Rob McElhenney Shares Details on Upcoming ‘Mythic Quest’ Quarantine Episode Shot on iPhones

It took simply three weeks to put in writing, shoot the new episode, edit it, and get it able to air. Despite the quick filming time, the producers at Apple favored the episode a lot that it is being submitted it for Emmy consideration. “It happened very, very fast”, mentioned McElhenney.

It was vital for the episode to “feel like it was a shared experience” with out recycling content material. “We knew right away that we can’t just get away with doing Zoom jokes for 30 minutes,” mentioned McElhenney. It was additionally vital to get the episode out whereas it was nonetheless one thing that was occurring within the second, and McElhenney was shocked, Apple agreed to the idea.

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Honestly, I assumed they have been most likely going to say no because it is simply technically troublesome. There are a number of exhibits that subsequently have come out. Parks and Rec had not [aired] once we conceived of this, however I discovered that Mike [Schur] was doing it, and I referred to him and asked him a bunch of questions. I assumed, “If we’re going to do it, I’d like it to look and feel as if this was a creative choice, not a choice that was created by limitation.” That’s what Apple responded to. Once I walked them by it, we shot somewhat of a  check and mentioned, “This is what it could look like and sound like and feel like.” They pulled the set off, and we started working.

All of the actors within the show have been pressured to get into the “minutia” of particulars they are not usually involved with. There have been no folks readily available for filming, no make-up artists, no hairstylists, nobody to regulate the sound, and so forth. Everyone needed to contemplate lenses, functions, sound high quality, frame rate, and different elements of filming that actors usually do not do.

During filming, the crew used Zoom to speak. With 5 to 45 folks on the decision relying on the scene or state of affairs. Each actor had three iPhones, and one iPhone was used at a time. After a scene wrapped, the phone was sterilized, packaged, put in a safe area, picked up by a courier, delivered to the editorial group, sterilized once more, after which footage was uploaded for the editors who have been working from home. When requested why three iPhones have been used, that is what McElhenney needed to say:

To get [footage] via to editorial as quick as potential, as a result of we wished to get this episode performed and out whereas we have been still in quarantine. The manner we would do every scene is that they’d take their laptop computer/desktop cameras that you’d see usually for a teleconferencing factor and so they’d put the ‌iPhone‌ instantly in entrance of that digital camera, so I basically had video village from my home. I might see what each actor’s digital camera is selecting up and you can additionally see the readings for the audio. Mike, the cinematographer, might double examine all of the settings and guarantee that every little thing was working on the proper revolution, frame rate, and many others. Then we’d run the scene, and the actors would be speaking to at least one another the identical manner we’re speaking proper now [by phone], via our AirPods.

The quarantine episode of “Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet” features pandemic-related plotlines akin to Poppy combating pressured solitude and C.W. combating teleconferencing technology, whereas Ian Grimm, in his lavish home, has a tough time understanding everybody else’s struggles.

There’s additionally a storyline a couple of charitable donation, which is being replicated in actual life, with the show elevating $600,000 up to now for the worldwide NGO Mercy Corps COVID-19 aid program. The episode will air this Friday.