Alas, I was supposed to have a cameo in Pitch
Perfect, but I had a European concert tour booked a
year before the movie was green-lighted, so I was
performing in Munich instead of acting as a judge in
the big final scene.
Fast forward to Pitch
Perfect 2: Liz and Max wanted to find a cameo for me
somewhere in the movie, and when asking me if I can
speak any foreign languages, I reply that I learned
French in school but I don't really look or sound
particularly French. On the other hand, I could
probably pass as a German, accent and all.
So, with some help from Flula, today on camera I'll
be saying:
"Meine Damen und Herren, bereiten
sie augen und ohren auf die beste a cappella-gruppe
der welt vor: Das Sound Machine!"
(Ladies and
gentlemen, prepare your eyes and ears for the best a
cappella group in the world: Das Sound Machine!)
Between his scenes in the movie The Breakup, A
Mighty Wind and Pitch Perfect you might think it a
coincidence that John Michael Higgins finds himself
in roles revolving around vocal music/a cappella,
but it turns out he is the single most informed a
cappella vocalist and arranger I've met in
Hollywood.
He was the music director
("pitch") of the Amherst Zumbyes for 3 years in the
mid-80s, one of New England's great male collegiate
groups, and through his theatrical instincts changed
their sound and performing style in many ways.
Example: if you've seen the group in the past 30
years you might notice there's always a guy in the
group wearing a banana suit (which they never
acknowledge: "what banana suit?").
Moreover,
he did all the vocal arranging for "A Mighty Wind."
He has an extensive record collection and knowledge
of vocal arranging, and it's great fun to chat about
the sonorities of the Anita Kerr singers, the
difficulties in performing a Puerling Singers
Unlimited arrangement live, the nature of changes in
vocal music from the Mills Brothers and MelTones
through present day.
Couldn't be a nicer
guy, or more generally interested in a cappella,
past and present. In fact, he spoke at length about
the House Jacks, live and recorded, and could often
be found chatting behind the scenes (with Penn
Masala, DSM, etc.), very generous with his time.
Speaking of Pitch Perfect players who know a
cappella, the newest member of the Tone Hangers is
comedian/author John Hodgman, perhaps best known
recently for his work on The Daily Show (he was also
"PC" in the legendary Mac vs PC commercials).
Trading emails with him about his upcoming
appearance in the Riff Off, he emailed back: "I was
a DJ at WMFO during some of your Tufts years, and
you know I spun some bubs platters." Mind blown!
WMFO, the Tufts radio station, was across the
hall from the Bubs room where we rehearsed 3 times a
week, so I undoubtedly passed him in the hall some
25 years ago, and now we're making an a cappella
movie together.
Words cannot describe the energy in the room for
the Riff Off.
First, we had the Green Bay
Packers, who arrived the day before the shoot for a
brief rehearsal and then we shoved them right into
the recording booth, with fingers crossed... and
they destroyed all expectations. They sang every
single note coming out of their mouths in the movie,
and they tracked it all quite quickly. Plus we
laughed throughout the entire process.
Secondly, we had some of the best comedians in the
world, ala the Tone Hangers. They too arrived Monday
morning, jumped right into the studio just before
Tuesday's shoot, and were pure hilarity.
Thirdly we had the one and only David Cross as
Emcee. Every take was different, fresh, extra
improv. I had to keep from laughing, as he gave his
assistant a different name each take ("Mordecai, I
told you not to make this gong so heavy, I have that
twitter injury...")
Add in all of the Bellas,
DSM and Treblemakers, plus extras dressed up like
swanky party patrons, plus the entire film crew, all
crammed into a haunted house. Oh, did I forget to
mention the haunted house?
That's right, we
were in 13th Gate, a giant old warehouse/building
that has been repurposed as an annual Halloween
haunted house. Toby & his set designers did a
fantastic job converting one of the rooms into a
faux basement, and when you'd turn a corner you'd
run into a 10 foot pile of old gravestones or a pile
of body parts.
And to top it all off, there
was completely inadequate air conditioning, meaning
that it was even hotter inside than outside. We shot
from noon to midnight, and it was a relief to walk
outside into the sticky 80 degree air. It isn't art
if you don't suffer at least a little.
A few terms that are used every day behind the
scenes:
"Wild" - to record audio without a
track. For instance, when we wanted to capture the
audience chanting along at the end of Flashlight, we
set up some mics, taught them the part, then had
them sing without a guide track. This will get mixed
in and sound like it happened at the same time, and
is much better than having them sing while you're
playing the track (which you would hear bleeding
through, creating all kinds of messy unwanted echo).
"Thumper" - a very low pitched pulse,
allowing you to record wild without the low bumping
click/pulse being heard on the final track (you just
erase the very low frequency, which is lower than
anything you want to hear). For instance, when you
want to capture dialogue over music, you have the
singers mime singing, in rhythm in the background
while you film the dialogue, then you can add your
recording to the scene later and voila: clean
dialogue over perfect music.
"Honeywagon" -
an upscale mobile bathroom. Basically a glorified
upscale portapotty on wheels. Usually stinky, so not
great, but incredibly well air conditioned, so a
much appreciated blast of cold air during a steamy
Louisiana outdoor shoot.
"Run" - as in "this
take, we're gonna run", which is what Liz would say
before she and John Michael Higgins would do a bunch
of improv at the end of one of their announcer
scenes. They might go for five minutes, back and
forth, trading a bunch of improvised and planned
jokes, most of which will get cut out in editing,
with only the very best remaining.
"Splits" -
some days we're on day shoots (which last as long as
daylight does, from 6am to 8pm), some days we're on
nights (until dawn), and some others we're on
"splits" which can mean any combination of day and
night, like 9am to 9pm, or noon to midnight.
"Copy" - or "Copy that", perhaps the most common
word on a movie set, it means "I understand" or "I
heard you." Derived from radio communications, it is
used over walkie talkies and in person, and ends up
bleeding into everyday speech as an affirmation:
"Have you heard the new Beyonce single? I love that
song" "Copy that!"
Last week, during the Finale, CJ (Catherine Joy)
Perry returned to be one of the original Bellas. Not
only was she an original Bella in the first movie,
she was the choreography assistant, in rehearsals
and on set every day, working on all the Bellas and
TrebleMakers numbers. Fantastically talented as a
dancer, she would throw herself into each
performance, knowing every move for every actor,
always with a smile on her face.
Turns out
she's now a part of the WWE, playing a Russian
promoter/manager named "Lana." I turned on the
television last night and there she was, in the
middle of a huge auditorium, putting on a Russian
accent (she was born in Latvia, speaks Russian
fluently), and taunting the crowd about how weak
American men are. Absolutely hilarious! If only they
knew how sweet she is... but that's entertainment.
Also joining us as a "legacy Bella" was Robin
Roberts (from the Today Show & ESPN). We spoke early
on about having a couple cameos in the scene,
completely unexplained. I thought it would be
especially funny to have Condoleezza Rice, but alas
she wasn't available. Robin was lovely, easy to work
with, and mentioned how this brief appearance was
the single coolest thing she was doing, according to
her staff.
Since the advent of video
playback (thanks to Jerry Lewis, I'm told), you can
watch what is being filmed on flat screen monitors
in a couple of places around set, including the
director's and producer's "village".
Imagine
a smallish flea market tent roof on poles with 3-6
director's chairs beneath it and a rolling stand
with a couple screens, each showing a different
camera angle. Very useful, along with a wireless
headset, to check lip sync (although there is a
slight delay - whenever possible I'd get right up in
the action without being seen on screen), and know
everything that's happening on set. Far superior to
the old days when you'd have to wait for the film to
be developed.
And, if you're feeling
decadent, an air conditioning unit, blowing cold air
into... the great outdoors. Ah, America.
Fun as it is to make a movie, it's even more fun
to go to summer camp, and as I direct a camp, called
Camp A Cappella, I figured I should show up.
It's only the second year and we had 200
attendees from age 13 to 130 from all over North
America. I could go on and on (and on and on) about
it, but I figure it's just easier if you head over
to
www.campacappella.com and see for yourself.
The Treblemakers House, same as used in the first
movie, is a complete trip. It appears to have been
designed in the late 60s by Mike Brady (yes, the dad
in the Brady Bunch was an architect), and furnished
lavishly until the early 80s when the family ran out
of money.
Now it's like a disheveled museum
of bad taste and questionable trends (note the tiger
print carpet on the stairs, in this photo taken from
the perspective of the hot tub in the first movie).
They say location is everything in real
estate, and that being the case this house has
everything as it's located right on the lake at LSU,
alongside the other fraternity and sorority houses.
One day it'll sell, probably get turned into a new
frat house, and when it does they'll have the most
amazing retro 60's lounge parties!
Although it'll eventually all flow together
smoothly on camera, creating this scene is quite
complex. We need dialog with the Treblemakers with
Rebel (actually her stunt double) far away in the
distance, paddling in her canoe.
Then we
need Rebel herself standing and paddling and
lip-synching to her vocal that we recorded last
week, with a platform attached to the front of the
canoe (for the cameraman)
Then we need
footage of Rebel jumping out of the canoe and
scampering up the side of the riverbank, which we
need to record live, since we need the sound of her
out of breath, dropping words, etc.
Then we
need to get her crossing the street, also live
("GOOOOOOOOO!!"), and then her prerecorded vocals
drop back in at the top of the chorus.
And
finally we need to shoot the duet with Adam from
several angles (took half the day), all using
prerecorded singing, but with lav mics and a boom
mic to capture any jokes/asides they throw in
between the vocal lines).
All told, 13 hours
from the first notes to the last, as soon as the sun
got high enough in the sky until it began to sag
toward the horizon, for 3 minutes of film, and one
apparently smooth, continuous moment.