The Definitive Guide to “Misanthrope’s”

What follows is the agreed-upon history of the Misanthrope’s franchise. All other accounts are factually false and will be vociferously denied.

In the Beginning: An Impulsive Lego Purchase

In November 2010, Danelle was at the mall and found herself drawn by an unknown yet powerful force to enter the Lego store. She saw the Winter Village Bakery and, urged by unrealized creative genius (or ‘Member Berries), purchased it.

In December we found ourselves at the mall and again drawn to the Lego store. We saw the Winter Toy Shop. We convinced ourselves (with ease) to purchase it with the vision of a small town. After all, one building does not a village make. Our two-structure village was set up in our apartment, and much holiday cheer was had.

Another impulse buy was made when we saw the Alien Invaders Tripod Invader in the Fall 2011. As the holidays approached we, in our infinite humor, thought it would be a hoot to set up the aliens with the winter village. From this—THUNDERCLAP!—an idea was born…

Once the basic idea of Misanthrope’s was solidified, we added the Space Alien Conquest Battle Pack, wrote the script, sketched the storyboards, and began production in early December 2011.

Production Notes

• Shot with a Canon Rebel XT
• Dialogue recorded in Garage Band on an old Apple laptop (Snelly), then transferred to our iMac (BRUTUS) because the audio interface driver was outdated and couldn’t be installed on the iMac…
• Photos edited in Photoshop. Many of the stop-motion sequences were created with layers.
• Final movie assembled in iMovie
• Much bourbon was imbibed
• Many late nights ensued, but the entire project was made in about 3 weeks.
• Damn thing finished on Xmas Eve. Very late Xmas Eve.

In the Middle: A Crazy Dog

Although we planned a sequel for 2012, our family grew by one crazy dog in December 2012. Our wild-but-beloved Starbuck ensured that no moment was spent focused on anything but her, and making sure she didn’t poop in the house. Our 2012 holiday project was just some family photos, though we made reference to the sequel we planned:

2013: Our EW Feature

We had every intention of releasing the sequel in 2013… we didn’t. Instead, we decided to “leak” an Entertainment Weekly article about our disastrous production. [For the nerds: We used Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.]

Promises and Failures

2014 was to be the year. Seriously this time, no screwing around. We spotted a few more pieces to really expand the story of the sequel: the Swarm Interceptor, the Space Swarmer, and the Warp Stinger. Plans were lofty, time was short, and we realized we could not create the sequel we wanted and you deserved. We made a teaser poster:

The End is Nigh!

In the Fall of 2015, we buckled down and finalized the script for A Baker’s Vengeance: A Misanthrope’s Christmas Miracle II. We gathered all the of Lego sets we had accumulated over the last five years and were ready to begin production. Then we saw the set that we realized we could not possibly make the sequel without: the Parisian Restaurant. A fortuitous gift card made the decision a no-brainer, and we were in full production at the beginning of December. We realized almost immediately, based on the script and storyboards, that we could never complete it in the timeframe in which we made the first movie. We hope you see that the sequel is much more sophisticated involved than its predecessor.

Our hope was to finish before Spring 2016. Then we thought a Summer blockbuster release. Then we hit Scene 3 and all that goddamn red sand, and we knew we would have an appropriately timed holiday project for 2016. ALL OF THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE AND WILL HAPPEN AGAIN.

A Baker’s Vengeance: A Misanthrope’s Christmas Miracle II was officially completed on October 23, 2016. The release date was set for November 11, just in time for Academy Award consideration. The movie poster was updated:

Without further ado…

• Shot with the same Canon Rebel XT
• The entire movie was recorded first as an “audio play” in Garage Band through a Zoom H4n recorder
• Scene 4 was the first scene shot. We did it in a frigid attic during a New England winter to keep all the equipment out of our living space. Then we said “eff it” and invaded the dining room for the next several months.
• We only have one of each of the various ships and vehicles. Any shot with multiples is a composite of between two and (in the case of the end of Scene 3) at least a dozen photos.
• We did not initially set out to animate mouths. P tried it while editing Scene 4, and there was no turning back.
• Final movie assembled in Final Cut Pro on our trusty BRUTUS (you did it, buddy!), though we had to add much more RAM in the middle of production.
• Photos (heavily) edited in Photoshop. Many of the stop-motion sequences were created with layers and Photoshop’s Timeline. As we learned Final Cut Pro, the more complex animations were created with keyframes and layered stills directly in the movie editor.
• The planet surface in Scene 3 was constructed from homemade kinetic sand. About 50 pounds of it. We could not get it colored the way we wanted, so every grain of that crap was made red in Photoshop.
• Much more bourbon was imbibed.

We may be done with Misanthrope’s, but Misanthrope’s is not done with us. We have no concrete plans for the continuing story, and, given this history, it’s better we keep quiet until we do.