Behind the Scenes of Brainstorming

Deciding on a Genre

A coming-of-age film that showcases the illness that comes with having PTSD, involving the chessboard as the character's main trigger, was the first idea I came up with. My group approved it and we discussed the ways in which mental health is presented in film. But as time went on, I began to rescind my confidence in the idea. Due to this being our first film, we knew it would be bad! There is so much for us yet to learn and a topic this strong would be better done later in the year, with more film experience and time to develop it.

As the director, it is my job to sustain the consistency of our ideas in the film. So, I approached my group with the intent of changing our film to a comedy. I figured that since we are amateurs, this could be our strength if we utilize it to make people laugh! My group was so excited to do a comedy and our brainstorming was almost explosive after that.

Exploring Comedy

A film we referred to for comedy genre expectations was Shaolin Soccer, 2001. The dramatic antics of the film were an inspiration to the vision we wanted for our film; awkward characters, extreme close-ups, and plot twists that were highly unrealistic, but created comedic relief.

Still from Shaolin Soccer, 2001, portraying the way actor facial expressions and angles are significant in comedy.

Understanding elements of the comedy genre as a group was important in our development of a storyline, but also taught us the ways humor can be expressed in each of our roles, not just in the plot itself. We were able to plan out scenes and their details regarding what camera angle we should use to symbolize disorientation in a game (dutch angle), the audio that should be played at that same part for dramatization (orchestra), and even down to the pace of editing from one shot to another (slowed reaction shots) to add humorous effects. 

Overall, grasping how comedy is achieved through the roles of cinematographer, editor, and sound designer was done by researching our genre. Observing the styles used in popular comedies expanded our storyline to one where we could each apply our skills. As the film's director and even potential actress, it helped me structure a system; a beginning, middle, and end that capitalized comedy on each stage of its production.