Broad City is yet another of Comedy Central’s shows that has rolled out to the pleasure of the fans and is now entering its final season with Abbi and Ilana, and it seems that they’re wanting to go out in, um, style, so to speak. The idea of turning a trip through Manhattan into a social media story is something that might seem kind of interesting to those that watch the show and it could be a method that works in their favor. Whether it’s going to appease their fans and get them an increase in ratings is hard to say but it certainly couldn’t hurt. The two women were noticeably excited about this when asked but also admitted that there’s kind of a risk to it since Manhattan is a fairly big place and anything can happen. But thankfully it seems to have paid off, though the one-month allotment for filming a social media story through the streets of New York City wasn’t quite enough.
Just to pull off the idea the creators, writers, and stars had to enlist someone to direct the “Stories” episode. The script was rather unique and if you can believe it was filmed using an iPhone, six of them in fact that were swapped out over and over. This took about four and a half days to shoot and during that time the crew canvassed much of Manhattan. The filming was done in September and then came the editing portion which wasn’t completed until around December. Obviously the amount of time spent editing was something that was taken very seriously and had to be done just right so that they would come out with a finished product that they could be proud of.
The innovative way that this was done was far beyond anything that they had accomplished in the past and there was a lot more work with emojis and text that was utilized to tell the story. The live-action footage was still a big part of it, but the integration of this new method was something that raised the bar just a bit on anything they’d done before. By creating their own platform, which was possible since they weren’t branding it as an Instagram story, the creators managed to make something unique and engaging that they were hoping people would respond to in a very positive way.
This show is known for taking big swings like this and those that have anything to do with and even those that watch the show can admit that this was a huge swing that was batting for the fences so to speak. So far it definitely seems like it was worth it as they produced something they’re happy with and that people seem to enjoy. It does help that the stars trust in their ability to ake something happen and are able to work together in a very cohesive way that pays a lot of dividends when the final product is delivered.
Abbi and Ilana star out in Inwood during the episode and make a number of stops along way, from dining in Harlem to going down a manhole and then to finding themselves inside a drug stor. They even managed to make a stop at Sketcher’s and then made their way around the Manhattan Mall before meeting with friends for brunch. After that it was off to the bottom of Manhattan to take in the view of the Statue of Liberty. The prep for all this involved walking the entire path in order to see how realistic the journey was and whether New Yorkers would actually pay attention to all the details that are being shown as the show was being filmed. As everything was built into the script the crew wanted to be certain that they would be adhering to the map and that things would go as smoothly as possible.
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