TRIP-UP FINAL REFLECTIVE ESSAY
BEYOND A JOKE, BEYOND A GENRE
Throughout the semester, we have discussed comedy as a genre, comedy as a mode then putting this comedy, into practise. Our artefact, Trip-Up by Angus, K, Ben, Giorgio and I aims to explore the many methods of comedy. The key concerns of the studio is to learn the theories of comedy and how comedy operates – as its own genre but also as a hybridised genre. By creating and watching our own comedy sketches, we learnt how different comedy operates and the different effects each style has. I think our artefact, Trip-Up has engaged in the studio’s learnings by integrating many of the theories and modes learnt over the past semester. In week 3 we learnt about story sketches, “a Story Sketch is also performed by the host and others but the jokes aren’t interchangeable because they’re woven into a story line. So, a Story Sketch is more like what you probably think of when you hear the word “sketch” – a short, funny story performed by actors.” (Toplyn, 2014). I believe our artefact displays a story sketch, where the jokes are woven into the story – and work within the story to become comedy. As well as this, utilising obscurity and incongruity as “the detection of some disruption of our expectations.” (Audissino, E. & Wennekes, E. 2023). This works to be comedy in our artefact because the artefact is centred around a drug trip- we were able to make scenes and scenarios weird and strange, seeming almost out-of-place or impossible. For example, Josh and Adam looking for Millie Bobby in the microwaves, pirates, Teletubbies, Kevin killing the uber driver, to name a few. “Incongruity theory suggests that amusement is “an intellectual reaction to something that is unexpected, illogical or inappropriate in some other way”. (Clayton, 2020). These random moments of incongruity, surprise and obscurity help to make our film funny. As well as this, our artefact arguably is a bit of a genre hybridisation. “Rather than seeing genres as mechanistically rigid and static, critics in the 1980s argued for a more organic view, often seeing genres undergoing an almost evolutionarily trajectory from ‘primitive’ to ‘mature’ to ‘decadent’.” (Mundy & White, 2012). While Trip-Up is mostly comedy (and more likely a story sketch), the artefact has drama and action intertwined into it. Rather than the film being strictly a sketch, the film has elements of other genres in it. The very core of the film is structured around an adventure.
My understanding of comedy has shifted throughout the semester because I now am able to identify what makes a piece of media funny. Although I don’t think my personal style of humour has changed, the way I look at comedy pieces has. I am able to identify more clearly what writers/actors/comedians are trying to do in order to make their work funny.
If we were able to continue working on our media artefact, the elements I would like to further improve would be making our film longer (more shots). Because we were in a bit of a time crunch with borrowing the equipment as well as only have 2 days to film, it meant a few shots and scenes which we thought could have added to our project we were not able to execute. If we were to have an extra week of filming, it would help dramatically to get these extra shots and scenes to enhance our film even more. As well as this, having a bit more time to edit our film which would be less pressure on K (who edited), and would allow us all to input more into finalising the final cut. As well as this, I think if we were to improve our project, getting rid of using the lav mics could make our sound a little more clear. Because they are mostly placed on shirts and in-between scarves, you can hear a little bit of fumbling around. Unfortunately, because we didn’t have enough of a team working behind the camera in the scenes with the 4 of us, it made filming and using the boom too difficult. With a bigger team, it would have helped to eliminate the stress of the sound and camera work a little more as well as making the process a lot quicker for us all.
Beyond a Joke, Beyond a Genre has positively impacted my experiences with collaboration. Not only was everyone in the class really nice, but everyone worked very hard. Because I was nervous about creating my own comedy sketches, everyone that I worked with made the experience a whole lot easier. I worked with a different group of people most weeks when we worked collaboratively and although we all worked differently, I enjoyed working with everyone. It was interesting to see the different ways people would come up with ideas and execute ideas as well as the different strengths and weaknesses each person had. I particularly enjoyed working with my final group, they were very hard working and knew what we had to get done, but at the same time made the experience a fun time. Working in comedy should be fun as well as work, which it was. We mucked around a little while still getting good quality work done and I really couldn’t ask for more. I think more studios should enable students to work collaboratively like this studio, because I think it really benefited me.
Overall, I am really happy with our final artefact, Trip-Up and I hope who-ever watches it enjoys it too. Despite being a little nervous about this studio, it has ended up being one of my personal favourites I have done at RMIT so far.
REFERENCES
Mundy, J. & White, G. (2012), “Comedy and Genre Boundaries Links to an external site.” in Laughing Matters: Understanding Film, Television and Radio Comedy, Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 130–148.
Toplyn, J. (2014), “Story SketchesLinks to an external site.” in Comedy Writing for Late-Night TV, New York: Twenty Lane Media, pp. 221–238.
Audissino, E. (2023), “From Dionysia to Hollywood: An Introduction to Comedy’s Long (and Bumpy) Road” in Audissino, E. & Wennekes, E. (eds), The Palgrave Handbook of Music in Comedy Cinema, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 3–23.
Clayton, Alex. Funny How? : Sketch Comedy and the Art of Humor, State University of New York Press, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rmit/detail.action?docID=6308704.