Beautiful ladies with pies = perfection

I think we're all winners here...

Excellent, I've been waiting for this video to go live so that I could talk about it I commissioned this custom, so I'm a bit biased, but I highly recommend it. For what it's worth, I don't have any financial incentive to plug it; I don't get a cut of the money or anything like that. In fact, if anything I'd have more of an incentive to complain if I thought it was rubbish, since I paid a bit more than $8 for my copy. Happily, it was well worth it, and this is my favourite WAM video.

There was a discussion recently (about amateurs vs pros) where Lisa Moomin said: "Personality over pros any day of the week". That personality really comes through in a gameshow video like this; come for the pies, stay for the discussion of Disney films! I think it helped that there was a fairly large cast, so they could bounce off each other, and the energy levels stayed high all the way through. Lisa is behind the camera, but she makes her presence known; it was a bit like watching a DVD commentary, with observations and sound effects. (Out of context quote: "This is the house, and this is the steeple...")

When I was a kid, I remember my drama teacher saying that lots of people acted (on stage) as if they'd been encased in cement from neck to wrist. I.e. they'd do loads of different facial expressions and wave their hands around, but aside from that they'd just be standing still. He always encouraged us to perform with our whole bodies, e.g. hunching your back and walking on tip-toe in order to stalk across the stage.

I mention that here because I could talk for ages about all the body language in this video. For instance, there's a bit near the start (after Charlotte explained the rules) where Sky gives a silent thumbs up. She doesn't turn around, because she's almost in a runner's starting position near the trolley; eyes on the prize! Or indeed, eyes on the pies I also noticed that you could tell how confident they were about the answer: if they were certain, they'd really slam the pie in at high speed, whereas if they were guessing then it was almost a tentative smear. I think the outfits also help; you probably can't stride and lunge while wearing a pencil skirt.

Related to that, I think there's always a balancing act when producers put up preview photos. It's a bit like watching trailers in the cinema: if they give away too much then there's no point actually watching the full film, because you've already seen the best bits. However, even if you had a full photo set for this video, you'd still be missing out on so much. For instance, imagine someone picking up a pie and carefully smooshing it around to get maximum coverage, then repeating that 20 times. You might get some really good photos out of that, but it would also be a really dull video. However, I think this video is almost the opposite, because there's so much going on. It's not confusing, but when I re-watched it I found that I'd missed stuff in the background (e.g. the girls high-fiving each other after they won a point).

More generally, I think this video really does stand up to multiple viewings; it's a bit like a music video, where I can watch it several times without getting bored.

One of my favourite quotes is when Lila said "Sky!" Out of context, it doesn't mean much, but it was a reaction to Sky missing a question (where Lila knew the answer). Even now that I've told you that, you're still not getting the intonation: it makes me laugh every time I hear it, but you need to watch the video to appreciate it.

I think this was Anna's second video (i.e. she'd only done her interview prior to this). It must be a bit tricky coming into a group dynamic where everyone else knows each other, and I think she was erring on the side of "stay messy rather wiping too much off". However, at the risk of sounding like a Daily Mail columnist, I'd say that she blossomed: she's definitely more confident by the end of the video, and it's quite nice to watch that transition.

Looking at Emily's model page, it mentions her "feisty attitude", and that certainly comes through in this video. She was invested in the outcome, but never crossed the line into being a bad sport. There was one particular bit where both teams pied ("buzzed in") at almost exactly the same time, and this led to a spirited discussion about who got there first. After my first viewing, I spent 10-15 minutes going frame by frame to find out whether I agreed with Lisa's verdict; I won't say who was right, but there was 0.1 of a second between the hits! That's the type of thing that it would have been impossible to plan in advance, and I'm glad that the girls were so enthusiastic.

As with all the MostWAM videos, there are high production values, e.g. no plastic sheets covering the walls or floor. In that sense, this video is nothing special, but I think it's good to appreciate it rather than taking it for granted. I may actually show this video to some of my non-sploshing friends, because I could put it on my TV (in full HD) and it feels like something you'd see on the BBC or ITV.

As another "MostWAM standard", this video includes the wash off at the end. I'm always impressed that they actually get the models completely clean; it's a bit like doing a colouring-in book in reverse, as the original skin colour returns!

Special thanks to Charlotte for swapping so many messages with me before filming and then doing a great job of hosting. As the host, she didn't get messy, but she was utterly fearless. Think about Tony Curtis in "The Great Race", where he wanders through the middle of the pie fight unscathed without actually ducking out of the way. There's a similar bit in this video, where a stray pie must have missed her by millimetres, but she didn't even flinch!

So, just in case it's not clear, I really think that you should all buy this video

This looks great.
The ladies look lovely & the foam pies are awesome.

Well done everyone