Last year during my MA I was asked to help film and edit the Bristol’s Slapstick Comedy festival. Never did I think that during a wildlife course, I’d be getting involved in a comedy festival and yet it’s given me some of the best experiences and filming practice I have had.

Bristol’s Slapstick Comedy Festival has been running for more than a decade, presenting over 150 events to more than 36,000 people and introducing rare archive and silent comedy films to more and more diverse audiences. However, being a not-for-profit limited company, the festival team are always looking for new ways to raise the funds that they need, to keep Slapstick special.

Back in November 2015, they decided to set up a Kickstarter campaign with the aim of reaching a £5000 target that would be used to fund extra treats for their audiences, such as  live music in the foyer before the shows 🎤. To help the campaign reach out to a wider audience and to give people a quick overview of what the festival was all about, the director of the festival approached me and asked me to produce a video to go on the Kickstarter website.

I used archive footage that I had filmed at previous events, as well as clips from interviews with well-known comedians (and fans of the festival) to produce the video and we uploaded it onto the Slapstick Kickstarter campaign page. In less than a month, the campaign had attracted donations, both nationally and internationally and by December 1st, it surpassed the target. Altogether, £5372 was raised by 103 backers, many of whom had paid for experiences that money can’t buy (or in this case, can! 💰) such as lunch with The Goodies and being custard pie’d in the face by their favourite comedian….

Well done to the Slapstick team (and a massive thank you to everybody for donating!) for raising the funds to keep silent, visual and classic onscreen comedy alive for future generations. 🎬🎩

Slapstick website: http://www.slapstick.org.uk/

Watch the Kickstarter Campaign Video here: https://vimeo.com/152275524