A gag reel is a collection of mistakes and bloopers made during the production of a film or stage production. They are often included as an extra feature on DVDs and can be hilarious. The tradition started in the 1950s and has continued to be popular, with some modern gag reels including cutscenes with alternate sound or visual effects. Pixar famously creates gag reels for their animated films. Gag reels are a great way to commemorate the production process and offer insight into behind-the-scenes action. However, they may contain adult language or content and should be viewed with caution by children.
A gag reel, also called a blooper or outtake reel, is a collection of mistakes and mistakes made during the production of a film or stage production. These reels often contain confusing lines, actors losing character and laughing, production problems such as fires or props falling incorrectly, or practical jokes. Many DVDs now contain a gag reel as an extra feature or an Easter egg. Gag reels are often hilarious and an excellent way for audience members to get into the production process and for production members to relive great moments.
The collection of errors rose to prominence in the 1950s, thanks in particular to the efforts of television producer Kermit Schafer. Schafer has produced several records of both live and recreated blooper called Pardon My Blooper! In the 1970s, a popular British TV show called It’ll be Alright on the Night showed film and TV glitches and spawned several spin-off shows. Into the 21st century, DVDs and video sharing websites like Youtube have continued the popularity of the gag reel.
One of the first TV shows to produce much-watched bummers was Star Trek. When the show’s fan conventions reached record size, producers released gag reels featuring fan-favorite characters. In the 1990s, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air often ran a gag over the credits, a popular tradition even during the credits.
Some modern gag reels include cutscenes played with alternate sound or visual effects. In Pirate’s of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, a sea battle is shown with a car chase soundtrack. Viewers who have seen rare outtakes from the Lord of the Rings trilogy claim that an edited sequence is included, showing Aragorn attacking Sauron with a machine gun.
Pixar, a computer-generated image animation studio, famously created outtakes for many of their popular films. Because the movies are animated, these gag reels aren’t made up of actual bugs, but are rather created by the designers to look like a bug reel for animated casts. In the Toy Story 2 reel, Woody’s character is shown playing a series of practical jokes on Buzz’s character. Other outtakes involve animation lines, such as Mrs. Potato-Head inserting impossible objects into Mr. Potato-Head’s storage unit.
It was a common practice to display the gag reels at a production wrap party. Some of these are eventually released on DVD for public viewing, but others remain closely guarded secrets. At Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings cast wrap party, party-goers were shown a wide variety of gags, most of which were never released to the public, despite requests from fans.
Gag reels are a wonderful way to commemorate the production of any filmed event. Some live theater groups film much of their rehearsal process, editing together any funny mistakes to show at the wrap party or hand out as gifts to company members. For fans, the gag reel offers insight into the behind-the-scenes action and is often shown at large-scale conventions such as California Comic Con. Be careful when showing a gag to children, as they are generally not rated or censored and may contain adult language or content.
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