Humor
Introduction
In the humor project, students were tasked with researching comedic influences and then creating a piece of humor inspired by the comedians they researched. The project could be anything from a skit to a video, so I decided to go with an animated video. Another important part of this project was to consider the audience that will be viewing the skit, so making jokes that the audience would relate too was crucial. This is why I decided to go with the topic of Freestyle itself, so the audience would already be able to relate to the topic at hand.
Inspirations
Kurtis Connor
The first humorist I will be analyzing is the Youtuber and Comedian Kurtis Conner. Kurtis Connerâs typical style of humor is reactionary content, typically viewing already premade content or subjects and making satirical jokes. Throughout his content, he also uses absurd editing, awkward pauses, and jokes so bad that they become funny (aka, a lot of dad jokes and puns). For my analysis, I chose his âThe “I’m Not Like Most Girls” Phenomenonâ, which is his most popular video to date and showcases his style of humor and content the best. To begin, Conner tends to make a lot of absurd and over-the-top edits in his videos. By this, I mean that he tends to add too much: multiple sound effects will overlap one another, multiple images and PNGs would be flying around on the screen, and of course, be in combination with his own jokes. He also tends to make a lot of puns about the current content he is reviewing, usually appearing to be making them up on the spot. It isnât certain if he makes a script or not before filming, but from the way he presents his jokes, it seems that he does it off the top of his head. This however adds to the humor in his videos as it gives an almost friendly, awkward feeling to his videos. His actual commentary tends to be more liberal, and often includes real-world references such as celebrities or current events to further connect with his audience. Considering that he started on an app called âvineâ, where there were only 7-second videos, it makes sense that his humor consists of mostly small, short jokes that can be understood within the context of the video. Another important aspect of his humor is the editing. He loves to go over the top with his editing, often adding hypothetical absurd skits with edited backgrounds and props that add to the âpoorly madeâ and âawkward feelingâ his videos have, which I find pretty funny. For his tone of voice, he always keeps a very monotone voice and doesnât go over the top with screaming or shouting. He does sometimes laugh at his own jokes, which invited the audience to laugh along with him.
Hyojin Choi
The second humorist that I will be analyzing is another Youtuber that goes by the username âSquizzyâ, but whose name is Hyojin Choi. Their content consists of animated skits, usually commentating and making absurdist jokes about current events. I want to analyze them as an inspiration in order to see what animation techniques they use to convey a funny situation. Squizzy in general finds its humor from commentary on relevant events. They usually involve politics or world catastrophes (such as the fire in Australia in 2020) but involve loud, extreme commentary based on Choiâs actual opinions on the events. Their videos are short and often animated with very extreme and exaggerated proportions, the characters in their videos are usually âwigglingâ. They also tend to shout or scream in their videos, providing humor through loud, sudden sounds. Their animation, along with their sound effects, is loud and absurd. Throughout their animations there are lots of sudden movements and exaggerated movements as well, further falling into the comedy of the video. Their videos also have a âstoryâ of some kind, with a setup to a joke or a punchline happening throughout the video. Since their videos also include skits, they make sure to include other people to voice act characters in their skits so there is variety in the voices. It doesnât necessarily make their videos funnier, but it does make their videos less monotonous and more interesting.
Process
A lot of my process involved drawing many many frames of my character’s expressions and backgrounds. A very important part of my project, in general, had been to nail down the design for myself in the video, as it needed to be simple enough to draw over and over again, yet still be able to express emotions well. Here are the initial sketches that I had for my character:
After getting a character I liked, I moved onto the script of the video. Since I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted for my project, writing the script was straight forward. I made sure to use my inspirations as the bases for my jokes and also tried to include humor techniques that we learned about in class.
The Script
Intro
*Begin Video*
*characterization of me falls from above, splatting flat on the floor (this lasts about a second) while screaming can be heard fading in*
*characterization of me (referred from here on out at âDâ) stands up from the bottom of the screen*
D: HelllooO everyone! Iâm assuming everyone here knows of freestyle and what it entails. From way too many projects to water fountains that spit water 20 feet into the air *D leans in* (in a whisper), this is only a slight exaggeration *D goes back to normal position, speaking clearly) everyone who has gone to Freestyle knows the ups and downs of this lovely creative establishment. However today ladies gents and everyone else, we will be looking at the bad, the dirty, and the disgusting parts of freestyle. So without further ado, I present to you:
*Change to title screen*
*Words appear on screen as D says them, a âboomâ can be heard as they appear on-screen*
D: Top 5 Worst things about Freestyle!
*A gif of crappily edited explosion transitions the scene from a title screen to the next title screen*
Number 5: The Construction
D: Number 5: The Constru- *Loud construction noises interrupt D speaking, causing the screen to shake* I said the constru-(D says this in a slightly louder tone) *Loud construction noises interrupt D again* The Construction! (D shouts over the construction noises).
*Switch to D talking in a corner again*
D: God where to begin with this one. I guess the worst part of it has to definitely be the noise.
*Switch to sketch, showing what D describes*
D: Youâd be sitting in your classroom, definitely not playing Flappy Bird in your Chromebook browser when the calming voice of your teacher is interrupted with the foulest, gut-wrenching, ear-muffling, eye twitching metal screeching you have ever heard.
*Switch to D talking in corner of the screen*
D: Not only is it just annoying, but it makes me lose my streak- I mean to lose my concentration on the very important topic I am paying attention to in class at the moment. (D, in a worried tone and whispering) please donât get mad at me Mr. Greco I swear I do all my work-) *D gets cut off by the next title screen*
Number 4: The Parking Lot
D: Number 4: The Parking Lot *Title screen shows appropriate text on screen*
D: Now I donât drive a car but I can still recall when I’ve almost been hit multiple times so I can still comment on this.
D: The worst part is that there’s probably no parking anywhere at all for whatever reason. There aren’t that many students in Freestyle to begin with, and only like what 4 teachers total, so why is the parking lot always full?
*switch to scene D is describing*
[In the scene, use photos of cars with the words *I canât draw cars* written on them]
D: There have been many times where a friend or (in a mumbled tone) my mom (end mumble) has had to drive me to class and there isnât a single parking space. All right itâs whatever I think and we would drive out onto the street, but the streets are packed too. By the time you find a parking space, park, and walk to campus class has already started and Mr. Flo is giving you a death glare for being late again. Listen Mr. Flo itâs not my fault the parking lot is more packed than a can of sardines, and an elderly woman was crossing the street with her dog on my way over here!
*switch to D talking normally again*
D: And speaking of, this is a great segue- (pan off screen to show a photo of a segway appearing to perk up) no not you (segway looks down as if upset, pan back to D talking in corner) but letâs talk about
*Switch to title screen*
Number 3: Driving to Freestyle
D: Number 3: Driving to Freestyle *text appears on screen as if driving, but really slowly*
*switch to D talking in a corner*
D: Driving to Freestyle? More like driving me up a wall- (D is cut off, there is a âWe will return to our program shortly screenâ)
D: Sorry about that, I didnât mean to let go of my composure. Anywho, god are you Mountain View kids lucky. You guys will never get to experience the joy of
*switch to describe scene D is describing*
D: running out of class as fast as you can, hopping into your parentâs car, hoovering up a sandwich all while your mother is going 10 over the speed limit just to get to freestyle on time. And not to mention the random things that can happen on the road, like detours, elderly ladies walking their dogs, kids on bikes (D leans in and whispers), or as I like to call them, power-ups (D leans back out again, talking as before), more elderly ladies but this time they are exercising, and just stop lights deciding to take a day off and never turn green.
*switch to D talking on screen*
D: phew Jesus christ, (pan to a png of Jesus perking up) no not you (Jesus christ appears sad, pan back to D) I donât know if any of you can relate but please, Freestyle gods *cough flo cough* can we PLEASE get more time for transport? Like even 5 minutes would help, (D starts breaking down into tears) I canât take this anymore god please-
*switch to title screen*
Number 2: The Schedule
D: Number 2: The Schedule (DUN DUN DUN sound effect plays)
*switch to D talking in a corner*
D: Do I even need to talk about this one? Like, Iâm sure everyone knows what Iâm talking about. Iâm certain all of us were feeling an impending sense of doom when we say this thing, I mean just look at it. Enough said moving on.
Number 1: The Bathrooms
*switch to empty title screen*
(drum roll begins playing)
(the words âNumber 1:â starts zooming in to view)
(After the words are fully in view, the drum roll stops, and confetti pops, revealing âThe Bathroomsâ into view)
D: Ah yes, the bad of the bad, the worst of the worst, the Freestyle Bathrooms. Iâm sure every single one of us has been through this before.
*Switch to showing scene D is describing*
D: Youâre chilling in class, talking with friends about Sebastian Stan, when you get the urge to yknow, take a leak (show a thought bubble coming out from character and there is a png of a leek in the thought bubble) so you excuse yourself, grab the keycard, and walk on over to the bathrooms. From here 1 of 3 things will happen.
D: 1. You canât open the door, try every other door a couple of times, try the same door you tried originally again until it magically opens.
2. God smiles upon you that day and opens the door on the first try. (in a whisper) Thank you, Freestyle gods.
3. As you try to open the door a couple of times, the door opens on its own and you meet eye to eye with one of your fellow classmates (illustrate someone sitting in the dark)
Person in the scenario who opened the door: Hey, this isnât the Leek store-
*switch to D talking*
*switch to a credit screen showing bibliography and music/visual credits, which are scrolling up*
Comedic Influences
*D falls onto the screen like at the beginning of the video*
D: god I need to find a better way to do that. Anyways my comedic influences for this video were Kurtis Conner and Hyojin Choi. They aren’t super well-known cause theyâre both literally just YouTubers, but I enjoy their comedy very much and wanted to take inspiration from them. From Connor, I decided to take his over-the-top edits and use of puns while from Choi I decided to get inspired by her animation style.
After recording, I put together my final project in Hitfilm Express along with some other images I found on the internet (to save time and not draw every element).
Final product
Reflection
All in all, I had a lot of fun with this project. I originally wasn’t as motivated to finish it due to all the other work I had to do for other classes, but after seeing my classmate’s projects I really wanted to finish mine. It was a nice learning experience in terms of learning more about editing and scripting. What I take away most from this experience was how enjoyable the experience of doing something I’m passionate about felt, and how rewarding it was to show it to my classmates at the end of the project.