Homestar Runner Wiki - User contributions [en]

Experimental Film

2006-02-06T02:47:27Z

Txzam:

{{toonnav|Shorts|expfilm|Peasant's Quest Preview|Senor Mortgage}}
[[Image:experimentalfilm.PNG|200px|thumb|The color of infinity?]]
Strong Sad and The Cheat make a video for They Might Be Giants.

'''Cast (in order of appearance):''' {{Film|Strong Sad}}, [[Tentacle Skull]], [[They Might Be Giants|John Flansburgh]], [[They Might Be Giants|John Linnell]], {{Film|The Cheat}}, {{Film|Gavin}}, [[Lions#.22It.27s_a_lion.21.22|It's a lion!]], {{Film|Homestar Runner}}, {{Film|Strong Bad}}, {{Film|Strong Mad}}

'''Places:''' [[The Field]], [[The Athletic Field]]

'''Date:''' July 13, 2004

'''Running Time:''' 3:00

'''Page Title:''' So a guy walks up to an ATM...

==Lyrics==

The color of infinity 
Inside an empty glass 
I'm squinting my eye 
And turning off and on and on 
and off the light

for this is an experimental film 
Which nobody knows about, and which 
I'm still figuring out what's going to go 
In my experimental film

Yeah! you're all gonna be in this experimental film 
And even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it's

I already know the ending 
It's the part that makes your face implode 
I don't know what makes your face implode 
But that's the way the movie ends

And in my experimental film 
Which nobody knows about 
But which I'm still figuring out 
Your face implodes at my experimental film

Yeah, you're all gonna be in this experimental film 
And even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it— 
Even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it's

The color of infinity 
Inside an empty glass 
for this an experimental film 
Which nobody knows about, and which. 
I'm still figuring out what's going to go 
In my experimental film

Yeah, you're all gonna be in this experimental film 
And even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it's gonna— 
Yeah, you're gonna be in this experimental film 
And even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it— 
Even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it's

== Easter Eggs ==

*You can click on "Directed by Strong Sad & The Cheat" before the video starts to get a commentary by Homestar Runner characters.

===Commentary Transcript===

'''STRONG SAD:''' Oh, hello, this is Strong Sad—

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' —and we're the co-directors of this video.

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{Meh!}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Uh, so my portion of this video details the life of a very lonely individual named Rondell who can't deal with the decisions of day-to-day life.

'''STRONG BAD:''' We interrupt this whining to bring you this important headline: "World bored to death by Strong Sad commentary."

'''STRONG SAD:''' Agh, what are you doing here? You're hardly even in this video!

'''STRONG BAD:''' Yeah, well I woulda been the one directing it if weren't for those Super Giant guys.

'''STRONG SAD:''' That's not what they're called.

'''STRONG BAD:''' Whatever they're called, that one right there with the glasses, he started talking all these vocabulary words at me and confusin' me and the next thing I know, I was relegated to this crappy bit part. ''{Referring to the top of two heads (one is wearing glasses, likely They Might Be Giants' John Flansburgh)}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Hey, "relegated" sounds like a vocabulary word.

'''STRONG BAD:''' I'll relegate your face to a...bloody pulp!

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{Coffee was being hit with a drumstick}'' {The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Oh, that part represented hitting coffee with a drumstick. Okay.

[[Image:gracious.png|thumb|"Ahh! More like our 'I'll murder you in a back alley' host."]]
'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{upon seeing a picture captioned "our gracious host"}'' Ahh! More like our "I'll murder you in a back alley" host.

'''STRONG SAD:''' Uh, so this next part ''{referring to tiny The Cheats erupting from cracks in Rondell's hands}'' is an allusion to one of my very favorite experimental films called--

'''STRONG BAD:''' Boring Johnny and the Get Bored Crew.

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{exasperated}'' Would you quit it with the "boring" comments?

'''STRONG BAD:''' Look, if it weren't for that tentacle skull riding the old-timey bike, this video would have nothin'!

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{barely comprehensible}'' You don't like the video, huh?

'''STRONG SAD:''' Oh, yeah, the first question on that pop quiz was, "Are you all going to be in my experimental film?" ''{Referring to Pop Quiz in clip}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{the tentacle skull is seen in ink on lined paper}'' Oh, look, there he is! Keep on old-timey bikin', tentacle-skull. ''{Gavin is seen}'' Hey, is that Gavin? I didn't know he was in this video. He's got, like, as much screen time as I do!

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Hey guys, is this the Super Giants video?

'''STRONG SAD:''' That's not what they're—

'''STRONG BAD:''' Yes. But they cut us out of it.

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Oh, weird—then why'd they bother getting somebody who looks just like me? ''{Seeing himself in the clip}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' No, that is you, I just mean they mostly—

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' ''{Seeing Strong Bad and Strong Mad in the clip}'' And that guy looks just like you! And that big guy ''{referring to Strong Mad}'' looks just like Coach Z!

'''STRONG BAD:''' Now this part accurately represents what it feels like to watch this video. ''{Ticking clock shown}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{exasperated}'' Ohhh! This next part ''{the film shows Rondell's face, then begins to shake, and the image disappears as if burning, revealing animated Rondell}'' is all about Rondell's transformation into a new man.

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' I thought you said that was just an accident that happened because you loaded the film wrong.

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{embarassed}'' Uhh, why don't you shut up, Homestar?

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' I dunno... 'cause I guess I got a lot of stuff to say.

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{when he, Strong Mad and Homestar are seen dancing}'' Check out my dance! Ooh, ah, ooh side-swipe! ''{The Cheat joins in}'' Ooh, ah, ooh side-swipe! ''{Homestar joins in}'' Ooh, ah, ooh side-swipe! Ooh, ah, ooh side-swipe!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Ahhh, this is the worst commentary ever!

'''STRONG BAD:''' That's what I've been saying this whole time!

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Yeah, me too. Worst commissary ever!

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{during the portion where components of the film are seen pogoing}'' At this point reality and fantasy have collided and everybody... pogos.

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{as an animated Rondell walks up to an animated ATM}'' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{angry}'' What do you mean you tried to be as dumpy-accurate as possible?

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{as Strong Bad is seen dancing, with the words "Real Smooth Moves" is seen above him}'' Let's talk about how "Real Smooth Moves" is like the best band name ever. The old Supreme Giants boys could take a cue from that one.

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' ''{as a muffin on a table is seen}'' I'm gonna take a cue from that kitchen table and go get me a blue-bree muffin!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Ohh, what a disaster. I hope I still get paid.

== Fun Facts ==

=== Explanations ===
*This toon was made for the first single from They Might Be Giants' tenth studio album ''[http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/The_Spine The Spine]''. The song is called [http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Experimental_Film "Experimental Film"].
*The two head-tops belong to They Might Be Giants' John Flansburgh and John Linnell. The one on the left is Flansburgh, as he has black hair and wears glasses, and the one on the right is Linnell.
*The answers for the "pop quiz" most likely refer to the [[Wikipedia:Cotton gin|cotton gin]], an invention that revolutionized the cotton-growing industry; [[Wikipedia:Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia|Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia]], a town famous as the location where the [[Wikipedia:American Civil War|American Civil War]] ended; and the all-time career record for home runs in [[Wikipedia:Major League Baseball|Major League Baseball]] (755), set by baseball player [[Wikipedia:Hank Aaron|Hank Aaron]]. The first question was "Are you all going to be in my experimental film?"

=== Trivia ===
*This toon was originally posted on [[The Brothers Chaps]]' [http://www.thoraxcorp.com/ thoraxcorp.com], but was quickly taken down.
*This toon was released at approximately midnight, Atlanta time, on 13 July 2004—the release date of ''The Spine''.
*From January 2005 to September 2005, the toon was available through the iTunes Music Store. It vanished when iTunes 6.0 was introduced.
*The joystick Homestar is using is for an [[Atari 2600]].
*According to [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.07/play.html this Wired interview], TMBG will be making a separate video for the [[Wikipedia:MTV|MTV]] crowd. Choice quote: "I feel like if MTV and Homestar collided, the world might explode." However, the H*R music video '''did''' air on MTV.
*Despite "resolving not to feel so bad about wanting to hit Homestar so much" (see Strong Sad's [[Strong Sad's Lament|Blog]]), the commentary shows the first time that Strong Sad has stood up to Homestar. As expected, Homestar doesn't take him very seriously.
*The first frame of the actual song is labelled "[[Glossary#V|viderostart]]" internally (this label is used by the commentary scripts).

=== Remarks ===
*The first line of the song is "The color of infinity inside an empty glass." Strong Sad's glass is full.
*Even though Strong Sad says he can't jump in his blog, he jumps here and in [[A Jumping Jack Contest]].
*After you see the clip of Strong Sad shaving, you see a close-up of The Cheat shaving.
*For the shot of Strong Sad pointing the camera in the mirror at an angle to be possible, the view would have to be from a second camera filming this, or involve additional mirrors.
*In the commentary, Strong Bad comments that Gavin got as much screen time as he did, but in fact, Strong Bad has about 10 seconds of screen time, versus Gavin's 3 seconds.

=== Goofs ===
*The clock has six seconds between the three and the four.
**This adds to Strong Bad's argument during the commentary that "this part accurately represents what it feels like to watch this video."
*The Atari joystick button is on the upper right instead of the upper left.
*As Homestar prepares to run away from Strong Sad, if you look close, you can see that his leg is disconnected from his body.

=== Inside References ===
*Gavin, the cockroach from the Easter egg in [[personal favorites]], makes a cameo appearance.
*When "It's a lion!" pops up for the first time, the lion is wearing Homestar's hat.
*Near the end, the crowd flips the cards to a picture of an olive on a toothpick. This was the eye from the [[Homestar Jr.]] in [[Where's The Cheat?]]
*When the people in the grandstands flip the scenery cards to the mountain scene, it slightly resembles [[Main Page 2]].
*"Our gracious host" bears a striking resemblance to [[Monte Negro]] in [[Malloween Commercial]].
*When Homestar appears between the split screens, his lips move in such a way that he may be saying "[[Witches' Brew]]" yet again.

====They Might Be Giants References====
*United States presidents are [http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Presidents a common theme] in TMBG's work; they have no fewer than five songs about U.S. presidents, an album called ''Lincoln'', and frequently mention presidents in songs and on stage. Their [http://www.tmbg.com website] is also presidentially themed.
**It should be noted, however, that while the band chose the album title ''Lincoln'' fully aware of its presidential overtones, the album is actually named after Lincoln, Massachusetts—the town where the two Johns grew up.
*Skulls (i.e. the Tentacle Skull seen riding the bicycle) are another [http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Skulls frequent TMBG theme]. In addition to being mentioned in several of their songs, it appears on the cover of their ''[http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Back_To_Skull Back to Skull]'' EP and on the back of their ''[http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/John_Henry John Henry]'' album. The skull might also be the [http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Skullivan Skullivan], as mentioned in the companion EP for ''The Spine'', ''[http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/The_Spine_Surfs_Alone_(EP) The Spine Surfs Alone]''.
*[http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Coffee Coffee] is yet another common theme in the work of TMBG. The earliest videos and promotional matierials from the '80s show TMBG with cups of coffee. In the film ''[http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Gigantic Gigantic]'', TMBG confesses that they are insanely dependent on coffee.
*In the commentary, both Strong Bad and Homestar get TMBG's name totally wrong (both "Super Giants" and "Supreme Giants" are mentioned). This is, of course, [http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Monikers not the first time this has happened]. In fact, one of their early EPs included [http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Untitled an answering machine message] in which two people discuss "There Must Be Giants" and "There May Be Giants" and appear to be confused about the whole experience.
*The finger that comes up at one point might be a reference to the thumb on the cover of TMBG's [http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Dial-A-Song_-_20_Years_Of_They_Might_Be_Giants "Dial-a-Song" album].
*The globe in the video is an odd refrence to one of TMBG's songs, [http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Ana_Ng Ana Ng] in which a globe is refrenced in the beginning lines of the song.

=== Real-World References ===
*Strong Sad meeting the Grim Reaper through split screens is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Ingmar Bergman|Ingmar Bergman's]] ''[[IMDB:tt0050976|The Seventh Seal]]''.
*The scene with the film apparently burning (the one that Homestar credits to Strong Sad loading the film wrong) is a reference to Bergman's ''[[Wikipedia:Persona (film)|Persona]]''.
*Much of the imagery, and especially the scenes of Strong Sad watching film sprocket holds go by, is likely a reference to one of the first great experimental films, ''[[IMDB:tt0019760|The Man with a Movie Camera]]'' by [[Wikipedia:Dziga Vertov|Dziga Vertov]], which has a section in which the sides of the film are exposed, and the characters look outside their own frame/world at the holes running by.
*Ants (actually little The Cheats) crawling out of holes in Strong Sad's hands is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Luis Buñuel|Luis Buñuel's]] ''[[IMDB:tt0020530| Un Chien Andalou]]'' ("An Andalusian Dog") co-directed by famous surrealist painter [[Wikipedia:Salvador Dalí|Salvador Dalí]].
*Strong Sad shaving himself is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Jørgen Leth|Jørgen Leth's]] short film ''[[IMDB:tt0376821| Det perfekte menneske]]'' ("The Perfect Human").
*In the commentary, Strong Bad interrupts Strong Sad with the phrase "Boring Johnny and the Get Bored Crew". This is most likely a reference to the hip hop group "[[Wikipedia:Doug E. Fresh|Doug E. Fresh]] And The Get Fresh Crew".
*Homestar can be found playing a game much like ''[[Wikipedia:Space Invaders|Space Invaders]]'', only with presidents instead of aliens, as well as a dollar sign instead of a tank.
*The swinging lightbulb is from the famous penultimate scene in [[Wikipedia:Alfred Hitchcock|Hitchcock's]] ''[[IMDB:tt0054215|Psycho]]'', where Vera Miles finds Norman Bates' partially-preserved dead mother in the fruit cellar. The oscillating shadows that result are re-created in various places in the video/animation.
*Another Hitchcock film nod is made to ''[[IMDB:tt0052357|Vertigo]]'', when Strong Sad falls out of the film and into a descending spiral of presidential faces.

==DVD Version==
*The DVD version features two commentaries by Strong Sad, The Cheat, Strong Bad, and Homestar Runner. The first is available on the website and is transcribed above. The second is transcribed below. To access them, switch your DVD player's audio language selection while watching.

===Commentary Transcript===
('''Commentary by:''' [[Strong Sad]], [[The Cheat]], [[Strong Bad]], [[Homestar Runner]])

'''STRONG SAD:''' Uh, hello. This is Strong Sad.

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' And that's The Cheat, and we're gonna talk about this video. Oh, geez, it's already started. So the guys approached me to do a video for "Experimental Film", so I shot my own experimental film but the, uh, the glasses guy said that it was too much of a total drag, so they brought The Cheat on board to, as they said, "make it quit sucking," which I guess is an industry term, I dunno...

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Uh, The Cheat wants you to know that he did this part. I think they probably figured that out. ''{The images of John Flansburgh and John Linnell's heads appear.}'' There he is! That glasses guy. You really dig those extreme climates, huh? The desert, the arctic, ''{As this is said, the scene shifts to the arctic.}'' football stadiums... So this scene is dealing with man's indecision and apathy.

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Oh, that scene was dealing with hitting coffee with a drumstick, eh?

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noise}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{"Our Gracious Host" appears.}'' Okay, The Cheat, come clean. Who is that creepy guy in the picture frame?

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Who's Stephan?

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Well, I can see he's "Our gracious host"! But what does he have to do with anything?

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Okay, whatever keeps you off the streets. ''{The Pop Quiz appears.}'' Let's see, those questions were, "How many home runs did Hank Aaron have?", "Where did Lee surrender to Grant?", "What did Eli Whitney invent?", and "Are you going to be in my experimental film?" What class is that for?!

'''STRONG BAD:''' Oh, hello there, chumps!

'''STRONG SAD:''' What are you guys doing here?!

'''STRONG BAD:''' I'm here to save this commentary from a death worse than... Strong Sad commentary.

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' And I'm just here ridin' all y'all's coat tails.

'''STRONG SAD:''' Well, maybe you could tell me how you got that video game to come up on the ATM!

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Maybe I'm some type of magic video game man. Maybe you should start dealing with that, Strong Sad.

'''STRONG BAD:''' Man, I wish I grabbed some of that black-and-white cash!

'''STRONG SAD:''' That was Monopoly money!

'''STRONG BAD:''' Yeah, but, I'm gonna... ''{coughs}'' uh, sneeze. Yeah, black-and-white Monopoly money! That stuff is priceless! I'd be livin' on Baltic Avenue!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Well, this part's all about rebirth and new life...

'''STRONG BAD:''' Yeah, yeah, whatever. This part comin' up here is all about my new dance, The Side-swipe! ''{The dancing scene with Homestar, Strong Bad, and Strong Mad appears.}'' Check it out! Mm! Ah! Ooh side-swipe!

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Hey, Strong Sad.

'''STRONG SAD:''' What?!

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Hey, Strong Sad.

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''What?!''

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Umm... it's a lion. ''{As he says this, "It's a lion" appears in the football stands.}''

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{A somewhat lengthy set of The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' Ah, that was very insightful, The Cheat!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Yeah, yeah, totally!

'''STRONG BAD:''' All right, so what kinda soup was that? Like, tomato-basil or some kind of bisque?

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' Ooh! Mulligatawny!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Can we talk about something artistic?

'''STRONG BAD:''' No, but we can talk about how "Real Smooth Moves" is, like, the best band name I ever heard. These Super Giant guys should change their name from "Super Giant" to "Real Smooth Moves." That's a band name!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Oh, I'm outta here! Hope I still get paid!

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

== See Also ==
*The [[Experimental Film Visuals|visuals]] that occur during the Experimental Film.
==External Links==

*[[HR:expfilm.html|watch "Experimental Film"]]
*[[HR:expfilm_final.swf|view the Flash file for "Experimental Film"]]
*[[HR:testChild.swf|view the Flash file for the director's commentary of "Experimental Film"]]
**After it has finished loading, right-click and choose "Play"
*[[Forum:273|forum thread re: "Experimental Film"]]
*[http://www.theymightbegiants.com/ Download the song at theymightbegiants.com for 99 cents].
*[http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Experimental_Film This Might Be A Wiki: Experimental Film]
[[Category:Shorts]][[Category:Songs]][[Category:Powered by The Cheat]]

Experimental Film

2006-02-06T02:45:58Z

Txzam:

{{toonnav|Shorts|expfilm|Peasant's Quest Preview|Senor Mortgage}}
[[Image:experimentalfilm.PNG|200px|thumb|The color of infinity?]]
Strong Sad and The Cheat make a video for They Might Be Giants.

'''Cast (in order of appearance):''' {{Film|Strong Sad}}, [[Tentacle Skull]], [[They Might Be Giants|John Flansburgh]], [[They Might Be Giants|John Linnell]], {{Film|The Cheat}}, {{Film|Gavin}}, [[Lions#.22It.27s_a_lion.21.22|It's a lion!]], {{Film|Homestar Runner}}, {{Film|Strong Bad}}, {{Film|Strong Mad}}

'''Places:''' [[The Field]], [[The Athletic Field]]

'''Date:''' July 13, 2004

'''Running Time:''' 3:00

'''Page Title:''' So a guy walks up to an ATM...

==Lyrics==

The color of infinity 
Inside an empty glass 
I'm squinting my eye 
And turning off and on and on 
and off the light

for this is an experimental film 
Which nobody knows about, and which 
I'm still figuring out what's going to go 
In my experimental film

Yeah! you're all gonna be in this experimental film 
And even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it's

I already know the ending 
It's the part that makes your face implode 
I don't know what makes your face implode 
But that's the way the movie ends

And in my experimental film 
Which nobody knows about 
But which I'm still figuring out 
Your face implodes at my experimental film

Yeah, you're all gonna be in this experimental film 
And even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it— 
Even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it's

The color of infinity 
Inside an empty glass 
It's for this experimental film 
Which nobody knows about, and which. 
I'm still figuring out what's going to go 
In my experimental film

Yeah, you're all gonna be in this experimental film 
And even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it's gonna— 
Yeah, you're gonna be in this experimental film 
And even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it— 
Even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it's

== Easter Eggs ==

*You can click on "Directed by Strong Sad & The Cheat" before the video starts to get a commentary by Homestar Runner characters.

===Commentary Transcript===

'''STRONG SAD:''' Oh, hello, this is Strong Sad—

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' —and we're the co-directors of this video.

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{Meh!}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Uh, so my portion of this video details the life of a very lonely individual named Rondell who can't deal with the decisions of day-to-day life.

'''STRONG BAD:''' We interrupt this whining to bring you this important headline: "World bored to death by Strong Sad commentary."

'''STRONG SAD:''' Agh, what are you doing here? You're hardly even in this video!

'''STRONG BAD:''' Yeah, well I woulda been the one directing it if weren't for those Super Giant guys.

'''STRONG SAD:''' That's not what they're called.

'''STRONG BAD:''' Whatever they're called, that one right there with the glasses, he started talking all these vocabulary words at me and confusin' me and the next thing I know, I was relegated to this crappy bit part. ''{Referring to the top of two heads (one is wearing glasses, likely They Might Be Giants' John Flansburgh)}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Hey, "relegated" sounds like a vocabulary word.

'''STRONG BAD:''' I'll relegate your face to a...bloody pulp!

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{Coffee was being hit with a drumstick}'' {The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Oh, that part represented hitting coffee with a drumstick. Okay.

[[Image:gracious.png|thumb|"Ahh! More like our 'I'll murder you in a back alley' host."]]
'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{upon seeing a picture captioned "our gracious host"}'' Ahh! More like our "I'll murder you in a back alley" host.

'''STRONG SAD:''' Uh, so this next part ''{referring to tiny The Cheats erupting from cracks in Rondell's hands}'' is an allusion to one of my very favorite experimental films called--

'''STRONG BAD:''' Boring Johnny and the Get Bored Crew.

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{exasperated}'' Would you quit it with the "boring" comments?

'''STRONG BAD:''' Look, if it weren't for that tentacle skull riding the old-timey bike, this video would have nothin'!

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{barely comprehensible}'' You don't like the video, huh?

'''STRONG SAD:''' Oh, yeah, the first question on that pop quiz was, "Are you all going to be in my experimental film?" ''{Referring to Pop Quiz in clip}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{the tentacle skull is seen in ink on lined paper}'' Oh, look, there he is! Keep on old-timey bikin', tentacle-skull. ''{Gavin is seen}'' Hey, is that Gavin? I didn't know he was in this video. He's got, like, as much screen time as I do!

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Hey guys, is this the Super Giants video?

'''STRONG SAD:''' That's not what they're—

'''STRONG BAD:''' Yes. But they cut us out of it.

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Oh, weird—then why'd they bother getting somebody who looks just like me? ''{Seeing himself in the clip}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' No, that is you, I just mean they mostly—

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' ''{Seeing Strong Bad and Strong Mad in the clip}'' And that guy looks just like you! And that big guy ''{referring to Strong Mad}'' looks just like Coach Z!

'''STRONG BAD:''' Now this part accurately represents what it feels like to watch this video. ''{Ticking clock shown}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{exasperated}'' Ohhh! This next part ''{the film shows Rondell's face, then begins to shake, and the image disappears as if burning, revealing animated Rondell}'' is all about Rondell's transformation into a new man.

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' I thought you said that was just an accident that happened because you loaded the film wrong.

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{embarassed}'' Uhh, why don't you shut up, Homestar?

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' I dunno... 'cause I guess I got a lot of stuff to say.

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{when he, Strong Mad and Homestar are seen dancing}'' Check out my dance! Ooh, ah, ooh side-swipe! ''{The Cheat joins in}'' Ooh, ah, ooh side-swipe! ''{Homestar joins in}'' Ooh, ah, ooh side-swipe! Ooh, ah, ooh side-swipe!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Ahhh, this is the worst commentary ever!

'''STRONG BAD:''' That's what I've been saying this whole time!

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Yeah, me too. Worst commissary ever!

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{during the portion where components of the film are seen pogoing}'' At this point reality and fantasy have collided and everybody... pogos.

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{as an animated Rondell walks up to an animated ATM}'' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{angry}'' What do you mean you tried to be as dumpy-accurate as possible?

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{as Strong Bad is seen dancing, with the words "Real Smooth Moves" is seen above him}'' Let's talk about how "Real Smooth Moves" is like the best band name ever. The old Supreme Giants boys could take a cue from that one.

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' ''{as a muffin on a table is seen}'' I'm gonna take a cue from that kitchen table and go get me a blue-bree muffin!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Ohh, what a disaster. I hope I still get paid.

== Fun Facts ==

=== Explanations ===
*This toon was made for the first single from They Might Be Giants' tenth studio album ''[http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/The_Spine The Spine]''. The song is called [http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Experimental_Film "Experimental Film"].
*The two head-tops belong to They Might Be Giants' John Flansburgh and John Linnell. The one on the left is Flansburgh, as he has black hair and wears glasses, and the one on the right is Linnell.
*The answers for the "pop quiz" most likely refer to the [[Wikipedia:Cotton gin|cotton gin]], an invention that revolutionized the cotton-growing industry; [[Wikipedia:Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia|Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia]], a town famous as the location where the [[Wikipedia:American Civil War|American Civil War]] ended; and the all-time career record for home runs in [[Wikipedia:Major League Baseball|Major League Baseball]] (755), set by baseball player [[Wikipedia:Hank Aaron|Hank Aaron]]. The first question was "Are you all going to be in my experimental film?"

=== Trivia ===
*This toon was originally posted on [[The Brothers Chaps]]' [http://www.thoraxcorp.com/ thoraxcorp.com], but was quickly taken down.
*This toon was released at approximately midnight, Atlanta time, on 13 July 2004—the release date of ''The Spine''.
*From January 2005 to September 2005, the toon was available through the iTunes Music Store. It vanished when iTunes 6.0 was introduced.
*The joystick Homestar is using is for an [[Atari 2600]].
*According to [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.07/play.html this Wired interview], TMBG will be making a separate video for the [[Wikipedia:MTV|MTV]] crowd. Choice quote: "I feel like if MTV and Homestar collided, the world might explode." However, the H*R music video '''did''' air on MTV.
*Despite "resolving not to feel so bad about wanting to hit Homestar so much" (see Strong Sad's [[Strong Sad's Lament|Blog]]), the commentary shows the first time that Strong Sad has stood up to Homestar. As expected, Homestar doesn't take him very seriously.
*The first frame of the actual song is labelled "[[Glossary#V|viderostart]]" internally (this label is used by the commentary scripts).

=== Remarks ===
*The first line of the song is "The color of infinity inside an empty glass." Strong Sad's glass is full.
*Even though Strong Sad says he can't jump in his blog, he jumps here and in [[A Jumping Jack Contest]].
*After you see the clip of Strong Sad shaving, you see a close-up of The Cheat shaving.
*For the shot of Strong Sad pointing the camera in the mirror at an angle to be possible, the view would have to be from a second camera filming this, or involve additional mirrors.
*In the commentary, Strong Bad comments that Gavin got as much screen time as he did, but in fact, Strong Bad has about 10 seconds of screen time, versus Gavin's 3 seconds.

=== Goofs ===
*The clock has six seconds between the three and the four.
**This adds to Strong Bad's argument during the commentary that "this part accurately represents what it feels like to watch this video."
*The Atari joystick button is on the upper right instead of the upper left.
*As Homestar prepares to run away from Strong Sad, if you look close, you can see that his leg is disconnected from his body.

=== Inside References ===
*Gavin, the cockroach from the Easter egg in [[personal favorites]], makes a cameo appearance.
*When "It's a lion!" pops up for the first time, the lion is wearing Homestar's hat.
*Near the end, the crowd flips the cards to a picture of an olive on a toothpick. This was the eye from the [[Homestar Jr.]] in [[Where's The Cheat?]]
*When the people in the grandstands flip the scenery cards to the mountain scene, it slightly resembles [[Main Page 2]].
*"Our gracious host" bears a striking resemblance to [[Monte Negro]] in [[Malloween Commercial]].
*When Homestar appears between the split screens, his lips move in such a way that he may be saying "[[Witches' Brew]]" yet again.

====They Might Be Giants References====
*United States presidents are [http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Presidents a common theme] in TMBG's work; they have no fewer than five songs about U.S. presidents, an album called ''Lincoln'', and frequently mention presidents in songs and on stage. Their [http://www.tmbg.com website] is also presidentially themed.
**It should be noted, however, that while the band chose the album title ''Lincoln'' fully aware of its presidential overtones, the album is actually named after Lincoln, Massachusetts—the town where the two Johns grew up.
*Skulls (i.e. the Tentacle Skull seen riding the bicycle) are another [http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Skulls frequent TMBG theme]. In addition to being mentioned in several of their songs, it appears on the cover of their ''[http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Back_To_Skull Back to Skull]'' EP and on the back of their ''[http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/John_Henry John Henry]'' album. The skull might also be the [http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Skullivan Skullivan], as mentioned in the companion EP for ''The Spine'', ''[http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/The_Spine_Surfs_Alone_(EP) The Spine Surfs Alone]''.
*[http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Coffee Coffee] is yet another common theme in the work of TMBG. The earliest videos and promotional matierials from the '80s show TMBG with cups of coffee. In the film ''[http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Gigantic Gigantic]'', TMBG confesses that they are insanely dependent on coffee.
*In the commentary, both Strong Bad and Homestar get TMBG's name totally wrong (both "Super Giants" and "Supreme Giants" are mentioned). This is, of course, [http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Monikers not the first time this has happened]. In fact, one of their early EPs included [http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Untitled an answering machine message] in which two people discuss "There Must Be Giants" and "There May Be Giants" and appear to be confused about the whole experience.
*The finger that comes up at one point might be a reference to the thumb on the cover of TMBG's [http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Dial-A-Song_-_20_Years_Of_They_Might_Be_Giants "Dial-a-Song" album].
*The globe in the video is an odd refrence to one of TMBG's songs, [http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Ana_Ng Ana Ng] in which a globe is refrenced in the beginning lines of the song.

=== Real-World References ===
*Strong Sad meeting the Grim Reaper through split screens is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Ingmar Bergman|Ingmar Bergman's]] ''[[IMDB:tt0050976|The Seventh Seal]]''.
*The scene with the film apparently burning (the one that Homestar credits to Strong Sad loading the film wrong) is a reference to Bergman's ''[[Wikipedia:Persona (film)|Persona]]''.
*Much of the imagery, and especially the scenes of Strong Sad watching film sprocket holds go by, is likely a reference to one of the first great experimental films, ''[[IMDB:tt0019760|The Man with a Movie Camera]]'' by [[Wikipedia:Dziga Vertov|Dziga Vertov]], which has a section in which the sides of the film are exposed, and the characters look outside their own frame/world at the holes running by.
*Ants (actually little The Cheats) crawling out of holes in Strong Sad's hands is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Luis Buñuel|Luis Buñuel's]] ''[[IMDB:tt0020530| Un Chien Andalou]]'' ("An Andalusian Dog") co-directed by famous surrealist painter [[Wikipedia:Salvador Dalí|Salvador Dalí]].
*Strong Sad shaving himself is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Jørgen Leth|Jørgen Leth's]] short film ''[[IMDB:tt0376821| Det perfekte menneske]]'' ("The Perfect Human").
*In the commentary, Strong Bad interrupts Strong Sad with the phrase "Boring Johnny and the Get Bored Crew". This is most likely a reference to the hip hop group "[[Wikipedia:Doug E. Fresh|Doug E. Fresh]] And The Get Fresh Crew".
*Homestar can be found playing a game much like ''[[Wikipedia:Space Invaders|Space Invaders]]'', only with presidents instead of aliens, as well as a dollar sign instead of a tank.
*The swinging lightbulb is from the famous penultimate scene in [[Wikipedia:Alfred Hitchcock|Hitchcock's]] ''[[IMDB:tt0054215|Psycho]]'', where Vera Miles finds Norman Bates' partially-preserved dead mother in the fruit cellar. The oscillating shadows that result are re-created in various places in the video/animation.
*Another Hitchcock film nod is made to ''[[IMDB:tt0052357|Vertigo]]'', when Strong Sad falls out of the film and into a descending spiral of presidential faces.

==DVD Version==
*The DVD version features two commentaries by Strong Sad, The Cheat, Strong Bad, and Homestar Runner. The first is available on the website and is transcribed above. The second is transcribed below. To access them, switch your DVD player's audio language selection while watching.

===Commentary Transcript===
('''Commentary by:''' [[Strong Sad]], [[The Cheat]], [[Strong Bad]], [[Homestar Runner]])

'''STRONG SAD:''' Uh, hello. This is Strong Sad.

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' And that's The Cheat, and we're gonna talk about this video. Oh, geez, it's already started. So the guys approached me to do a video for "Experimental Film", so I shot my own experimental film but the, uh, the glasses guy said that it was too much of a total drag, so they brought The Cheat on board to, as they said, "make it quit sucking," which I guess is an industry term, I dunno...

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Uh, The Cheat wants you to know that he did this part. I think they probably figured that out. ''{The images of John Flansburgh and John Linnell's heads appear.}'' There he is! That glasses guy. You really dig those extreme climates, huh? The desert, the arctic, ''{As this is said, the scene shifts to the arctic.}'' football stadiums... So this scene is dealing with man's indecision and apathy.

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Oh, that scene was dealing with hitting coffee with a drumstick, eh?

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noise}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{"Our Gracious Host" appears.}'' Okay, The Cheat, come clean. Who is that creepy guy in the picture frame?

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Who's Stephan?

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Well, I can see he's "Our gracious host"! But what does he have to do with anything?

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Okay, whatever keeps you off the streets. ''{The Pop Quiz appears.}'' Let's see, those questions were, "How many home runs did Hank Aaron have?", "Where did Lee surrender to Grant?", "What did Eli Whitney invent?", and "Are you going to be in my experimental film?" What class is that for?!

'''STRONG BAD:''' Oh, hello there, chumps!

'''STRONG SAD:''' What are you guys doing here?!

'''STRONG BAD:''' I'm here to save this commentary from a death worse than... Strong Sad commentary.

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' And I'm just here ridin' all y'all's coat tails.

'''STRONG SAD:''' Well, maybe you could tell me how you got that video game to come up on the ATM!

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Maybe I'm some type of magic video game man. Maybe you should start dealing with that, Strong Sad.

'''STRONG BAD:''' Man, I wish I grabbed some of that black-and-white cash!

'''STRONG SAD:''' That was Monopoly money!

'''STRONG BAD:''' Yeah, but, I'm gonna... ''{coughs}'' uh, sneeze. Yeah, black-and-white Monopoly money! That stuff is priceless! I'd be livin' on Baltic Avenue!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Well, this part's all about rebirth and new life...

'''STRONG BAD:''' Yeah, yeah, whatever. This part comin' up here is all about my new dance, The Side-swipe! ''{The dancing scene with Homestar, Strong Bad, and Strong Mad appears.}'' Check it out! Mm! Ah! Ooh side-swipe!

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Hey, Strong Sad.

'''STRONG SAD:''' What?!

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Hey, Strong Sad.

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''What?!''

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Umm... it's a lion. ''{As he says this, "It's a lion" appears in the football stands.}''

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{A somewhat lengthy set of The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' Ah, that was very insightful, The Cheat!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Yeah, yeah, totally!

'''STRONG BAD:''' All right, so what kinda soup was that? Like, tomato-basil or some kind of bisque?

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' Ooh! Mulligatawny!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Can we talk about something artistic?

'''STRONG BAD:''' No, but we can talk about how "Real Smooth Moves" is, like, the best band name I ever heard. These Super Giant guys should change their name from "Super Giant" to "Real Smooth Moves." That's a band name!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Oh, I'm outta here! Hope I still get paid!

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

== See Also ==
*The [[Experimental Film Visuals|visuals]] that occur during the Experimental Film.
==External Links==

*[[HR:expfilm.html|watch "Experimental Film"]]
*[[HR:expfilm_final.swf|view the Flash file for "Experimental Film"]]
*[[HR:testChild.swf|view the Flash file for the director's commentary of "Experimental Film"]]
**After it has finished loading, right-click and choose "Play"
*[[Forum:273|forum thread re: "Experimental Film"]]
*[http://www.theymightbegiants.com/ Download the song at theymightbegiants.com for 99 cents].
*[http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Experimental_Film This Might Be A Wiki: Experimental Film]
[[Category:Shorts]][[Category:Songs]][[Category:Powered by The Cheat]]

Experimental Film

2006-02-06T02:44:44Z

Txzam:

{{toonnav|Shorts|expfilm|Peasant's Quest Preview|Senor Mortgage}}
[[Image:experimentalfilm.PNG|200px|thumb|The color of infinity?]]
Strong Sad and The Cheat make a video for They Might Be Giants.

'''Cast (in order of appearance):''' {{Film|Strong Sad}}, [[Tentacle Skull]], [[They Might Be Giants|John Flansburgh]], [[They Might Be Giants|John Linnell]], {{Film|The Cheat}}, {{Film|Gavin}}, [[Lions#.22It.27s_a_lion.21.22|It's a lion!]], {{Film|Homestar Runner}}, {{Film|Strong Bad}}, {{Film|Strong Mad}}

'''Places:''' [[The Field]], [[The Athletic Field]]

'''Date:''' July 13, 2004

'''Running Time:''' 3:00

'''Page Title:''' So a guy walks up to an ATM...

==Lyrics==

The color of infinity 
Inside an empty glass 
I'm squinting my eye 
And turning off and on and on 
and off the light

for this is an experimental film 
Which nobody knows about, and which 
I'm still figuring out what's going to go 
In my experimental film

Yeah! you're all gonna be in this experimental film 
And even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it's

I already know the ending 
It's the part that makes your face implode 
I don't know what makes your face implode 
But that's the way the movie ends

And in my experimental film 
Which nobody knows about 
But which I'm still figuring out 
Your face implodes at my experimental film

Yeah, you're all gonna be in this experimental film 
And even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it— 
Even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it's

The color of infinity 
Inside an empty glass 
It's for this experimental film 
Which nobody knows about, and which 
I'm still figuring out what's going to go 
In my experimental film

Yeah, you're all gonna be in this experimental film 
And even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it's gonna— 
Yeah, you're gonna be in this experimental film 
And even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it— 
Even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it's

== Easter Eggs ==

*You can click on "Directed by Strong Sad & The Cheat" before the video starts to get a commentary by Homestar Runner characters.

===Commentary Transcript===

'''STRONG SAD:''' Oh, hello, this is Strong Sad—

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' —and we're the co-directors of this video.

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{Meh!}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Uh, so my portion of this video details the life of a very lonely individual named Rondell who can't deal with the decisions of day-to-day life.

'''STRONG BAD:''' We interrupt this whining to bring you this important headline: "World bored to death by Strong Sad commentary."

'''STRONG SAD:''' Agh, what are you doing here? You're hardly even in this video!

'''STRONG BAD:''' Yeah, well I woulda been the one directing it if weren't for those Super Giant guys.

'''STRONG SAD:''' That's not what they're called.

'''STRONG BAD:''' Whatever they're called, that one right there with the glasses, he started talking all these vocabulary words at me and confusin' me and the next thing I know, I was relegated to this crappy bit part. ''{Referring to the top of two heads (one is wearing glasses, likely They Might Be Giants' John Flansburgh)}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Hey, "relegated" sounds like a vocabulary word.

'''STRONG BAD:''' I'll relegate your face to a...bloody pulp!

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{Coffee was being hit with a drumstick}'' {The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Oh, that part represented hitting coffee with a drumstick. Okay.

[[Image:gracious.png|thumb|"Ahh! More like our 'I'll murder you in a back alley' host."]]
'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{upon seeing a picture captioned "our gracious host"}'' Ahh! More like our "I'll murder you in a back alley" host.

'''STRONG SAD:''' Uh, so this next part ''{referring to tiny The Cheats erupting from cracks in Rondell's hands}'' is an allusion to one of my very favorite experimental films called--

'''STRONG BAD:''' Boring Johnny and the Get Bored Crew.

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{exasperated}'' Would you quit it with the "boring" comments?

'''STRONG BAD:''' Look, if it weren't for that tentacle skull riding the old-timey bike, this video would have nothin'!

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{barely comprehensible}'' You don't like the video, huh?

'''STRONG SAD:''' Oh, yeah, the first question on that pop quiz was, "Are you all going to be in my experimental film?" ''{Referring to Pop Quiz in clip}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{the tentacle skull is seen in ink on lined paper}'' Oh, look, there he is! Keep on old-timey bikin', tentacle-skull. ''{Gavin is seen}'' Hey, is that Gavin? I didn't know he was in this video. He's got, like, as much screen time as I do!

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Hey guys, is this the Super Giants video?

'''STRONG SAD:''' That's not what they're—

'''STRONG BAD:''' Yes. But they cut us out of it.

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Oh, weird—then why'd they bother getting somebody who looks just like me? ''{Seeing himself in the clip}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' No, that is you, I just mean they mostly—

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' ''{Seeing Strong Bad and Strong Mad in the clip}'' And that guy looks just like you! And that big guy ''{referring to Strong Mad}'' looks just like Coach Z!

'''STRONG BAD:''' Now this part accurately represents what it feels like to watch this video. ''{Ticking clock shown}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{exasperated}'' Ohhh! This next part ''{the film shows Rondell's face, then begins to shake, and the image disappears as if burning, revealing animated Rondell}'' is all about Rondell's transformation into a new man.

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' I thought you said that was just an accident that happened because you loaded the film wrong.

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{embarassed}'' Uhh, why don't you shut up, Homestar?

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' I dunno... 'cause I guess I got a lot of stuff to say.

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{when he, Strong Mad and Homestar are seen dancing}'' Check out my dance! Ooh, ah, ooh side-swipe! ''{The Cheat joins in}'' Ooh, ah, ooh side-swipe! ''{Homestar joins in}'' Ooh, ah, ooh side-swipe! Ooh, ah, ooh side-swipe!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Ahhh, this is the worst commentary ever!

'''STRONG BAD:''' That's what I've been saying this whole time!

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Yeah, me too. Worst commissary ever!

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{during the portion where components of the film are seen pogoing}'' At this point reality and fantasy have collided and everybody... pogos.

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{as an animated Rondell walks up to an animated ATM}'' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{angry}'' What do you mean you tried to be as dumpy-accurate as possible?

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{as Strong Bad is seen dancing, with the words "Real Smooth Moves" is seen above him}'' Let's talk about how "Real Smooth Moves" is like the best band name ever. The old Supreme Giants boys could take a cue from that one.

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' ''{as a muffin on a table is seen}'' I'm gonna take a cue from that kitchen table and go get me a blue-bree muffin!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Ohh, what a disaster. I hope I still get paid.

== Fun Facts ==

=== Explanations ===
*This toon was made for the first single from They Might Be Giants' tenth studio album ''[http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/The_Spine The Spine]''. The song is called [http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Experimental_Film "Experimental Film"].
*The two head-tops belong to They Might Be Giants' John Flansburgh and John Linnell. The one on the left is Flansburgh, as he has black hair and wears glasses, and the one on the right is Linnell.
*The answers for the "pop quiz" most likely refer to the [[Wikipedia:Cotton gin|cotton gin]], an invention that revolutionized the cotton-growing industry; [[Wikipedia:Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia|Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia]], a town famous as the location where the [[Wikipedia:American Civil War|American Civil War]] ended; and the all-time career record for home runs in [[Wikipedia:Major League Baseball|Major League Baseball]] (755), set by baseball player [[Wikipedia:Hank Aaron|Hank Aaron]]. The first question was "Are you all going to be in my experimental film?"

=== Trivia ===
*This toon was originally posted on [[The Brothers Chaps]]' [http://www.thoraxcorp.com/ thoraxcorp.com], but was quickly taken down.
*This toon was released at approximately midnight, Atlanta time, on 13 July 2004—the release date of ''The Spine''.
*From January 2005 to September 2005, the toon was available through the iTunes Music Store. It vanished when iTunes 6.0 was introduced.
*The joystick Homestar is using is for an [[Atari 2600]].
*According to [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.07/play.html this Wired interview], TMBG will be making a separate video for the [[Wikipedia:MTV|MTV]] crowd. Choice quote: "I feel like if MTV and Homestar collided, the world might explode." However, the H*R music video '''did''' air on MTV.
*Despite "resolving not to feel so bad about wanting to hit Homestar so much" (see Strong Sad's [[Strong Sad's Lament|Blog]]), the commentary shows the first time that Strong Sad has stood up to Homestar. As expected, Homestar doesn't take him very seriously.
*The first frame of the actual song is labelled "[[Glossary#V|viderostart]]" internally (this label is used by the commentary scripts).

=== Remarks ===
*The first line of the song is "The color of infinity inside an empty glass." Strong Sad's glass is full.
*Even though Strong Sad says he can't jump in his blog, he jumps here and in [[A Jumping Jack Contest]].
*After you see the clip of Strong Sad shaving, you see a close-up of The Cheat shaving.
*For the shot of Strong Sad pointing the camera in the mirror at an angle to be possible, the view would have to be from a second camera filming this, or involve additional mirrors.
*In the commentary, Strong Bad comments that Gavin got as much screen time as he did, but in fact, Strong Bad has about 10 seconds of screen time, versus Gavin's 3 seconds.

=== Goofs ===
*The clock has six seconds between the three and the four.
**This adds to Strong Bad's argument during the commentary that "this part accurately represents what it feels like to watch this video."
*The Atari joystick button is on the upper right instead of the upper left.
*As Homestar prepares to run away from Strong Sad, if you look close, you can see that his leg is disconnected from his body.

=== Inside References ===
*Gavin, the cockroach from the Easter egg in [[personal favorites]], makes a cameo appearance.
*When "It's a lion!" pops up for the first time, the lion is wearing Homestar's hat.
*Near the end, the crowd flips the cards to a picture of an olive on a toothpick. This was the eye from the [[Homestar Jr.]] in [[Where's The Cheat?]]
*When the people in the grandstands flip the scenery cards to the mountain scene, it slightly resembles [[Main Page 2]].
*"Our gracious host" bears a striking resemblance to [[Monte Negro]] in [[Malloween Commercial]].
*When Homestar appears between the split screens, his lips move in such a way that he may be saying "[[Witches' Brew]]" yet again.

====They Might Be Giants References====
*United States presidents are [http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Presidents a common theme] in TMBG's work; they have no fewer than five songs about U.S. presidents, an album called ''Lincoln'', and frequently mention presidents in songs and on stage. Their [http://www.tmbg.com website] is also presidentially themed.
**It should be noted, however, that while the band chose the album title ''Lincoln'' fully aware of its presidential overtones, the album is actually named after Lincoln, Massachusetts—the town where the two Johns grew up.
*Skulls (i.e. the Tentacle Skull seen riding the bicycle) are another [http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Skulls frequent TMBG theme]. In addition to being mentioned in several of their songs, it appears on the cover of their ''[http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Back_To_Skull Back to Skull]'' EP and on the back of their ''[http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/John_Henry John Henry]'' album. The skull might also be the [http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Skullivan Skullivan], as mentioned in the companion EP for ''The Spine'', ''[http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/The_Spine_Surfs_Alone_(EP) The Spine Surfs Alone]''.
*[http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Coffee Coffee] is yet another common theme in the work of TMBG. The earliest videos and promotional matierials from the '80s show TMBG with cups of coffee. In the film ''[http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Gigantic Gigantic]'', TMBG confesses that they are insanely dependent on coffee.
*In the commentary, both Strong Bad and Homestar get TMBG's name totally wrong (both "Super Giants" and "Supreme Giants" are mentioned). This is, of course, [http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Monikers not the first time this has happened]. In fact, one of their early EPs included [http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Untitled an answering machine message] in which two people discuss "There Must Be Giants" and "There May Be Giants" and appear to be confused about the whole experience.
*The finger that comes up at one point might be a reference to the thumb on the cover of TMBG's [http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Dial-A-Song_-_20_Years_Of_They_Might_Be_Giants "Dial-a-Song" album].
*The globe in the video is an odd refrence to one of TMBG's songs, [http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Ana_Ng Ana Ng] in which a globe is refrenced in the beginning lines of the song.

=== Real-World References ===
*Strong Sad meeting the Grim Reaper through split screens is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Ingmar Bergman|Ingmar Bergman's]] ''[[IMDB:tt0050976|The Seventh Seal]]''.
*The scene with the film apparently burning (the one that Homestar credits to Strong Sad loading the film wrong) is a reference to Bergman's ''[[Wikipedia:Persona (film)|Persona]]''.
*Much of the imagery, and especially the scenes of Strong Sad watching film sprocket holds go by, is likely a reference to one of the first great experimental films, ''[[IMDB:tt0019760|The Man with a Movie Camera]]'' by [[Wikipedia:Dziga Vertov|Dziga Vertov]], which has a section in which the sides of the film are exposed, and the characters look outside their own frame/world at the holes running by.
*Ants (actually little The Cheats) crawling out of holes in Strong Sad's hands is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Luis Buñuel|Luis Buñuel's]] ''[[IMDB:tt0020530| Un Chien Andalou]]'' ("An Andalusian Dog") co-directed by famous surrealist painter [[Wikipedia:Salvador Dalí|Salvador Dalí]].
*Strong Sad shaving himself is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Jørgen Leth|Jørgen Leth's]] short film ''[[IMDB:tt0376821| Det perfekte menneske]]'' ("The Perfect Human").
*In the commentary, Strong Bad interrupts Strong Sad with the phrase "Boring Johnny and the Get Bored Crew". This is most likely a reference to the hip hop group "[[Wikipedia:Doug E. Fresh|Doug E. Fresh]] And The Get Fresh Crew".
*Homestar can be found playing a game much like ''[[Wikipedia:Space Invaders|Space Invaders]]'', only with presidents instead of aliens, as well as a dollar sign instead of a tank.
*The swinging lightbulb is from the famous penultimate scene in [[Wikipedia:Alfred Hitchcock|Hitchcock's]] ''[[IMDB:tt0054215|Psycho]]'', where Vera Miles finds Norman Bates' partially-preserved dead mother in the fruit cellar. The oscillating shadows that result are re-created in various places in the video/animation.
*Another Hitchcock film nod is made to ''[[IMDB:tt0052357|Vertigo]]'', when Strong Sad falls out of the film and into a descending spiral of presidential faces.

==DVD Version==
*The DVD version features two commentaries by Strong Sad, The Cheat, Strong Bad, and Homestar Runner. The first is available on the website and is transcribed above. The second is transcribed below. To access them, switch your DVD player's audio language selection while watching.

===Commentary Transcript===
('''Commentary by:''' [[Strong Sad]], [[The Cheat]], [[Strong Bad]], [[Homestar Runner]])

'''STRONG SAD:''' Uh, hello. This is Strong Sad.

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' And that's The Cheat, and we're gonna talk about this video. Oh, geez, it's already started. So the guys approached me to do a video for "Experimental Film", so I shot my own experimental film but the, uh, the glasses guy said that it was too much of a total drag, so they brought The Cheat on board to, as they said, "make it quit sucking," which I guess is an industry term, I dunno...

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Uh, The Cheat wants you to know that he did this part. I think they probably figured that out. ''{The images of John Flansburgh and John Linnell's heads appear.}'' There he is! That glasses guy. You really dig those extreme climates, huh? The desert, the arctic, ''{As this is said, the scene shifts to the arctic.}'' football stadiums... So this scene is dealing with man's indecision and apathy.

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Oh, that scene was dealing with hitting coffee with a drumstick, eh?

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noise}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{"Our Gracious Host" appears.}'' Okay, The Cheat, come clean. Who is that creepy guy in the picture frame?

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Who's Stephan?

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Well, I can see he's "Our gracious host"! But what does he have to do with anything?

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Okay, whatever keeps you off the streets. ''{The Pop Quiz appears.}'' Let's see, those questions were, "How many home runs did Hank Aaron have?", "Where did Lee surrender to Grant?", "What did Eli Whitney invent?", and "Are you going to be in my experimental film?" What class is that for?!

'''STRONG BAD:''' Oh, hello there, chumps!

'''STRONG SAD:''' What are you guys doing here?!

'''STRONG BAD:''' I'm here to save this commentary from a death worse than... Strong Sad commentary.

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' And I'm just here ridin' all y'all's coat tails.

'''STRONG SAD:''' Well, maybe you could tell me how you got that video game to come up on the ATM!

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Maybe I'm some type of magic video game man. Maybe you should start dealing with that, Strong Sad.

'''STRONG BAD:''' Man, I wish I grabbed some of that black-and-white cash!

'''STRONG SAD:''' That was Monopoly money!

'''STRONG BAD:''' Yeah, but, I'm gonna... ''{coughs}'' uh, sneeze. Yeah, black-and-white Monopoly money! That stuff is priceless! I'd be livin' on Baltic Avenue!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Well, this part's all about rebirth and new life...

'''STRONG BAD:''' Yeah, yeah, whatever. This part comin' up here is all about my new dance, The Side-swipe! ''{The dancing scene with Homestar, Strong Bad, and Strong Mad appears.}'' Check it out! Mm! Ah! Ooh side-swipe!

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Hey, Strong Sad.

'''STRONG SAD:''' What?!

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Hey, Strong Sad.

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''What?!''

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Umm... it's a lion. ''{As he says this, "It's a lion" appears in the football stands.}''

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{A somewhat lengthy set of The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' Ah, that was very insightful, The Cheat!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Yeah, yeah, totally!

'''STRONG BAD:''' All right, so what kinda soup was that? Like, tomato-basil or some kind of bisque?

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' Ooh! Mulligatawny!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Can we talk about something artistic?

'''STRONG BAD:''' No, but we can talk about how "Real Smooth Moves" is, like, the best band name I ever heard. These Super Giant guys should change their name from "Super Giant" to "Real Smooth Moves." That's a band name!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Oh, I'm outta here! Hope I still get paid!

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

== See Also ==
*The [[Experimental Film Visuals|visuals]] that occur during the Experimental Film.
==External Links==

*[[HR:expfilm.html|watch "Experimental Film"]]
*[[HR:expfilm_final.swf|view the Flash file for "Experimental Film"]]
*[[HR:testChild.swf|view the Flash file for the director's commentary of "Experimental Film"]]
**After it has finished loading, right-click and choose "Play"
*[[Forum:273|forum thread re: "Experimental Film"]]
*[http://www.theymightbegiants.com/ Download the song at theymightbegiants.com for 99 cents].
*[http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Experimental_Film This Might Be A Wiki: Experimental Film]
[[Category:Shorts]][[Category:Songs]][[Category:Powered by The Cheat]]

Experimental Film

2006-02-06T02:44:07Z

Txzam:

{{toonnav|Shorts|expfilm|Peasant's Quest Preview|Senor Mortgage}}
[[Image:experimentalfilm.PNG|200px|thumb|The color of infinity?]]
Strong Sad and The Cheat make a video for They Might Be Giants.

'''Cast (in order of appearance):''' {{Film|Strong Sad}}, [[Tentacle Skull]], [[They Might Be Giants|John Flansburgh]], [[They Might Be Giants|John Linnell]], {{Film|The Cheat}}, {{Film|Gavin}}, [[Lions#.22It.27s_a_lion.21.22|It's a lion!]], {{Film|Homestar Runner}}, {{Film|Strong Bad}}, {{Film|Strong Mad}}

'''Places:''' [[The Field]], [[The Athletic Field]]

'''Date:''' July 13, 2004

'''Running Time:''' 3:00

'''Page Title:''' So a guy walks up to an ATM...

==Lyrics==

The color of infinity 
Inside an empty glass 
I'm squinting my eye 
And turning off and on and on 
and off the light

for this is an experimental film 
Which nobody knows about, and which 
I'm still figuring out what's going to go 
In my experimental film

Yeah, you're all gonna be in this experimental film 
And even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it's

I already know the ending 
It's the part that makes your face implode 
I don't know what makes your face implode 
But that's the way the movie ends

And in my experimental film 
Which nobody knows about 
But which I'm still figuring out 
Your face implodes at my experimental film

Yeah, you're all gonna be in this experimental film 
And even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it— 
Even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it's

The color of infinity 
Inside an empty glass 
It's for this experimental film 
Which nobody knows about, and which 
I'm still figuring out what's going to go 
In my experimental film

Yeah, you're all gonna be in this experimental film 
And even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it's gonna— 
Yeah, you're gonna be in this experimental film 
And even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it— 
Even though I can't explain it 
I already know how great it's

== Easter Eggs ==

*You can click on "Directed by Strong Sad & The Cheat" before the video starts to get a commentary by Homestar Runner characters.

===Commentary Transcript===

'''STRONG SAD:''' Oh, hello, this is Strong Sad—

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' —and we're the co-directors of this video.

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{Meh!}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Uh, so my portion of this video details the life of a very lonely individual named Rondell who can't deal with the decisions of day-to-day life.

'''STRONG BAD:''' We interrupt this whining to bring you this important headline: "World bored to death by Strong Sad commentary."

'''STRONG SAD:''' Agh, what are you doing here? You're hardly even in this video!

'''STRONG BAD:''' Yeah, well I woulda been the one directing it if weren't for those Super Giant guys.

'''STRONG SAD:''' That's not what they're called.

'''STRONG BAD:''' Whatever they're called, that one right there with the glasses, he started talking all these vocabulary words at me and confusin' me and the next thing I know, I was relegated to this crappy bit part. ''{Referring to the top of two heads (one is wearing glasses, likely They Might Be Giants' John Flansburgh)}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Hey, "relegated" sounds like a vocabulary word.

'''STRONG BAD:''' I'll relegate your face to a...bloody pulp!

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{Coffee was being hit with a drumstick}'' {The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Oh, that part represented hitting coffee with a drumstick. Okay.

[[Image:gracious.png|thumb|"Ahh! More like our 'I'll murder you in a back alley' host."]]
'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{upon seeing a picture captioned "our gracious host"}'' Ahh! More like our "I'll murder you in a back alley" host.

'''STRONG SAD:''' Uh, so this next part ''{referring to tiny The Cheats erupting from cracks in Rondell's hands}'' is an allusion to one of my very favorite experimental films called--

'''STRONG BAD:''' Boring Johnny and the Get Bored Crew.

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{exasperated}'' Would you quit it with the "boring" comments?

'''STRONG BAD:''' Look, if it weren't for that tentacle skull riding the old-timey bike, this video would have nothin'!

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{barely comprehensible}'' You don't like the video, huh?

'''STRONG SAD:''' Oh, yeah, the first question on that pop quiz was, "Are you all going to be in my experimental film?" ''{Referring to Pop Quiz in clip}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{the tentacle skull is seen in ink on lined paper}'' Oh, look, there he is! Keep on old-timey bikin', tentacle-skull. ''{Gavin is seen}'' Hey, is that Gavin? I didn't know he was in this video. He's got, like, as much screen time as I do!

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Hey guys, is this the Super Giants video?

'''STRONG SAD:''' That's not what they're—

'''STRONG BAD:''' Yes. But they cut us out of it.

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Oh, weird—then why'd they bother getting somebody who looks just like me? ''{Seeing himself in the clip}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' No, that is you, I just mean they mostly—

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' ''{Seeing Strong Bad and Strong Mad in the clip}'' And that guy looks just like you! And that big guy ''{referring to Strong Mad}'' looks just like Coach Z!

'''STRONG BAD:''' Now this part accurately represents what it feels like to watch this video. ''{Ticking clock shown}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{exasperated}'' Ohhh! This next part ''{the film shows Rondell's face, then begins to shake, and the image disappears as if burning, revealing animated Rondell}'' is all about Rondell's transformation into a new man.

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' I thought you said that was just an accident that happened because you loaded the film wrong.

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{embarassed}'' Uhh, why don't you shut up, Homestar?

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' I dunno... 'cause I guess I got a lot of stuff to say.

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{when he, Strong Mad and Homestar are seen dancing}'' Check out my dance! Ooh, ah, ooh side-swipe! ''{The Cheat joins in}'' Ooh, ah, ooh side-swipe! ''{Homestar joins in}'' Ooh, ah, ooh side-swipe! Ooh, ah, ooh side-swipe!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Ahhh, this is the worst commentary ever!

'''STRONG BAD:''' That's what I've been saying this whole time!

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Yeah, me too. Worst commissary ever!

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{during the portion where components of the film are seen pogoing}'' At this point reality and fantasy have collided and everybody... pogos.

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{as an animated Rondell walks up to an animated ATM}'' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{angry}'' What do you mean you tried to be as dumpy-accurate as possible?

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{as Strong Bad is seen dancing, with the words "Real Smooth Moves" is seen above him}'' Let's talk about how "Real Smooth Moves" is like the best band name ever. The old Supreme Giants boys could take a cue from that one.

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' ''{as a muffin on a table is seen}'' I'm gonna take a cue from that kitchen table and go get me a blue-bree muffin!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Ohh, what a disaster. I hope I still get paid.

== Fun Facts ==

=== Explanations ===
*This toon was made for the first single from They Might Be Giants' tenth studio album ''[http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/The_Spine The Spine]''. The song is called [http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Experimental_Film "Experimental Film"].
*The two head-tops belong to They Might Be Giants' John Flansburgh and John Linnell. The one on the left is Flansburgh, as he has black hair and wears glasses, and the one on the right is Linnell.
*The answers for the "pop quiz" most likely refer to the [[Wikipedia:Cotton gin|cotton gin]], an invention that revolutionized the cotton-growing industry; [[Wikipedia:Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia|Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia]], a town famous as the location where the [[Wikipedia:American Civil War|American Civil War]] ended; and the all-time career record for home runs in [[Wikipedia:Major League Baseball|Major League Baseball]] (755), set by baseball player [[Wikipedia:Hank Aaron|Hank Aaron]]. The first question was "Are you all going to be in my experimental film?"

=== Trivia ===
*This toon was originally posted on [[The Brothers Chaps]]' [http://www.thoraxcorp.com/ thoraxcorp.com], but was quickly taken down.
*This toon was released at approximately midnight, Atlanta time, on 13 July 2004—the release date of ''The Spine''.
*From January 2005 to September 2005, the toon was available through the iTunes Music Store. It vanished when iTunes 6.0 was introduced.
*The joystick Homestar is using is for an [[Atari 2600]].
*According to [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.07/play.html this Wired interview], TMBG will be making a separate video for the [[Wikipedia:MTV|MTV]] crowd. Choice quote: "I feel like if MTV and Homestar collided, the world might explode." However, the H*R music video '''did''' air on MTV.
*Despite "resolving not to feel so bad about wanting to hit Homestar so much" (see Strong Sad's [[Strong Sad's Lament|Blog]]), the commentary shows the first time that Strong Sad has stood up to Homestar. As expected, Homestar doesn't take him very seriously.
*The first frame of the actual song is labelled "[[Glossary#V|viderostart]]" internally (this label is used by the commentary scripts).

=== Remarks ===
*The first line of the song is "The color of infinity inside an empty glass." Strong Sad's glass is full.
*Even though Strong Sad says he can't jump in his blog, he jumps here and in [[A Jumping Jack Contest]].
*After you see the clip of Strong Sad shaving, you see a close-up of The Cheat shaving.
*For the shot of Strong Sad pointing the camera in the mirror at an angle to be possible, the view would have to be from a second camera filming this, or involve additional mirrors.
*In the commentary, Strong Bad comments that Gavin got as much screen time as he did, but in fact, Strong Bad has about 10 seconds of screen time, versus Gavin's 3 seconds.

=== Goofs ===
*The clock has six seconds between the three and the four.
**This adds to Strong Bad's argument during the commentary that "this part accurately represents what it feels like to watch this video."
*The Atari joystick button is on the upper right instead of the upper left.
*As Homestar prepares to run away from Strong Sad, if you look close, you can see that his leg is disconnected from his body.

=== Inside References ===
*Gavin, the cockroach from the Easter egg in [[personal favorites]], makes a cameo appearance.
*When "It's a lion!" pops up for the first time, the lion is wearing Homestar's hat.
*Near the end, the crowd flips the cards to a picture of an olive on a toothpick. This was the eye from the [[Homestar Jr.]] in [[Where's The Cheat?]]
*When the people in the grandstands flip the scenery cards to the mountain scene, it slightly resembles [[Main Page 2]].
*"Our gracious host" bears a striking resemblance to [[Monte Negro]] in [[Malloween Commercial]].
*When Homestar appears between the split screens, his lips move in such a way that he may be saying "[[Witches' Brew]]" yet again.

====They Might Be Giants References====
*United States presidents are [http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Presidents a common theme] in TMBG's work; they have no fewer than five songs about U.S. presidents, an album called ''Lincoln'', and frequently mention presidents in songs and on stage. Their [http://www.tmbg.com website] is also presidentially themed.
**It should be noted, however, that while the band chose the album title ''Lincoln'' fully aware of its presidential overtones, the album is actually named after Lincoln, Massachusetts—the town where the two Johns grew up.
*Skulls (i.e. the Tentacle Skull seen riding the bicycle) are another [http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Skulls frequent TMBG theme]. In addition to being mentioned in several of their songs, it appears on the cover of their ''[http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Back_To_Skull Back to Skull]'' EP and on the back of their ''[http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/John_Henry John Henry]'' album. The skull might also be the [http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Skullivan Skullivan], as mentioned in the companion EP for ''The Spine'', ''[http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/The_Spine_Surfs_Alone_(EP) The Spine Surfs Alone]''.
*[http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Coffee Coffee] is yet another common theme in the work of TMBG. The earliest videos and promotional matierials from the '80s show TMBG with cups of coffee. In the film ''[http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Gigantic Gigantic]'', TMBG confesses that they are insanely dependent on coffee.
*In the commentary, both Strong Bad and Homestar get TMBG's name totally wrong (both "Super Giants" and "Supreme Giants" are mentioned). This is, of course, [http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Monikers not the first time this has happened]. In fact, one of their early EPs included [http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Untitled an answering machine message] in which two people discuss "There Must Be Giants" and "There May Be Giants" and appear to be confused about the whole experience.
*The finger that comes up at one point might be a reference to the thumb on the cover of TMBG's [http://tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Dial-A-Song_-_20_Years_Of_They_Might_Be_Giants "Dial-a-Song" album].
*The globe in the video is an odd refrence to one of TMBG's songs, [http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Ana_Ng Ana Ng] in which a globe is refrenced in the beginning lines of the song.

=== Real-World References ===
*Strong Sad meeting the Grim Reaper through split screens is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Ingmar Bergman|Ingmar Bergman's]] ''[[IMDB:tt0050976|The Seventh Seal]]''.
*The scene with the film apparently burning (the one that Homestar credits to Strong Sad loading the film wrong) is a reference to Bergman's ''[[Wikipedia:Persona (film)|Persona]]''.
*Much of the imagery, and especially the scenes of Strong Sad watching film sprocket holds go by, is likely a reference to one of the first great experimental films, ''[[IMDB:tt0019760|The Man with a Movie Camera]]'' by [[Wikipedia:Dziga Vertov|Dziga Vertov]], which has a section in which the sides of the film are exposed, and the characters look outside their own frame/world at the holes running by.
*Ants (actually little The Cheats) crawling out of holes in Strong Sad's hands is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Luis Buñuel|Luis Buñuel's]] ''[[IMDB:tt0020530| Un Chien Andalou]]'' ("An Andalusian Dog") co-directed by famous surrealist painter [[Wikipedia:Salvador Dalí|Salvador Dalí]].
*Strong Sad shaving himself is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Jørgen Leth|Jørgen Leth's]] short film ''[[IMDB:tt0376821| Det perfekte menneske]]'' ("The Perfect Human").
*In the commentary, Strong Bad interrupts Strong Sad with the phrase "Boring Johnny and the Get Bored Crew". This is most likely a reference to the hip hop group "[[Wikipedia:Doug E. Fresh|Doug E. Fresh]] And The Get Fresh Crew".
*Homestar can be found playing a game much like ''[[Wikipedia:Space Invaders|Space Invaders]]'', only with presidents instead of aliens, as well as a dollar sign instead of a tank.
*The swinging lightbulb is from the famous penultimate scene in [[Wikipedia:Alfred Hitchcock|Hitchcock's]] ''[[IMDB:tt0054215|Psycho]]'', where Vera Miles finds Norman Bates' partially-preserved dead mother in the fruit cellar. The oscillating shadows that result are re-created in various places in the video/animation.
*Another Hitchcock film nod is made to ''[[IMDB:tt0052357|Vertigo]]'', when Strong Sad falls out of the film and into a descending spiral of presidential faces.

==DVD Version==
*The DVD version features two commentaries by Strong Sad, The Cheat, Strong Bad, and Homestar Runner. The first is available on the website and is transcribed above. The second is transcribed below. To access them, switch your DVD player's audio language selection while watching.

===Commentary Transcript===
('''Commentary by:''' [[Strong Sad]], [[The Cheat]], [[Strong Bad]], [[Homestar Runner]])

'''STRONG SAD:''' Uh, hello. This is Strong Sad.

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' And that's The Cheat, and we're gonna talk about this video. Oh, geez, it's already started. So the guys approached me to do a video for "Experimental Film", so I shot my own experimental film but the, uh, the glasses guy said that it was too much of a total drag, so they brought The Cheat on board to, as they said, "make it quit sucking," which I guess is an industry term, I dunno...

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Uh, The Cheat wants you to know that he did this part. I think they probably figured that out. ''{The images of John Flansburgh and John Linnell's heads appear.}'' There he is! That glasses guy. You really dig those extreme climates, huh? The desert, the arctic, ''{As this is said, the scene shifts to the arctic.}'' football stadiums... So this scene is dealing with man's indecision and apathy.

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Oh, that scene was dealing with hitting coffee with a drumstick, eh?

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noise}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{"Our Gracious Host" appears.}'' Okay, The Cheat, come clean. Who is that creepy guy in the picture frame?

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Who's Stephan?

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Well, I can see he's "Our gracious host"! But what does he have to do with anything?

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG SAD:''' Okay, whatever keeps you off the streets. ''{The Pop Quiz appears.}'' Let's see, those questions were, "How many home runs did Hank Aaron have?", "Where did Lee surrender to Grant?", "What did Eli Whitney invent?", and "Are you going to be in my experimental film?" What class is that for?!

'''STRONG BAD:''' Oh, hello there, chumps!

'''STRONG SAD:''' What are you guys doing here?!

'''STRONG BAD:''' I'm here to save this commentary from a death worse than... Strong Sad commentary.

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' And I'm just here ridin' all y'all's coat tails.

'''STRONG SAD:''' Well, maybe you could tell me how you got that video game to come up on the ATM!

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Maybe I'm some type of magic video game man. Maybe you should start dealing with that, Strong Sad.

'''STRONG BAD:''' Man, I wish I grabbed some of that black-and-white cash!

'''STRONG SAD:''' That was Monopoly money!

'''STRONG BAD:''' Yeah, but, I'm gonna... ''{coughs}'' uh, sneeze. Yeah, black-and-white Monopoly money! That stuff is priceless! I'd be livin' on Baltic Avenue!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Well, this part's all about rebirth and new life...

'''STRONG BAD:''' Yeah, yeah, whatever. This part comin' up here is all about my new dance, The Side-swipe! ''{The dancing scene with Homestar, Strong Bad, and Strong Mad appears.}'' Check it out! Mm! Ah! Ooh side-swipe!

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Hey, Strong Sad.

'''STRONG SAD:''' What?!

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Hey, Strong Sad.

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''What?!''

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Umm... it's a lion. ''{As he says this, "It's a lion" appears in the football stands.}''

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{A somewhat lengthy set of The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' Ah, that was very insightful, The Cheat!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Yeah, yeah, totally!

'''STRONG BAD:''' All right, so what kinda soup was that? Like, tomato-basil or some kind of bisque?

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' Ooh! Mulligatawny!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Can we talk about something artistic?

'''STRONG BAD:''' No, but we can talk about how "Real Smooth Moves" is, like, the best band name I ever heard. These Super Giant guys should change their name from "Super Giant" to "Real Smooth Moves." That's a band name!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Oh, I'm outta here! Hope I still get paid!

'''THE CHEAT:''' ''{The Cheat noises}''

== See Also ==
*The [[Experimental Film Visuals|visuals]] that occur during the Experimental Film.
==External Links==

*[[HR:expfilm.html|watch "Experimental Film"]]
*[[HR:expfilm_final.swf|view the Flash file for "Experimental Film"]]
*[[HR:testChild.swf|view the Flash file for the director's commentary of "Experimental Film"]]
**After it has finished loading, right-click and choose "Play"
*[[Forum:273|forum thread re: "Experimental Film"]]
*[http://www.theymightbegiants.com/ Download the song at theymightbegiants.com for 99 cents].
*[http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/Experimental_Film This Might Be A Wiki: Experimental Film]
[[Category:Shorts]][[Category:Songs]][[Category:Powered by The Cheat]]

The Brothers Chaps

2006-01-01T16:39:04Z

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[[Image:TheBrothersChaps.jpg|thumb|Left to right: Mike and Matt Chapman]]
[[Image:youngtbc.jpg|thumb|As kids]]
[[Image:TheBrothersChapsBandW.jpg|thumb|Looking spiffy in black and white]]

'''The Brothers Chaps''' (real-life siblings [[Mike Chapman|Mike]] and [[Matt Chapman]]) are the creators of [[Homestar Runner (Flash cartoon)|Homestarrunner.com]]. They create the cartoons using Macromedia Flash out of their home in Atlanta, Georgia. They are sometimes referred to by the acronym '''TBC'''.

== History ==
In 1996 during the Olympics in Atlanta, Mike Chapman and his friend [[Craig Zobel]] created a children's book called "[[Original Book|The Homestar Runner Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest]]." They did this out of boredom and to satirize the poorly made children's books they saw at their local mall. After writing and drawing it, they copied about 15 books and gave them to some of their friends to read for fun.

In 1999 Mike started learning Macromedia Flash and decided to practice on some of the characters from the original book. His younger brother Matt Chapman performed the voices for the cartoons and together they launched a website to show their close friends their cartoons.

Word of mouth spread, and their website and characters have become a smash hit. Since the website started, they have had [[Interviews and Public Appearances|several public appearances]] all over the country, including three appearances on [http://www.g4tv.com/ G4TechTV] — twice on the cancelled show "Pulse", and once over webcam (with Puppet [[Homestar Runner]]) on "The Screen Savers". See [[Pulse Interview - 1 Aug 2003]] and [[Screen Savers Interview - 24 Jan 2005]].

== Family ==
Their parents' names are [[Don and Harriet Chapman]]. Don is a retired chief financial officer of an insurance firm. Mike and Matt also have 3 other siblings.

They have a [[Little Girl|young niece]], who is featured in several [[Puppet Stuff]] films.

== See Also ==
*[[The Brothers Chaps' Fansite Acknowledgments]]

== External Links ==
*''For interviews with The Brothers Chaps, see [[Interviews and Public Appearances]]'' 
*[[IMDb:nm1053635|Mike Chapman's IMDb page]]
*[[IMDb:nm1480095|Matt Chapman's IMDb page]]
*[http://www.flickr.com/photos/search/tags:homestar%2Csxsw/tagmode:all/ Pictures on Flickr of their appearance at SXSW interactive 2005 in Austin, Texas]
*[http://www.emotioneric.com/ae/?adv=thefootballgame The Football Game] — A collection of edited photographs from a football game where The Brothers Chaps use their "superhuman abilities" against [[Wikipedia:Emotion Eric|Emotion Eric]] and his pal Jesse.

[[Category: People|Chaps, The Brothers]]

here is matts email for fans (i think): ohiohockey3@yahoo.com

The Brothers Chaps

2006-01-01T16:37:40Z

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