Visual Comedy

    If you haven't yet noticed the reoccurring element in some of my blog post, you may not be too familiar with the work of Edgar Wright. He's a british writer and director who is best known for the Three Flavors Cornetto Trilogy, Scott Pilgrim VS The World, and Baby Driver. The moment I got home from the theater after seeing Baby Driver, I looked him up and his other movies and since then I've been enthralled by his work. Not only does he make interesting stories with characters viewers can sympathize with, he's also a master at using the medium to it's fullest potential. 

    Many filmmakers when they approach comedies, they mainly focus on the dialogue and performances. Granted that plays a big role in how the final film ends up, but when every other comedy focuses on the same thing, they all begin to feel same-y.  Meanwhile Wright is thinking up how he could create visual comedy that adds to the story. This video from Every Frame a Painting, sums up many of the techniques that Wright used in his first few movies. He'd find ways to used blocking, movement, editing and auditory cues to highlight visual gags. 

    While visual comedy originated from early films to make up for their silent nature, it's more a else faded from modern filmmaking. That isn't to say the visual comedy has completely died off, it can still be seen in some films, but it's most commonly found in animated films. Hence why I've turned to Edgar Wright. A huge part about animation is how things move, so I'm kind of forced to include visual comedy in my opening. And no where is this most evident than in the second chunk.

    Upstaging is a technique where something diverts attention from a subject. The impact lines, that zoom across the frame and foil the animator's ideas, upstage the frustrated animator. There was also an emphasis on how the failed ideas leave the frame, which was one of the points that was mention the video from Every Frame a Painting. But I felt there would be a disconnect if it was just the animation that had exaggerated movement, I want the character to have it too. It's had to show on paper, but I definitely plan on making sure each glance and movement is in time with the animation. I included this test video in a previous blog post, but I'm sharing it again since it's relevant. I also plan on including some visual comedy in the credit sequence like the credit track.

    Another inspiration for this project from Wright has been his recent documentary, The Sparks Brothers. In this documentary, Wright choses to highlight the strange history of Sparks through interviews, archived footage, and animation. What better example than literally a directors that has mastered visual comedy and has using mix media to tell a story. 

Animation in The Sparks Brothers

    One last thing I want to mention was another video about visual comedy that I recently watched. The video focus more on the art of visual comedy rather than any one particular filmmaker. It goes into depth about how visual comedy has been used throughout the decades and in animation. There's a lot to be said about, and its just a fun video with some good example.

Staging For Visual Comedy