British Comedy Guide

The process of creating a comedy.

Hello,

I am 19 years old and I am endeavoring to write a comedic short film. I am right now trying to find out about how to go about writing such a thing. As I understand it, you need a comedic structure and then the funny comes, could you possibly tell me I'm wrong or elaborate?

Thank you.

P.S This forum looks so awesome.

Best way to approach making short comedy film is watch as many as possible, the good and the bad and observe for yourself what works and what doesn't. These guys are great.

http://www.shortoftheweek.com/category/genre/comedy/

I've done a mixture of little short films at Uni not as good as the above links, enjoy

LET HER GO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4kHfZZf5Bk

VEE CHANGEABLE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP9KpmxparQ

I don't think comedy is a structure. Funny films usually come from funny scripts performed well.

All stories have a structure. Think of a goal and then things that happen to thwart that goal. Usually three acts, think of the end of the act as a major shift towards reaching that goal or looking like destroying the chances of reaching it. The end is either the goal achieved or not... usually. So work backwards from there.

Quote: Marc P @ June 21 2013, 12:09 PM BST

All stories have a structure.

We're discussing what makes the comedy, not the story though.

Besides a film needn't necessarily have a story.

Comedy cannot exist without a structure.

I don't want to watch a film without a story.

Quote: Marc P @ June 21 2013, 10:24 PM BST

I don't want to watch a film without a bedtime story afterwards.

But you've had the Gruffalo every night for twelve years now....

Quote: Marc P @ June 21 2013, 10:24 PM BST

I don't want to watch a film without a story.

Yes, but despite that opinion, comedy doesn't equal story.

A particular joke may not have a structure, though a comedy needs to. It has a structure, but isn't one, if you follow...

Exactly. Comedy is about subverting expectations, and with no structure then there's no expectations from the viewer for you to subvert.

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