Jim & Pam’s Engagement…What If (Updated)
October 26, 2008 by Kath Skerry
Here’s an interesting YouTube assignment for those of you who possess the talent for those nifty fanvids. Can you create Jim & Pam’s engagement scene per Greg Daniel’s original vision?
In a story from today’s Washington Post, Daniels spoke of the original plan for the scene during which the viewers at home would not hear those fateful words, “Pam, will you marry me?”, but rather just see the scene play out from across the faux-Merritt Parkway.
“One of the things that we decided at the last minute was to leave the sound in; we also had one version where it’s the exact same visuals, but you weren’t able to hear their dialogue. And that’s a very poetic way of doing it. The staff was completely divided down the middle, and I lost sleep over which way to go on that.
Ultimately, I felt that Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski had done this work, and their performances deserved to be seen. It was kind of artier to remove their voices, but I felt like after this length of time, you deserve to see what was going on and hear it.”
I for one am glad that the decision was made to let the fans experience that scene. Jim and Pam earned it. John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer earned it. We the fans earned it.
But still, assuming this alternative scene doesn’t end up on the Season 5 DVD, I wonder how it would have played out. Just the sound of the rain, the passing by cars and Jim down on his knees (that’s what she said) – sorry I couldn’t hep myself (that’s what….)
In case you want to see it yet again…
…and here is what could have been, courtesy of VanFan14
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Filed under Jenna Fischer, Jim Halpert, John Krasinski, Pam Beesly, The Office
What an interesting article! I can’t believe we were that.close to not hearing the sound! I agree – it would have been very artistic the other way, but I’m so happy that we got to hear what was going on. I think it was pretty perfect the way it happened.
Can’t wait to see what it would look like if Greg had changed his mind! I just tried watching it with the sound off, and it’s no way close to the impact we actually got to experience with sound/visual combination.
I’m a dissenter: I was a little distracted wondering why they had mikes on, or where the sound guys were supposed to be standing to record their voices. I think it would have been amazingly powerful to see it happen with only the sound of the rain and the traffic.
The scene with full audio would have made a great DVD extra. It might even have driven sales among some fans.
Here’s the link to the voice-less proposal video I made… It’s not professional quality & I apologize for that but i use iMovie & I don’t know how to separate the audio into voices & sound effects, so I had to do something else… enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkCcL3cgfT4
Can someone tell Greg Daniels I want to be able to play the episode that way when the dvd comes out? That was even better, in my opinion. I’d like to think Jim wouldn’t have let them mike them for the actual proposal and that the crew was hiding to catch it.
I liked it without the voices too! I didn’t realize at the time how distracting it was, but watching it without their voices was so beautiful and poignant, I wish they would have done it that way. Great job Vanfan!
I agree – I LOVED it without the voices. I definitely wish they had done it that way… and at the very least include it on the DVD. Although Vanfan did a great job.
Great job Vanfan! I loved it without the voices, and I probably would have still cried if it had aired that way, but it would have made me crazy to not have heard him ask “Will you marry me?”