Context Essay
By Eniola Ijalana
Introduction
The general theme for this project is focusing around ‘Visual Comedy’ understanding the techniques from different directors and how they evolved from the pioneer’s times (Black & White) to an everyday sitcom show. For me, visual comedy means a dialogue that doesn’t always require script but synchronising the music/sound effects with the characters. My project is making a non-verbal dialogue with a cinematic style to it. There’s going to be two characters walking down the corridor and then they bump to each. With it, the tension from the music and the character both play along with each other. Making non-verbal scene tends to be easier because you’re showing the expression of the character’s emotions/body languages.
“What make the audience truly fascinate is synchronisation of the tone of voice, pronunciation, facial expressions, gestures, postures and body movements.”
Shakespeanian Comedy?
Comedy has different meanings but all similar to one or another like telling or witnessing a joke and simply laughing from it. Comedy has changed rapidly over the last few centuries. The earliest time of comedy was mostly showed on Theatres during the Shakespearean’s era colourful characters like the Clown or the Fool bringing out entertainment to the audience. “The clown or fool figure remains one of the most intriguing stage characters in the Shakespearean oeuvre and has frequently captured the interest of contemporary critics and modern audiences.” There are a lot of famous jokers in Shakespeare play like Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing or the donkey comic relief, Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
From my annotation about the meaning of comedy, it doesn’t only have to explain the definition for it but also requires a bit of historical information for it. The reason why chose Shakespeare because his one of my role models in the English literature. His famous plays are mostly heart-warming love story’s (Romero and Juliet) and some are twisted with gruesome plot twists (Macbeth and Hamlet) But from my understanding he also made comedy plays (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) that I didn’t recognise it at first but after I’d read a short scene from the play, it did has some humours dialogues but confusing to read in Shakespearian Language.
Psychology side of comedy
By now, you’ll understand the meaning of comedy but have no clue how the Human mind reacts to the joke. That process is called ‘Psychology’ what is means is the study of behaviour and mind, embracing the aspects of the conscious and unconscious experience as well as thought. Once you think about, you don’t’ probably realise what or how your conscious response to the joke. For example, someone tells a joke to your friends and everybody laughs (except for that one person who doesn’t understand the joke) there’s a lot of ways the Mind of understanding the plot of the joke. It could be your intelligence, emotion or brain functioning on how we all respond to the inner laughter in the joke. “Is laughter the best medicine?” “Humour and playful communication strengthen our relationships by triggering positive feelings and fostering emotional connection.” Humour flows around your emotion. After witnessing a joke and you’re about to pass out the from laughing too hard, your emotions increases more positive than before.
Laughter has been around for as long the dawn of humanity. No matter the age, humans has been expressed their humour with over-stretch jaws and eyes burst out with tears. I think scientifically that understanding about how the Brain’s function on communication and response is rather more important than cracking jokes to your peers. Putting the word psychology out of the equation, laughter is (typically) good. I think there’re any negative aspects of laughter.
The history of visual comedy
Visual comedy is basically that conveys humour, mostly visually that sometimes has few lines to it. This technique also brings the unexpected impossibility into the dialogue. Seeing a joke should be rare, something that relates to a similar scenario with an altered feels to it. It fascinates the audiences in different ways from stand-ups to sketches, taking the mainstream fame in televisions/films and over the way to classical theatres. In respect, the only person who shined himself through the films, dramas, and the English language is ‘William Shakespeare. Most of his comedy plays consist of hybrids in it e.g. histories, tragedies, and tragicomedies. Another thing that makes Shakespeare’s plays different from anybody else that is twisted, confusing and difficult to follow through. Bringing back to my first point about the story being difficult to understand for the audience. One of Shakespeare’s plays ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ whereby plot Shakespeare’s common rule was in every comedy plays story is always structured in order with no twist.
What I found interesting about the history of comedy that originates from one of the most famous literature from the world Also, that it didn’t come from telling a joke to your peers and someone just came up with the idea to call it ‘Comedy’… No! But to start from something that is completely out-of-bounds of my theme: ‘Theatres, plays, and over-the-top acting’. I think that stumbled before I started this essay, I had a positive vibe because I knew what’s comedy is after gathering this information; I didn’t know the background principles and history for comedy.
Slapstick
Underneath Visual Comedy is Slapstick. It’s similar to physical humour but with a style of larger-than-life scenarios that I know it’s impossible to re-create beyond the screens. Slapsticks have roamed theatrical performances for centuries. During the early 19th century, a performance took place in the British Hall from Shakespeare’s comedies plays “The Comedy of Errors” which includes “Confused identities, slapstick violence, and confused identities”
Fred Karno was a theatre and impresario (organise and often finances)
“As a comedian of slapstick, he is credited with popularising the custard-pie-in-the-face gag. During the 1890s, in order to circumvent stage censorship, Karno developed a form of sketch comedy without dialogue.”
Even before Stan Laurel and Charlie Chapman were famous, they were both understudies of Fred Karno. Karno shined his name with one hilarious idea even today; people have witnessed, experienced and tasted good old pie in their face. He made the theory of slapstick comedy. Without him, comedy won’t be as amusing as what we see today. Everything I see today must have their own story behind it. Comedy came a long way from Fred Karno’s idea “The Slapstick”
Charlie Chapman is a multi-skilled person. He was a filmmaker, director but best known for being a comical character. Most of his films were in silent and shot in black and white (Given the lacked of technology twenty years ago) Besides the history of his life’s work, he inspirited me to have this idea for this project. In the silent era of his prime, there hasn’t been a time a character said a word or even a line. What the audience have to do is watch the character’s dialogue with the music is the background. This concept will still work well if it was set in the modern day because even though there’s no line being said, you can still understand the plot of the story by watching the dialogue of it. Secondly, is ‘Visual Comedy’ in terms popularity, Chaplin was top known for it. Merging verbal jokes with physical movement to create a new breed of comedy. One of my favourite parts from The Kid was the fight scene. From the start, the whole fight was chronograph with Charlie, the Kid, and the Bully. Next, it was fast pasted than normal because I think if I saw Charlie swung that brick at the Bully, it won’t be as satisfying if it was real time. During the late 1920’s animation rapidly increased their popularity into animated slapstick comedy.
“Animation had unique properties that enable certain forms of humour that were impossible in reality.”
Chuck Jones was the mastermind behind the camera. The most unforgettable creations were Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies for Warner Bros. Cartoons studio. Looney Tunes has inspirited children from all ages, it started from the 1940’s and coming all the way to the current era, older than anybody’s grandparents. What made Looney Tunes special was the cartoon violence. Besides the two iconic duo Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck was the Road Runner and Wiley E. Coyote. Plays the similar role of a silent game of predator and prey (Tom and Jerry) but with a whole ACME weapons that Wiley buys. When you’re watching the show, you begin to notice that there are certain rules for the show:
“Rule 1: The Road Runner cannot harm the coyote
except by going “beep-beep”
Rule 2: Whenever possible,
make gravity the coyote’s greatest enemy
Rule 3: The coyote is always more humiliated
than harmed by his failures”
I don’t think that in a million of years that Wiley E. Coyote will capture The Road Runner. That upsets and viewers and myself (unless they make a parody of it) There’s no big plot behind the two. They inspired the audience less than a century, not them but the whole Looney Tunes cast.
Rowan Atkinson a.k.a Mr Bean is truly the weirdest outcast person that I ever saw in my life. It’s a few decades ahead from the silent era from black and white TV into built-in colour. Mr Bean has the same comparable performances to Charlie Chaplin. “He’s the modern day Chaplin”. His earliest performance was for “Just for Laugh” comedy show at 1987. Atkinson was asked to play as French-speaker instead of an English speaker.
Atkinson’s act at the festival was a test platform for the Mr Bean character and Atkinson wanted to see how the silent character’s physical comedy would fare on an international stage with a non-English speaking audience.
To put it briefly, the evolution of comedy films has not to end. The whole plot of the theme is about expanding the idea. From black and white silent films to making sketch-based shows/film crossovers. We have witnessed two icons from different time era that brought laughter and will be remembered in the industry. Besides on what changed in comedy films but we (the audience) watch them. You’re watching a comedy film on your phone and ask yourself the question “Was this the same way I watch films ten years ago?” The answer will be no (unless you’re reading this essay ten years on). Everything flows around film constantly keeps on evolving. Technologies advancing, new hybrid genre films and how we’re engaged with the Internet through social media more than we used to back then. The world of comedy is truly funny with a lot of interesting history that I never knew until today.
Bibliography
Website:
http://www.nonverbal-world.com/2011/07/genius-of-acting-performers.html
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dark comedy
Templateeliz. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2016, from http://www2.springfield.k12.il.us/schools/springfield/eliz/Shakcomedies.html
Shakespeare’s Comedy Plays. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2016, from http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/shakespeares-plays/play-types/comedy-plays/
How does Shakespeare use confusion as a theme in A Midsummer Night’s Dream? – A-Level English – Marked by Teachers.com. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2016, from http://www.markedbyteachers.com/as-and-a-level/english/how-does-shakespeare-use-confusion-as-a-theme-in-a-midsummer-night-s-dream.html
Mr Bean (franchise). (n.d.). Retrieved March 24, 2016, from http://mrbean.wikia.com/wiki/Mr._Bean_(franchise)
(n.d.). Retrieved March 24, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Jones
(“Chuck Jones’ 9 Golden Rules for the Coyote and the Road Runner,” 2015)
William Shakespeare Essay – Shakespeare’s Clowns and Fools – eNotes.com. (n.d.). Retrieved May 05, 2016, from http://www.enotes.com/topics/william-shakespeare/critical-essays/shakespeares-clowns-and-fools
Dogberry. (n.d.). Retrieved May 05, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogberry
Nick Bottom. (n.d.). Retrieved May 12, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Bottom
Videos:
The Kid,Charlie Chaplin fight scene one of the funniest scenes in kid. (n.d.). Retrieved March 21, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2rAv7wOP_8
Books
Richardson, D. J. (n.d.). The Complete Comedy of Errors: An Annotated Edition Of The Shakespeare Play.
Lehman, C. P. (2006). American animated cartoons of the Vietnam era: A study of social commentary in films and television programs,1961-1973.
Charney, M. (2005). Comedy: A geographic and historical guide. Westport, CT: Praeger.