Comedy
Comedy is a genre represented in all types of media intended to make the audience laugh by consisting of jokes and satirical sketches. The main intentions of these films are to amuse and typically Result in a happy and cheerful conclusion, The typical target audience of comedy is subjective to age. Comedy is found in all platforms from kid shows to adult swim which the content is altered from age to age to conform to the standards of appropriateness. Younger audiences are exposed to a more innocent and light hearted area of humor as opposed to adults age 18+ which the limits on comedy content are endless.
Comedy Conventions
Content
The conventions of Comedy pertaining to content is mirrored across many sub genres. These sub genres consist of Anarchic comedy which utilizes a stream of consciousness humor where the film is typically nonsensical and situations and characters are exaggerated, action comedy, which combines action with comedy and characters bring out the humor, black comedy which explores taboo concepts and portrays serious situations in a comedic light, horror comedy which combines scares with humor and is closely associated with black humor, satirical films where exaggeration and irony is utilized and parody films that impersonate and offer a comedic spin off to non comedic events, and slapstick comedy where physical comedy is incorporated into the film. Many comedic films contain a variety of these sub genres in order to amuse and humor the audience.
Production techniques
The conventions used relating to production techniques commonly shown in comedic films consist of a variety of aspects. Sounds are often utilized to emphasize and exaggerate a situation such as physical impacts and painful moments and out of frame sounds, things may enter and exit the frame in a funny way, music is typically upbeat and synchronized to action, dramatic lighting, looking or talking directly to the camera, fast transitions, zoom in and zoom outs, and matching screen transitions. There are countless ways different directors portray comedy in film which are constantly adapting to new age humor.
Comedy Samples
Scary Movie
Directed by Keenan Ivory Wayans, this film perfectly exemplifies the genre of comedy. This movie uses black comedy and horror comedy along with satire to create humor in high levels of tension. They utilized zoom ins, and objects that enter and exit frame along with fast paced transitions and exaggerated music combined with upbeat light hearted music
The Mask
Directed by Chuck Russel, this film embodies comedy because it includes many techniques commonly shown in comedy films. The whole movie consists of extremely exaggerated drama, along with sound effects, zoom ins, and a light hearted happy ending all in order to amuse the audience.
Airplane!
Directed by Jim Abrahams
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080339/
Juno
Directed by Jason Rietman
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0467406/
Borat
Directed by Larry Charles
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443453/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1a
Neighbors
Directed by Nicholas Stoller
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2004420/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Superbad
Directed by Greg Mottola
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0829482/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Production techniques
The conventions used relating to production techniques commonly shown in comedic films consist of a variety of aspects. Sounds are often utilized to emphasize and exaggerate a situation such as physical impacts and painful moments and out of frame sounds, things may enter and exit the frame in a funny way, music is typically upbeat and synchronized to action, dramatic lighting, looking or talking directly to the camera, fast transitions, zoom in and zoom outs, and matching screen transitions. There are countless ways different directors portray comedy in film which are constantly adapting to new age humor.
Comedy Samples
Scary Movie
Directed by Keenan Ivory Wayans, this film perfectly exemplifies the genre of comedy. This movie uses black comedy and horror comedy along with satire to create humor in high levels of tension. They utilized zoom ins, and objects that enter and exit frame along with fast paced transitions and exaggerated music combined with upbeat light hearted music
The Mask
Directed by Chuck Russel, this film embodies comedy because it includes many techniques commonly shown in comedy films. The whole movie consists of extremely exaggerated drama, along with sound effects, zoom ins, and a light hearted happy ending all in order to amuse the audience.
Airplane!
Directed by Jim Abrahams
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080339/
Juno
Directed by Jason Rietman
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0467406/
Borat
Directed by Larry Charles
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443453/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1a
Neighbors
Directed by Nicholas Stoller
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2004420/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Superbad
Directed by Greg Mottola
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0829482/?ref_=nv_sr_1
