- Be stuck in a lift with
- Enlist in the army
- Give you bad news
- Sit next to on public transport
- Have as a roomate
- Join a gym
- Work as a receptionist
- Start driving
- Be a firefighter
- Be a secret agent
The Character: A Granny
- Granny could use the lighter that is in the car to brand the person next to her after she runs someone over.
- The suspension of the car would bump the car up when she runs someone over. Audience might not know until the end why she is branding someone.
- The person next to her could be a different person for eatch skit or their could be no person at all. There could be an instructor first to teach her how to drive but maybe he gives the granny her driving license because she scares him into giving it to him.
- She picks up a hitchhiker.
- Grannys attitude and appearance could change thoughout the skit, maybe she puts on a pair of sunglasses to feel "badass".
- She does a drive by past an old folks home and picks up an elderly person, who are in the back of the car for the next skit. Possibly bopping along to tunes on the radio.
- She takes a puff on a cigarette and then a puff of an oxygem tank.
- Granny starts knitting.
- After the driving instructor gives her the license. It could hang from the rear view mirror so that the audience knows that she now has the driving license and doesn't need the instructor.
- Maybe she starts drinking tea and eating custard cream biscuits. (So British)
- Grannys false teeth fall out.
- She could use her walking stick as a weapon.
- Something gets stuck in the car window cleaner.
- The car and interior environment could change overtime: parking tickets could be all over window, crack could appear in window, dents in car, junk inside the car, things could hang from the rear view mirror in the centre of the windshield.
- The environment outside the car could change: day/night/rain/snow/sun ect. Different areas with different terrains.
Hi Graeme
ReplyDeleteMy gut reaction to your post is that things are 'a little all over the place / random" and in desperate need of a central focus / focal point. That's not to say that there is not good ideas in your post but there a few too many things going on. Below, I've included a link to Nat's film. The 'secret' to Nat's film is understanding the relationship between her two characters - she knows them very well. In fact we all know them. In acting, it is called a relationship of 'status'. Think 'Laurel and Hardy' - One is large and one is small, one gets angry the other cries a lot, one is smart the other is stupid, and so on. In Nat's animation there is an added dimension - it is 'normal' and very very dull England. It's a Mother and Son who are stuck together...in an endless cycle. In the example I gave you (Maureen from driving school) all of the painful hilarity comes from the 'pressure pot' of a determined but 'shouty / quick to anger' instructor having to tolerate the aggressive / blunt /not so bright student. There dynamic goes...
Instructor: Please turn right
Maureen: I know
Instructor: PLEASE TURN RIGHT (as they start to pass the junction)
Maureen: I KNOW, I KNOW
Instructor: GO RIGHT!
Maureen: OH SHUT UP!...as she turns left.
All of the comedy comes from the INTERNAL personalities of the people and their dynamic (status relationship). In your list all of your skits are 'external' things that could relate to anyone. If you figure out your characters (personalities) and their dynamic you can find more specific comedy that is born out of them. So what you shouldn't do is say "may be she runs someone over". That could relate to anyone.
If you're unable to access the comedy for a learner driver setup, you might want to switch to different personalities per skit...that's one character per skit. - old lady, blind person, etc with a title card explaining who they are for each skit and with the comedy coming from the staging and simple things they do on screen. For example,
1) Title card: Blind Person
2) Cut to the front of a car. We see the person driving looking left out of the window despite still turning the wheel as if driving.
3) BUMP! Now we have a pedestrian clinging onto the bonnet of the car.
4) We cut back to this skit twice more during the animated short, each time the 'pile' of pedestrians clinging onto the car has grown.
I hope all of this makes sense. If not ask more questions here.
Nat's animation...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8Z-zLjjXUU&app=desktop
Maureen Driving School (watch the whole episode / look out for 4.30mins (approx) when she changes lanes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UediCv6Fe8
Hi Alan thanks so much for the info its really helping to make it more clear, I know these ideas are all over the shop, we struggled with coming up with a solid direction to go in from either a more stereotypical English Granny to a more outlandish one.
ReplyDeleteI did watch Nat's animation and Maureen's driving school and they are hilarious! and you're right, it's all down to the characters personalities and how they interact and counteract each other. One thing we were kind of worried about is lip syncing, if the jokes stem from the internal personalities of the characters would that not require a lot of back and forth talking/bickering like in Maureen's Driving School?, although Nat manages to pull of the characters personalities without a single word spoken.
My advice in terms of dialogue is to look at Nats work. She is using a 'Show not tell' method of storytelling. Her comedy is in the staging, behaviour, poses, and looks people give each other...not in the dialogue. However with that said, if you keep the dialogue to the point and simple we can do that too...like the example I gave you. In both cases you will need to get something ready for Monday for Dan's class so have a think but make it quick. It might be an idea to put something together and come and see me before the class...even if it's the example I gave you.
ReplyDelete