Beyond a Joke, Beyond a Genre – Week 5

Causing Cancer

 

1. What is your understanding of the comic form and concepts explored this week, with reference to the reading(s), in-class discussion, and/or your own research?

The comic concept that we have explored this week is Satire. Immediately going into this week’s exploration, I wanted to know what the difference was between Satire and Parody. While they do go hand in hand for some situation, they differ.

“Where parody, as we have seen, draws on – and highlights – aesthetic conventions, satire draws on – and highlights – social ones.” (F, Krutnik, and N, Steve, 1990, p19).

We watched three examples of satire in class which all highlighted the social issue of drug use, however they were all different in their approach. To outline their approaches, I will focus on their primary targets, who are they attacking?

1.  Brass Eye. — episode 2, “Drugs” (1997) – The British news outlets and the way they exaggerate stories.
2. Chappelle’s Show. — “Tyrone Biggums” sketch from season 1, episode 2 (2003) – Drug users and the education system
3. Corey White’s Roadmap to Paradise — season 1, episode 10, “The War on Drugs” (2018) – Government drug programs

These works all intend to humour their viewers, however they also build meaning and intent. Especially Brass Eye and Corey White’s piece, they want point the finger and prove that the news we are fed is not always as it seems. I found the Dave Chappelle’s piece was quite funny and ridiculous. While he does use satire in this piece, because of its fictional approach, a serious message of the currupt education system or intent does not feel reached.

2. How does your media artefact respond to these constraints and concepts?

We decided to experiment this week with a non-fiction approach. We created a segment show titled ‘Causing Cancer’. Our primary target is the medical industrial practices and constant research for cancer provoking chemicals. Our secondary target is news outlets that are constantly reporting on ‘what gives you cancer’, and never giving enough detail as to how or why.

Writing the script and creating this work in general felt quite ridiculous but that is how we felt when we discussed the absurd number of things that will give us cancer… well what we are told by news outlets. For example, tampons, sunscreen, too much wine, too little wine ect!!

3. What have you learned about comedy’s relationship to other forms/genres by making this sketch?

It has been great to learn how comedy can be used as a dominant tool in highlighting social issues. Thinking more about it, we laugh at something that is funny, that should be a good thing. However, sometimes with a satire approach, you laugh, and then question your reaction due to the nature of the comic messaging. I laughed at Chappelle’s skit, however I then thought, ‘imagine if this was real, a man, high on drugs at a primary school, swearing his head off and scaring the children’ – of course in real life that is not actually amusing but very worrying. Making fun of a serious issue should not communicate that it is not serious, rather it is just another one to reach a target audience and help them understand what the issue is. Many people tell jokes or laugh at things to hide/distract from pain, satire is somewhat similar.

Reference:

Krutnik, Frank, and Steve Neale. Popular Film and Television Comedy, Taylor & Francis Group, 1990. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rmit/detail.action?docID=178274.
Created from rmit on 2024-04-11 02:45:44.

Beyond a Joke, Beyond a Genre – Week 4

Parody Week – Keeping Up With The Assessment

 

1. What is your understanding of the comic form and concepts explored this week, with reference to the reading(s), in-class discussion, and/or your own research?

The focus for this week was investigating ‘Parody’ as a mode of comedy. I have come to realise that there are many definitions and ways that people absorb comedy. Many genres have been created which include comedic moments yet are not classified as a “comedy”. Action comedy, Romantic comedy ect. However, are there types/modes of comedy that allow other genres to play within? That sounds complicated… I guess it is!

After class I thought of a comparison of two similar hybridized films, both being action/comedy. One example is The Avengers (2012), and the other is Deadpool (2016). The Avengers has many comedic moments, however Deadpool is overall comedic. Even though both films have superheros and villains, and are also apart of the Marvel universe, Deadpool is by far more amusing… is this because of the mode of comedy it uses? Would Deadpool be considered a paradox of a superhero film?

2. How does your media artefact respond to these constraints and concepts?

Our sketch for this week is titled, “Keeping up With The Assessment”, and as you may be able to guess, it is a parody of reality TV. The idea was quite simple and inspired from the class discussion we had with comedian, Hannah Camilleri. It was interesting when she was asked about how she generates her ideas, and she replied saying that many of her scripts are written with the same structure. For example, one character is logical, the other characters are unreasonable and ridiculous. As well, the humour comes from the conflict of her scenes, and because she has one reasonable character and one non reasonable, they collide in a humorous way.

3. What have you learned about comedy’s relationship to other forms/genres by making this sketch?

Making this sketch has made me realise that it is important to research as many details you can about the other form/genre. Doing this detailed research will allow the comedy to fall more naturally because a lot of the time, doing something opposing or surprising in a hybridized form will cause people to laugh. We chose reality TV to parody in this sketch. I think with more research we would have been able to amplify our comedy even further. Our sketch is amusing, however there are areas that could be amplified.

A1 Beyond a Joke, Beyond a Genre

Week 1 Post

Week 2 Post

Week 3 Post

Beyond a Joke, Beyond a Genre – Week 3

Slang Barrier

 

1. What is your understanding of the comic form and theories of humour explored this week, with reference to the reading(s), in-class discussion, and/or your own research?

The focus this week was ‘The Comic Frame / Comedy Mechanics / Situation and Story’. To help understand these theories, we watched a lot of sitcoms and late night sketches from SNL. It was interesting to learn some of the mechanics behind these late night sketches. They are usually created on the same day they are performed, it is usually the same cast with a possible special guest, and the same storyline can be used to generate a ‘new’ sketch. Joe Toplyn wrote, ‘the host plays straight man in a scene where a comic character disrupts the show for some reason’ (2014) , highlighting one of the common storylines they use for the sketches. The ‘comic character’ could be anyone and anything. That was something else we explored in class, the checklist of a story sketch. This checklist is a great guideline to creating a successful sketch, especially because it solely focuses on the description of the ‘comic character’.

2. How does your media artefact (sketch) respond to these constraints and concepts?

Below is the ‘Nine Steps to Creating a Story Sketch’ which was written by Joe Toplyn in the book ‘Comedy Writing for Late-Night TV’ (2014). I must admit, I did not complete the entire list before filming my skit… I should have filled it out. I could have added a lot more depth to my story rather than it just sitting on the surface. There was not really a twist at the end and my character didn’t do anything extreme. 

However, my comic character did have a clear trait that I feel I executed well. She has a thick Australian accent in which her partner can not understand. Not only is she saying phrases that he can’t understand, but she is also requested a very basic dish for dinner which people could laugh at. The entire sketch is pretty corny and could have be developed further, however hopefully it still generates a few laughs.

(I have added to this list since filming – point 6 & 7)

Story Sketch:

1.Think of a comic character with two or three exaggerated traits

Strong slangy accent, clueless and carless

2. Make your comic character want something

She wants a simple dinner, a snag sambo! … sausage sandwich 

3. Have someone oppose your comic character

Her partner is posh english and doesn’t understand what she wants. 

4. Have your comic character take several different steps to get what they want, each step more radical that the last

She suggests what to put with the dinner, then another dinner option, she will then laugh it off and go make the dinner herself

5. Raise the stakes

6. Have your comic character do something really extreme

She breaks up with her partner because he doesn’t understand. or they both start crying cause they don’t understand each other

7. Have your comic character not get or get what they want

He makes dinner and comes back with what he thought a snag sambo was, but it is something totally wrong

8.Throw in a final twist

9. Add the dialogue

3. How have you incorporated peer feedback into your approach to further develop or improve your practice?

My feedback from last week:

• Needed the melody to be more obvious
• Could have just kept wearing the squeaky shoes
• Could have exchanged for new shoes and they be worse
• Sandals could have squeaked as well, all he shoes are squeaky!

My sketch this week is quite different to last week however the feedback was still useful for future work. We discussed how to add more humour, it would have been more effective to do something more unpredictable. For example, instead of taking the shoes back to the shop, the girl could have just continued wearing them even though they had a loud squeak, wearing them in a public place like the supermarket where other peoples reactions may have heightened the situation.

 

Reference:

Story Sketches. (n.d.). In Joe Toplyn, Comedy Writing for Late-Night TV (pp. 221–238). https://rmit.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/delivery/61RMIT_INST/12324770510001341

Beyond a Joke, Beyond a Genre – Week 2

Squeaky Shoe

The form of comedy that we explored this week was silent comedy. Silent comedy is not necessarily ‘silent’, rather it is content which humour is generated through visual performance. An example that we looked at in class was Mr Bean. Mr Bean has minimal dialogue, yet he is an iconic figure in the modern comedy world. It is his facial expressions, lanky body movements, opposite emotional reactions and childish nature that get audiences laughing out loud. After viewing the first 10 minutes of Mr Bean s01 ep01 (1990), we were able to discuss more findings of the way comedy is generated. Mr Bean takes an exam and the whole duration he is attempting to copy the answers from his peer. With a focus on timing and rhythm, anytime that he is being sneaky… which is a lot of the time, he moves in slow motion with his eyes wide and eyebrows up. As soon as he is spotted his movement is exaggerated, fast and he may even make an indescribable noise. This contrast in timing ultimately results in more amusement.

In class we also discussed our reading about the ‘Benign violation theory’ (2014). A diagram of the theory was provided which assisted with my understanding;

Benign is when something ‘needs to seem OK, safe, acceptable’ (Warren, C. & McGraw, A, 2015). If you watch a clip and someone falls down a flight of stairs and dies, you aren’t going to laugh… well I hope you wouldn’t. However, if the person falls and then gets back up like nothing happened, it is funny because benign has been added to the violation of the fall. There needs to be a balance of the two factors in order to be successful.

My sketch, ‘Squeaky Shoe’, depicts a girl who has bought some new shoes, trys them on, and boom, they are super squeaky. I was inspired to make this skit because I HATE squeaky shoes. I had attempted to squeak a familiar beat with the shoes to enhance the humour, however after watching Tony Zhou’s video essay, ‘How to Do Visual Comedy’ (2014), I decided to experiment with another element. Zhou identifies 8 things that Edgar Wright does in his film, 1 of those things being ‘action synchronised to music’. So I decided to include the riff of Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke on The Water’ into my skit. It plays quite suddenly and seems somewhat random so I am interested to see what feedback I receive.

Feedback from my previous sketch allowed me to be more focused on exaggeration and timing. While my peers liked the length and character of my ‘fart’, they did suggest that I could have added a pause or two to build more laughter and surprise. They also commented that my character could have played into the fart more, highlighting that it is in fact a fart and that can require some movement of the body.

My sketch for this week has a lot more movement. Instead of my character simply walking back and forth, she moves around and even does a little dance. I still wanted to play on what we discussed last week, which was the element of familiarity. I am sure many people can relate to my character and admit to doing some silly movements to test out if the shoe is the right fit.

Reference:

1. Warren, C. & McGraw, A.P. (2015), “Benign Violation TheoryLinks to an external site.” in Attardo, S. (ed), Encyclopedia of Humor Studies, Los Angeles: SAGE Reference.
2. Zhuo, T (2014), ‘ How to Do Visual Comedy‘, Vimeo

Beyond a Joke, Beyond a Genre – Week 1

1.What is your understanding of the comic form and theories of humour explored this week, with reference to the reading(s), in-class discussion, and/or your own research?

‘Theories of humour, with a focus on Incongruity/Surprise’

For the first week, we have been discussing and exploring our own perceptions of what “comedy” is. It was quite interesting to hear the similar responses from the whole class. Overall, everyone agreed that comedy is both something that we engage with because of familiarities and/or surprise. For example, people can be amused by watching someone struggle with gym equipment because they too have had those struggles, and they can also be amused by aspects of surprise, like all the gym eqipment being items of food?… a strange idea but that could be funny? As well, our reading, ‘Six Small Essays about Comedy’ (2023), by Seth Simons highlights how comedy can be absorbed for different reason…’Why People Laugh…Because they hear something surprising. Because they hear something familiar’.

I am already starting to realise that comedy has many layers and can be taking in so many different ways depending on the person. I am very excited to explore this subject and I know that there will be many obstacles of truely understanding how comedy works.

I have linked a TikTok clip which reflects my point of how people will laugh because they can relate to a message/meaning, yet also be surprised due to surprise or in this case, absurdity…

TikTok made by @Shiv Wlson

2. How does your media artefact respond to these constraints and concepts?

My sketch for this week is something that has been done before, making use of the “fart” sound effect. I felt childish making this work and quite doubtful; is this something I should even be producing at university? I will say, after watching a few of Tim Robinson’s sketches in class, I feel as though a lot of comedy has a solid base of childish mannerisms. In the clip below, Ronnie is being rejected from the show because of his obsession with the zipline. As he is being asked to leave, he groans and cries like a child thats had its toys taken away… very funny stuff.

I have watched my sketch back a few times and the amusement has defiantly mellowed. The surprise of the long, passionate fart is what is funny about the clip. Once you know the fart is there, it is not so funny. If my performance was more detailed, more facial expressions, more movement, the clip could have had more comical depth to it.

 

A5 pt2 Studio Review

Automatic for the People

The focus in my studio, ‘Automatic for the People’, is centred on the exploration of AI. We have explored the ways in which AI has an impact in our society and specifically in media. AI generating tools are becoming more and more accessible, meaning that we as emerging media makers need to be familiar with these tools. Through in-depth class discussions and reflecting, I feel open towards this new technology. I have and always will be cautious with how much I indulge in AI media, however I would like to remain curious and fascinated by what it can produce. At the end of the day, we (humans) must always stay a step ahead and be in control of our creativity.

Project Toblerone

‘Tobler-Own It!’ is what you say after biting into a delicious and morish Toblerone chocolate… or you build a pyramid in the Egyptian desert. This group has produced a Superbowl inspired AI advertisement for the Toblerone chocolate bar. Almost every aspect of the external product is AI generated. This group used Runway, Gen 2, to generate their videos, both ‘text to video’, and ‘image and text to video’. I could tell that they had used image and text to video because they chose to include two celebrity characters, Taylor Swift, and Seth Rogan. It was clear to identify these characters because the group would have used real photo images when prompting the AI. Using images when prompting in Gen 2 helps with consistency and accuracy. They had one scene with Taylor and Seth together, then two individual shots, all the shots generated Seth and Taylor accurately. The other characters in the advertisement didn’t seem to have been generated with an image prompt, solely because the facial structure and outfits were not consistent. The use of distinct and varying character voices was how this group kept an overall consistency in their piece.

What Lies in the Shadows

Another work that I found interesting in our studio was ‘What Lies in the Shadows’, which was created by Seyyid Basoglu, Shuming Chen, Bella Lee, and Eloise Durrant… and of course, AI. This work shows a clear distinction of human effort and creativity with collaboration of AI. The group has explored many different AI generation tools, and they have also pieced it all together with their own efforts. They have made a website and included many tabs and links within the page to interact with. There are AI generated images, voice messages, videos, and text. A highlight of the work was the Chatbot that was prompted and conditioned by Eloise. The Chatbot, named Alissya, was an aspect of their work that allows audiences to experience communicating with AI. In our studio, we have worked on and explored the concept of ‘prompting’ in many forms. This group has taken it a step further and invited others to develop and build upon their own AI prompting skills. As a class, we have been encouraged to trial and error with AI, and especially to not be afraid. This group has done an amazing job with all the skills and techniques we have learnt this semester—and they are wanting to teach others about it as well.

 

REAL PEOPLE, REEL LIVES

My understanding is that this studio, ‘Real People, Reel Lives’, explores the ways in which we turn a question-and-answer interview into an engaging audio-visual story. Typically, a story involves a beginning, middle and end—when interviewing, you must know how to form questions correctly to encourage detailed and personal responses. From these responses, you build and create the story. It was great to view all the works done in the studio. There were two works that helped me understand the many layers and techniques involved in this type of documentary making;

Work Title: What Matters Most

Creators: Kaaren Ghassemi, Liam Johnston, and Matthew Mihailidis

‘What Matters Most’ is a short documentary about Gian Morrow and his life changing experience of finding out that he had a bleed in his brain. The piece begins with him reflecting on the day he went to the emergency room after dealing with severe headaches. I like how they clearly set the scene—with the use of hospital sound effects, a blank screen, and a slow pace. The group not only captured his emotions of retelling the event, but they exemplified it by using these techniques. My attention was specifically concentrated on what Gian was saying and how that moment played out for him. The core of the documentary explores more on who Gian is and what he values in life. As a whole, this documentary is pleasant to watch, and they have used many engaging techniques whilst also piecing together a great story. I would say that the actual experience that Gian endured could have had more detail—for example, what would have happened if he didn’t have surgery? What type of surgery did he need to undergo? Were migraines the only symptom? Ect. These questions may be personal, but I feel as though they could have gone even deeper into how life threatening this medical emergency was. Another aspect that would have been great to include is his music or projects that he is working on now, especially with his new outlook on life.

Work: Beyond the Curl

Creators: Clair Seoud, Georgia Di Paola and Larissa Hass

Another work that I watched was ‘Beyond the Curl’, a documentary on Ella Rowe, owner of Elvie Salon which specialises in curly, afro, and coily hair types. This work stood out to me because it was engaging and educational. I have finished viewing this documentary feeling inspired and proud of the work that Ella is doing and achieving. This group has been able to dive into many details of Ella’s journey as a proud Papua New Guinee woman, as well as the journey of her salon and the effects it has had on others. The group was able to use a lot of archival footage of Ella’s family which gave great insight into her story and inspirations. Viewers are also invited into the studio. While this is not a salon that I would ever go to because of my hair type, I feel welcomed by this video work. It is predominantly set in the salon and has varying shots of the space which highlight the morals and values that Ella aims to communicate.

 

 

MAJOR MEDIA WORK – Automatic for the People

 

 

Synopsis writing

Compilation #2 – Automatic for the people

W4 – Automatic for the People

Wk 5 – Automatic for the People

Wk 6 – Automatic for the People

Wk 6 – Automatic for the People

 

Week 6 Sketch Content

o Independently identify an interesting media work made with generative AI. Why do you think it is interesting? What makes it effective?

This work at the RMIT Design Hub Exhibition:

“12. Kate Geck Impossible Evolutions 2023 Digitally produced woven textiles Impossible Evolutions is a collection of textiles created in collaboration with machine learning models, offering speculative vantage points into the futures we share with critters and code. The models have been trained on datasets of endangered Australian butterflies and flowers to imagine new iterations. These ‘impossible’ machine-imagined evolutionary forms gesture to the futures we face as biodiversity decreases: there will be no further generations of these species. The woven textiles show the creatures as part of living systems: pollinators that enable new generations of plants that in turn provide food for new generations of insects. Revealing the interconnected relations of living systems as an important tool in advocating for planetary thinking. We put time and resources into developing machine-learning systems in the hope that they will improve many aspects of our lives and society. Impossible Evolutions explores how we might harness these systems to activate planetary imagination, advocating for hope and action towards a planetary commons.” (2023)

Wow. This work was amazing to view and explore. As it is described above, Kate Geck has created this exceptional work which is collaborated with AI and presented in textile form. She has used AI to generate images of flowers and insects that are extinct and/or not real, then she has displayed these images on a woven rug. Her work has shown me how AI can be beautiful and has the power to morph ideas and test boundaries.

Kate Geck Instagram Page

o With your group’s media sketch this week, what do you think worked well and what didn’t work so well?

• Worked well =

1. We had a solid story line that helped us piece together our video work.
2. designating roles to each person also allowed us to expand on our work and make a sketch that is truely collaborative

• Didn’t work well:

1. Our videos do not run smoothly and would be very hard to understand with the narration, the characters and setting is not consistent.

o For future media works of a similar kind, what do you think can be done to improve the work?

1. With more time and possibly with the paid subscription (for Runway), we could experiment further to create consistent characters and settings. However, I think that this may be more complicated than I think it is. ChatGPT is able to regenerate text with slight changes of your choice. I used ‘this person does not exist’ and each time I clicked the regenerate button, with the same prompt being used, a total new image would appear. In order to keep consistency, we may need to include an image as well as text in the Runway prompting tool, this way, the AI is more likely to generate videos with similar colours, brightness, figures ect

o What are your thoughts on this week’s reading? What is one key principle/thoughts/quote that really stood out for you — why?

‘Weizenbaum famously warned about the ELIZA effect where humans demonstrate a
willingness even a desire to believe in computers, in his case as compassionate listeners.
Weizenbaum’s warning about humanity’s desire to be deceived is a central premise and
anxiety about artificial intelligence.’

1. AI has been experimented with since the 1960s… that is such a shock! There has been a lot of further development since then but I would have thought that AI began in the early 2000s.
2. The anxiety in regards to AI started as soon as it began. It seems that people in general feel nervous at the thought of progressed technology and change.

 

Rewrite of this blog using ChatGPT:

prompt = Can you rewrite this as a five year old who is just learning to write

“Can you find something cool made by a smart computer? Why do you like it? What makes it good? I saw something cool at a special show:

It’s a bunch of pretty pictures and rugs made with the help of a computer. The computer learned about special bugs and flowers that are in trouble, and then it made up new ones! Even though these new bugs and flowers aren’t real, they look pretty on the rugs. This makes us think about how important it is to take care of nature. The computer also helps us imagine things for the future.

I thought it was super cool! It showed me that computers can make beautiful things and give us new ideas.

Now, let’s talk about our own work:

What went well = We had a good story that helped us make our video. We all had different jobs, which made our work better. What didn’t go well: Our videos didn’t play smoothly, and it would be hard to understand them with the talking. Also, the characters and places in our videos were not the same all the time.

To make our next computer project better, we might need more time and a special tool. This tool could help us make sure our characters and places look the same every time. But it might be a bit tricky!

Now, let’s talk about the stuff we read:

A long time ago, smart people started playing with computers, even before I was born! They were worried that sometimes people believe computers too much, like when they talk to them and think the computers care about them. This made some people scared of what computers can do.

It’s funny how computers have been around for so long, but some people still get worried about them. Change and new things can make people nervous sometimes.”