Taking inspiration from vaudeville, film crews worked with comedic talent to devise production techniques that made audiences laugh through visual stories. These tactics have continued to evolve and can still be seen in today’s films, as comedy remains a popular genre among audiences and profitable for studios. No matter the decade, comedic films use similar ‘tricks of the trade,’ going beyond the classic setup-punch line approach within comedy. In this presentation, the researcher will discuss and categorize multiple production techniques used within comedic films such as The Reveal, Implications Off Camera, The Visual Rule of Three, Gilligan Cuts, and Ironic Echo Cuts. The goal of these comedic film production techniques is to not only create laughter, but to also assist telling a story without audiences detecting the production effort, methods, and equipment used while doing so. This presentation will include film production terminology and tactics to discuss how the comedy on screen has been crafted, using examples of films spanning the industry’s history. Investigation of such tactics can add a greater understanding to comedy and humor studies within film, providing categorizations and standard terminology.
About the presenterMatthew T McKeague
Dr. Matthew McKeague teaches media and communication courses as an Assistant Professor at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania. Taking some time off for professional development, he worked as a full-time comedy writer and video editor in Los Angeles. In the past, he has been a film and video game reviewer, partnered YouTube content creator, and production assistant. His research interests include comedy, video games, and user-generated content.