Collaborations Project Research: Understanding What Makes A Good Comedy

 As a group we have all individually come up with a selection of ideas for skits, which answer the sentence "When Not To Go Outside". Each idea ranges in time required to reach a punchline and location needed in order for the skit to take place. In order to come to a decision on what skits will be used in the final animation, we must identify what type of comedy animation we are creating. 

We know from the brief it must include the following parameters:

• Be 2 minuets long
• Be relevant to the starting sentence (When Not To...)
• Contain a minimum of 3 skits
• Has to stick to a fixed camera style of filming
• No Arnold rendering

The brief mentions that the three key aspects of a funny comedy are 'contrast', 'character', and 'visual structure'.

It mentions that the sentence which we have been given (When Not To...) is designed to inspire contrast. We came up with many examples of sentences (Sleep, Laugh, Propose) before arriving on 'When Not To Go Outside' and have thought of a range of examples of when not to go outside (Zero Gravity, Tornado, Volcano). Now all we have to do is go through all of our ideas and pick the ones which create the most contrast. This can be further built upon if we give our character a reason for going outside. 

This ideas leads into the character and what 'Defines' them to act the way they do given the situation. The brief mentions the more defines the character is (Personality and Traits) the easier it is to understand the potential in each situation. I will look into popular comedy characters in order to identify what makes their personality defining.

The final aspect for making a compelling comedy according to the brief is the 'Visual Structure'. For this project, we have been restricted to a fixed camera type of filming, as if we were using a tripod. This means the camera is not to include any sweeping motions as if it was done by a dolly or crane setup. Instead we will have to plan our shots, using editing as a part of the skit. An example of this is a setup shot (beginning the joke), an action shot (the joke taking place) and then the reaction shot (the reaction to the punchline). By doing this type of filming, it allows you to find the comedy within the editing and allows the skit to smoothly progress to the punchline. I will look at examples of comedies which use this type of filming style in order to gain a better understanding.

Once research has been done on the character and the most contrasted skits have been picked, we will then be able to identify a framework for the animation. This is what connects the skits together and can be used as a form of comedy itself. For example there can be reoccurring themes which connect each skit with the last, telling a sort of joke itself. The viewer will only be able to identify this joke if they have seen the previous skit. 

We can then move on to creating a rough storyboard of our ideas in order to create the final sketch.