#j none

First of all, I like the "expanding circle" opening transition for the start of the video - it subtly alludes to how this is predominantly a storytelling song/video.

Second of all, hello J None! He is of course the "guest collaborator" for this cover, and it continues the trend of J None returning for almost every single one of VoicePlay's Halloween releases! (Other than Ding Dong/Hide And Seek in 2022, which featured Lauren Paley).

"Hang on guys, something's up!"

I honeestly really love the composition of this shot. I love how there's blue lighting over Eli, J, and Cesar, as our backing vocals trio (or the "American Country Greek Chorus, as I kind of described them in my musical thoughts/commentary post), and then there's gold lighting over Layne and Geoff, as our instrumentalist/protagnist and narrator, respectively. And then you have the grey-white space between the trees in the background (or, well, on the background, really), which is lined up almost perfectly with the tree stump in the midground where the five of them are!

Also as I was first watching this, I got some Classical Chaos vibes from the straw/hay on the ground, and the actual trees used as setpieces, but we'll touch on that some more in a bit. ;)

This partially-obcured shot is a nice touch - it's meant to be a POV shot, like you're looking through the eyes of someone/something spying on VoicePlay while hiding in some bushes. It helps to add a bit of extra suspense! The video even throws in some growls as well (which the audio track doesn't have) (if I had to guess, I'd say it's Geoff or Layne with a bit of extra audio processing, but I can't be sure - it could be a stock sound effect for all I know).

How cool are these star designs? They were created by Angie Woollard, a VoicePlay Patron who makes some incredible artwork using a spirograph - here's her Instagram if you wanna go show her some love! VoicePlay commissioned her to make some designs specifically for their video, and a couple of them even got used for some VoicePlay merch! (I used to have a spirograph myself when I was younger, but it was a basic kids version, and though I still did some cool art with it, none of it was anywhere near as layered and as detailed as what Angie makes!)

Truly a face only a mother could love /lh

Presenting Matthew "Bucky" Buckner, playing The Devil for this video! Bucky is of course no stranger to VoicePlay - he was once briefly a proper member I believe? It might've been back when they were still 4:2:Five? Regardless, in more recent years he's showed up in a couple of Minis (the Candy Crush one, and I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)), and was the titular Drunken Sailor in VoicePlay's video for it. He's also assisted Geoff behind the scenes for a couple of videos (helped with choreography for Monster Mash, and was a "consultant" for Unshaken, as somebody quite familiar with Red Dead Redemption II. He's even been in a Pattycake Productions video! (Played Prince Charming in Cinderswift).

Kudos as always (or almost always, anyway) to Rick Underwood for the phenomenal work with the makeup prosthetics! It's very awesome that he's still able to find time away from his work at Universal Studios to still help with VoicePlay/Geoff videos from time to time! The things he can do with an airbrush are honestly mind-blowing!

BOY LEMME TELL YOU WHAT

(Also I've only just noticed right now that The Devil also appears to have cloven hooves for feet).

"Who me?" (is what I'm assuming those two violin-string-like noises translated to, lol)

(Also this is at least the second video we've got where Layne is "fear-beatboxing", pfft)

Also also, I of course noticed the star necklace that Layne wears in the video, which has gotta be deliberate, since he's never worn it before and only wears necklaces in videos if its part of a specifically-chosen outfit. I'm guessing it's just meant to symbolise how Layne is on The Good Side, having a right-side-up star, as opposed to The Devil being on The Bad Side, with his upside-down star (i.e. pentagram).

"Johnny" (Layne, kinda) starts by saying "it might be a sin...", and The Devil responds with this hand-wavey gesture, because like, c'mon, this is The Devil you're talking to! There's really no need to apologise for any potential sins of yours in this conversation! (Shoutout to one of the VoicePlay Patrons for pointing this out yesterday in the Discord server)

Love a good fire effect in a video!

Violin rosin is indeed highly flammable, so I've heard. There's some interesting chemical reaction that happens with rosin, I think (or the powdered form, at least), but idk, I've never played any string instrument and I'm not a total chemistry expert. And I digress!

Me too, Geoff, me too

(Also I love how Geoff is kind of an "involved narrator", or whatever the proper term may be (if there is one at all). Like he's narrating the story, but he's also in the story at the same time! Gives me a bit of musical theatre vibes ngl (there's a couple specifically I'm thinking of, one very well known, and one that's more niche).

The callback to In The Hall Of The Mountain King! I talked about it in my musical thoughts/commentary, and I said I'd talk more about it in my Voiceplay Visuals post, and so here I am!

A great reason why it works so well is that anyone who's decently familiar with VoicePlay's Mountain King and Classical Chaos videos would've likely already have been getting those sort of vibes from this video! Not just in the background/set design (like I mentioned a bit further up in this post), but also in the appearance of The Devil Himself. The bright red skin, the large, clawed hands, the fur, the horns, the prosthetics on the ears, nose, and chin - all of it screams "Grundel" (well, to me, anyway - I haven't gotten around to watching any reaction videos for this yet).

While I'm here, the necklace that Cesar is wearing is the same one that he wore for the Party Of Your Lifetime video, and he also wore it in the For The Longest Time "biggie" video!

(Oh and if I had a dollar for every time the VoicePlay guys had makeup applied to their faces/hands/clothing to make them look dirtier, I'd have enough money to up my Patreon tier /lh )

"Bro you good?"

(Not even the narrator is safe from demonic possession! But hey, it gives us a pretty sick bassline!)

I haven't stopped to talk specifically about Geoff's appearance yet (shocker I know), but I haven't found a good-enough closeup frame yet! Regardless, he's got buttons unbuttoned, and the necklace chain is visible, so not much new here, but he did get a haircut recently! The hair is as great as ever of course <3

Bucky does not know how to play the violin (I don't think the gold violin was even properly functional (or at least the bow wasn't) during the filming, iirc from the BTS? Probably for the best, honestly. But hey, Bucky still seemed to have a lot of fun with his performance!

"What was that? 😨"

(In the previous shot, you can see Geoff rubbing the back of his head and patting himself down as he also snaps out of it)

Some fans have suggested that instead of this being Violayne, it's actually 😝

Either way, this is the 4th time we've seen Layne playing the violin/fiddle in a VoicePlay video, so I'll absolutely be making a little photo compilation for it at some point! (Soon, hopefully).

Party time!

(It's very hard to get good screencaps, but Cesar especially is FULLY vibing and going hard on the knee-slapping and it's great)

He's so pretty!!! (It's been too long since I've been able to throw that line into a Voiceplay Visuals post)

If I had a nickel for every time Layne kicked something away and out-of-shot in a VoicePlay Halloween video, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's funny that it's happened twice (in two consecutive years, no less!) (Also lol at how shocked Geoff looks in that third screencap 😂)

If you were wondering how the violin managed to spin and turn so much while flying through the air, the answer is strings! Fishing wire or something like that; when The Devil holds up the golden fiddle, offering it to Johnny, you can see one of the thin translucent strings hanging down from the left side of it, down past The Devil's fingers.

Pfft, not even The Devil Himself is immune to the awesomeness of VoicePlay's music! (And he is Mad About It, though screencaps can't really do it justice)

"Take that!"

I love how The Devil mutters "stupid VoicePlay" as he walks off (also not in the MP3 audio track), which implies that he's heard of them before, or perhaps has even had dealings with them before?! (But also that kind of implies that this is a universe/timeline where they live in Georgia, not Florida, and that Layne is called Johnny. But anyway...)

And we finish the same way we started, but in reverse, with a circle closing to black on the screen towards the centre!

And that's The Devil Went Down To Georgia - VoicePlay style! I actually included 28 images all up, not 30, but with all my yapping, I think I still made a pretty thorough post!

TDWDTG doesn't beat Hunt The Sky for me in terms of favourite VoicePlay song/video for the year, but this absolutely still makes the top 3.