Behind the Scenes: Smashing Chairs
Summary and Behind the Scenes for the film "Smashing Chairs"
Twas Sunday, November 17, 2002. I was a little sad because tommorrow I had school. My mom made me do chores for her. I cleaned my room, put away laundry, then, she made me do something a little out of the ordinary. She told me to go up to the attic and bring down 6 old wooden chairs. "Weird," I thought to myself. I asked her why she was making me do this. She told me this story: "Back in the 80's when Dad and I first got married, my grandmother gave me a dining room set. We used it for many years. But, the chairs were not very sturdy at all. One time when I sat down in one chair, the thing broke, a leg fell off [you have to realize my mom is very skinny and little]. Also, some of the other had been broken in other places (i.e. armrest, back of the chair) So, I wanted to spare the embarrassment of some of our other larger guests, so we decided to put them in the attic. I could never throw these chairs away because your great-grandmother gave them to me. But now, I am forcing myself to throw them away because they take up so much space in the attic, they are falling apart, and it would cost so much to fix them all. Don't ever tell your grandmother, she would be very upset.
And now the good part: "O yeah, Dad and I are going to let let you smash them so they will be easier to throw away. You need to do it tommorrow (Monday, Nov. 18, 2002) because the trash man comes Tuesday." SCORE!! I immediately rung up Allen and told him the situation as I took many trips from the attic to the garage, taking them down, one by one. I examined each one as I took them down. Allen was very stoked. He was going to do his homework as quick as he could then, rush over here. Me, on the other hand, I just wasn't going to do my homework. Come to find out later, Max and Brandon were very upset they were never called about this.
Twas Monday, November 18, 2002. Allen comes to my house about 4. Mom was at work, John at football practice, Sally at dance. Me and Allen - home alone - could do anything!
CHAIR ONE: I had already decided I wanted to throw a chair out of the window. So Allen grabbed the camera and filmed me chucking the thing out of the window. I then came down to further break it. This part was staged a little (you probably already knew that). That really wasn't the bat I hit my first homerun with. And for dramatic effect, I was going to walk out of the garage. I had not hit the chair with the bat yet, and I had no idea it hurt that bad. As you can see it hurt pretty bad. The chair was so solid, it send a lot of shock through the bat, hurting my hands. The cold did not help either. So, then I decided to hit some pieces of wood with the bat like they were balls. In this section the funniest/stupidest thing is Allen's commentaries. I like to give Allen a hard time for things he says when he films something. He can't help it. He doesn't like it. But come on, "It's recording," "The fans are crying for more," "This is priceless," "It's hard to hit like pieces"? Allen, just don't say anything ever again. J/K. Like I said that's what makes it funny. I'm over it now.
CHAIR TWO: Ahhhh, a fresh chair. We decided to burn it, and since I was the resident pyro, I eagerly volunteered. My dad owns a can of silicon lubricant spray that I pretty much use whenever we burn something (was used in the watermelon video). So I used it again. It did not burn as well as I thought it would. Because it did not burn well, I sprayed it again and again, making that eruption of flames. I had the other chair pad to smuther it when it went out. So then Allen got a chance to do something. He smashed the back off the chair. If I'm not mistaken, I believe the back was already disconnected, we just placed it back on the chair so it would smash easier. It smashed great. Allen also got to feel the shock from the the bat.
CHAIR THREE: It was dark because Allen and I tried to think of something original to do. We could not. So, he wanted to throw a chair out of the window too, so he did. His chair broke so clean and beautifully. It was perfect. In fact, the way it broke kind of looked like a body part. But we couldn't put that footage and commentary on the internet. You can see it in the footage directly when it lands, the piece in the middle (its also the first one he hits with the bat). So then Allen further smashed the chair.
CHAIR FOUR: I had an idea! As you can see, I ran into the chair with the kiddie car. Actually, it did not do too much damage, it just knocked the back off. It was funny though. So each time I went to do it again, I had to put the chair back together somewhat. On the third and last trip, things went wrong. I smashed it well, as you can see, the seat pad fell off. But when I came down, I sprained my right ankle pretty badly. IT HURT. It hurt for a good two weeks. So when I got up I was in pain, but I have to move things because a car is coming. Then Allen records again and some random guy walks up to me and asks what I am doing, and if I got hurt. I was out out of it then. I just sat down and recorded the rest. So then, Allen takes the remaining unit of the chair and smashes that. As you can see, there was no seat pad and the wood rungs in the middle of the back of the chair were gone. When he hits it, a piece of wood flys off and hits his knee.
CHAIR FIVE: Allen stopped partcipating for two reasons: he had to come home, and I wanted to save the remaining two for John. So John returns home from his boy scout meeting at about 9. He looks like a boy scout thug with his uniform on so sloppilly and his black hat. My brother is very strong. He has lots of power. So each of his "smashings" were very successful. When he was using the bat, my mom said, "you're gonna hurt your baseball bat." John responds, "It's Mike's." I laughed. Then she said, "Can you get out there closer to the back of the house"? She was very concerned.
CHAIR SIX: I told my brother to throw something big on it. He got out his old BMX bike and went up on the picnic table and threw it on the bike twice. After the second time, my mom said something to him. I then gave him the idea of throwing the rest of the chair out of the window like me and Allen did. So he did. It was an OK break. When he came down to further smash it, he wanted to crush it with his skateboard. I think he thought he could ollie on top of it. Fat chance, he overestimated his abilities and crashed. It was funny. Then he just finished it off with the bat. I kept telling him to hit it as hard as he could. The next scene was obviously staged. He is good as spinning things on his finger, so I told him to that with a seat pad then put it in the trash while I said "remains of the chair." The last scene of the film was actually filmed after Allen finished the fourth chair. I was on the phone with my mom thanking her for letting me smash the chairs and telling her about my injury. She was talking to me at the moment, and that is why it was silent. Allen was filming. I decided to put this clip at the end because it was a nice ending for the film. I added the nice cricket sound effects in iMovie.
videos
home