Introduction
The Humor Project differed from almost any other Freestyle English assignments because of the freedom and independence we were given to work on it. After learning about a variety of comedic styles and techniques, we had to create an original work that reflected what we had learned.
We started this unit by reading Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. This book dealt with an unusual type of humor that I hadn’t had much experience with before: black humor. Black humor is a genre of comedy that deals with typically “taboo” topics such as hopelessness, suffering, or death. Slaughterhouse Five is an anti-war novel, and uses the black humor technique along with absurd humor to promote its message.
After we read and analyzed this book, we moved on to the next stage of the project: the actual humor production. I knew that I wanted to make some kind of video, but I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted it to be about. I chose to work with Kali Micetich, and after some brainstorming, we decided that we wanted to make a parody of a Bob Ross painting tutorial video.
Humorist Analysis/Proposal
Before we could get started on our project, we needed to write and submit a proposal detailing our plans. Additionally, we had to research and analyze humorists that used strategies that were similar to what we wanted to include in our own project.
Script
Through a lot more brainstorming and editing, Kali and I wrote a rough draft of our script. After we’d finished our first draft, however, we realized that what we’d written was way too long. We pared down the script so that it was much shorter and would work better in video form.
Humor Video
Process
