1st Assistant Director Kelly Cantley’s report
Matt Sohn operated camera. Following him were Brian Whittle (boom operator) and Kelly Cantley (1st AD). For the beginning and end sections in the bullpen, Michael “Pick” Piekutowski hand operated a 1X1 light panel to light Pam and Erin at the beginning and Michael, Andy, and Dwight in front of the camera at the end.
The sound department had four speakers hidden throughout the set to play back the song.
Amos Levkovitch (Magician) was hiding behind Michael’s office door to preset the flame gag. Stephanie Kinch (2nd AD) was hiding behind the reception desk and Chuck Canzoneri (Production Assistant) was hiding behind the door that never opens in accounting to cue cast in for the 2nd part. One of the rehearsal dancers (either Mimi Karsh or Lauren Melendez) was hiding in the men’s room to cue Dwight’s entrance.
Jeff Blitz (Director) and Danny Chun (Writer) watched on monitors outside the set.
We spent a pre-production day working out the blocking and the camera moves with Jeff Blitz, Matt Sohn (DP/Camera Operator), Danny Chun, Mary Ann Kellogg (Choreographer) and six rehearsal dancers: Tammy To, Lauren Melendez, Michael Pen, Mimi Karsh, Aaron Cash and John Todd. All the cast learned their parts with help from the rehearsal dancers on the shoot day.
Sean Crowder (Stunt Coordinator) was part of the rehearsal day and during the shoot, started the scene in the break room to get Kevin and Meredith into the harness before the camera came in. Mike Thompson (Special Effects) built the harness before the rehearsal day.
Thanks to Danny and Kelly, and kudos to The Office cast and staff for a job well done!
It really does take a village. :)
Way way way awesome!!!
Thanks so much Danny and Tanster! The cold open was awesome! Great job on everyone’s part!
love always-
Emily
A fun way to kick off the new season! Loved it!!
I’m so glad they went with a classic song, instead of using something current and popular. Not only does it fit the underlying dorkiness of The Office (you can totally imagine Andy rocking out to it in private), but it will age nicely throughout the years of syndication–always a plus!
Love this interview. I have decided to start my day each morning by watching this cold open to really get me ready to face the day (at my office).
Stuff like this makes really appreciate all the work Tanster does for us. Thanks to Mr. Danny Chun as well. It was the best cold open, ever.
[from tanster: i’m just a big dork for this show. and always will be. :) ]
I really loved Jim’s “Charlie Brown” dance in the background at the end. It seemed like a very “Jim” thing to do!
@Amanda: I was wondering if anyone else caught Jim’s little dance at the end. I thought the exact same thing about it – it fits his character.
This has gotten the rewind on my DVR about fifty times.
It was just too cool! You can tell the whole cast is having a blast! Thank you, Tanster, for getting the scoop.
I’d say that since it has to end sometime, this was an excellent beginning to it. It made my heart hurt just a little less. :)
Thanks so much for the interview! Danny has such a great sense of sarcastic humor. So funny! It really was a great cold open, Pam looked so ridiculous singing and I love that we got to revisit Jim’s boxy dancing style. I guess he’s the one who’s actually the dorky dancer in the Halpert family!
@Amanda and Kristin, i also love how jim’s version of “dancing” is just jumping up and down. he did the same thing in “cafe disco”.
Thanks for sharing the interview w/ Danny. I always enjoy hearing from the writers/directors to learn their backstories on the episodes. I’ve watched the episode 3 times already.
Behind the scenes Q&A posts make me so geekily happy! Thanks very much for all of this fun and really interesting information. I’ve watched the opening a ridiculous number of times–it was such a wonderful start to the season!
Yup, Jim’s “Peanuts” dance, Cafe Disco style, gotta love it! And Pam totally rocked out there at the end. Definitely re-watched this scene more than any other from the episode. Finally Michael put his “multiple magic sets” to some use!
Loved it! Anyone know what Mindy/Kelly was saying to Ryan?
“Steve’s flashpaper trick was a little scary but only one person died and he was not important.”
LOL!!
Thank you very much for the reports! It’s amazing how much work they’ve put in these two and a half minutes. It’s also incredible that there were three crew members behind the camera.
Loved Jim’s dance, too, but I really enjoyed Phyllis going nuts at the end! She can really dance!!
Creed just *looks* like an old rocker when he’s got a guitar strapped on him.
hahaha
dwight’s entrance was the funniest!