Genre Conventions.

 Hey blog, 

Let's talk genre, 

For our film, we will be making a dark comedy. This is a genre I have attempted before, yet the result ended up being too abstract and not necessarily an accurate representation of the genre. 

So I am trying it again. Let's do it. 

DARK COMEDY

https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-black-comedy-definition/

Dark comedies are comedies that joke on extremely dark, and heavy topics. It makes fun of ordinarily taboo subjects. The goal is to amuse by presenting something shocking and unexpected. Sometimes dark comedy is used for shock value, it can also provoke serious thought and make people discuss topics they wouldn't have otherwise. 

These topics include- 

-Murder, violence, death, corruption, sex, poverty, disease, and racial or sexual stereotypes. 

However, this list extends to whatever the imagination and obscurity can think. At the end of the day, the point is to talk about topics that most films don't. 

Although some of these comedies like to just play on the absurdity of life, others want to provoke deep thought. 

A great example are the films of Quentin Tarantino. Extreme violence is always present in his films, yet the gore is hilarious because of the characters almost bothersome attitude towards it, like when Robert de Niro's character in Jackie Brown nonchalantly shoots Melanie, simply because she was being bothersome. 

Characters- 

https://sites.google.com/education.nsw.gov.au/black-comedy/home/the-lieutenant-of-inishmore/techniques-conventions-and-characters

The characters will be flawed. What's the point otherwise? They lack moral values or have them twisted, and they look at life in terms of adolescent absolutes, with innocence and stupidity.

Characters in these films are commonly charicatures of a stereotype,

Tropes-

-Comic strip violence

-Dialogue that is musical in its delivery

-Dramatic exageration

-farce

-Casualness in violence

-Slapstick

So how will we be adapting these tropes and changing them?

To begin with, the comedy aspect of this film comes from the absurdity of the situation. You will not necessarily laugh, but you might grin at the stupidity of the character and the ridiculousness of the situation.

We do not want to make this mega campy(shocker I know). We want to keep a more realistic, and less formalist style. Very bleak, and not theatrical at all, which is a trope of dark comedy.

This will provide for a more intense juxtaposition. Something as absurd as a teen going famous online for wanting to F@ck a monkey, while everything else is boring and depressing, is funny in itself.

Additionally, it would create an audience connection that other big campy dark comedies, like Nowhere by Greg Araki, lack. Although the film makes excellent points, and takes you through a trip, the characters are hard to relate to since they are so stylized.

Instead, take the film The Banshees of Inishiren. At first sight, you assume this film is serious. Yet, you quickly learn the premise of the movie is absurd and childish, and it creates a beautiful contrast.