The Genre

Our genre of our film is black/dark comedy drama. It is often described as a genre that makes light and comic relief of depressing subjects matter generally considered taboo. Some dark comedies include 'Seven Psychopaths', 'Trainspotting', 'Pulp Fiction' and lesser-known 'Fish Tank'. Below is some research to gain a better understanding of the genre so we know what to include when it comes to creating our opening.

Iconography of the Genre

Conventions of the Genre

From analysing those film openings for 'Trainspotting' and 'Fish Tank' that have black comedy drama as their genre, I found that they all tend to have unrealistic features that may go from one extreme to the other.

Cinematography:

Shots- extreme close-ups, very wide shots

Camera angles- every character seems to be on the same level, naturalistic, eye level

Movement- naturalistic, tracking shots

Composition- sometimes tight framing, natural framing (torso to top of head)

Editing:

Fast pace cuts (especially in shot-reverse-shot to make comedy out of confrontation), wipe screens often used to show the smoothness of a comedy, cross-cutting

Mise-en-Scene:

Location/setting- sometimes unrealistic/ overly dramatised (really idyllic or run down), public places or often in teen films school or college settings, bright places

Props- guns, drugs, mobile phones, wrappers, alcohol, any props that may hurt the character is well-known to slapstick comedy, any props to do with the social realism issues

Costume-

Make-up-

Lighting- high key lighting

Colour scheme- upbeat and bright

Sound:

Upbeat music, narrative voiceover, funny sounds (for example the flushing of a toilet), sometimes contrapuntal sound, diegetic sound is clear so the audience can easily make fun of what the characters are saying

Character: 

some characters are overtly 'abnormal' and with extreme personalities, other folly characters will be a great contrast to the main character

Plot: 

the plot usually has some kind of dark disastrous downfall or start to the protagonist's life, which get better (with some struggles along the way) as the film progresses

History of the Genre

Literary critics have associated black comedy and black humor with authors as early as the ancient Greeks with Aristophanes.

Iconic Sound/s connected to the Genre

Toilet sounds- a flush, sound of someone using the loo, roll of the toilet paper, etc.

Gun shots

Dramatic shouting

Iconic Directors of the Genre

Wes Anderson

Sam Mendes

Audience Expectations of the Genre

In order to fulfil the audience's expectations for a black comedy drama when they watch the film opening, we have looked into what they believe justifies a film as having being titled with that genre.

For some primary sourced research, we asked a random and varied selection of individuals to answer these questions:

1. What themes would you expect from a black comedy drama film?

2. What setting(s) would you expect from a black comedy drama film?

3. What type of main character would you expect from a black comedy drama film?

These were the answers our primary sources gave:

Source no. 1

1. Dark themes such as death, crime, drug abuse, murder, juxtaposed with tongue in cheek humour (not necessarily laugh out loud).

2. Can be applied to any setting I would say.

3. Again, they could be anyone but normally I would imagine one main character who the audience is aligned with (e.g 50:50).

Source no.2

1. Crime, gruesome gory deaths and injuries, cults and mysteries.

2. Quiet, small town/ village, countryside.

3. Funny, ordinary person, mundane job.

Source no.3

1. Perhaps it would be about the protagonist's situation and emotions, mainly sad and pessimistic but humorous. So themes could be loss/death or mundanities of everyday life.

2. A setting that may not seem to offer much humour but allows the characters to create it. Like a small/ insignificant town or a funeral.

3. Someone unfulfilled with dull yet funny friends or maybe an outsider or loner, riddled with cynicism so a lot of the humour would come from their sarcasm and pessimism.

Source no.4

1. Perhaps it would be about the protagonist's situation and emotions, mainly sad and pessimistic but humorous. So themes could be loss/death or the mundanities of everyday life.

2. A setting that may not seem to offer much humour but allows the characters to create it. Like a small/insignificant town or a funeral.

3. Someone unfulfilled with dull yet funny friends or maybe an outsider or loner, riddled with cynicism so a lot of humour would come from their sarcasm and pessimism.

Secondary

Source: https://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/comedy

By searching the Internet for what the audience expectations of a black comedy drama I also found out the answer to these questions:

1. This genre would be expected by audiences to contain themes such as drugs, crime, murder, theft, violence, struggle, etc. These mainly relate to the 'dark' side of the genre and then it is usually up to editing, cinematography, miss-en-scene and acting to mock and make light of these themes for the 'comedy' side of it.

2. The settings within a black comedy tend to be that of an extreme utopian or dystopian world to foreshadow their downfall or enviable struggle in the story. However, on the other end of the spectrum, some settings in this genre are expected to be overtly normal and regular places that the audience can easily relate to (i.e. a busy town, a school or a park) as these will emphasise the audience's ability to laugh at places they are familiar with.

3. In a black comedy the protagonist tends to be a character that has some kind of downfall at the start of the film and then the film entails some sort of dramatic change in their life or their life becomes progressively better throughout the film, with some moments of transgression. The main character for the audience has to stand out in some way from the rest of society to make them more funny or easy to gain some connection with them. They may have a unique style and an overly exaggerated personality.