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Lesson Of The Week
[edit]Lesson of the Week is a mini web series created by two Christian Australian brothers. Whilst being junior leaders to a small Christian youth group, the boys devised a small series to encourage the youth to breakaway from cliques. Both, Micah & Joel Gomes write, star, direct and produce all of the episodes. The Gomes brothers stay true to the Christian beliefs and base the series around child-like moral lessons. These include "Don't pick on your brother" & "Don't take revenge."
As Creators of the series and leaders of a Christian youth group they both try to exclude explicit violent content in their films, however, some of the episodes have shown brutal scenes and have required more post editing to achieve a more child-accessible episode. There has been a total of ten different lessons created by the boys and they plan on expanding the series with several more "seasons."
So far there has been two different seasons, one intermediate episode and a small spin off series titled "iLesson," which were simple continuous shots filmed on an iPhone.
Episode Summaries
[edit]Season 1
Season one was regarded by the youth group to be the meat of the entire series. Whilst most of the episodes are rendered in a poor screen ratio it was still the original and contains some of the classic scenes that defined the series dynamics.
Episode 1
The pilot episode starts off with a shot of Micah sleeping on a recliner in the rumpus area. Joel is hiding behind a futon with a red mattress with several items. One by one he tosses each item at his snoozing brother and finally sneaks out. Micah then opens his eyes apparently aware of what was going on. The film then parody's the movie Jaws using the main theme and several stalker-like shots. In the end, Joel tries running out of his room only to be tripped and dragged back inside screaming. The lesson was "Don't mess with your older brother."
Episode 2
This episode directly follows up on the pilot. Joel is juggling a soccerball in the backyard when a flashback occurs to him, a flashback of himself being dragged into his room. With revenge on his mind he is seen preparing to take his brother down. This episode is a strong spoof on the Rambo series. A lot like the last episode, Micah is dragged into the bushes and only his hat is left. The lesson was "Don't mess with your younger brother."
Episode 3 This episode is almost exactly the same as episode 1, shot for shot except the roles are reversed. Joel is snoozing in the recliner and Micah is behind the futon tossing items. Just like the pilot the Jaws theme is used only to have a twist in the end. Micah runs out of his room and into Joel's and finds Joel asleep in his bed meaning that someone else was trying to get him. The power goes out and Micah in a panic leaves the room and forgets he left Joel in there. Desperate too save him, he runs back in to see where he is, giving up he tries to run away again and is tripped by a wire and dragged back into the room with and identical shot to the pilot's climax. It turns out that the boy's father was teaching them "Not to take revenge."
Episode 4
This is a trademark episode where Joel attempts to take one of Micah's cans of coke despite the warning signs on the fridge. Upon taking the can of soft drink Micah appears out of no where with a stoic expression. Moving like a robot he pursues Joel into the rumpus and lifts him up by the neck. In the way this episode is shot and the way Micah sees in red its apparent that it was intended to be a terminator parody. The lesson is "Don't touch other peoples property."
Episode 5
Shot on Joel's birthday, this lesson is a clean breakaway from the usual lesson of the week. The episode has the biggest cast of all the episodes alone, introducing a total of three new characters on top of Micah and Joel. Jack, Micah, Keanu, Joel and Tara are all seen in the lounge room (rather than the rumpus) sitting down bored. When the boys have the idea to play soccer they celebrate, but Tara, being the only girl of the group doesn't want to do that. The boys huddle and decide that if she doesn't want to play soccer then she can't hang out with them. They leave for the soccer field oblivious to the fact that Tara has vowed to make them pay. Upon their return Keanu is kidnapped by a masked stranger while the rest of the boys aren't looking. After he goes missing, the remaining three attempt a massive search for their missing comrade but can't find him. During the search Micah is also kidnapped leaving Jack and Joel (easter egg to a previous film) as the remaining survivors. Jack is then kidnapped and dragged away by the same masked ninja who is obviously Tara. Joel is left and in the end has a showdown against Tara and several other ninjas. This episode makes a small parody of the matrix in the final scene, when Tara refers to Joel as "Mr. Anderson" and the burly brawl theme is played. The lesson is "Don't leave people out." There was also some controversy about the episode. The original result had quite violent scenes of Tara beating to death her victims with a hammer (no gore, just suggestive actions.) After deciding that it was too violent to be shown at Youth, the brothers did some post-production editing to leave out the violent scenes. However they did keep a backup of the original episode and show it to friends and family.
Episode 6
This is the finale for season 1 and incorporates all the previous episodes. The film starts like episodes 1 & 3 with Micah and Joel's father, Les, snoozing on a recliner in the rumpus. Micah and Joel are behind the futon with several items and tossing them at him. However with the third item, Les catches it and looks at the boys. The brothers in a panic run out of the room to be pursued by a slow robot like moving Les who sees in red with the terminator vision. (Reference to episode 4.) The brothers agree that they must make a stand against him and they split up. Les finally reaches the back yard and scans it to see Joel with a pair of sun glasses on mimicking Neo from The Matrix. (Reference to Episode 5.) After a failed attempt to stop Les, Joel is knocked to the ground. Micah however hiding behind some shrub with leaves tied to his head reveals himself (reference to episode 2) and makes an attempt to stop the terminator. However this fails as well. Unexpectedly, Les's wife makes a cameo appearance and tells everyone that dinner is ready. The boys rush inside and have forgotten about their confrontation. The lesson is "The key to world peace is Mum's home cooked dinner." Episode six is widely regarded by the boys family and friends to be the best Lesson produced. It is a clever finale for season 1.
Episode 7
After the season 2 episodes the Lesson Of The Week series was declared dead and therefore cancelled. Two years after the cancellation the creators of the series, Micah and Joel, scripted an idea for a reunion or a 'seventh' episode as a celebration for a close friend joining them in Brisbane. They decided to call it Lesson Of The Week 7 because it the first season was regarded as a classic. "We want to associate it with the first season because that's what really launched us into filming." Creator Micah Gomes stated. It was planned to combine all of the elements seen in season one similarly to episode 6. The lesson was "Don't pick on Girls." However after a day offil,ing they were unable to finish it and it hasn't yet been decided whether they'll cancel it or create a second part to it.
Intermediate Episode
As a send off for the 2009 season 1, a compilation was made showing the best bits of the series. This episode was produced after the first episode of season 2 so some of season 2 shots can be seen in it. However some extra footage was shot for the intermediate episode.
Season 2
Season 2 is quite short and hasn't had any sort of finale yet hinting that any new episodes will be continuing that season. Two of the three episodes in season 2 were shot with an iPhone and resulted in laggy un-professional footage. Although the Gomes brothers see this as a set back they also say that it "trained" them up in filming.
Episode 1
This episode was created out of writers block to promote the youth to come up with ideas for Lesson of the Week. However, the boys were pleased with the outcome and regard it as an episode rather than a promotional video. It makes spoofs on several movies including, The Dark Knight, Star Wars and Rocky.
Episode 2
This episode is seen as the official introduction to Season 2 and reverts back to an extremely basic concept. One brother out to get the other. There is significant change in the dynamics of the episode than to the standard lesson of the week. Micah wakes Joel up from a peaceful sleep and Joel tells Micah that he's going to get him back. Throughout Micah's day Joel pops up in random places just to tell Micah it's coming. At the end Micah panics and decides to turn the tables and get Joel instead. While Joel is sleeping, Micah gets shaving cream, puts it on Joel's hand and tickles his face in an attempt to make Joel cream himself. Joel suddenly wakes up from his slumber and says "Told ya I'd get ya back" and shoves the cream in Micah's face.
Lagfree
[edit]Lagfree is the Gomes' brothers next project. After finally declaring their pilot series 'Lesson Of the Week' too limited they decided to begin a separate project titled "Lagfree." Whilst Lagfree is really only maintained by Micah and Joel, they themselves did not create Lagfree. Lagfree was created by a group of young out-of-school guys that decided they could create enjoyable small films, after they had finished Salvation (a small film.) Since starting in late 2010, Lagfree has authored a total of five small movies and has become a hit amongst their circle of friends on facebook but hasn't had any real attention on YouTube.
Movies Made
[edit]Boffer Series
Salvation This is chronologically the first movie that was created under Lagfree. Originally it was intended to be a Lesson Of The Week as Lagfree had not been founded yet. However when the movie was complete it unexpectedly exceeded the ten-minute mark for duration so the decision was made to make Salvation it's own stand-alone movie. It had been made with the idea of a prequel and a sequel in mind. Salvation incorporates Micah, Joel and Keanu as themselves as the main characters. In it, Micah rules the world under a tyrannous command and Joel (depicted as the main protagonist) has regular conflicts with Micah. It starts when Joel gives up, Micah witnessing the event decides to take advantage of the fallen hero and strikes him down but before he is able to finish Joel he is interrupted by a caped man wearing a mask. Although the masked stranger isn't as skillful as Micah in combat he is able to distract the giant long enough for Joel to sneak a tackle from behind. The two then run off to the 'hideout.' Keanu reveals himself as the masked stranger, and then plots with Joel to train. They train and finally meet up to take Micah out. The final fight is all shot in first person which made it trademark amongst the boffer series.
Genesis Genesis launched the Boffer Series into it's popularity. Whilst it's the least interesting movie it shows the events leading up to the circumstances depicted in salvation, making it a prequel. Micah, Joel, Keanu and Chris are all homeless youth. They steal from stranger for their livelihood. Micah is shown to be the boss who at times is selfish but is also looking out for his teammates. The four are relaxing one afternoon when a stranger begins to cross the park. They confront him and are taken out easily. He tells them that they are living the wrong kind of life and they should follow him if they want to learn the right way. The boys do as he says and end up at the hideout. The man reveals himself to be 'Master Cheese' although is commonly referred to as just 'Sensei.' He trains the boys up in the art of the boffer. After three years of training they graduate from his school. After a tense conversation with their master, Micah storms off, Chris being his best friend and the most competent with a boffer pursues him to find out what's wrong. Micah turns on Chris and kills him. Ending the movie in a cliffhanger. Genesis employs a larger cast than most Lagfree movies and has been praised within Lagfree's social network. The movie has not been uploaded to Youtube.
Genesis Part 2 Genesis 2 employs the largest cast over any Lagfree movie. It depicts the events of Micah's uprising to power. He has his own dojo and is training his own students. Two students. Whilst their names are never mentioned, their gang is personified as anti-heroes or evil counterparts to that of Sensei's gang. Micah being the evil counterpart to Sensei, Ricky being the evil counterpart for Joel and Brenton being the evil counterpart for Keanu. After a confrontation with Micah, Sensei decides to put his students into special training. He declares a final battle on Micah and each group has a month to train. Sensei's dojo is shown as a more organized, sensible dojo whereas Micah's is chaotic and brutal. After a month a showdown happens where Micah and Sensei square off. After the first hit is thrown all the students begin to fight. The fight is quite even between both sides, however Micah distracts Sensei's students and uses it to get the upper hand. He then gives a speech like common villain speeches, kills his Sensei and proceeds to leave. Before he does he knocks Joel out and continues to walk. Keanu approaches the dying Sensei, and asks what he has to do now. Sensei tells him to 'find the artifact and kill Micah.' Keanu finds a cape and a mask (shown in Salvation) and walks off in the distance. The last scene shows the first scene from Salvation, but in Keanu's first person perspective. A trademark of the boffer series.
Other Lagfree Projects
Morphman A stand alone film that parodies the original spiderman movie. Pablo, the main character, is shown as a nerd whom is picked on by a relative. After being bitten by a radioactive man in a morphsuit he gains special powers. Including improved jumping ability and quicker reflexes. He then designs a costume and sets out to stop crime. On his first day he sees what he believes to be someone mugging a civilian. He grabs the mugger and beats him up. He throws the offender around and eventually kills him. Surprised that he actually killed the man he ditches the body and runs. The ending shows that it was not a mugging, it was an FBI agent asking for the money from a drug dealer. Morphman is charged and arrested. Whilst filming this, Micah actually punched Joel in the head. Concerned he stopped acting but the take was used anyway. Joel states that this film was the most 'painful' to make.
Secret Santa Originally planned as christmas special. The film is very original and both Micah and Joel believe that it is their best. It's style is somewhat a hybrid from their 'Lesson Of The Week' and their Boffer Trilogy. Combining action and camera tricks. The movie was only shot between the two of them, both having to act and film without a tripod. Secret Santa unlocked some handy camera tricks for them that they've used in recent films. It shows a russian criminal stealing presents. To stop this the CIA employ 'Nicholas' or 'Santa' as he prefers to be called. Whom is depicted to be absolutely indestructible. He throws the criminal in jail. After the thankyou message at the end of the video. The russian is shown in jail with morphman and Micah (from the boffer series) and they begin to plot revenge. This hints towards a joint project of some kind.