Mel's AICE Media Blog: Comedy Research

Introduction

The comedy genre is one that a huge part of the population find interesting and like to consume. There are many actors and directors that are very present within productions of this genre. Some examples are director Wes Anderson, Woody Allen, actor, producer and writer Ben Stiller, and many others. In today's life, there is so much sadness and chaos going on, people want something that will cheer them up and conceal for a certain time the situation happening these times.

Content

Comedy films have to be funny, obviously. And there are many different tactics and hints to achieve that desired humor. Usually, comedy movies select specific characters to deliver the humor. They stand out from others, and make questionable actions. Something that is present when this character is throwing jokes is the timing. If a joke is too long or too complicated, the audience might lose interest. Small pauses can really highlight the humor in a joke and make it funnier. When talking about timing in jokes, it should always deliver the punch line in an exaggerated or unexpected way. These characters are also really random, you don't know what to expect from them. Sometimes, a character will do exactly what he is expected to, even if it is in a weird and unconventional way. Other times, the audience thinks something will happen and get caught off guard by very random responses. Making different reactions to familiar situations can also be very funny for the viewers. This is usually when there is a situation where the character is supposed to be terrified or concerned, but is actually not taking things seriously. This can be represented by the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), when Willy Wonka makes a welcoming show and everything gets on fire. He then appears next to the audience, clapping and smiling saying "Wasn't that just magnificent?".

Other aspects of comedy film characters are that they can be sarcastic, narcissistic, take small situations out of proportion, make double sided jokes, and make decisions, or plans that are just very dumb and everyone else knows it but this character. A perfect example for these situations would be the character Michael Scott from The Office. He makes absurd and (supposed) to be intense plans to help problems that don't really exist or won't be resolved with his solutions. The best thing about it is that everybody knows he is a joke.

Production Techniques

There are many thing to take in count when producing a comedy. These can be color, lighting, and sound. They can change the whole atmosphere and setting of a story. In comedy productions, it is most common that color are vibrant, bright and contrasting, with a lot of shades of red and yellow, which would be the opposite of horror, and drama, which are darker and have a cooler hue. That is an interesting point since the energy that circulates around these darker themes is more negative, so it would make sense to make comedies have the opposite hues- so its energy is positive. The lighting also has a lower contrast, because otherwise it would add a dramatic effect to the scenes. The light is usually evenly distributed on the set and is bright and soft. The music used can enhance the humor by not matching the character's feelings or what is happening in the scene. An example of this would be in the movie X-Men: Days Of Future Past on the scene where the cops come in and shoot bullets at the main characters, but Quicksilver slows time and deals with the situation, really calm music starts playing, and that gives the scene a whole lot more humor.

The music in a comedy scene or production can also have clichés. Examples are the "wah wah wah" sound of trombones. They should not be overly used, however, they indicate to the audience that what is shown to them is supposed to be funny. Comedy production's music is also always more lenient to high-pitched sounds. It takes the seriousness away from events.

How is Comedy Marketed?

Comedies can be targeted to any age group. They can adapt to little kids all the way to older people. Comedy animations, like many Disney movies, can be watched by thousands of people from different ages. Some have are targeted mostly for kids, and others are more specifically restricted for older people. According to data from UK cinema audience surveys, comedy has the second-highest percentage of women as their public, at 54 percent, standing only behind romance at 59 percent. They appeal to both women and men too. The genre's inclusive audience helps in its success. The covers used to advertise those movies are very colorful, and a huge majority of them have the main characters on the cover and the title in big, aggressive red letters. Many have punchlines too, hoping to engage the viewers onto taking a look at the production.

Film Sample #1

"Dumb and Dumber" (1994) starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniel is a very famous comedy that illustrates two friends that are very, very stupid. One is a unsuccessful limo driver that is assigned to give a ride to a rich customer to the airport. He thinks the costumer is the most beautiful person he has ever seen. She accidentally leaves her suitcase full of money in his car. The two friends decide to go all the way to Aspen, Colorado to give her money back. What they did not know is that the suitcase is related to kidnapping. They get targeted and followed around the country by police and hired killers, while having to work with their friendship and their intelligence. The main characters are very unusual and unique, which is one of the factor that bring humor to the audience. They are dumb, and make random and unusual choices (like going to another state to give someone they don't even know their money back). They get into very serious situations and treat them in strange ways that the viewers could not see coming. Their facial features are exaggerated (the cover shows Harry's crazy hair and Lloyd's big ears and chipped tooth), and in the cover, the title is in red and blue in aggressive letters, and a punch line to make things funnier.

Film Sample #2

"Borat" (2006) Borat, a well-known reporter from Kazakhstan is selected by his Government to travel to the U.S. to make a documentary on what "makes America a great nation". On his mission to do so, he makes certain decisions that are very shocking or offensive to large groups of people with the help of his documentary crew. He also finds out the existence of Pamela Anderson, and falls in love with her, getting interest in finding her and marrying her eventually. The main character, Borat, is extremely random, from a country that was invented. He has an accent and does things in unconventional ways. His habit of shocking people with extreme, impulsive actions makes scenes humorous for the audience since it's so unique. Nobody else understands the way he functions, and he has completely different emotions about topics we would find tragic or sad. The cover is warm toned and bright, and the title is in aggressive letters once again, with a punch line under.

5-7 other Comedy film examples: