Over at NBC.com’s Dunder Mifflin Infinity game, people compete in “branches” on various tasks.
Task #26: create a video set to a short clip of Hunter’s ‘That One Night’ song, as featured on The Office episode, Dinner Party.
This entry, created by Cathy (aka Clockwise), completely blew me away.
A short Q&A with Cathy follows.
Q. How did you decide on this particular medium?
A. Since we weren’t allowed to use images from “The Office” in our video, I decided to use puppets to recreate some of my favorite Michael and Jan moments. I originally considered sewing hand puppets but I decided that it would be too difficult to get them to show enough detail (clothing, facial expressions, etc.). So instead I made my puppets out of pieces of craft foam glued to popsicle sticks. The craft foam is available in lots of colors and I could draw on it to add the details I wanted.
Q. Are you a graphic artist professionally?
A. No I’m not. I minored in art in college but only managed to fit in two studio art classes — the rest were art history courses. I enjoy drawing and do the occasional doodle but I spend most of my free time doing crafty projects including sewing and knitting. I have a blog where I post all my craft projects: Cathy’s Crafty Cattery (countingclocks.blogspot.com).
Q. How did you decide which scenes to include?
A. I spent a lot of time “researching” — in other words, watching every episode I could remember that showed or discussed a Michael/Jan interaction! I made a list of scenes and then narrowed it down to the ones that I knew I could recreate. I picked a few things that we had seen in the show (Sandals, the elevator kiss), some that had only been mentioned (Michael in the schoolgirl outfit, Michael sleeping on the bench), and one that I just made up (smelling the Serenity candle). I needed some way to tie them all together so I came up with the Schrute Farms scene.
Q. Are there scenes you shot, but did not include in the final video?
A. I was able to fit all the scenes that I filmed into the final video, though I did shoot many, many retakes of each scene! Because I was filming and controlling the puppets at the same time, it took a lot of tries to get each scene right.
Q. Which scene was most difficult to shoot?
A. The elevator scene was the hardest to film. I had to make Jan kiss Michael, quickly prop her up against the wall, then reach around the back of the “set” and close the elevator doors from both sides. Everything kept going wrong! Jan would fall down, Michael would fall down, Michael would get stuck in the doors, the doors wouldn’t close at the same speed … I had to film it 12 times before I finally got it right!
Which prop was most difficult to create?
A. Drawing the exterior of Schrute Farms was hard since I was trying to make it look like the real thing. But the elevator was probably the most difficult prop to make because of the sliding doors.
Q. How many hours total did it take you to create this video, including all the research?
A. I would say about 30 hours. I know I spent several hours a day for a few days researching and planning, then I spent 8 hours a day for 3 days doing the construction and filming.
Q. Anything else you would like to add re: the making of the video?
A. I would like to thank everyone who took the time to let me know that they enjoyed my video. It means a lot to me that so many people appreciate all the work I put into it!
Thanks, Cathy, for taking the time to answer these questions! And again, congratulations on a fantastic job!
Links: Cathy’s DMI page | Video blooper | Behind the scenes photos
That was so freakin’ awesome!! Definitely made me giggle! Loved the school girl outfit. :)
hahahahaha!!! that was sooooooo good!
This is so awesome, and wouldn’t it be great if it could be memorialized on the Season 4 DVD? Cathy really did amazing creative work, it’s so funny and poignant too, and mostly Jan’s cleavage just kills me.
Wow, that was incredible! That must have taken so much time and effort. You did a great job, Cathy!
This is pretty funny. But I must say, Jennie, I love your title for this post! Awesome!
That was so cool! You did such a great job!
that’s so awesome.
they should seriously put this on the season 4 dvd as an easter egg or something. that was so cool.
Nice job, Cathy! It was dawesome! (The Jan cleavage cracked me up!)
I give this five Jim-and-Pam-air-high-five’s out five. Well done.
it’s funny she kept mentioning the challenge of the elevators! I was thinking the same thing when I saw that scene! wow, it’s amazing she did it all by herself!
That was so great, much better than the commercials that were done a few years ago!
The scene with him sleeping at the end of the bed was hilarious.
YEAH! That’s my RM, Clockwise; she is amazing! DMI Ypsilanti, represent!!!
This truly was an exceptional video. Very creative and entertaining. Thank you Cathy for your hard work – made my day a little brighter.
Good job, Cathy! That brought a smile to my face.
I so agree. Cathy “Clockwise” did spectacular work.
VERY impressive.
How did this video NOT win?
How fun is this?! Amazing job, Cathy! All your hard work was worth it! :)
Great job! :)
Two thumbs up! Excellent work, Cathy!
That is fantastic!!
Great job, Cathy! That was really hilarious.
I loved this video! I first saw it on nbc.com and I laughed out loud the whole way through. Thank you for making it, Cathy, and thank you for bringing us the behind-the-scenes magic, tanster!
Reading about all the work that went into making the video, and seeing the pictures of the set pieces (especially the elevator) has made me appreciate this amazing video even more than I already did. Just wow.
Thank you for sharing this :)
Way to go!!! You really know how to give things a life of their own. You’re the next big thing!!!
That’s so awesome! Great job, Cathy!
Awesome! Great job…
Wait, she didn’t win?! What!? That’s insane, she put a ton of work into it and it was amazing!
The school girl out fit made me laugh out loud!
a-mazing. i’m so jealous of your talent and creativity.
Really good. As simple as the medium is, it works well to convey the characters, and the movement of the puppets had a lot to do with that. Well done.
Nicely done!
I think Cathy should be doing future “Office” webisodes for officetally. That would be fantastic!
WHOO HOOO Ypsilanti!!!
I am fortunate enough to be able to call “Clockwise” my DMI RM! I still can’t believe she didn’t win task 26. Way to go CW and yay DMI Ypsilanti!
Fantastic Job!
I’m so happy to see this video recognized here on OfficeTally! I was sad when it didn’t win at DMI– it was certainly the best submission. Neat to see stuff from my two favorite Office sites crossing over!
That. Was. Epic.
Amazing job! Michael looked just like the real one!
Thanks for all the awesome comments, everyone! OfficeTally rocks!