Jodie Ferguson

Ghost Punters Interview

Ever wondered what it’s like to make a mockumentary? We interviewed two students from Southampton Solent University to share their experience of creating Ghost Punters.

Soton magazine catches up with humourists Louis Arrigoni and Daniel Burch, the writers, directors, producers, actors and editors behind the making of joke-based ghost hunting show. Read on to find out what happens when two University students are presented with a budget to create their own mockumentary.

InspirationThe idea of Ghost Punters came about after 20-year-old Louis had watched Ghost Adventurers, which instantly sparked an interest. “I was sitting in bed with my flatmate one night watching Ghost Adventurers and I thought, you know what would be really funny? A mockumentary about a ghost hunting show! I messaged Daniel with the idea and we went from there” recalls the Sound Engineering student.

The pair, who worked together to create stories and plan the script, took inspiration from Garth Marenghi’s Dark place and particularly liked the way it was written. “I’ve also been watching a lot of Parks and Recs and The Office, so many of the camera movements we used were inspired by those on the shows” says 20-year- old Daniel, who is also a Sound Engineering student.

BudgetingWorking with Solent TV has not only supported the boys with funding, but it has provided them with the support needed to produce the ideas in their head. We all know the importance of funding to create something practical but how easily achievable was it for these two students? “From the get go we knew we wouldn’t have a large budget. However, having to buy all of the props and costumes and then having to make creative decisions based on how things should look was challenging.” explains Burch.

Arrigoni points out “I think that one thing you have to keep in mind is that when you’re working with a minimal budget, it can be a good thing. It makes you think outside the box, think of how to use the assets that you have in the best way possible.

Taking this into account, it seems the key to budgeting is to be more creative with how you spend money. Time to put the beers ad nights out on hold!

“Having the actor lying on a cold concrete floor for about an hour, covered in this goo-like mixture was not the best thing to do”- Daniel Burch.

FilmingAfter an exhausting 3 days of filming, with 35 hours’ worth of footage and only very little sleep, the boys couldn’t have been happier with the outcome (and we bet they couldn’t have been happier to sleep in the comfort of their own beds!)

“It was really crazy” Arrigoni expresses, “but everyone contributed and worked so hard, even people without film experience. They all did a really great job.”

Jodie Ferguson

Burch acknowledges “It was difficult because we planned on filming for more than 3 days. But when we got there on the first day the venue was closed, so we had to push forward half a day of filming onto the next day. Which turned out to be a 17-hour day. From start to finish we just didn’t stop. The fact that everyone pulled together for the entire thing really helped shape the show into what it is.”

Reflecting on the highs and lows of the project, and the many laughs in between, Louis and Daniel discuss one of the trickier scenes they had to film. “There’s a scene towards the end of the show where one of the crew members is covered in, let’s say, ectoplasm. I had the bright idea (which I didn’t really think through) of making this ectoplasm with corn flour, water and food dye. I thought flour and water, this will go nice and thick and gloopy! But no, it was just a complete mess. We could have just used something like yoghurt” Louis notes.

“That scene took a while to film. And having the actor lying on a cold concrete floor for about an hour, covered in this goo-like mixture was not the best thing to do” adds Daniel.

What’s Next? When asked what the jokesters have planned for the future, they tell us of their hopes to explore a variety of genres and step outside the world of comedy. “In the past, we have just stuck to comedy, because we enjoy writing it and we find it relatively easy to make people laugh” Arrigoni reveals. “Maybe in the future we could try something different. We want to try more serious stuff and see how that works out. Whether or not we do that with Solent TV depends on how things go over the next year. As much as it’s great to have someone to fund you, we’re also getting towards the end of University and if we want to carry on doing film stuff after uni, we need to be able to do it independently.”

Burch notes “working with Solent TV was obviously a great opportunity because it’s an example of how things work in the industry. It’s really nice to have the experience.”

5 Fun Facts on the making of Ghost Punters

1 The number of apparent ghost sightings.6 Hours was the amount of sleep the crew had over the duration of filming.17 Was the size of the crew.25 Pages in the script.600 Years was the oldest section of the castle.