Quote: Duckers @ January 11 2011, 10:11 AM GMTCanned?
I had always assumed Scooby Doo was filmed in front of a live studio audience...
Would have been great to see Frank Welker, Don Messick and Casey Kasem in action.
What's your view on laughter tracks? Page 3
Quote: Kenneth @ January 11 2011, 10:38 AM GMTWould have been great to see Frank Welker, Don Messick and Casey Kasem in action.
I agree.
But it must have been tedious being in the studio audience waiting for all those Japanese guys to finish the drawings...
The head animator for Scooby Doo was a Japanese American but I'm pretty sure most (if not all) of Hanna-Barbera's original animation team were Americans.
Famously Yes Minister was originally to have been filmed without a studio audience, but Eddington and Hawthorne insisted. When you watch you can see how they time their lines around the laughter, and how Hawthorne in particular is buoyed up by the audience reaction, often coming close to corpsing.
Quote: chipolata @ January 11 2011, 10:27 AM GMTIsn't there an option on the DVD that means you can listen without the laughter?
There should be but I don't know there is.
Quote: sidecar jon @ January 5 2011, 2:43 PM GMTI remember MASH being without a laugh track, then suddenly it had one and seemed utterly ruined...
True, but I think this points up the difference between canned laughter and performing in front of a studio audience.
Quote: Timbo @ January 11 2011, 11:01 AM GMTTrue, but I think this points up the difference between canned laughter and performing in front of a studio audience.
Yes, by laugh track I assumed a recorded track was meant..
The 'Laughter Track' discussion seems to crop up about once a year. As has already been said... it helps some sitcoms, in others it doesn't.
What I find interesting is when you ask people to name a list of shows that feature a laugh track, they don't always get it right. If you're finding a show funny, the thinking goes that you're less likely to notice there's a laugh track on it. Blackadder for example - I don't notice the laugh track at all. As Alfred said earlier, the laughter on Reggie Perrin is very obvious though - probably because I'm thinking "hang on, that joke's not funny".
A studio audience definitely effects pacing and how you view the show. Here's some interesting videos...
Big Bang Theory without the laugh track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmLQaTcViOA
Friends without the laugh track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLvB_ybcKt0
If anyone with video editing skills has the ability to create a similar edit for a British sitcom I'd love to see it!
Quote: Mark @ January 16 2011, 4:02 PM GMTIf you're finding a show funny, the thinking goes that you're less likely to notice there's a laugh track on it. Blackadder for example - I don't notice the laugh track at all.
Just to prove your point embarrassingly well... Blackadder had a laugh track????!!!!
Quote: Mark @ January 16 2011, 4:02 PM GMTThe 'Laughter Track' discussion seems to crop up about once a year. As has already been said... it helps some sitcoms, in others it doesn't.
What I find interesting is when you ask people to name a list of shows that feature a laugh track, they don't always get it right. If you're finding a show funny, the thinking goes that you're less likely to notice there's a laugh track on it. Blackadder for example - I don't notice the laugh track at all. As Alfred said earlier, the laughter on Reggie Perrin is very obvious though - probably because I'm thinking "hang on, that joke's not funny".
A studio audience definitely effects pacing and how you view the show. Here's some interesting videos...
Big Bang Theory without the laugh track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmLQaTcViOA
Friends without the laugh track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLvB_ybcKt0
If anyone with video editing skills has the ability to create a similar edit for a British sitcom I'd love to see it!
I often find this too. When I start to notice a laughter track is usually the point in time when I decide that I don't like the sitcom.
Laughter tracks get on my effing nerves. If it's funny I'll laugh trust me. I don't need told.
At the risk of being contentious, and I know many swear that laughter tracks are 100% genuine because they were there on the night etc etc, I often wonder if at the editing stage then perhaps it might be tempting to tag on the odd isolated guffaw (maybe even recorded on the night albeit during a different piece of the performance) say to a fairly static bit of action; or indeed if the volume isn't pumped up to the max during what were quite possibly decent laughs at the recording anyway, maybe just to sledgehammer home the point that "THIS BIT'S FUNNY- RIGHT? YOU MORONS!!!"
In my view there is no other explanation for a character sitting, say perhaps reading a newspaper, or who perhaps just simply walks onto a set and who then gets a laugh for no apparent reason whatsoever.
Well I do know that sometimes they have to retake about five times and you may have genuinely laughed the first time but when you know what's coming you don't laugh as much so they use the first laughter track.
I don't have a problem with shows with laugh tracks, or those without. I like both single camera shows and sitcoms that have been filmed in front of an audience; it's a good thing that both flavours of sitcom exist.
Quote: Blenkinsop @ January 16 2011, 7:21 PM GMT(maybe even recorded on the night albeit during a different piece of the performance)
I've heard that they do that on occasion. Usually when they've filmed the same bit 2 or three times, they might use the audience reaction from the first part, on the best performance. Just what I've heard though.
Quote: Chappers @ January 16 2011, 7:28 PM GMTWell I do know that sometimes they have to retake about five times and you may have genuinely laughed the first time but when you know what's coming you don't laugh as much so they use the first laughter track.
Ahhh you beat me to it!
Watching old sitcoms you can hear the individuality of the audiences' laughter that sometimes adds to the programme.
So why do modern laughter tracks, which we are assured by the powers-that-be aren't fake, sound like generic canned laughter?
Are the producers of comedies like the Big Top at the editing desk, like Tony Roberts in Annie Hall, saying; "OK turn it up there, give me a small chuckle after that gag, loop that bit of laughter here"?