1. Samuel Bickers
Definition: Comedy
com·e·dy
/ˈkäm ədē/
Noun
Professional entertainment consisting of jokes and satirical
sketches, intended to make an audience laugh.
A movie, play, or broadcast program intended to make an
audience laugh.
2. Types Of Comedy:
There are many different forms of comedy that pout across different messages but
all do the same job, here are a few popular examples:
Black comedy
Much like comedy-horror, black comedy, or dark comedy, is a type of comedy film that often uses cruelty as the source
of humour. Most black comedies involve crime or other intense moments like average school/workplace bullying. Some
examples of these films include The Cable Guy, Ruthless People and Dr. Strangelove.
Parody
Parody is defined as a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, or author, by
means of humorous or satiric imitation. Parody is nothing but a composition that imitates or misrepresents
somebody's style in a humorous way.
Action comedy
Films in this sub-genre blend comic antics and action where the film stars combine wit and one-liners with a thrilling
plot and daring stunts. The genre became a specific draw in North America in the eighties when comedians such
as Eddie Murphy started taking more action oriented roles such as in 48 Hrs. and Beverly Hills Cop. These type of films
are often buddy films, with mismatched partners such as in Midnight Run, Rush Hour, Bad Boys, and Hot
Fuzz. Slapstick martial arts films became a mainstay of Hong Kong action cinema through the work of Jackie
Chan among others. It may also focus on superheroes such as The Incredibles, Hancock or Kick-Ass.
3. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
A number of websites show that ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ is the best comedy of
all time. Collegehumour.com found that it was voted best comedy for MANY reasons
including it’s flawless cast, it’s unpredictable and delightful turns and the inexhaustible
wit. All of these points are good things to include into a comedy film of any sub-genre to
make sure it gets plenty of attention and good feedback.
The film is currently rated 95% on the ‘tomatometer’ at rottentomatoes.com and has an
overall rating of 8/10. 8 out of 10 is a fairly high rating for a comedy movie due to the fact
you have to keep the audience entertained constantly as it’s a comedies main purpose.
The 8 mark shows that The Holy Grail done a brilliant job of grabbing attention of
viewers and used the straight up comedy approach to keep the attention throughout.
Using the review points from collegehumour.com in my own opening would certainly
create the right atmosphere to attract viewers if used in the correct way. The correct way
would be relating to modern day situations and using a touch of every comedy sub-genre
to appeal to many audiences.
4. The Change Up
The Change Up is a body swap comedy film created and released in 2011. It features actors Ryan
Reynolds and Jason Bateman as two close friends in their 20’s that have completely juxtaposing
lifestyles. Reynolds character is a lazy ‘chick magnet’ whereas Bateman’s character is a busy
family man. But one night they both get drunk and urinate in a fountain and wish for each
others lives, not knowing what the consequences would be. They both then wake up with
hangovers but their attention is on the fact that they have swapped bodies.
This movie is the closest that I could find that relates to my initial movie idea. This is because
in my movie I would like my two main characters to be just about as contrasting as Reynolds
and Bateman in The Change Up. I like this idea as the two personalities of the men is what
makes the storyline more interesting. It shows that two completely different people can get
along and live in each others shoes.
The way these characters are portrayed is based mainly on stereotypes. Reynolds lazy character
is a big hit with women gets drunk a lot and has a fairly average job. Bateman’s character on the
other hand is married and has children, has a well paid job and has the occasional drink with
his closest friend.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHnyW5Fvtvw
5. Popular Techniques
The Change Up is a certificate 15 because of the adult humour and strong
language. I would like my movie to relate to adults AND teenagers by re4lating
to other existing comedies and using the same types of humour used in other
well known movies and TV shows such as The Change up and the
Inbetweeners.
I think that the most loved type of humour in young adults and teenagers these
days is crude, dirty humour that the audience knows isn’t too serious. The
Inbetweeners is a good example of this as it started a craze for insulting jokes
towards one another and it reinforced plenty of stereotypes.
A very popular technique being used a lot nowadays is having a group and/or
couple of friends that relate to each other very well even though their
stereotypical personalities collide with one another. Using this technique and
making it clear that the storyline of a media product is abased on this idea
would certainly attract an audience similar to the ones that enjoy shows like
The Inbetweeners.