Math Bus: A Retrospective
posted in Doin' Our Thang |
Even though Matt took some time in last Friday’s Week in Review to mention everything that happened with Math Bus last week, well, we still just couldn’t get enough of ourselves. Or rather, we couldn’t get enough of marveling at this totally unexpected turn of events. We can’t legitimately call it “success” per se, not one of us has seen a dime, but the idea that people have watched and enjoyed our work is very gratifying. Anyway, a night filled with Johnnie Walker Blacks, hipster cuties and Rihanna (don’t ask) had us reminiscing about the wild ride and we thought we might share some of those memories.
On Concepting and Development…
Tim: The whole concept got underway back on February 18, 2006. I know the specific date because I have some pictures from that day. It was freezing fucking cold. In the single digits. Part of the day, my brother A… Spellman, my friend Danny Brothers, and I were taking hilarious pictures like these over here 
for Steve’s Word. My brother and I were hanging out that weekend for the express purpose of coming up with new Steve’s Word content. Whilst escaping the cold we were bs-ing and talking about web sites. Naturally, the topic turned to porn and to Bang Bus. A seminal website in the history of the Internet. Why? Because it started a whole new genre of pornography, the Faux-Amateur porn. It truly took full advantage of what the Internet could offer. That technological advancement coupled (get it? coupled. wink wink) with a distinct style that was both intentionally and unintentionally hilarious made it extremely popular. We were like, “everyone knows bang bus, right? It’s been around since 1999. We should do a parody of that.” Amongst several different ideas Math Bus had the nicest ring to it and the most potential for various opportunities for humor. It wasn’t until I told Matt about the idea nearly a year later that we decided to actually carry out the production. And that’s when the idea gained the Tax Season angle.
On Pre-Pro…
Matt: For me, there are two distinct memories of the Math Bus pre-pro. The first, and most distinct, we’re the looks that mothers with small children gave myself, Tim, and Sarah when we were looking for props to fill the inside of the van with at the Bank Street School Book Store. It was somewhere between extremely concerned and mildly intrigued. There we were having aesthetic discussions about various kinds of neon shiny numbers and letters while the whole place had a gigantic sugar rush. Kids were running around through the aisles, screaming at the top of their devilishly powerful lungs. After a mini-stampede, the mother would come barreling down the aisle after them, offering some rebuke and trying not to knock over any merchandise with her bag. Knocking us over, however, not as much a concern.
Later on we went to scout the Grant’s Tomb location and we were thrilled to see that the place was like a ghost town, and considering the fact that we were visiting someones tomb, I’m sure I made some awful pun that Tim responded to with some snarky remark or maybe just a slow head shake. Anyway, it was totally empty. No one was around at all, no tourists, no pedestrians, no traffic even. We decided to come back and shoot that scene at the exact same time the following week. Of course, when we arrived there the following week like four different school groups there at the time, hundreds of chattering middle schoolers and many big yellow buses. Through Jeff’s mic-ing prowess, we didn’t have a problem recording sound outside at that location, but that was also the place we had decided to mock Bang Bus’ patented “shinebox” routine - where the guy and gal are out of the van and the van drives off while the guy runs in the other direction and the gal stands there in total shock (right). So we’re set to go and we realize that the window to nail the scene and then get the van to drive off was quite small. Each time the scene was perfect, the oncoming traffic prevented Tom from getting the van going. I think there may have been a near-collision at one point, but I can’t quite recall because I was standing half a block away letting Marty know when the light had turned red through a complicated series of arm flaps.
Tim: Of course assembling the team and gathering props is always exciting to me. I do however, remember riding the 1 train with Michael Imperioli after our Bank Street Book Store experience. I took it as a good omen.
On Production…
Tim: I have so many things to say about the production, but I’ll just stick to my most memorable moment. For me, Tom getting car sick is what I remember most. This severe motion sickness happened almost instantly too. We had to pull over quite often to let Tom get out so that he wouldn’t puke all over the van. Our solution to combat this was to let him drive in the second half of the shoot. We never intended for him to drive, but it was the only way to quell his car sickness. It all worked out because apparently Chris had a suspended license and wouldn’t have been able to drive anyway.
Jeff: The main thing I remember about shooting Math Bus was how difficult it was to stay standing bent over the camera while the van was in motion. Especially when Tom was driving. It was as if he only knew how to slam on the gas and slam on the brakes. I kept flying backward into the front seats of the Math Bus like a dead fish in the ocean smashed against the rocky shore. They must have had a very difficult time editing due to the camera shake during those takes. In a way though it makes it seem more like the original Bang Bus because of the strange compositions forced by shooting inside the van. I’m pretty sure they have a wide angle converter on their cameras because I could never get far enough back to fit everything in that I wanted. I had a lot of fun with all the dutch angles I was allowed. I think my favorite shot is the one where we ditch Sarah and the camera is on the outside of the van watching her try and run after us. No mount used for that shot, I just pinned the camera to the side of the van with my hand from the passenger window. That’s how the Math Bus rolls: seat-belts unbuckled. Booyah!
Sarah: Yeah, props to Jeff for the excellent ‘ditch of Cecilia’ scene. I’d also like to give major kudos, though, to the ‘Ready, Willing and Able‘ guys who keep the Upper East Side so clean and manicured on a daily basis. Each time as I ran like a rag doll in the wind chasing the bus, they’d swoop in with concern, offering assistance. Were they taken aback by my desperation, did they think that I was a real victim of a bang and ditch, or were they simply ready, willing and able to join in on the fun? Regardless, thank you, fine gentlemen.
On Post-Production…
Matt: I never thought of the editing on Bang Bus as interesting or impressive until I started working on this. Let me tell you, trying to keep the “tension” up while making sure not to show Tom on the verge of passing out was a real challenge. Another real challenge was not going back to Bang Bus for “inspiration” every time I sat down to work, clearly one of the more difficult challenges I’ve faced in my career. Let’s not forget that I don’t have the luxury of editing at home, but do it during off hours at the edit house where I am employed. But, between the constant “distractions,” trying to make Tom not look like he was on his death bed, and cutting around all the New York City potholes that made their presence felt, I think I nailed it. If I do say so myself.
Tim: The clincher for the post-production was getting Keith Saunders to do the music. He also nailed it. All this “nailing” is so apropos isn’t it?
On Marketing…
Matt: The MySpace marketing campaign that we came up with was so brilliant, I kind of don’t want to explain what we did. But, since we’re being totally forthcoming here, I will. I decided to search for ‘bang bus’ and ‘bang bros’ on people’s myspace pages and then sent them personal emails with a link to the video and encouraging them to send a request for featuring it to the myspace administrators. I couldn’t believe when nearly two hundred people popped up after my search and even more surprised when Math Bus was featured on myspace on April 15, 2007. It really was a great day, in spite of or maybe because of the fact that Tim and I spent hours of our work day deleting bullshit myspace spam comments.
Tim: Last Summer, Violet Blue posted our video on Fleshbot. This was huge. She discovered the video because she was a judge in the SXSW Click Festival. We were finalists in the “What the F*#!?” category. Sadly and quite predictably, we lost to a Joe Swanberg-starring Wes Anderson rip-off short film.
On the recent surge…
Tim: About fucking time. I mean, thank you so much, YouTube.
Sarah: It’s so wonderful, a sincere compliment to the soul, really, to have someone write, ‘I’d fuck the redhead.’ Warms my heart. I just want someone to come up to me at a bar and say, ‘Cecilia!’. Then I’ll know we’ve made it. Although it’s nice to read, ‘The nerdy chick was fucking hot.’
Matt: It’s nearly a dream come true that it’s been well received. Of course, the jew in me would love to be getting some scratch out of it, but whatever.
Jeff: Math Bus needs its own agent. Not us. Just the video. It has been doing pretty well though, getting itself on Gawker and Attack of the Show.
On Celebrating...
Tim: It might have been the first time in my life that I ever went out drinking hard on a Monday night and I loved it. In my old age I have grown weary of “going out”, but if you party on an off night, it’s quite comfortable and enjoyable. The evening may have reawakened the more “party time” side of me, which probably isn’t a good thing. I wish Chris, Marty, and Kristen could have attended, but they were with us in spirit.
Matt: I haven’t been that drunk in a long time, man those Johnnies on the rocks go down smooth and easy. Also, I hadn’t seen Tim that drunk since the time Jeff made him take multiple shots of a Jagermeister-Tequila concoction we coined “The American Spirit Wolf“. The panic in his eyes was palpable. Anyway, mostly what I recall from the evening was quoting Gattaca a lot, Jeff talking to a girl with fantastically large breasts, Tim flipping out when the ironic Metallica shirt-wearing DJ played “Umbrella,” a late-for-effect entrance by Tom and, of course, the trademarked Drunk Toder yelling routine that I’m so famous for. Also, I remember thinking this retrospective was a great idea. That’s about it, I arrived home at around 1.30, my girlfriend said, “Seriously, Matt?” and I now I’m at work hung over as hell while those a-holes sleep it off.
Jeff: I woke up at 3pm today. ‘Nuff said.
