Thanks for a quick analysis, especially in the wee hours of the morning.
Prior to biting the bullet and doing this in video, my first attempt last week was a WordPad document with frame caps where I was figuring out where things went. I titled it 'Muppets 2011 - Connecting the Dots'.
I did notice the 'cde' logo present in the Breathe office (on the picture behind Gary) and on the easel in the Bobo fencing scene, and in my WordPad version I dropped the photo there as a placeholder.
Once I was editing it as video, though, certain story-telling instincts took over, and it felt like Tex Richman's villainy was weakened if Statler's comment went unchallenged. So, emotionally, seeing him (presumably) whacking an underling with an epee' shores up his bad-guy-ness at that point. Do I think those two scenes occur together in the film? No, but with the material at hand, it was an organic marriage.
I don't think the presence of the 'cde' easel necessarily ties the two locations together. For one thing, they don't match well in the 'color script'. And again, from a story point, it feels more villainous to have your bad guy to be at his home base, plotting and preparing, perhaps being told about the good guys' plans (hence a portable visual aid, like an easel).
The Amy Adams punch was another one that had no definitive place in the timeline. Yet placing it right after her going out for a walk kept it from becoming a really Jason-centric section of the edit. Her fight scene fell there accidentally while I was moving other pieces to their only possible location, and I liked the juxtaposition. Instead of being weepy-eyed in all the remaining clips, she was finding her strength, and there were very few 'Mary alone' clips to use when they are separated.
I've got no concrete info on where that scene would fall in the real film, but in 'movie trailer' logic, it works. And, without more material to choose from, sometimes grouping mysterious moments solely by character was the only solution.
Parenthetically, the rain scenes are problematic on the timeline. In the shot of Mary retreating from the rainy window, she is clearly back in her classroom, wearing the same dress from the day they left for Los Angeles. Does she go home and put on the same clothes from before? Is her rainy scene one of the first moments in the film? Is it a fantasy image conjured by Gary while he wanders in his tux in the rain? No clue. In the WordPad version, I put it as image #1, with a question mark.
Likewise, one of my favorite combinations was Gonzo knocking the bowling pin off of Gary's head intercut with his speech at the Muppet Theatre about figuring something out and saying duh. He's at the theatre, there's no Mary, and Gary seems to be in the same costume, though that brown shirt/jacket thing goes over a lot of different shirts. And the implication is that maybe the bowling ball caused his epiphany.
But that got cut right into all the shots of Gary in a tux! Then, to further complicate things, I had some audio of Kermit that needed a different visual because I had taken the original footage and put it elsewhere as a silent shot. And here was a shot of Gary that I muted the announcer voice. The two pieces were almost exactly the same length, so I gave it a little test and it jelled surprisingly well. They were even both talking about love, so it felt 'right'.
By the way, I had a handful of other shots from the Green With Envy trailer where it was just Gary and Mary, and no sense of where they fell on the timeline, so finally I just decided to omit them.
I agree, the flashbulb shot of K & P does feel like a flashback... but that's a frustrating concept when your mandate is to put things in as linear a fashion as you can. That one floated in my lineup for a long time, and I suspected it would be cut altogether. Finally the only semi-sensible place to put it was with the other shot of Piggy with curly hair, but that one can't be a flashback too, since Walter's in it. And from the visual cues, Piggy HAS to arrive last at the Theatre, bumping her 'replacement' Miss Poogy, so shots of her can't show up at random times. Putting them all together at that point in the timeline gave her some gravitas. And we all know she deserves that.
As for Walter's electrocution, not sure how much earlier I can move it. Look at their costumes and the time of day.
Plus, this placement has a simple, logical progression of one character leading us to the next. Some notes culled from my WordPad version:
Mary is a popular auto shop teacher in Smalltown USA (note all those apples on her desk). Her classroom contains a 1948 British economy car called a Morris Minor. Her boyfriend Gary arrives to begin their vacation to Los Angeles. Outside, Mary and Gary and Gary's best friend Walter have a song and dance with the townspeople.
Arrival by bus, Los Angeles, daytime, same costumes. [Smalltown is close enough to get there in a day, yet far enough that Mary's never been before.] They visit the Chinese Theatre where Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is playing (synergy). From the posted plot synopsis: "While in the L.A. area, they soon discover that despicable oilman Tex Richman (Oscar winner
Chris Cooper) wants to tear down the Muppet Theater to drill for oil recently discovered underneath
The Muppets' former home. In order to stage 'The Greatest Muppet Telethon Ever' and raise the $10 million needed to save the theater, Walter, Gary, and Mary must 'get the band back together' and reunite
Kermit the Frog and the whole gang, who have all gone their separate ways." Trio discovers Richman and cronies plotting, prompting them to visit Kermit. Kermit must initially say no, prompting "really short movie" joke. Luckily, Kermit relents. Next is Fozzie, performing in Reno with the Moopets tribute band, including Miss Poogy. Next is Gonzo, plumbing magnate with Gonzo's Royal Flush. Explosion. More Muppets in some order: Rowlf, Scooter, Animal. Arrival in Paris to talk to Miss Piggy. Kermit is not with them at first? (What's with Fozzie's beret? Some shots he has it, some he doesn't?) Piggy refuses. On to CERN labs to get Bunsen and Beaker, and picking up 80's Robot too. (Where did Rowlf go?) More Muppets: Sam, Chef, Crazy Harry, rest of Electric Mayhem. 80's Robot driving them all in one car. (Where is Rowlf?) Pitching the telethon; Rowlf is back. More Muppets: Thog, Sweetums, Lew Zealand, rats, Miss Poogy (replacing no-show-sow Miss Piggy). Telethon is greenlit. Cleaning up the theatre montage. More Muppets: Wayne, Wanda, Link, Strangepork, penguins, more chickens, Beau? Rehearsing acts: fart shoes, Gonzo knocks bowling pin off Gary's head. Gary forgets anniversary? Something triggers Piggy's arrival, which leads to Poogy's dismissal. Do I smell a luau? More Muppets, more Muppets, more Muppets! Show? One dollar short of goal. Jail? Fans outside. Song and dance number.
Alex