Week 10 The filming of ‘Bojo’s buses’

8th Dec 20209th Dec 2020 | harussell1

Following on from last weeks prop making I started filming ‘Bojo’s buses’. I had originally planned on having the union jack on the wall behind Bojo but realised that it was better placed as a table cloth as it being behind Louis was far to distracting and almost visually ‘drowned him out.’I decided to have part of my quite regal looking mirror in the background as a sign of grandeur and have him sat on quite a country looking chair which occurs in the ‘batshit crazy old lady’ video’s.

Louis decided (of his own accord) to fill his cheeks with some of the wadding used for granma’s hair to pad them out and to help him mumble his speach

It seemed a really obvious idea to have a jubilee commemoration mug which Louis had picked up from Burn’s yard one of our favourite places to resource scraps etc.

I wanted to make him as bumbling and childish as possible. Looking back, I do think I should have scruffed the top of his hair up a bit more bojo style. I then decided that to trial two end scenes one where Grandma has her normal glasses and the other where she has her surreal bug-like eyes and is feeling the picture with her eyes in order to connect to ‘her maker’; the almighty Bojo. I decided to give her some 18th century cupid’s bow lipstick. I felt that pulling that certain facial expression reminded me of Mrs Doyle especially with the red lipstick on. I also feel that due to the nose overshadowing her mouth the lipstick is needed so that you can see the expression on the mouth.

Overall I liked this video but not as much as bus shit-crazy old lady as i felt that that video was more atmospheric with the red lighting etc and i think i preferred the darker feel to the video. I am currently still gathering feedback on this video to see what people think in general. However, I do think that this video was a key stage in the characters development as seeing her with the bug-eyes and the lipstick on I easily envisioned her as a giant puppet like character and she reminded me of an artists work I saw online a few years back.

I feel that the character really needs stilts but I don’t really know how to approach this as I have little to no balance but I may ask around and see if there is anyone I know that does it or make stilts that I am able to stand on myself!

Also inspired by some characters I saw whilst watching Borat 2 and Frank I would like to create her a paper mache head with 3D eyes. I plan to work on these ideas in my reflective sketchbook over the holidays then start making at the start of the new semester.

Overall, I believe my project so far has been really successful, especially as I have never done any kind of comedy sketches before.

I’m unsure if I want to develop Boris’s character further or use his character again but I definitely want to progress the old lady’s character further.

If the pandemic was non-existent i would plan on making some kind of bus and projecting onto it. If money was no option I would use a real bus to project onto, or have people be able to climb onto the bus and watch different performances on different 1970’s style television screens with headphones but make the bus as surreal as possible so that the person journeying around the bus almost became part of a fully immersive experience.

Bibliography

Frank. (2014). How to create a head like Frank’s.. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UphC6JAqd5E&t=25s. Last accessed 8th december 2020.

Watts M. (2013). Giant puppets liverpool. Available: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=giant+puppets+liverpool+2019. Last accessed 8 december 2020

Week 9 ‘Bojo’s wig’

6th Dec 20207th Dec 2020 | harussell1

This week I added the finishing touches to Bojo’s bus and wig. I realised that the finishing touches to the bus just had to be the union jack. Due to Bojo’s being the embodiment of ‘British and proud’ and because of Brexit. I also bought a 5ft by 3ft union jack to pin up in the background for filming. I searched the charity shops and bought an oversized shirt, blazer jacket and tie for £1.99 each was a really affordable student price. I also liked the fact the shirt hadn’t been steamed as it added to the look of Bojo’s well known unkempt ‘scruffiness’ I also had ‘air pillow packaging’ to wrap around under the shirt.

Bojo’s wig riding on the back of ‘Bojo’s buses’

To make the wig I simply took the bald cap I had used for the old lady on one occasion and super glued sheep’s wool to it. To start with I added far too much wool and somehow didn’t realise this until i tried it on Louis’ head and realised he looked like Rick from Rick and Morty instead. This would make absolutely no sense especially due to the fact that Bojo notoriously has very fine fly-away hair. So i began to pull tufts out, spread the sheep’s wool with my fingers to make it look thin so that you could see the scalp and pinch sections of the hair towards the middle of the scalp and backcomb it with my fingers. I’m am very pleased with the finished results as I didn’t predict it would turn out as well as it did. One of my classmates said it needed to be more yellow, but Bojo’s hair is so blonde that it is verging on white and adding yellow (which i had at one point plotted to do after receiving that comment by doing a ‘dye bath’ with turmeric) would make the wig seem more like Trump. I looked up Boris’s caricature from spitting image and his hair is white blonde which confirmed that i had in fact made the right decision. Even tho i felt that the wig in general had turned out well, I had to come to the realisation that Louis’ head and face shape wasn’t the same shape as his; but in the long haul I realised that this didn’t matter as Louis was so good at the impersonation that people would without a doubt know that he was impersonating Boris. Also did how he look matter so much as long as the comedic effect was there?

As you can see there is an immediate difference between the thick wig and the thinner wig

A few photo’s of the wig and the bus with the old lady and Willy Johnson.I feel that the wig takes on lots of human traits in these photo’s.

This week I had a crit with Ellie Harrison and a few other classmates.This crit got very positive feedback,Ellie mentioned prehaps submitting some of the films to comedy festivals which i am going to do over the Christmas holidays.One of my fellow classmates said ‘What if she becomes the bus?’ And i felt like this was a very big Eureka moment!So i started to sketch out a few potential ideas…

The idea of her becoming a bus amuses me greatly and hopefully would have that reaction in other people.I started to think what material would work the best,would MDF be too heavy? Would cardboard work well enough?How would i attach it to my body?I plan on thinking these things over during the Christmas holidays ready for the next semester.

Week 5 ‘A terrifying night’

8th Nov 20209th Dec 2020 | harussell1

I decided to put together a video where the ‘bus-shit crazy old lady’ appears completely out of context.I hope this to be one film in a series of many. I plan to film other short films with her quirks etc before looking back at how she became the anger riddled/bitter old lady that she is today.

'a wig and cross crutch'I thought this was very similar to a skull and cross bones and could potentially be used as a flag. — ‘a wig and cross crutch’I thought this was very similar to a skull and cross bones and could potentially be used as a flag.

When filming i somehow never realised this picture was behind me untill half way through!And that was when I decided the camera should pan in. — ‘a wig and cross crutch’I thought this was very similar to a skull and cross bones and could potentially be used as a flag.

I like this still ,but it looks too sexual which obviously isn’t what I’m going for.

This still looks quite sexual which wasn't esactly what i was going for but you don't get to see Louis face this close due to the camera angle when filming anyway. — I like this still ,but it looks too sexual which obviously isn’t what I’m going for.

I think the video was far more sucessful then I had envisioned,the red lighting really gave an atmosperic feel and I think the video was the right level of dark avant_garde humour.I’d say for my first time making a comedic performance and not a serious performance art piece it has turned out well.I must admit it was a lot of fun to make and coming up with ideas. Alot of laughter was involved in the filming of this and I hope it it brings laughter to everyone that watches it especially in these dark times.

Medusa has been a very obvious choice in terms of the hair altho Granma sadly doesn’t have the power of looks to entice people in with!

I was encouraged by my partner to watch some of the Monty Python sketches as they may be somewhat of an influence to me.And I just so happened to occur this sketch called ‘hells grannies’ which obviously coincided really well with my project.Altho bus-shit crazy old lady is obviously alot darker I love the thought of grannies rebelling and doing what society doesn’t expect of them.I also think that in a way we all know some old person who rebels like that. I allways remember being in total awe of my friends granny as she looked so sweet but swore like a trooper and would allways be flirting with old men,especially one that used to bring her a paper each day.

A few illustrations of ideas for further filming.I feel that drawing the ideas helps the development of the process and helps them come alive.It also felt natural to use the paper used for creating the wig in order to draw on it.This connection just felt like part of the process.Writing some dialogue also helped with the characters development.I felt that using continous line gave her the most character.

I feel that the prison shot would be a good shot for when she gets caught after all the ‘cable murders’.

A look at giving the wig a personality of it’s own after discovering last week that it had it’s own sculptural almost facial like qualties.I also drew some drawings of potential personalities with added to dialogue.I don’t know if prehaps this would be too much work alongside the character of Granma herself but I am willing to see where this takes me as nothing ventured,nothing gained.

I have the idea of a stop motion where the knitting starts to knit on top of her head and down her face and round her into a scarf.The only issue would be getting the needles to stay upright especially when they are meant to be moving.

I watch alot of murder doccumenties which inspired the idea that every time she creates a murder ‘The cable connects’ appears as she obviously uses this to kill.

I decided to make posters which will be put about town with the hashtag ‘what is the last stop’ so that without people even knowing it she is getting inside there minds as they take a photo and use the hashtag which then connects the image to the internet.So the public become almost part of the performance but without realising it.

I was encouraged by a fellow classmate to watch ‘Commedia dell’Arte.I find it interesting how they talk about ‘moving through the emotions of the character using the body’ as opposed to speaking and this is something I think i will try to take into future performances.

Bibliography

Comedia dell’arte. (2011). Character Shape. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJEwuurzDe4&t=38s. Last accessed 16th Nov 2020.

Youtube. (2010). Monty python-Hells grannies. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmzMzmnB-iQ. Last accessed 13th Nov 2020

Heather’s blog

#comedy

Week 10 The filming of ‘Bojo’s buses’

Week 9 ‘Bojo’s wig’

Week 5 ‘A terrifying night’