If you were here this past weekend, December 21st, you caught our third installment of our "lifeGroup" mini-episodes. If you haven't seen them, catch them on my blog or on www.themovement.org.
This latest one was fun to do, but there was a moment in the final cut that didn't actually make it. I was super bummed, because I thought it was one of the funnier scenes, but because of a little bit of confusion there were a few potential "oh no you didn't" hang-ups that prevented it from being shown. I wanted, however, to show you the scene that got cut and give a little explanation on why it got cut. It's just simply too good to not see.
At the opening of the show the guests start arriving. Ellen, played by April, the somewhat naive "so heavenly minded that she's no earthly good" wife of lifeGroup leader Steve, played by Robbie, welcomes some of the guests. Here, we have Jessica, played by Elizabeth, and Peter, played by Glen (Glen got the name "Peter" because our editor, Peter Rollo, didn't show up to play the part. Boo to you Peter!! Ha Ha. So we immortalized his absence with a character name instead).
Jessica comes in, Ellen greets them, comments on "the new guy" that Jessica brings, adding that "he's cute I must say." Jessica then goes on to correct Ellen by saying "well, actually this is my brother" as if to say "we're actually not dating." Peter chimes in to clarify the obvious confusion with them being a different race by saying "step brother."
In this original clip, Ellen, a bit confused, says "oh, well in some cultures that's acceptable," and then proceeds to answer the door before they can respond.
The intent of the statement was to communicate that Ellen didn't catch that Jessica was saying "therefore, we're not dating" and instead thought that she was being told by Jessica that they were not only "together" but that they were also step-siblings. Her comment, "that's acceptable in some cultures" is actually referring to dating family. She's trying to seem tolerant of the fact that they, as step-siblings, are dating.
Interestingly, upon viewing the episode with friends before Sunday, most thought that it was a reference to race and the fact that their parents apparently had gotten married who are obviously a different race, something that to Ellen was seen as only "acceptable in some cultures."
Of course in context this doesn't make sense because right before this Ellen compliments Jessica on finding a "cute" guy, essentially condoning their relationship, so it wouldn't really jive with her also thinking that inter-racial relationships are only acceptable in "some cultures." But in a somewhat fast paced episode where you're trying to get a handle on each character, we didn't expect people to think through it that much.
We did purposely choose someone of a different race to play the step-brother of Jessica, who of course is Mexican (it was originally Peter, who is white), and when Peter couldn't show up, we thought it would be even better with Glen.
The irony of it is that it ended up shooting us in the foot as it ended up upstaging the family connection to the comment and brought too much attention on the race difference. An easy way out of it would have been to either have two people of the same race but still as step-siblings, or have Ellen say "well it's acceptable in some cultures to date family."
Unfortunately, none of us, when filming, caught on to the fact that it might be mistaken for a race thing, and it was too late, and the scene had to go.
But here is the scene uncut for your pleasure. Enjoy!!!
This latest one was fun to do, but there was a moment in the final cut that didn't actually make it. I was super bummed, because I thought it was one of the funnier scenes, but because of a little bit of confusion there were a few potential "oh no you didn't" hang-ups that prevented it from being shown. I wanted, however, to show you the scene that got cut and give a little explanation on why it got cut. It's just simply too good to not see.
At the opening of the show the guests start arriving. Ellen, played by April, the somewhat naive "so heavenly minded that she's no earthly good" wife of lifeGroup leader Steve, played by Robbie, welcomes some of the guests. Here, we have Jessica, played by Elizabeth, and Peter, played by Glen (Glen got the name "Peter" because our editor, Peter Rollo, didn't show up to play the part. Boo to you Peter!! Ha Ha. So we immortalized his absence with a character name instead).
Jessica comes in, Ellen greets them, comments on "the new guy" that Jessica brings, adding that "he's cute I must say." Jessica then goes on to correct Ellen by saying "well, actually this is my brother" as if to say "we're actually not dating." Peter chimes in to clarify the obvious confusion with them being a different race by saying "step brother."
In this original clip, Ellen, a bit confused, says "oh, well in some cultures that's acceptable," and then proceeds to answer the door before they can respond.
The intent of the statement was to communicate that Ellen didn't catch that Jessica was saying "therefore, we're not dating" and instead thought that she was being told by Jessica that they were not only "together" but that they were also step-siblings. Her comment, "that's acceptable in some cultures" is actually referring to dating family. She's trying to seem tolerant of the fact that they, as step-siblings, are dating.
Interestingly, upon viewing the episode with friends before Sunday, most thought that it was a reference to race and the fact that their parents apparently had gotten married who are obviously a different race, something that to Ellen was seen as only "acceptable in some cultures."
Of course in context this doesn't make sense because right before this Ellen compliments Jessica on finding a "cute" guy, essentially condoning their relationship, so it wouldn't really jive with her also thinking that inter-racial relationships are only acceptable in "some cultures." But in a somewhat fast paced episode where you're trying to get a handle on each character, we didn't expect people to think through it that much.
We did purposely choose someone of a different race to play the step-brother of Jessica, who of course is Mexican (it was originally Peter, who is white), and when Peter couldn't show up, we thought it would be even better with Glen.
The irony of it is that it ended up shooting us in the foot as it ended up upstaging the family connection to the comment and brought too much attention on the race difference. An easy way out of it would have been to either have two people of the same race but still as step-siblings, or have Ellen say "well it's acceptable in some cultures to date family."
Unfortunately, none of us, when filming, caught on to the fact that it might be mistaken for a race thing, and it was too late, and the scene had to go.
But here is the scene uncut for your pleasure. Enjoy!!!
