#shortfilm

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.

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

Week 9 ‘Bojo’s wig’

Week 5 ‘A terrifying night’