by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)
In 2005 I had a dream of making an all-Halloween episode of According To Whim. I liked the idea of doing one once a year. Each year there would be a According To Whim Halloween Special (brought to you by Tide, ok, maybe not). So in 2004 through 2006 I shot a few little things that could be used in a Halloween episode.
Dylan came over one day in 2005 and we shot a couple of horror themed items and even a Halloween episode intro and exit. Infact most of the stuff shot with Dylan (all together) could be put into a ‘horror’ themed show with the exception of ‘Dylan and Cody try to get on the show’ and ‘the Munchie Shak‘.
When I talk about horror themed stuff I am of course talking about horror/comedy stuff. I didn’t want to do straight up horror. Later Miguel, Chris, and I would work on part of a sketch that was mostly horror and only a little funny at the end. If any of you have ever seen the Gun Sketch that Miguel and I did you can see how twisted Miguel’s sense of horror and comedy mixed together is. My style is much more whimsical and must have a huge element of comedy and not so morbid. Did you go watch the Gun Sketch? I will give you time to go shower off and come back. If you haven’t gone and scrubbed yourself clean after watching it, watch this one too. It’s horror of a different kind that Miguel did.
Anyway… Dylan and I shot some sketches for the Halloween episode:
Afterwards things slowed down again and not much got done (the story of our lives). Halloween came and went and the episode did not get done.
We were approaching Episode 6 and I needed material. This was the last episode of Season 1 and time was pressing and I couldn’t get Chris over to do much. The idea behind the 6th episode was that Chris and Nathan got mad at each other and split up. The problem was that both wanted the show so they agreed to split the episode into 2 halfs (one half would be Chris’ and one half would be Nathan’s). This split in episode worked well because at the time Chris hadn’t been able to come over and do much and much of ‘Chris’ half’ was normal sketches we did together. Since I needed to fill in this episode and I had an uncompleted Halloween episode floating about I simply put the sketches into Episode 6.
2006 came and went and I got back on the ball in 2007 and started working on a new Halloween special. It was somewhat half hearted because I only had one new sketch and new intros/exits, and intermissions. Everything else was old stuff that I reused. The big new sketch in the 2007 version was ‘The Professor of Dirt’s Halloween Special‘. I did a new intro and exit as well as a website promo/intermission piece and threw in stuff like ‘The Hair Bitch‘ sketch from Episode 1 of Season 1. Miguel, Chris, and I started a new sketch called ‘let me sleep’ but we didn’t get much done before giving up. Maybe in the future we can finish it.
In 2010 I wanted to do another Halloween special. I started working weeks before on some nifty Adobe AfterEffects intro credit and exit credit sequences. I then had this great idea, why not contact Hangman’s House of Horrors in Fort Worth and try to get an interview? It’s good for them, it’s good for me, its good for everyone! I did it and Chris, Miguel, and I went there and filmed it. That very weekend Chris was like ‘finish a short version of the interview and make a complete episode for public access and have it done in 2 days’. I tried but couldn’t. I got close but it was (and is) taking a full extra week to bring it together. I didn’t want to do just a rehash of all old sketches I wanted something with a little freshness.
On Sunday I got up and set up a green screen in the garage and put a chair and table with skulls and such on it and draped a black fabric shower curtain over my shoulders for a cape and shot the episode intro, exit, and ‘in between sketch making of’ bits. I basically would insert older sketches into the 2010 Halloween Episode but have some new segments where I gave some insight into the sketches. All this adds some freshness to otherwise old sketches.
I hope to do another sketch or two to put into the 2010 Halloween Episode before it broadcasts so I don’t have to use more of the old sketches to fill out the episode. Once done I need to get cracking on a 2011 Halloween Episode with all new sketches. That would be nice.