Situation comedy research

Today i do research about situation comedy.  i want to explain the situation comedy ,and compare with Chinese situation comedy  and American situation comedy.


Firstly, i research some information the internet

Secondly, i read an artifact about American and Chinese situation comedies , the artifact named:  Contextual dimensions in interactional humor : How humor is practiced in selected American and Chinese situation comedies. due to this artifact have many information,  i need spend on some times to read it.

Key words: Humorous,  Situation comedy

Humorous encounters most often involve the participation of multiple interactants, where it is projected by certain interactant(s) and received by others （Zhen Xu). It means that humor is created by people's communication, although sometimes actors perfor  by themselves, they will use many props, and it still humor . 

Situation comedies, often shortened to sitcoms, belong to a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue (Molon et al., 2005, Sedita, 2005 and Li, 2010)

Situation  comedy's history

situation comedy originated in radio, but now, situation is normally on television.

For example,The Goldbergs. at beginning, it was a very popular radio series in the USA, In 1949，it become the TV series, and it is the first one situation in the USA.

 The show is loosely based on the showrunner's own childhood, during which he videotaped events, many of which are re-enacted throughout the program. It shows the reality of the '80s from a young boy's eyes and gives an inspiring look into for aspiring writers.

Situation comedy's  features

First one is shooting on site, and audience is on site.

Second one is shoot on site, but there is not audience. 

Third one is shooting outdoors.

Zhu Xun. (2012). A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School and College of English in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. HUMOR AND CONTEXTUAL DIMENSION– A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON HUMOR IN SELECTED CHINESE AND ENGLISH SITUATION COMEDIES. 1 (1), 51.

Wikipedia. (2013). The Goldbergs (TV series). Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goldbergs_(TV_series). Last accessed Octorber 26, 2015.

Comedy list

Situation Comedy

USA: Friends

China: I Love my family


           My Own Swordsman

           IPartment

Talk Show

USA: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

China：Mr. Zhou Live Show

Road movie

USA: Due Date

China: Lost On Journey

storyboard

scirpt

Jiafang yifang

Jiafang yifang is direct by xiaogang feng in 1997, the story is talk about Four friends come up with an unusual idea to make some money and have fun doing it. For a small fee, they will impersonate and act out any character role for their customers. In the course of executing this novel service, they encounter a whole spectrum of people in society, finding ways to genuinely help them boost their morale and overcome their fears, while gaining unusual and new insights into the human condition.

It is a comedy movie, and i think it is a different comedy movie, because normally comedy movie is Physical comedy, when people watch this kind of comedy , they just feel very happy, and many comedy actors has play physical comedy, such as Jim Carrey.

Compare with physical comedy, Jiafang yifang is not very funny, but when people watch the film, they will remember many details for a long time.

Why jiafang yifang is a successful comedy?
The first one is actor's trait. Compare with other kinds of film, comedy actors' trait is very important for the film.especial for hero.  it can help audience easy to remember it. for example, when people talk about Mr bean, they remember his face  and his clothes. In Jiafang yifang, the hero is a bald man, audience is easy to find him.

The second one is the director is focus on how to describe characters' mentality. because most of people have similar mentality,when audience se the characters' mentality, they will relate to their 
life,and feel funny.


IMDb. (1997). jiafang yifang. Available: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0260987/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1. Last accessed Octorber 21, 2015.

All in lost

We watch silence film in Thursday, named All in lost. It is direct by J.C. Chandor, the story is talk about an unnamed man (Redford) wakes to find his 39-foot yacht taking on water after a collision with a shipping container left floating on the high seas. With his navigation equipment and radio disabled, the man sails unknowingly into the path of a violent storm. Despite his success in patching the breached hull, his mariner's intuition and a strength that belies his age, the man barely survives the tempest. Using only a sextant and nautical maps to chart his progress, he is forced to rely on ocean currents to carry him into a shipping lane in hopes of hailing a passing vessel. But with the sun unrelenting, sharks circling and his meager supplies dwindling, the ever-resourceful sailor soon finds himself staring his mortality in the face.

It is a silence movie, i think silence movie is more difficult than other movies, because in the traditional movie, directer can use dialogue to narrate the story, but in the silence movie , the actor only use body language to communicate with each other.for example, in this movie, when the actor find his boat is broken, he driver the boat and fix up the boat, although he is very busy, his facial expression is never change, it can show he is a calmly person. it is better than use dialogue to describe
   
IMDb. (2013). All in lost. Available: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2017038/. Last accessed Octorber 05, 2015.

Crazy Stone

crazy stone is direct by Hao NIng, it is publish in 2006, it is a comedy and crime film.

it is talk about three thieves try to steal a valuable jade that is tightly guarded by a security chief. But the security guards are not the only obstacle these thieves are facing. An extremely unlucky internationally known master thief is also trying to get a hand on this piece of precious jade. 

Why this film is funny, because this logical is not happen in our real life.

The first logical is about policeman and thief 

The traditional logical of story is many policemen to catch one thief , and this logical is coordination.

In the film, the story is talk about one policeman and three thieves, and the logical is incoordination

The second  logical is about three thieves. 

Normally, thief is steal citizen, but in the film, three thieves steal each others.


This logical is not use in Chinese comedy, American comedy still use this logical.

Normally, policeman's  job is catch thief, but In the Blue Streak,  a thief play a police, he use his knowledge to become an excellent police, finally, he catch the thief. 

 Why the in-coordinative logical is funny, because it is can not happen in our life, it is  absurd.


Reference
IMDb. (2006). Crazy stone. Available: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0843270/. Last accessed Octorber 16, 2015.

IMDb. (1999). Blue streak. Available: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181316/. Last accessed Octorber 05, 2015.

Sicario

Sicario is direct by Canada director Denis Villeneuve, it is talk about an idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by an elected government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico. 


I like the film very much. there are many shotting skills i hope to learn it. for example, 
When Emily Blunt wait for other people in the Conference room, director change the sound which are in the room or out the room very cleverlyThe Mexico child play the egg, but to the next scene, he play football. it shows that the director focus on detail for everyone.When  Emily Blunt go to Mexico in the first time, director use aerial shot.



IMDb. (2015). Sicario . Available: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3397884/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1. Last accessed Octorber 13, 2015.

comedy in different countries

In this course, the aim is to help student understand the director how to perform comedy in different countries,  find some similar points and different points between Chinese comedy and other countries' comedy.

Sample: Chinese comedy, American comedy

There are four questions in this course

1.what is the similar points  between Chinese and American comedy

2, what is the different points  between Chinese and American comedy

3, how to perform the different points between Chinese and American comedy.

4. why is  different between Chinese comedy and American comedy.

Keywords: Humorous

Humorous encounters most often involve the participation of multiple interactants, where it is projected by certain interactant(s) and received by others. 

What is the comedy?

Disharmony between people is often used in comedy, the higher the level of disharmony the greater the comedy effect.  Very often the ‘disharmony’ is caused by difference in the situation and background of the characters in the comedy e.g. ‘Trading Places’.

Another often used device in comedy is the ‘absurd’ situation, where something that would not happen in reality does happen. An example is 'Blue Streak':

A thief play a police, but step to step, he become an excellent police.

Sitcom comedy’s often use misunderstandings and coincidences to produce comic effects.

There are many kinds of comedy, some comedy focus on structure, some comedy focus on dialogue but for me I want to focus on physical comedy.

Physical comedy is that which involves bodily contact or activity. There are many famous comedy actors use physical comedy to perform such as Jim Carrey.

La Grande vadrouille

Within comedies, sound effects are often also used to increase the comic effect

Some directors will use canned laughter in the comedy, because it can create an atmosphere of laughter and affect the audience.

Before publishing the film, the director makes a test shooting, it’s used to test the level of audience reaction.


Reference

IMDb. (1999). Blue streak. Available: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181316/. Last accessed Octorber 05, 2015.

IMDb. (1966). Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At!. Available: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060474/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1. Last accessed Octorber 05, 2015.