Was all this nonsense worth it? Well, if viewers like you get a kick out of it, then we're satisfied!

(#3 of 3) Making the Video, the Anderson & Roe way

In the middle of December 2006, we devoted three frenzied days to the process of filming our own music videos. There was never a dull moment—in general, when the two of us start throwing ideas around, mischief inevitably ensues. We threw caution—and our dignity—to the wind, and we had great fun pushing the boundaries!

Equipped with Liz's mom’s modest camcorder, various “costumes,” no budget, and a few awesome friends as extras/cameramen/bemused spectators, we set to work on our first video. (Watch it below!)

The music: A New Account of the Blue Danube Waltzes

The location: Yale University

Greg in grey, Liz in black:

Filming this video proved to be difficult on multiple levels. While we managed to film the other two videos in a matter of a couple hours, the variety of venues, the difficulty of the piece, and the continual suppression of laughter necessitated three days of filming to capture the footage we wanted.

The piece itself is unbelievably difficult to play. Believe it or not, it's even harder than it looks. In its totality the piece is exhausting to perform, but even filming sections repeatedly tested every ounce of endurance and focus we had! Yes, we only have ourselves to blame.

…sigh...

An unexpected difficulty, for me especially, was acting and playing at the same time. I need to look at the keys if I have any hope of playing the right notes! How can one be expected to gaze rapturously into Liz's eyes while assailing the piano with virtuosic aplomb? Hmmm? Needless to say, those within ear range of our video shoots were privy to what easily could have been confused with a cow giving birth.

Difficulties were indeed the hallmark characteristic of the filming process, but for me the element of absurdity was (yet again) the most salient trait of this experience. But don't get me wrong: we fully embraced the embarrassing situations we put ourselves in and had a grand time enacting a shamelessly sentimental romance within an idyllic setting. I can't tell you how many times the takes were ruined by fits of laughter (mine, mostly). My loopiness was balanced by Greg's typical state of single-minded concentration, but his focus too was leavened by interludes of giddy hilarity. I'd like to blame our nonsensical behavior on fatigue and stress, but all excuses aside, the truth is that we both have tendencies toward inordinate silliness, especially when we are around each other! Whether or not this is a good thing, we always manage to get our mission accomplished, and laughter is good for you.

The filming of this particular video also left me with heightened respect for actors because it certainly is strange to portray stories and situations that contradict reality. The most awkward moment of all: "the kiss." We're close in real life, but not that close! We had to artfully devise ways to make the scene work because we certainly weren't willing to completely sacrifice our wonderful, platonic relationship for the sake of "art."

(Still, I might have a future as a thespian after all; as the outtake reel shows, random people on the street seemed to believe that I really dropped my glove by accident!)

Hi! It's Greg again. I just thought I'd add another difficulty to the list: editing the video. Mac's iMovie is a fantastic program, but I don't think it was designed to make elaborate Anderson & Roe music videos. The video clip viewer is intended for maybe a dozen video clips, and not the thousands (perhaps hundreds of thousands!) of video clips that made up our latest video. Every time I wanted to find a particular clip ("I know it's here somewhere!!"), I spend upwards of six to seven minutes sorting through clips of us dancing, playing, acting, and mostly, messing up…

On a less facetious note, Greg and I hope that the video and the music generate the same kind of dizzying, whimsical, glorious enjoyment that the waltz evokes.

Enjoy the beautiful spring weather!



Click here to watch the outtakes!