Comedic Short Movie Research

Now that I have decided to make a short comedy movie I feel it is appropriate to research comedy short movies in more detail.

1. Lifes Too Short (2011) - Extract from Episode 1
While this is not exactly a short movie it is an extract from the show which features its own narrative which begins and ends in the 5 minutes runtime of the clip. It features three kinds of comedy that I am a fan of which are 'Improvisational Comedy', 'Deadpan Comedy' and 'Dark Comedy'. In the clip Liam Neeson wants to do some improvisational comedy but doesn't quite understand the concept. He complains about the fact that they did not agree on the backstory before hand which is not the point of improv comedy. This clip appeals to me because I am a big fan of deadpan comedy and would like to use it in my script, this clip will most likely be later used as a source of inspiration later on in the project.

2. Seth McFarlane Plays Sock Or Hat 
The main section of this clip features Seth McFarlane playing a game called sock or hat in which he looks at a sock or hat and has to decide on what it is. The main section is not where the jokes lies however, it is when the credits start and it begins to feature things like storyboard artists and 'based on the novella by' credits that are humorous.

The comedy here is in my opinion quite clever because it is quite risky to make a video in which the main joke is in the credits. Most people do not stick around for credits especially on YouTube. The connotations of the credits featuring things like costume designer, based on the novella by etc are that this was an expensive clip to produce and a lot of effort went into it which is obviously not the case. 

3. WKUK - Earthquake

A sketch by comedy group Whitest Kids U'Know it features a earthquake which has apparently been going on for days on end. During the sketch a news anchorman swears and the sketch becomes about his trial and the earthquake has nothing to do with it until the earthquake stops. I am a fan of this sketch group and I find this sketch amusing because of jokes like a newspaper boy shouting "Extra! Extra! The earthquakes stopped" and a character then looking out the window to check before exclaiming 'It's true, it has stopped'. I am a fan of comedy like that and plan to use it in my movie. 

4. WKUK - Kicking People

This is another sketch from the same group, this sketch it a commentary on morality. The main character finds Guy 1 kicking Guy 2 and finds out that Guy 2 killed Guy 1 kids. He helps the man until he finds out that Guy 2 is an executioner at a prison, he then pushes Guy 1 over and helps Guy 2 kick him. It turns out Guy 2 framed the kids and just wanted to kill them, after this kind of things happens repeatedly the main guy decides they are both bad guys. He then kicks both of them and starts a new dance craze, then builds the empire state building but then the ice age comes back and man-kind thins into extinction.  I like comedy like this in which the endings just kind of go crazy because endings are hard to write. I feel that if done correctly this kind of comedy can work very well and would like to use it in my movie. 

After watching these short movies it has become evident to myself that I prefer dark comedy, deadpan comedy and sketch comedy. I would like to use these particular kinds of comedy in my work.