This skit is a byproduct of a brainstorming session that Davin and I had sometime early Nov. 2008. I was flying to Vancouver to Produce a film and to help pass the time during the flight I came up with 2 or 3 potential skits in my "film journal". A little book where I scribble ideas and random thoughts.
I presented the ideas to Davin and from there we came up with some new ones. It was Davin who had the idea to make a gum commercial about two guys who sit down chew some gum and get really obnoxious. The concept was simple enough and had the potential to be nice and short but very amusing. Davin insisted that we not prepare ourselves at all for this particular skit as he felt that would make the skit as fresh as possible. So we didn't bother scripting any ideas or making any type of shot list.
Normally when we make these things, it's just Davin and I which is painful, because it limits what we can do with the camera. Thankfully Bjorn was on board to help with the shooting. It's always nice when he helps out because we don't have to worry about camera setups, he has a naturally eye for these things. Davin and I usually just look through the lens after he's set it up and say yes or no.
Max was a happy accident. He just happened to be at the location and wondered by just as we were setting up. We changed the skit on the spot and added him, which I think elevates the humor tenfold compared to what it would have been.
We shot the day after we finished on the film I flew to Vancouver to make in the first place. On a side note, Davin was the camera assistant, Bjorn was the Director of Photography and Max was the sound mixer on that film. We shot on location at our old school VFS in the lobby.
It was about 7 or 8pm when we started shooting. The annoying thing about shooting there was the heavy traffic of students who were still floating around. We'd get a take or two done and some loud mouthed fool would walk right in the middle of the shot not noticing the camera/tripod setup. They'd ruin the shot and go, "oh sorry" and then just stand there looking half mystified and then bumble on to whatever it was they were doing in the first place.
The production took no more than an hour or two to shoot. We had a lot of good laughs while filming. The biggest laugh of the night was trying to throw that gum so it would hit Max in the face at the right spot. We did about 6 takes of that one shot.
It's interesting to point out that the shot that's in the skit has been dubbed over with room tone because the minute we hit Max in the face, Davin, Bjorn and I began to laugh uncontrollably. You can see Max trying very hard to keep it together. The gum we used had a nice minty flavor to it, but after about 16 chews I wanted puke the stuff up.
When it came time to cut the thing, I had a hard time because there is literally 8 minutes of footage of Davin and I just making funny faces and noises. The skit started out at double the length the final product is now. I slowly had to chip away at it to bring it down to a good length so the joke wouldn't overstay it's welcome.
I think the skit turned out pretty funny and I hope you do to.
Travis
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