Comedy is a genre that bases off of humor, events and discourses that have an intent to amuse the viewer. The main goal of comedy movies are to entertain and provoke enjoyment, often described as light-hearted dramas. Target audiences for comedy vary, a comedic film can focus on a young target audience such as G or PG rated movies or can focus on an older, teens and young adults target audience, mostly appealing to both men and women equally.
Comedies usually consist of similar protagonists, mostly underdogs that don't have any hero status but may evolve to being a hero in the story. "Nerds", "bullies", "loners", or a person that just went through a recent breakup, usually shows empathy and sympathy. Some characteristics that follow the events these characters go through are clumsy, disastrous, and inconvenient, following the protagonist's flaws and mistakes. In terms of production, comedies are usually recorded with shaky, handheld cameras to involve the viewer in the narrative world to provoke a more intense reaction to the events in the film. As the main goal of comedy is to entertain, some production techniques may seem like mistakes while recording, such as the camera bump, which consists of a main character or prop colliding with the camera, unexpected and done with the right timing, it can evoke a spontaneous reaction in the viewer, also catching their attention after a possible serious or slow moment in the film.
To correctly market a comedy production, a target audience is essential as this has vast possibilities. There are multiple ways to market comedy as the market for this genre is consistently growing, worth over $14 billion in 2017. Conventional marketing techniques such as billboards, tv commercials and promotion from streaming services can successfully market a comedy film.
Friday, directed by F. Gary Gray, and starring Ice Cube and Chris Tucker, is a great example of a well done comedy movie. The 1995 film evokes its humorous basis through buddy comedy, with phrases that the two protagonist say in unison and unexpected events that provoke a reaction in the audience. The film also surrounds gangster comedy and this is successfully done by casting Ice Cube to play one of the protagonist, with his big influence in rap music especially in the West Coast which is most probably the setting for this movie.
Ghostbusters, directed by Ivan Reitman, starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and other well-known names, is a great example of action comedy, a hybrid subgenre of comedy. The 1984 film showcases events where a group of "ghostbusters" goes through humorous occurrences that make the group seem clumsy and useless for their real purpose, but then end up saving the world from ghosts taking over. This storyline and plot serve as a great pathway to a successful comedic film as the protagonists are portrayed as dumb.
Some other examples are:
1. The Hangover (2009)
No comments:
Post a Comment