Genre Research Activity

    Hi blog! The goal of comedy films are typically to make the audience feel entertained in a humorous sense, and most of the time have happy endings. The plots are rarely very intense or comprehensive, however that is not the goal of the films most of the time anyway. 

    These films are typically in correlation with other genres, as the plot has to be related to another form of media, or else it would just be a stand-up comedy show. For example, Rom-Com films (romance and comedy) are a very popular genre with movies such as Clueless, Action-Comedy films such as Deadpool, or Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in the Adventure-Comedy genre are influenced heavily by the comedy genre.

    Comedy films are typically aimed to an audience aged anywhere from their teens to middle-aged, however there are films for every age group in this genre, depending on what secondary genre it is paired with. This is clear because the people who are portrayed in those films are also usually from that age group, which would connect the audience to the story through shared experience, which is typically the base of many comedy films. 

  The films typically include joke-filled or sarcastic scripts, as the funny aspect of the film is the leading feature among others. Comedy productions are also often filmed in naturalistic setting, that is relatable to the real world. Which once again, connects to the realistic features. They also often include ironic or exaggerated scenes to make the impact of the humor greater.

    In regards to content, some common trends are that the cast rarely ever consists of a single main character, and usually highlights the relationship between a group or a duo specifically, with the duo being the more common option. This makes the "protagonist" the two or more characters who go on a journey together in one way or another, and the way that they interact with each other is often where a lot of the humor comes from. The 2+ characters usually have specific quirks to them, or opposing views in some form, which allows for the individuals to be memorable in relation to the other(s). The content also includes awkward scenes a lot of the time, as it is a universal experience to be embarrassed, which makes the humor aspect more personal.

    Comedy films often include a lot of the same actors, who are famous for being "objectively funny" such as Kevin Hart,  Adam Sandler, or Jennifer Aniston. Many comedy films include those actors because they are already well-known, which draws in the audience for that reason rather than an extremely unique plot. Comedy productions are often marketed with trailers that show objectively funny scenes such as the awkward situations that were referenced earlier, as without context the comedy part of the movie still needs to come across. 

    A great example of this would be the official trailer for the Christmas movie Elf, starring Will Ferrell as it highlights the ironic and uncomfortable situations that Buddy grew up in all of his life with providing as little specific plot details as possible. This movie as a whole is a great example of comedy in relation to being aimed towards all ages. Although at first glance it may seem like a cheesy Christmas movie for kids, the comedy aspect of it was extremely well written, as the production includes jokes that only would make sense to an older audience, while keeping the wholesome adventure story for children. 

    Anyone But You is a great example of a comedy film that connects with romance. It depicts an awkward love story between Ben and Bea, who go on a journey together during a getaway. The two were portrayed by Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, who are well established actors in Hollywood. The marketing tour for this film was very well advertised, as the two kept their same banter towards each other to further highlight the humor aspect of the movie. It took place in a realistic wedding location of Sydney, Australia. 

This genre is one of the most widely enjoyed genres because of how many different genres it can be used in relation to. Some other great examples of comedy movies are Pitch Perfect, The Fall Guy, Beetlejuice, and Just Go With It.

Representation

    Hi blog! Representation plays a huge role in media, as making a wide variety of groups feel seen and supported is the most unifying part of it all. In my favorite show, The Owl House, there are many different characters that represent such a diverse range of people throughout the cartoon. For example, the main character, Luz Noceda, is a female Dominican-American teenager, who was portrayed to be neurodivergent as well as bisexual. She was a lovable character, who represented several minority groups. The creators of the show selected to not only include Luz's diverse representation, but have her be the leading role in The Owl House. Since the show was originally designed to be made for kids, it makes the representation even more important. Luz is shown to clearly be in a relationship with another girl, named Amity Blight, which also includes LGBTQ+ representation in the production. Their relationship as a whole represents personal growth, and emphasizes the importance of a healthy dating life.

    Other characters such as Willow Park represents inclusive body types, since her character design does not depict the average beauty standard, as well as being of Korean decent. or Edalyn (Eda) Clawthorne who represents older characters, as her character appears to be in her 50s. Raine Whispers is another character, who is part of a very unrepresented group, the non-binary community. Gus Porter is a character who represents the Black community, and still identifies with being a "witch" despite it being stereotyped to be a feminine thing in many stories, as the show is based around mystical beings and the world that they live in. Lilith Clawthorne represents mental health awareness, as her character deals with depression-like characteristics, which is depicted in an uplifting, supportive manner.

    The Owl House does however have some unethical aspects to the representation. It is most well known for being a queer, diverse show that highlights the relationships of the LGBTQ+ community in a way that is accepting and normal, not portrayed like many stereotypes depict it. However, due to the show being aired on Disney Channel through cable, which required that the queer moments were mostly subjective, and not shown objectively, simply implied. It also could be argued that the show exoticized some cultures that believe in folklore, as some elements such as the mystical species that they encounter throughout the show, which are dramatized to make the point of peculiar beings clear to a young audience.

    The character design could also be leaning too much into stereotypes to exaggerate the character's uniqueness. For example, Eda's appearance being particularly unique with her golden eyes and pointed ears could make her appear to be an average "witch" appearance, rather than breaking that stereotype and creating a more accurately represented character design. Another example could be with giving Willow glasses, as it is a common stereotype that Asian people are insanely smart, and glasses are a surface level way of portraying that personality trait.

    Despite these potential negative aspects in the representation of different groups and minorities, the show was a major turning point for both Disney and cartoon productions in general. Being made in 2020, it opened the doors for future projects that have an older target audience to include specifically more queer representation, with the positive feedback that Disney received from the release of the show. The main takeaway from this show was that nearly anyone could finish watching it, and feel represented in some way, based on the selection of characters and backgrounds.

Opening theme song depicting characters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqE6KiijtH0 

Sound

    Hi blog! During the lesson prior to the creation of my own project, I learned that sound plays a massive role in how productions create stories through sound. One thing in particular that I found interesting was the use of sound in the background and how it can create the tone of an entire film. For example, the clinking noise of cups at a cafe can better convey the setting of a scene without having to use an establishing shot or have to physically say where the characters are. I also learned a lot about the foley process, and found it especially intriguing that they can make almost any sound with things that have nothing in common with the item its portraying, such as using rice to make rain sounds. I took interest in this career because it is overlooked in the production of movies, but in reality is among the coolest and most creative jobs in the entire field in my opinion.

    For the project, we were asked to create a 1-2 minute production solely using sound samples from several online sources such as Pixabay or Youtube's audio library. After choosing an appropriate scene, and planning out all of the sounds that you would hear in that environment, we could begin searching for the online sounds that worked best and arranging them in Adobe Premiere Pro to fit our story. We were also instructed to use foley techniques to create 4 of the sounds that we utilize in the end result, and record ourself making the sounds to ensure that we understand the foley style. The assignment could not include any visual element to it, but still must be a clearly understood storyline despite being told solely through audio. We could not include any dialogue either, and could use a maximum of 7 individual words.

    When it came to creating my personal sound project, me and my partner started brainstorming ideas, and decided to base our storyline on the things that happen right before a spaceship takes off. We landed on this idea because there are so many background noises that would make the context clear. For example, the buffering of the static from the ship, the countdown to lift off, etc. We used all of the sounds that we had planned directly from the outline, which helped  a lot because it made us establish a vision of how the story was going to go before having to create it. It made the research stage easy as well because whatever sounds that we couldn't find because they were too specific, we knew we had to make using foley. For example, we couldn't find a sound of sitting down in a spaceship, so we created that sound by recording sitting down in a car to get a similar sound. We arranged all the sounds by overlapping sounds in different tracks in Adobe Premiere Pro, which made having white noise like air conditioning in the background easy to import. 

    I think that me and my partner did a great job of making an easily understood, but still thoroughly detailed project. We incorporated many sounds that overlapped each other to create a busy environment similar to what we were trying to exhibit. One thing I think we could have done better is made more creative foley recordings, as we ended up doing some that were on the simpler side like zipping up a spacesuit or opening a heavy door. If I did this project again, I would enhance the foley techniques I used to better express understanding of the style they use with using random objects instead of just recording the actual sound itself. However, I am proud of the project me and my partner created, and believe that it was very well produced.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JDjLvN4fwQiz5_TLksTJFKlRQl8JXX_T/view?usp=sharing