Claudia O’Doherty is a female comedian and writer from Sydney’s whose web series I recently stumbled upon. The web series featured on the UK’s channel 4 as 3, 5-7 minute episodes under the heading of “What is…”. ‘What is England’, ‘What is Jack the Ripper?’, and ‘What is time?’, each hosted by the character of Claudia, the daughter of a travel consultant whose business is going under. The series first got my attention because of its great way of integrating comedy through its editing style. The raw and slow pace of editing, for example crappy style, cut out edits of O’Doherty into a scene or even using slow edit transitions, emphasise her style of comedy. It really interests me how much of the editing can create comedic timing and emphasise different character traits. I noticed while watching as well the different types of shooting techniques, the slow zoom in and out. These are powerful ways of entering other elements into a shot and seem to create comedic visuals.

The actual aesthetic of the series is really individual as well, another example of how a sense of hilarity is created. The costume, bright ambient lighting, focal length and characters position within the shot are all done in an almost 90’s style and in a bleak overly dramatic way. It is interesting to see that lighting alone helps to add a comedic effect to the show. In the shot features very few props and a fairly plain background, which highlights the theatrical nature of the character and amplifies the characters desires to the audience. As mentioned in class, I can now see how important it is to understand what you want within a shot and what you choose to leave out. The actual movement and blocking of Claudia’s character within the shot are significant too, and she seems to stay centred, as if she is the protagonist in a theatre production.

The parts of each episodes in which the character ventures out of the studio, for me, are less interesting and lose this raw editing style and aesthetic. Although her character and dialogue are still highlights of each scene, the ambiance of the studio shots and insert editing are lost, which for me are the most entertaining and enjoyable parts of each episode. I forget that so much of the entertainment of a show comes from the format, the shooting and the actual cutting together of it, rather than just the characters and performance. I want to learn more ways to create a shot that amplifies a comedic situation or character through lighting, blocking, camera angels, focal length etc.