Halloween was coming up. It also occurred to me that I hadn’t made a comedy music video in a while.
That was where “Halloween Apartments” started.
I picked the cast by asking which monsters came to mind for Halloween: Dracula, a werewolf, a mummy, and Jack-o’-lantern. Their landlady would be a witch.
I wanted to make a story about these monsters being a little hopeless. As the idea took shape, the four of them ended up sharing an apartment building.
They actually went to work for the candy money
The four roommates head out to earn money for the candy they’ll hand out to the kids.
So far, they’re doing the right thing.
Then Dracula celebrates the end of his night shift with some wine. “Just one glass” turns into a few too many, and he starts buying rounds for other people.
The werewolf takes his day’s pay straight to pachinko. He plans to win enough to buy loads of cookies, but ends up with one piece of candy. He insists it cost ten thousand yen.
The mummy spends his pay from a merchandise stall on merchandise for his favorite character. His badges jingle, so at least he sounds wealthy.
Jack finishes his cleaning job, then buys cigarettes in bulk. The candy budget goes up in smoke with them.
They meant to buy candy. They even went to work for it. Somehow, none of them came back with a proper supply. Each roommate gets a rap verse about his own bad decision.
Dancing buys them a little time
The musical direction was bright Halloween pop-rap, combining UK Garage and Jersey Club. I wanted a contrast between tightly packed rap verses and a big, sung chorus.
While the four are explaining what happened, the children arrive.
There’s a small line beneath the pumpkin lights. The basket is empty.
The Japanese chorus invites the kids to have a dance before the candy.
The roommates look welcoming, but they’re panicking inside. The chorus became the clearest place to show how much trouble they’ve got themselves into.
The costumes and lights are cheerful, and the four seem to be enjoying themselves. Knowing why they’re dancing changes how the scene looks. I wanted that small mismatch to stay in the video.
An empty basket and one piece of candy
The props turned out to matter more than I expected.
If you can’t see that the basket is empty, you lose the reason for the panic. If you can’t see the candy in the werewolf’s palm, the ten-thousand-yen joke has nothing to land on. The long receipt and the mummy’s badges carry their own jokes, too.
Moving closer to make a face look good sometimes cut the basket or candy out of the frame. I revisited this especially when adapting the square footage to a wide 16:9 picture.
What does the scene need right now: a face, a hand, or the reaction between two people? Even a small comedy needs those choices in the right order.
Giving the building and the street some time
As the edit developed, some stretches had too many character shots in a row. Others felt as though the same footage was being reused too often.
I added views of the apartment building and the street with nobody in them.
Courtyard lights, the street at night, the moon. Halloween is still happening outside the spot where the four roommates are making a fuss.
These shots helped me reconsider the balance between dancing, quick replies, and the quieter night around them. Stepping away from close views of the characters left more room for the apartment itself.
Odd movements that a single image didn’t reveal
I kept returning to the AI-generated footage.
Wine appeared to come out of Dracula’s fingertip. A child’s face looked unnatural. A hand shape or the angle of the werewolf’s arm was wrong.
I changed the usable ranges or switched to other shots. A good-looking image didn’t guarantee that the movement after it would look natural.
The English recording of “Halloween Apartments” brought another problem.
While adapting the picture to the English vocals, Dracula’s pointing gesture ended up at roughly twice the speed. Trying to fit the entire movement into a short spoken line had made it look fast-forwarded.
I shortened the source range instead and returned it to normal speed relative to the 4K parent footage. That correction made it clear why matching the lyric timing and checking the movement both matter.
The landlady takes over
When the four run out of ways to fix things, the witch landlady arrives.
She’s already bought the candy. They just need to hand it out.
In the final chorus, the kids finally get their treats. The basket that started empty is now full. The same building and the same four roommates are there, but this time they’re actually doing the job.
The landlady still has the receipt, though.
When the werewolf asks for one for himself, that doesn’t settle everything. I let the four stay a little pathetic right to the end.
Audio and lyrics: Japanese recording · English recording.
They were supposed to buy candy. How did it turn into all this?
I hope you can roll your eyes at them and still have a little laugh. There might be room for an apartment like this somewhere on Halloween night.
pop-rap / UK garage / Jersey clubハロウィンアパートOpen the song page for audio, lyrics, and notes.Explore this song →Thank you for reading.
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