Crime Show – Hybridisation Experiment #3: Genre Hybridisation

This week introduces the concept of genre hybridization. The topic is intriguing because it is different from any idea previously presented in the class. Considering the previous weeks, we talked about how inner and outer influences can input the comedy work as modes. On the contrary, genre hybridization re-examines comedy as a supplement to the non-comedic genre. It means that a non-comedic genre will be the core structure; meanwhile, the comic frame is used discretely to support the main theme. For example, we present a comparison between mockumentary and hybrid documentaries. The slight difference that I was able to spot from the viewing examples was a magnifying editing technique called ‘cutting on significance’. While the mockumentary is called the parody version of the documentary, the hybrid version implies subtle comic devices – not through making fun of the conventional documentary’s aesthetics. The abrupt end, cutting in the middle of scenes, invokes a sense of anomalies, but it is so subtle that even though you spot something slightly off, it is still not reaching ‘that level’ of parody. However, the boundary is so obscure that we could hardly reason why this one is hybrid and not comedy. Branden clarifies that the subject of comedy will determine whether the text has comic elements, as long as we do not change the genre convention. Nevertheless, it will be a challenge to set up comic devices in a non-comedy genre without a slight mocking of that genre. Because laughter comes out of the incongruity effect, it is equivalent that we laugh when something is off. Therefore, our solution is to make a pure crime script that takes place in the interrogation room between detectives and suspects. We try our best to reach the laughter effect while still maintaining the aesthetic of the crime genre. We write a crime/mystery script and envision how some interrogation scenes take place (I imagine the famous Joker vs. Batman interrogation in the Dark Knight series). Then, to make it funny, we visualize what kind of behaviors of suspects are unacceptable during the questioning – as we conclude, a man answers by singing, a girl falls in love with a policewoman, and a man thinks he is the interrogator. Over the past three weeks, I have felt that I am more comfortable proposing ideas and turning them from the proposal into actual records – scripts, visual boards, and shotlists. I have learned by heart how it is to get organized and disciplined with the deadline so that I can still get a hold of my idea flow and become more responsible with groups. I would love to work with people who want to create comedy genre hybridization – maybe web dramas like Stranger Things – but in a hilarious scope.

Reference List:

Middleton, J. (2002) Documentary Comedy in Media International Australia, 104(1), pp. 55–66.

Sketch Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV9uU26v6q0

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