comedy writing: 2010

Sunday, 15 August 2010

Cartoon writing

Cartoons are Criminals.

So where can you see the difference between the world in which we live in and the world we want to live in, well at least I would.
Well in the past some what odd couple of years ago, that may be an understatement, lived Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and some other guys who I didn't really pay attention to in class who figured out the world is governed by what we now know as physics. What goes up must come down except for your age of course and this is what divides the world of humans from the toons. The law of physics.

It's the Law
If you was to get run over truck slammed into a brick wall and impaled on a spike I doubt you would be able to get up brush the dust off your new pair jeans and walk off merrily - you would be dead!
During a live action film when the hero excepts being shot by the stray enemies bullets (like they always do) but ends up in a room filled with bombs which explode at that precise moment you have witness a tragedy. Those limbs aren't going to re-attach themselves, as an audience we know this and film some sympathy unless you have some dark, dark humour.
No notice I said humour in a the cartoon world this would be seen as funny. Events like this in the cartoon world are funny i kid you not. When a certain Coyote runs off a cliff and plunges thousands of feet and flattens upon impact because he was chasing some bird hyped up on speed (reminds me of certain friends of friends) we find this funny. We laugh and the more ridiculous it gets the more the laughter because hysterical, why? It's because it's human nature. We're in stitches because we know those cartoons won't die. The only thing to worry about is the animator getting a cramp in his hand and even still things are done by computers these days, mind you I have known cases where excessive use of the laptop can lead to hand cramps.
Now this doesn't mean that the cartoons reactions to pain won't be perceived but we know their pain isn't real. A cartoon can handle that bomb exploding and return to their original shape.

No Law's, Cartoons are Innocent.
In the animated world, there are no laws for the cartoon characters to break. They can can be rolled up into balls and thrown down alleys, squashed flat like a bug and stretch like erm..stretch armstrong? The point is that perform physical acts known as cartoon feats that live action characters cannot with the except the live action isn't too far fetched. If i was to jump off a cliff and flap my arms hard, no matter how hard I tried I'm not going to fly but a cartoon can.

Examples

Cartoon Writers and Animators rely on defying these laws to create the humour and this makes animation unique from other forms writing medium.

What a Cartoon thinks of - Dispicable Me

EDD and LARRY "Animated" comedy writers on dispicable me

Runtime: 1 hr. 35 min.
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Kids & Family

EDD - Larry I can't believe it, Gru has landed himself in the feature film Dispicable Me.

LARRY - Gru that middle aged old character with the pointy nose.

EDD - Erm, I don't know how that makes sense but yeah him.

LARRY - Well done to him, what's the role like?

EDD - The movie is set in a joyful suburban neighbourhood, you know the type that has white picket fences, rose bushes and grass as green as Shrek's fat Ass.

LARRY - I'm sure Donkey was brown.

EDD - Funny! Anyway in the middle of all this sits a black house with a dawn lawn. Hidden within is a secret hideout where our friend Gru appears surrounded by small minions and is planning to diploy the biggest hiet in the history of the world!

LARRY - This sounds interesting he must be over the moon to get the leading role.

EDD - More than you know! He plans on actually stealing the moon. Armed with freeze rays, shrink rays and battle armoured vehicles he will inihilate anyone who steps in his way.

LARRY - Until...

EDD - Haha of course what would the story be without some difficulty. Until he meets three little orphans who see past the villain and bring in him something no on has ever saw, a Dad. One of the world's greatest villains has just met one of the world's gAreatest challenges Margo, Agnes and Edith.

LARRY - Dispicable me. Sounds like a good plot. Real tear jerker.

Friday, 16 April 2010

Family Guy Season 1, Episode 3 - Chitty Chitty Death Bang

Lois wants Stewie's first birthday party to be perfect, but complications arise: Meg ditches the party and unknowingly joins a cult, while Stewie thinks the party's climax will be his reinsertion into the womb and acts accordingly.

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When the local news announces that the Earth will be destroyed by a black hole in 24 hours, everyone in Quahog goes nuts trying to live out their last day. Stan and Francine Smith were initially supposed to visit the Griffins, but having been announced on April Fool's day, this was revealed to be false.

Thursday, 15 April 2010

ep link

X episodes

Wednesday, 14 April 2010

Classic Cartoon Characters
Classic Cartoon Characters have "marquee value" which means people are familiar with the characters already and have their audience. Network and Television executives don't want to splash out on characters no one has ever heard of before like you guys 'EDD and LARRY' I never heard of you before!

LARRY: Ouch!
EDD: Yeah I got the picture, there was no need for that.

Wasn't meant to insult you, well yeah I was. That's one of the main reasons you see shows like the The New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh.

LARRY: That's show's title is very misleading!

I'm going to ignore that. You can take shows that have been around for years and just change them up and because of their fan base it doesn't need so much work to get it seen and recognised. Pre-existing characters like Yogi Bear was turned into a teenager was called Yo, Yogi.

EDD: A pup named Scooby doo.
LARRY: Is just a younger version of Scooby Doo.

Exactly. This is taking an old idea and making it High-Concept which means an idea can be pitched in a few sentences and immediately illustrates it's marketability. You want to make sure your idea is High-Concepts because for executives, the essence is all about the money and revenue you can bring in.