Bombol Comedy Club. Behind the scene #3: the casting
Here two of the 12 comedy videos I wrote and directed for Bombol social media campaign.
The Bombol project was taking shape...
Bombol, a company specialised in innovative juvenile products, wanted to create a bond with the audience making them laugh about the many difficulties of being a parent. They established already the best way to achieve that was with short stand-up comedy clips. Then thought that, since the ads would not be centred on their products, it would be important to at least show them somehow. So it was decided to have the comedians perform in front of a very special audience: babies and toddlers sitting on Bombol Bamboo, a stylish, sturdy, aluminium baby bouncer that doubles up as child chair. Or, at least, that is how it would look like after the editing: in reality they never met each other...
The stage and the studio
For both safety and aesthetic reasons, we decided early on to film the clips would not in a club but in a professional photo studio. An empty, completely white room was easier to prepare and light according to our needs. At the same time, in Bombol they all loved the famous Apple vs PC video ads and wanted their clips to have a similar classy, atemporal look. We would film comedians and kids separately, their reactions matched later in the editing, for logistic reasons (limited space, limited cameras) and plain simple common sense (kids need constant attention, comfort and age appropriate entertainment).
We auditioned three very experienced and skilled stand-up comedians, had them perform their material for us. We soon realised that the studio could not work for them: stand-up comedians need the energy of the crowd, the challenge to make them laugh, their immediate feedback. That artificial, aseptic set up was not a good match for their talents. They couldn't be at their top looking at cameras and film crew, or repeating the same line over and over. The stage is where they thrive.
We needed actors impersonating comedians. Only professional actors could imagine the audience in front of them, talk and smile to imaginary children.
The True West agency of Hong Kong sent us twenty actors between 30 and 40 years old, of many different nationalities. They needed to be credible as parents. And to have great comic timing. After three days of auditions, we choose Heather and Henry to be our mum and dad comedians.
Writer, director (on set & post-production), producer.
12 comedy videos
Bombol ltd.
Hong Kong, 2017