MrBiffo
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UPPER TIERS EXCLUSIVE: HALLOWBEAN BEHIND-THE-SCENES
🕑 Added 2022-10-26 13:26:36 +0000 UTCThe filming of most Digi videos must appear pretty shambolic to anyone looking on.
It’s sort of baked into our process now; we start with a loose idea of a structure, we have some elements we want to fit in along the way, sometimes we’ll know how we want it to end, and there’ll be some props that we know we’ll feature… but between those points it’s pretty much improvised.
It’s why I was so lucky to find Sanja, and get to collaborate with Paul and Eli, for whom that way of working suits. They’re able to totally trust in that process, and that it’ll all be alright once it’s put together. We laughed in the car the other night about how we’d invested in an autocue for Digitiser The Show, and that it lasted ten minutes before I ditched it.
To be honest, it’s much how I used to write Digitiser for Teletext back in the day. It was rare to sit down with an idea fully formed. Much of written Digi was a stream-of-conscious improvisation, which would then be refined with an edit.
When I’m doing my day job, there’s much more planning and forethought, but the reason why I feel modern, YouTube, Digi is still part of the Digitiser brand is because of the way it’s made, and the bits of my brain that I’m using. It feels exactly the same to me, just that one is written and one is on video. I get why people found it jarring when we stopped covering video games, but to me ‘Digitiser’ is simply a way of doing things. I do love watching our videos back, because I'm normally as surprised as anyone by what happens.
Obviously, I also have to be the character ‘Mr Biffo’ (or Beanus, or Action Man, or Third Bird) in most of the videos. Early on, I didn’t feel comfortable as a performer, and felt like I was struggling every single time, but the last few years, especially since working mostly with Sanja, I’ve found my voice.
I sometimes regret that the on-screen Mr Biffo is so shouty and grumpy and pompous, and indignant about everything – because there are those who think that’s the real me – and yet that’s just the way he’s developed. I can just be ‘him’ on autopilot now, and accept that he’ll usually be the butt of jokes.
I’m also at ease enough now that I actually enjoy becoming the other characters. Five years ago there’s no way I’d have felt confident enough doing a whole episode as Action Man. Which, if you haven’t watched that recent ep in the woods – and not many have – please do. It’s another favourite.
THE REAL ME
Weirdly, I’m much more the real me in what we’ve shot for Digi Level 2; a lot sillier, and lighter.
But anyway, I’ve now been doing this long enough that I can now be ‘Mr Biffo’ without having to think about it, which means I don’t have to concentrate so hard on my performance, and find it a lot easier to simultaneously plan the episode. It’s all quite subconscious still, despite that.
This sort of suck-it-and-see (hello!) approach to filming is magnified to the power of ten when we’re filming on location, because we never know precisely what we’re going to see, or stumble across, that’ll inspire some nonsense.
Basically, we try to film as much as possible, and then I piece together some sort of semblance of form, or story, in the edit. We had something like three hours of footage from the Halloween episode shoot, which I managed to get down to a tight 40 minutes.
I think anyone who is a bystander to Digi’s on-location episodes would find the process alarming.
Hats off those we’ve collaborated with on them – Ashens, Ryan Livermore, and this time the lovely Dan. I think it appears completely and utterly without structure. It even feels that way to us at points, but the whole time my brain will be plotting it through for the edit. All I need are the moments – the stuff in-between can be jettisoned.
It’s also probably, in its own way, intimidating to be surrounded by me, Sanja, Eli and Paul, all doing our thing, because we’re basically just throwing everything at the wall, and seeing what sticks.
I used to feel massively swept away whenever I worked with Paul and Eli, and it even can still happen if I’m not feeling on top form.
THE OUTSIDE
But yes. It can – and does – appear utterly chaotic and disorganised to outside eyes. Not least because we forget to warn people about how we do it. We just usually show up and get started immediately with no preamble or brief.
As Dan commented to us at one point “Did you think just turning up at a sweet shop would be enough?”. But it was enough. Hallowbean is one of mine and Sanja’s favourite ever episodes – and there’s also going to be an extended version of it on this week’s Cheapshow, where you get the POV of Gannon and Eli.
In truth, the episode was probably even less thought-through than usual, chiefly because I’ve not exactly had a lot of time or brain-space to plan over the past month, but I knew what I wanted to get out of it. The biggest challenge, oddly, was shooting a video at the same time a podcast was being recorded. When we’ve done that before it has been outside, and been a lot easier to navigate, but here we were in close quarters.
Oh, and I literally grabbed the knife from the kitchen as we left home. Nobody knew I had it. I like that – not telling anyone, not even Sanja, what I have planned. I like reactions to be real, because I truly believe that an audience can smell fakeness. Beanus is meant to be scary. I want everyone I’m filming with to be at least a little on edge.
And they were.
But for now, here’s another almost 50 minutes of us finding our way through the episode, through outtakes, deleted scenes, and behind-the-scenes bits.
Biffo’s Brain tomorrow night, for those who are eligible.
And we’re doing a joint Halloween live stream with Paul and Eli on Monday.
Paul
Comments
Lee
So happy to be a patreon. Two videos for the price of one!
Graham Woods
Not Behind The Beans?
Kelvin Green
I think you've made multiple typos up there. You keep saying you "play" Beanus or Action Man, when surely you mean you "pay" them, as in you give them money, as completely separate and independent persons, to appear in your videos.
Dave Graves
The chaos of the process I get. King of the wing. Turn up on the day and play with what's there. Sign of a happy mind building in situ. I'm ADHD up the wazoo so I have similar mindset. Prescription meth territory. Boss will bother me about some shit or other I should be planning. Firstly I don't need to plan it, if I'm the one executing it. Turn up and deliver. If you want me to run planning meetings, be prepared because you're going to see the inside of my head and it's marvellous in there. Ideas followed through? Clear reasoning? Logic? Not during the build or meeting no. You'll get tangents, dead ends, theatricality and sometimes mute periods of unresponsive staring into space as I square a circle within. Some people get frustrated. Senior people often want to pull me up. But the finished plan will be 🎵just like perfection, ego alert, flawless, absolutely flawless.🎵 Jobs where I last, people have spotted the correlation between chaotic freedom and finished quality and let me be. So it's just brilliant to see you and Eli, Paul and Sanja able to make magic with a similar approach. What works for you, works.
Dominic-Jo Miller
Okay, learning that the knife was a secret has elevated what was already a fantastic video to god-tier Digi levels.
Paul Rose (Mr Biffo)
Same. Some of my favourite bits in this one are Dan's reactions. He's got such great energy. And just that moment towards the end where Paul's having a meltdown, Eli's sitting down, Dan's just standing there behind the counter, and everyone seems so unsettled and terrified and off-balance, and they don't know what's going on. When we were filming that it seemed utterly aimless, but it works. Oh, and Paul getting genuinely pissed off from being tickled by a bean man with a knife.
Paul Rose (Mr Biffo)
Can he be whimsical AND scary?
Paul Rose (Mr Biffo)
Yes, you'd hate it, John!
Jeff Thelen
I loved seeing Dan again because his reaction to Beanus's "vaccine" during the Christmas Special was one of my favorite moments in Digi. It's not just the sweetened-in-editing camera on his face, but Ryan's uncontrollable laughter, Paul's utter disconnection, and Eli walking the line between being game and hesitant... God, I love that moment. And this video feels like it benefits from that same "no one but Beanus knows what the hell is going to happen next" energy that made the Christmas special so great. I'm with you and Sanja. This video is one of my favorite things you've done, full stop.
John Veness
That method of filming sounds like it would drive me mad, but I'm glad you've found something that works for you and Sanja and everyone :)
Bilky Asko
The spookiest part of the video is that Eli's father was right, and that zoot is an acceptable word in Scrabble
Daniel Watson
I know he's your character but how can you say Beanus is meant to be scary? When he slithered into our lives he was described as a whimsical character, a description I still hold valid!
