The Office Scene You Didn't Know Required Special Effects
There are many reasons why "The Office" remains such a beloved television show. The central romance between Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer) made people believe in true love. Michael Scott (Steve Carell) seemed to perpetually say things that forced him to put his foot in his mouth, making you cringe and laugh simultaneously. And then, there are the pranks.
From the pilot episode, it was clear pranks would be a frequent occurrence on the show. All it took was putting Dwight's (Rainn Wilson) stapler inside a Jello dessert to prove the lengths the slacker would go to annoy his coworker. Naturally, you can't rest on your laurels when you start from such a high point, so throughout nine seasons, Jim upped the ante to some genuinely ridiculous heights ... literally.
One of the most impressive pranks Jim ever pulled happened in Season 5's "Prince Family Paper." In it, Jim buys 500 feet of red wire and connects it from Dwight's computer to the top of a telephone pole. That's dedication to the bit, and you'll be even more impressed when you hear how the crew of "The Office" pulled it off.
They had to green screen Rainn Wilson in behind John Krasinski
You wouldn't think a stunt like climbing up a pole would require any elaborate effects. But as revealed in the August 31 episode of "Office Ladies," hosted by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, they couldn't have Rainn Wilson climb up an actual electrical pole. There's always the risk he could fall, not to mention the potential of a dangerous shock. But where there's a will, there's a way, and as the podcast hosts explain, the team behind the scenes quickly got to work to figure out how they could make it look like Dwight was up the pole where Jim was speaking to the cameraman.
As Fischer explains, "They put it up in our parking lot between the two sound stages, and they put like a green padded platform around it ... And they put up a big green screen behind the whole thing. And then they brought Rainn out along with like a stunt coordinator and a safety officer, and they had Rainn climb up. It was only a few feet that he had to climb. And then in post-production, they had their visual effects team digitally add Rainn to the real pole over Jim's shoulder."
It's a lot of work for a stunt that would show up on the screen for a few seconds. It's not even like the prank impacts what happens in the rest of the episode, but it's an excellent example of how Jim's spirit was alive and well in those working on the show. When it comes to something that's even moderately funny, there's no such thing as going overboard.