Oh My God They Let Them Out!

Im new here and im not too sure how this forum works, but for my first post I would absolutely love some feedback on this video of a comedy group I am involved in.
We are called OH MY GOD THEY LET THEM OUT which is a sketch show format done in different locations around the south-west. The Humour in it ranges from the Surrealist to the shocking to the tragic and the sordid.

So I would be much grateful if you took the time to view our 10th video of the series and gave us some feedback please be as honest as possible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdiISokQuuE&playnext=1&videos=P5M4J5Gfupo

thank you

I watched four minutes of it and found there was too much tomfoolery and not enough comedy. And I didn't think it was suited for external scenes as the camera work was too fidgety. It needs to be more organised with some kind of story thread running through it. Then it would work on stage, perhaps with an audience.

Hope this helps.

Quote: alex mahon @ August 4 2010, 6:49 PM BST

I watched four minutes of it and found there was too much tomfoolery and not enough comedy. And I didn't think it was suited for external scenes as the camera work was too fidgety. It needs to be more organised with some kind of story thread running through it. Then it would work on stage, perhaps with an audience.

Hope this helps.

View original

Thank you for giving it a go, in the first 4 minutes or so there was about 3 sketches, im kind of interested in what you mean by tomfoolery? im guessing you mean the build up to the punchline or pay-off of those sketches.
Other than that I can totally understand and pretty much agree with the rest of your comments but not sure how from viewing only 4 minutes of it you think it needs a story thread.

All that said though please don't take me for an arse I am grateful for the feedback.

I am also part of 'Oh My God They Let Them Out' and am also interested to know the distinction between tomfoolery and comedy as you see it, good sir. I agree that this may work quite well on stage, but it's quite difficult to get the opportunity to perform comedy onstage especially in Somerset as so many promoters are afraid to take risks on untried acts, and so this is the way we have to approach things for the time being.

Was there anything you thought worked well?

I managed 3 minutes, but there were no laughs for me. Going the surreal route is usually a license for self indulgent writing/performing, so I think you have to be very careful when tackling it.

attax and boomerang

As I'm only a complete amateur in this field I can only give you my impression as a viewer. If it's not going to grab me in the first few minutes e.g. if it was on TV, then I won't continue watching it. I know a lot of hard work went into it but I felt there was too much play-acting (sorry if tomfoolery was the wrong word to use here)and not enough getting to a punchline. Were you trying for Monty Python-esque sketches?

It's a shame you can't get on stage because that would hone your skills which I'm sure you all have.

Again, apologies if I can't come up with industry terms to use here, but like I said, I'm just an amateur. Hopefully, the more experienced writers here can help you more.

Anyway, good luck with the comedy.

Great beards mediocre sketches.

Sharpen your writing, get a plot and you could be going places.

Quote: sootyj @ August 4 2010, 10:57 PM BST

Great beards mediocre sketches.

View original

It's like the JunkMales in reverse.

Sorry guys, but I just didn't find any of this funny at all. Was it actually scripted or improv?

Quote: Ben @ August 4 2010, 7:23 PM BST

I managed 3 minutes, but there were no laughs for me. Going the surreal route is usually a license for self indulgent writing/performing, so I think you have to be very careful when tackling it.

View original

I totally agree with what you are saying but then again all kinds of performing/writing could be self indulgent to an extent. Im not sure there was much surreal with the first 3 minutes of that video though to be honest.

Quote: alex mahon @ August 4 2010, 7:24 PM BST

attax and boomerang

As I'm only a complete amateur in this field I can only give you my impression as a viewer. If it's not going to grab me in the first few minutes e.g. if it was on TV, then I won't continue watching it. I know a lot of hard work went into it but I felt there was too much play-acting (sorry if tomfoolery was the wrong word to use here)and not enough getting to a punchline. Were you trying for Monty Python-esque sketches?

It's a shame you can't get on stage because that would hone your skills which I'm sure you all have.

Again, apologies if I can't come up with industry terms to use here, but like I said, I'm just an amateur. Hopefully, the more experienced writers here can help you more.

Anyway, good luck with the comedy.

View original

thankyou, im glad you elaborated on what you meant . I have joined this forum to get totally honest opinions and interact with other people doing a similar thing so am glad of any feedback. Monty python isnt a direct influence but I guess the sketch/skit format showing incidents with a number of characters is what we often go for.

Quote: sootyj @ August 4 2010, 10:57 PM BST

Great beards mediocre sketches.

Sharpen your writing, get a plot and you could be going places.

View original

thankyou for the beard compliment haha, I guess we do have mini plots going on within the skits but they aren't written as such, The majority of the sketches/scenes are semi improvised and partially planned out. Maybe this is an area where we are going wrong or something in general that needs to be sharpened up.

Improvising is much harder than writing and rehearsing.

Quote: Will Cam @ August 5 2010, 6:19 AM BST

Sorry guys, but I just didn't find any of this funny at all. Was it actually scripted or improv?

View original

You don't need to be sorry, its totally fine, we understand that the humour we are using isnt going to be for everyone. What usually happens with these videos is that we meet up together maybe bringing in a handful of ideas for scenes or certain characters , some more planned out than others within the action or dialogue and then just go from there. The one guy whos on camera the least is the guy that edits all these videos which is a bit of an inner problem as sometimes the videos come out not quite in a fashion the rest of us would imagine, but all coming together to edit could potentially be a catastrophe.

What to you think about this? do you have any suggestions on improvement?

Quote: sootyj @ August 5 2010, 11:35 AM BST

Improvising is much harder than writing and rehearsing.

View original

sometimes it can be but the thing about improvising that can be beneficial is the fresh and unpredictable approach it can give. Admittedly that can backfire though.

here is part 11 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtvKVsQhsx8

what do you think of this in relation to part 10?

I guess there is more of a plot to some parts of this one interspersed with random footage. Theres some parts added in to the editing that I personally wouldnt have put there.

Anyhow im grateful for all feedback received so far and would absolutely love some more

Quote: sootyj @ August 5 2010, 11:35 AM BST

Improvising is much harder than writing and rehearsing.

View original

And almost always far less funny.

I don't know if this was improvised or not but it seemed like it might be. If it's not improvised, it would definitely benefit from a few more takes as the acting did seem pretty wooden and a few bits did just remind me of a couple of kids mucking about making a game up as they went along.

It looked like there were some interesting ideas in there but I think it needs some more work.

I'd be interested to know if it was improvised and how many of those sketches were done in one take. Do you do another take only when someone cocks up or do you do them to get a better version?

Quote: Afinkawan @ August 5 2010, 1:11 PM BST

And almost always far less funny.

I don't know if this was improvised or not but it seemed like it might be. If it's not improvised, it would definitely benefit from a few more takes as the acting did seem pretty wooden and a few bits did just remind me of a couple of kids mucking about making a game up as they went along.

It looked like there were some interesting ideas in there but I think it needs some more work.

I'd be interested to know if it was improvised and how many of those sketches were done in one take. Do you do another take only when someone cocks up or do you do them to get a better version?

View original

What youre saying definitely makes sense, I think some scenes we do amongst these videos could definitely benefit with a bit more time being put into them. Recently we have been doing another take more often, usually when someone cocks up but really it should be about getting the nearest to perfect take. I think the reason we try to do as less takes as possible is because we don't meet up often and we only have a limited amount of time to do filming when we do meet,so everything gets bit crammed, which isnt ideal at all really.

thankyou for the constructive feedback