License to Kill a Mockingbird

From The Extended Group

A video made in English 9 by Brett, Stuart, Lukas, and Jason; the video was one of the earliest creative expressions by the group.

The Making Of

The shooting all commenced in the late fall of 1999, with most actual shooting taking place in Shorewood Hills 2 based out of Stuarts house. The idea was to simultaneously spoof To Kill a Mockingbird as well as incorporate elements of James Bond into it. Many ideas were incorporated leading some to question whether it even followed a plot. Scenes featured Brett, Stuart, Lukas, as well as John Edwards, Chris Goiney, Doug Rooke. Jason, despite being in the class only played the part of Tom Robinson, accomplished by wearing a black afro-style wig. Themes in the movie included.

• "Dill" being played by a small stuffed monkey who's first appearance was with tail deliberately placed between legs in a phallic fashion.
• Intro scene for James Bond was shot using Lukas as Bond shooting up into the air instead of at the camera with feathers falling to the ground instead of blood.
• Atticus Finch(Brett) was actually a Batman-type figure who wore a paper-plate mask and paper cape.
• Narration was by all members of the group in a fake southern accent, to varying degrees of effectiveness.
• The rabid dog was played by stuarts dog Zack who was killed by being shot at with a "nuclear cannon" which was actually an old super-soaker 50. (explosion courtesy of the history channel)
• Many things found in the knothole of the tree, including a tube of preparation H (toothpaste)
• An extensively edited courtroom scene featuring Judge Judy as well as Chris Goiney as Mayella Ewell, John Edwards as Mayella's father, Lukas as bailiff, Stuart as Sheriff Tate, Brett as Atticus Finch, as well as some others.
• Boo Radley (Lukas) was considered so ugly he always wore a paper-bag on his head. He disposed of Bob Ewell by throwing him and stabbing a corkscrew into his heart in a hilarious moment in film where laughter could still be heard in the final cut by those off-camera.
• The credits were run as slowly as possible to allow for several minutes of outtakes, some of which were staged, others purely spontaneous hilarity.

Post-Production

Video was edited at the Einstein Middle School library for unknown reasons, fortunately Stuart was able to check the computer out to finish editing at his home. A small controversy happened when Lukas and Brett wanted to play "Licensed to Kill" from the 1989 movie by the same title, but Stuart wanted to play a song by rock band Eve 6 instead. Stuart eventually conceded, and the video was rendered and printed to VHS tape. The video was shown to Mr. Kellys class to much laughter. Mr. Kelly apparently enjoyed it enough that he showed it to some college students under his guidance. The movie has become a small-time classic among certain group members.