PROJECTS

"In The Place"

"Cirque L'espace"

"Anti-Gaming PSA"

Director/ Screenwriter/ Editor

A Sitcom Parody that follows the average life of the average sitcom lead, and his average sitcom friends.

Director/ Screenwriter/ Artist/ Editor

A Call For Work Prototype that illustrates a surreal virtual experience taking place at East by North East Festival.

Director/ Screenwriter/ Editor

An anti-drug P.S.A. parody, exploring the dangers of video game spending addictions and their side effects.

"In The Place"

Director / Screenwriter

Overview

This project was made as a part of a larger group research project on comedic techniques and timing to find out how to make something funny on purpose and understand how to implement it into our work. In a collaborative effort with 3 other team members, our task was for each of us to choose a "type" or "genre" of comedy to research and deliver a project that exhibits various comedic elements associated with our choice of comedy. For my portion of the project, I created a short sitcom parody episode for which I wrote, directed, recorded, edited, and starred in the entirety of, on my own, in 2 days.

PROCESS

Studying

The research portion was comprised of my analysis of the comedic strategies found in situational comedies. The main elements I focused on were an episode's narrative structure and flow, rhythm of dialogue, common story and character tropes, and the acting & delivery of jokes. Essentially, I watched a couple of episodes from a list of sitcoms that I curated to deduce the similarities between them. I ended up drawing a lot of inspiration from older sitcoms like Seinfeld, Cheers, and Friends, which became apparent in my work.

Writing

Using what I observed during the research period, I decided to write around a narrative that consists of a group of 4 characters who live in one place, located in New York City, since I was going for a more on-the-nose approach. The writing process was split into two sections, writing the theme, and writing the script. The theme is backed by a 90's style boom-bap rap beat, and I attempt to mimic the Beastie Boys' rapping (a style synonymous with and made popular in New York). The lyrics deliver a couple of witty jokes about the style of the sitcom I am parodying to establish the ironic tone of the video. For the script, I wrote 3 sections of interactions between the characters to establish everyone's dynamic with the lead, being sure to incorporate elements of their respective archetypes, as well.

Recording

The recording was also split into two sections. For the theme, I wanted to add to the stylistic theme of the song, so I modeled the intro after older music videos. I wanted it to feel bouncy so I incorporated many shot angles. For the script, based on the demands of the narrative and the limited tools at my disposal, I decided to keep camera angles to a minimum by keeping one camera angle per character to optimize recording efficiency and allow myself some leniency for my sub-par acting. I only changed camera angles for Ashley to highlight her character's sense of business and hurry.

Editing

Once again, I approached the intro and episode separately (apart from the captions). Being that the intro was styled after vintage rap music, I felt inclined to lean into the distorted, simple, and low-quality look. This was achieved by creating a fish eye lens effect, adding a green glow for flare, grainy and distorted textures, and partially stylized captions. Editing the episode itself consisted of arranging footage, laugh track clips, and writing captions, with some other small additions in between. It wasn't too difficult, only just time-consuming from having to curate all the sounds and go through all the clips.

Reflection

Overall, the project fulfilled what was required of it for the larger research project, and turned out to be a considerable success in some areas, as an individual work. I succeeded in writing a narrative that captured the essence of a sitcom and I did a decent job depicting it, too, which is a major win considering the many hindrances. If I could redo or improve this project, I would first improve the level of production and get more people involved, but I would want to put a higher emphasis on the comedy aspect of the short. I think it could be much funnier if the acting and editing were better. Then I would address the weak laugh track and make it better.