Comedy.
The comedy genre includes movies and television shows that are intended to create humor and intentional laughs for the viewer. Comedies rely on many different techniques in order to urge laughs out of the audience, including pratfalls, wordplay, uncomfortable situations/scenarios between characters, and sarcasm. There are many subgenres within comedy including raunchy/blue comedy, dark comedy, cringe comedy, deadpan comedy, mockumentaries, and wordplay comedy. In this post, however, I will be focusing on the general genre of comedy itself.
Comedy films and TV shows are usually light-hearted dramas, designed to make the audience laugh as previously stated. Important details to take into consideration when watching and/or creating a comedy film are the humor type, the timing, the plot (or lack thereof), and the happy ending (usually). A good comedy revolves around a specific humor type; these can vary from raunchy to dark to wordplay comedies to even romantic comedies which may combine multiple of these in order to keep the plot moving. Timing in comedies refers to having the appropriate setup for a good joke, whether a single one or a series of gags. Some comedies may have a plot while others may not just as some may have a happy ending while others may not.
Most comedies tend to use many of the same camera shooting techniques. Many TV shows use multiple cameras to film one scene from different angles. Movies use this technique less often as the set of a movie usually changes throughout the duration. Comedy films like to use slow zooms especially when it goes too far in, distorting the shot to show the details of an emotion or a prop. A technique called false perspective where characters or props may appear either too small or too large in a shot may give rise to a comedic effect. There are so so many techniques that are usually used over and over again in order to create some humorous effects throughout a single film or throughout multiple episodes of a TV show.
Comedy movies have been found to have the second-highest percentage of women in their audiences in 2017 in the UK, at 54% percent. People from the ages of 15 to 24 are those that watch the most comedies. Trailers for such films are usually showing the audience what may be the funniest moments of the movie to entice people to watch it. The posters are usually showing something funny or confusing with a catchy tagline and/or review that attracts comedy viewers. The target audience really depends on what subgenre of comedy the film is most identifiable as. Teen comedies such as
Ferris Bueller's Day Off would be targeted towards kids and teenagers ages 12 to 20. Raunchy comedies' target audience would be those that have already reached adult maturity, perhaps ages 18 to 50. Elders and seniors would most likely enjoy teen comedies more than raunchy comedies. Comedies created with low budgets seem to be the least successful. About 35% of comedy movies that are budgeted under $1 million have been more likely to gain profit even after all income and costs when compared to about 52% of those budgeted over $125 million.
Witty humor, hilarious scenes, and ridiculous characters all add to the air of comedy that is The Princess Bride. This film is an adventurous comedy about a young woman and her one true love. His goal is to find her after a lengthy separation and save her. He encounters many challenges along the way in order to save the love of his life.
The film stars Cary Elwes as Westley and Robin Wright as Buttercup, the two main characters. The number of humorous sound effects and laughable scenarios are part of what makes this movie as hilarious as it is.
The surrealism and fantastical aspects of the film help add absurd factors that just make the movie hilarious. The characters of Vizzini the Sicilian (Wallace Shawn), Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin), and Fezzi (André the Giant) build on the whimsical and amusing features of the film.
Robin Williams stars in this hilarious film as divorced Danial Hillard who has little access to his children. Because of this, he hatches the elaborate plan of dressing as an older British woman and convinces his ex-wife Miranda, played by Sally Field, to hire him as a nanny. The synopsis alone gives the viewer an idea of how ridiculous this movie is. But due to its ridiculous aspects (and humorous performance by Williams), the piece is incredibly funny.
The movie's writing is top-notch and Williams' deliverance of various one-liners will make the audience's stomachs hurt from all the laughing. The situations he encounters as the nanny, as Mrs. Doubtfire, just keep adding to the comedic perspective of the film. Having Robin Williams sing a song as the nanny is an extremely humorous and entertaining part of the film, especially with the wig, skirt, heels, and fake breasts. The costume design of this movie helps build on the comedy side of the film.
