Comedy makes us feel good, it is supposed to get us smiling and laughing. I can tell you for a fact that whenever I have a bad day, whether that be at school or anything else, I turn on a comedic movie I like to help me feel better. Comedy doesn't just make you laugh though, it also can bring out other emotions in you like sadness. It is because the genre is so dynamic, that I find it so interesting.
Content:
Every day frustrations is used in comedy movies constantly in order to humanize the main character to the audience, as well as set up a space where comedic hijinks will soon take place. Whether it is getting looked over for a promotion at work by the boss, or not being able to properly change a baby, these situations are what introduces us to the character's life and helps us feel invested in them.
Ex: Kevin Spacey from the film "Horrible Bosses" constantly overlooks the Jason Bateman character for a promotion, but whenever he is asked about it, he constantly puts Jason Bateman's character down in a humorous way.
Another convention used constantly in comedy films is that of language. The usage of bad words is often used in comedy movies to up a character's reaction to something. Whether something amazing just happened or something bad, swears are used to trick the audience in a sense. Even if a joke is not funny, a lot of movies put them in-between in order to make the audience think along the lines of "well he is swearing, that is hilarious".
Ex: Gordon Ramsay in Hell's Kitchen. The way he talks to people, and the fact that he swears so much is extremely funny to people, and it is one of the things that has made him so well know today.
Production Techniques:
When making a comedy movie, it is important to know exactly what the audience wants to get from their ticket purchase. They want to get something light hearted and fun, not serious or scary. Because of this, most directors when creating a comedy will have the film be very bright and colorful, not dark and gloomy. Color can give off certain vibes to the audience without them noticing. By using light colors like light blue and yellow, you give off a warm and welcoming vibe to the audience watching your scene. They do not need to be on edge or prepare to be scared, they can sit back in their seats and relax.
You may have noticed that most comedy movies nowadays star the same 20 actors in them, and that is due to the brand recognition that those stars bring with them. It is extremely hard to convince a general audience to go see any type of film that does not include a big name star. It takes an enormous amount of advertising, and must have one impressive trailer. But, having people like Dwayne Johnson in your movie convinces people to go see it, because he is popular, and the audience knows what they are getting when they go to see a movie with him in it. He is familiar to them, they don't need to do any extra work to get into one of his films, which they would need to if it was a complete unknown taking over as the lead character.
Marketing:
Comedies are a rare genre in the sense that they have made comedies for literally every age group imaginable. Young kids like to see random chaos happening on screen, while the older crowd can appreciate the jokes and situations that characters find themselves in more. Comedies are generally more marketed towards male viewers, but nowadays, the space for female and male comedies have widened immensely, with one of the most successful comedy films of 2015 called "Spy" starring Melissa McCarthy in the lead role. The posters that most comedy movies have are able to sum up the plot of the film by just looking at them closely for a couple of seconds. Often times it will have the lead or leads front in center in some wacky costume or outfit, and then some wild situation going on in the background that draws your focus.
Ex: The poster for the film "22 Jump Street" shows the two main characters with guns, and in spring break attire which matches with the poster's background. This indicates to the viewer that the two characters are undercover cops, trying to stop a crime during spring break. The viewer can tell this before even seeing the text above their heads that explain it.
Sample 1:
The film "21 Jump Street(2012) is about two high school enemies who 7 years later become best friends and police officers. They are both recruited into the jump street program which sends cops undercover into high schools in order for them to bust drug rings. As the two experience high school life they find themselves growing closer and closer apart. I think the film uses many things to its advantage. The dialogue unlike many adult comedies at the time is actually written extremely well. It has a lot of swear words, but it does not rely on them to be funny, and it is extremely well acted. Something that I noticed in the film that no one else seemingly has, is that when they are in high school, the lighting seems a little darker than when they are at other locations. I think this is to subliminally get across the message that high school is a "bad place". Everything this movie does works extremely well, and it honestly works as an action film just as good as it does a comedy.
Sample 2:
The film "Anchorman 2" is a comedy that uses its setting to its advantage. The film takes place in the 80s, and is about a news anchor named Ron Burgundy and his news team. What the film does so well is that it uses the time period to its advantage. They could have easily made it so that the film takes place in modern times, but they wanted to take things to the next level. Nothing did that more than the marketing for this film known as "the Ron Burgundy press tour" Will Ferrell, who played as Ron Burgundy appeared on numerous interviews and real news broadcasts in character, and it was a genius way to get exposure for the film. To this day, nothing of the scale has been attempted, because that specific press tour was so big and worked so well mainly because of how Will Ferrell was able to adapt to the situations he faced in character and in real time.
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