I am fortunate to be developing two animated comedies for TV (keep your fingers crossed), along with creating goofy characters in humorous situations for the alternative humor card team at American Greetings. So I am on a constant prowl to find good nuggets that will inspire my sense of humor. Without sucking the joy, spontaneity and gut feeling out of my own sense of humor, it's also a way of understanding and making a science out of what and why certain things make people laugh. A while back I asked the question: what makes a cartoon funny? A bunch of you pointed out bits of animation and the reasons why you thought they were funny. To follow up that post, I found this podcast from the web site Speaking of Animation. And just like the web site points out, Ken Fountain, Ben Rush, David Weatherly, and Steven P Gordon give their insight on what it's like to animate comedic shots and why something might be funny.
The thing that struck me most in listening to this is the idea of being funny without looking like you are trying to be funny. The choreographed "funny," and, wait for those punch line drums... followed by polite laughter, often falls flat. The best comedy is spontaneous and unexpected.
Anyway, this interview of the guys from Dreamworks is informative and funny. For the quick podcast link, click here. Check it out and enjoy!
2 comments:
Hey Jeff
Things are great on my end. your stuff on your blog looks great. work stuff seems fun.
I like what you have been writing about what makes animation funny. really insightful.
hope you are doing well!
I need freelance. any care bears books or greeting card stuff?
thanks
Dan
There are days where I miss the LA scene and peeps, but I have to say my gig here in Ohio is a lot of fun, and I'm working on some really cool projects. Let's hope they take off. I also especially enjoy coming up with new characters for these greeting cards every day. All else is well too.
I will ask the pocket books and powers that be here about freelance and let you know.
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