Codes and Conventions - Comedy Research

Comedy Genre Conventions from 08farleyjor

Change in Ideas - Initial Thoughts

Due to the audience reaction and our decision to subvert the genre conventions and change to a comedy based opening we came up with a new ending to our opening.
Our idea was to have some comedic twist through the use of a small child, to interrupt the bath thriller scene. The main plan was to reshoot Scarlett sitting up, opening her eyes and have a child walk inn and say something to annoy Scarlett's character and for the title to run. Our main edit to the storyboard was:

1. Scarlett sits up
• Duration - 4 seconds (slow mo)
• Shot type - medium to close up 
• Sound - water washes around her
• Edit - straight cut
2. Door handle twists open
• Duration - 2 seconds
• Shot type - close up
• Sound - creaking of door handle
• Edit - straight cut
3. Eyes open
• Duration - 1 second
• Shot type - medium shot
• Sound - previous music finishes
• Edit - straight cut
4. Door creaks open
• Duration - 3 seconds
• Shot type - medium shot
• Sound - creak of door
• Edit - straight cut
5. Eyes dart around to the sound
• Duration - 1 second
• Shot type - medium shot
• Sound - strings tremolo
• Edit - straight cut
6. Lyla's feet in doorway
• Duration - 2 seconds
• Shot type - close up
• Sound - crash of cymbals when the feet first appear
• Edit - straight cut
7. Scarlett spins around to face Lyla in room
• Duration - 2 seconds
• Shot type - medium shot
• Sound - cymbals with underlying strings in crescendo
• Edit - straight cut
8. Lyla says something funny to Scarlett
• Duration - 3 seconds
• Shot type - Long shot
• Sound - "Can you help me brush my teeth"
• Edit - Straight cut
9. Scarlett's face is annoyed at Lyla
• Duration - 2 seconds
• Shot type - medium shot
• Sound - slightly rock music starts
• Edit - zoom into the white of the bath
10. Title screen, written in ketchup
• Duration - 5 seconds
• Shot type - medium shot
• Sound - music continues

Napoleon Dynamite - Comparison

This is a collection of the title sequence we were particularly influenced by in the change of ideas to a comedy. This title sequence is all about the integrated credits that clearly display the genre. we chose to use the idea of ketchup in our opening, as it pokes fun at the connotations ketchup has in horror films as being a cheap fake blood. the different meals in this opening also shows the variation in the stereotypes, appealing to many genres. the font is also similar to the font we use and therefore was a catalyst for hinting at the comedy genre throughout our opening. All of the images presented are clearly part of school life and we exploited this idea through the use of instead of reiterating the actual genre, we challenged these conventions to create he idea that the film was thriller and then subverted this. however they are similar as we used blood in the mice en scene whilst this uses school books to show the setting and the genre of the film. The background is however very bare, minimalistic and simplistic which we wanted to convey in our opening, limiting the rise en scene, to convey the sterile feel, making he girl look like she had ruined the room and therefore there was ambiguity and mystery in the scene. The use of limited rise en scene in this however, does enhance the comedy and simplistic nature of the film.

Actress Profile - Lyla

Actor Profile

Name: Lyla Wilson
Age: 3 (minor)
Date of Birth:  8th August 2014
Gender: Female
Hair colour:  Brown
Eye colour: Brown
Ethnicity: White British
Language: English
Previous acting experience: None 


Why Lyla is suitable:

• Not camera shy
• available at needed times
• parent is available and willing to be present at shooting
• can recite the lines provided
• happy to perform - confident
• small enough in age and height to fit the profile needed

Parents Consent Form:

Links

This is a page of useful links to YouTube videos and websites we used during the editing and finalising stages of the coursework project

Link to the tutorial we used to edit the eyes to black:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx9ZYlqfItY

link we used to export the file from After Effects in the highest possible quality:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4j5j6XThhc

Survey Monkey Results - Folow on

In light of the research we conducted to our audiences opinions on our first draft of "Sheeple" we have decided to explore the depth of the idea of changing the genre at the end. In this case we will be subverting the thriller genre and following though with the comedy genre. We have decided to do this because after consulting with many audience members we feel that this sudden twist will help in the audiences and help to show our understanding of the genre. The comedy twist is therefore hinted at throughout as we will keep the placement and the fonts of some of the more humours integrated credits in the opening, this will allow the audience to still be engrossed and scared for the character with the almost subconscious idea that it is not thriller/horror. 

We have decided to add a small child into the last few scenes. We will have the small child enter and completely detract from the teenager , which also conforms and strengthens the stereotype of the oppressed and annoyed teen. the child will add a light, innocent, funny relief to the scene and with also clearly state the narrative to follow in the hypothetical film. The child entering also widens the age range and opens up the target audience making it more of a family film. The final shots of the child will then replace the demonic eye edit. there is also opportunity for a change in sound and therefore an exploration with both kinds of music for each genre.

Final Opening - Draft 1

This is the first draft of our final opening scene:



link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4j5j6XThhc

Note: This only the first draft, there are still amendments to be made such as importing the final shot with the edited black eyes, however there have been some (many) complication with this. This will however be in the next draft and the final draft. 

Audience Feedback of Draft 1

This is the survey we created to send around to our audience:

Create your own user feedback survey

These are the results:

         

Summary:

The results are mainly mixed and show a range of ages in our target audience, ranging from year 10-13 (ages 14-18) which gives a wide perspective reflected in our results. Fortunately almost all of the respondents enjoyed the film opening, with no negative responses, only constructive. The results for the genre were mixed and made us rethink the overall genre of the film. Many of the results stated that the credits especially did not comply with the thriller/horror genre. This could either mean that we re-film all the credits and remain int he thriller genre or we completely change the genre of the whole film and add an unexpected twist at the end. the latter would be more effective, I think because of the result from some of the respondents said that the overly stereotypical use of the thriller genre does hint at a twist. The comedy genre is also hinted at through the placement and the font of the credits as well. who we could improve is the genre being less ambiguous and more certain, with the credits and the fonts. overall, the responses for the favourite part was mixed which showed that the genre is the main thing to concentrate on.