Smitty stories

finding a musician

"I first saw Kent Rousseau in the Thoughtful Guy cover contest," says Donna Williams. "His entry was good but it didn't do justice to the brilliance that is the rest of his channel. Here's this kid doing beautiful keyboard arrangements way beyond his years. I knew he was the guy for the Smitty scenes. Thankfully he said yes."

Though he was commissioned to do five 30-second pieces, Kent made complete arrangements of all five Rhett and Link songs. One, How We Met, was used as is in the first scene. The other four complete works are on the extended soundtrack.

Remixer Babe Arinfu turned Dope Zebra into Dub Unicorn, and Editor MichaeL Perrotta, Jr. was brought in to shorten the remaining three. It was Michael who helped Belevedere belch fire in Neighbors.

The full cut of Dope Zebra was used in the Gutless Musical Apocalyptic Trailer.

it's just not working

The randler brings cola and bread to the barbeque.

The Smitty scenes were shot in one day as instrumentals by CCW Crew and sent to Editor Kevin Hilt. He thought the songs might not be enough to explain what was going on in the scenes, particularly for those outside the Rhett and Link fan base. He wanted to add dialogue among the characters using subtitles.

But puppeteer Donna Williams didn't want Smitty to speak. So driving on Christmas Eve, the idea came to change the scenes to a storybook. She knew singer Jim Patton had volunteered early on for voice work, and a narrator was born. Kevin wrote the story, even leaving an opening for a sequel. And Jim's voiceovers brought the mythical beasts of the North Carolinian Wilderness to life.

puppet tech

First, puppets and scenery had to be cut from black cardstock using precision craft scissors. Mythical beast images were printed from online coloring pages and used as a template for cutting. Characters were attached using wooden skewers.

A large picture frame served as the set and a green pillowcase became the screen. The frame was propped on a shower rod and plastic ivy was attached with twist ties to cover the pole and the frame's wire. A simple desk lamp was used to light the scene and double as the sun.

With a team of three and one on camera duty for each scene, sometimes characters had to be stationery to allow enough free hands to animate other parts of the scene. Here Smitty awaits his friends by the picnic blanket.

hidden in the forest

At the very beginning of the first scene, you can see a character who will make an appearance later: a scampering marshmallow squirrel.
Did you catch what the two new friends are watching? (Rhett and Link.)
Items at the BBQ: Smitty brings a checkered blanket, the randler brings cola and bread, the unicorn brings a picnic basket, and Belvedere has the squirrels.
Two set pieces were accidentally cropped during shooting of the last Smitty scene: the "THE" in "THE END," and the place from which Smitty emerges. It was a hospital, and the part just off screen was a door. The only clue left in the scene is a small medical cross that is part of the tree branch. But it's bent back and difficult to see. So when the narration was added, it made more sense to have the scene take place immediately after the tubule explosion, with Smitty emerging "from the rubble."