By Lisa Clark
Anyone who was lucky enough to see Danny McGinlay’s lovely Comedy Festival show this year, Danny McGinlay Learns Ukranian, will know that the reason he was learning a new language was that he was getting married into a Ukranian family and his show was about the lead up to that wedding which happened on June 9. Apparently the wedding was such good fun they’d love to do it over again (and hopefully Danny might get some great new material out of it – ahhh comedians!). A few days later Danny released his ‘Wedding Video’ on Youtube. It is the story of Danny and his new wife Lesya’s relationship told through scenes they re-enacted from classic movies. Danny is justly proud of it and hopes to get it played on Ellen. I was bowled over by it (as well as a little nauseous from all the pashing) and decided to ask Danny about how it was made.
It’s referred to as a ‘Wedding Video’ but obviously isn’t of your wedding ceremony. Was it shown at the wedding and at what time?
It was shown at the wedding, just as people sat down for the reception. Only a few people knew about it. The Bridal party and our parents. [Oh and the film makers]
How long did it take for you to make it?
It was only about a week of filming but spread out over six months because everyone had different schedules and we were all working for free.
It looks quite professional, did you use a professional video company, or friends?
Two friends who are professional film makers Jarrod Factor of Factor Films who I had worked with before in my 08 Festival Show “Coming Soon”,
http://www.factorfiles.com/
and Hayden bevis who is best known as Gary the Bricklayer from the CGU ad, he’s just made a really funny sketch show for c31 called “The Delightfully Shit World of Hayden and Lachlan” http://www.imdb.com/
Was it all storyboarded out beforehand or did you add ideas as you went along?
We came up with the concept years ago, before we were even thinking about getting engaged. Then we wrote the script over a couple of weeks and storyboarded it out. Scouting locations took a while [did anyone recognize The Comics Lounge?] and costumes even longer, Lesya did an amazing job on costumes.
Any chance of a sequel?
If it gets on Ellen we’ll make a sequel.
The video goes for about 8 minutes and it’s worth sticking through the whole thing, enjoy!