Medium & Genre
I have chosen to make an episode of a TV comedy show inspired by post-modern experimental shows such as Mystery Science Theatre 3000 and Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and also modern variety and sketch shows such as That Mitchell and Webb Look and 10 O'Clock Live.
The term "sitcom" (short for "situational comedy") was not widely used until the 1950s but the term has been applied to TV and radio shows that were made earlier. The BFI's Phil Wickham describes a sitcom as a "comedy arising from a consistent situation". These "consistent" situations range from the mundane ( It is generally agreed that Pinwright's Progress (1946) was the first regular TV sitcom. I Love Lucy and Amos 'n' Andy were among the first sitcoms to use a multiple-camera setup, which reduced the amount of time needed for production by filming scenes from several angles without needing to use multiple takes with the disadvantage of requiring quite bland lighting that would work from every angle. This setup is still used in some modern sitcoms such as The Big Bang Theory and in soap operas but single-camera setups are favoured for most shows due to the freedom they allow in terms of cinematography. The 1970s saw the beginning of some of the best known British sitcoms such as Porridge and John Cleese's Fawlty Towers. |
Multi-camera setup from The Honeymooners.
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Many American sitcoms that are considered classics of the genre began in the 1990s such as Jerry Seinfeld's self-titled "show about nothing", Friends, the Cheers spin-off Fraiser and The Simpsons. It saw the beginning of surreal and experimental shows which used the sitcom format as a framing device such as Mystery Science Theatre 3000 and Space Ghost: Coast to Coast.
In November 2003, the best sitcom ever made (source: me), Arrested Development aired it's first episode which won 58 awards including a Golden Globe and had a huge impact on the sitcom landscape, influencing such shows as Archer, The Thick of It and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
In 2016, BBC One aired their "Sitcom Season" which featured one-off revivals of classic British sitcoms such as Porridge and Are You Being Served as well as performances of "lost" episodes of Hancock's Half Hour and Steptoe and Son.
In November 2003, the best sitcom ever made (source: me), Arrested Development aired it's first episode which won 58 awards including a Golden Globe and had a huge impact on the sitcom landscape, influencing such shows as Archer, The Thick of It and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
In 2016, BBC One aired their "Sitcom Season" which featured one-off revivals of classic British sitcoms such as Porridge and Are You Being Served as well as performances of "lost" episodes of Hancock's Half Hour and Steptoe and Son.
- Allen, Shane. (2016). BBC Landmark Sitcom Season celebrating the craft of comedy writing across all four channels. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/sitcomseason. Last accessed 12th May 2017.
- Atwater, Carleton. (2011). Wrapping Up a History of Sketch Comedy. Available: http://splitsider.com/2011/04/wrapping-up-a-history-of-sketch-comedy/. Last accessed 11th May 2017.
- Bailey, Jason. (2013). 11 Shows That Wouldn’t Exist Without ‘Arrested Development’. Available: http://flavorwire.com/393204/11-shows-that-wouldnt-exist-without-arrested-development/. Last accessed 12th May 2017.
- Dalton, Mary; Linder, Laura (2016). The Sitcom Reader. New York: SUNY Press. p.2.
- Dictionary.com. (c2017). vaudeville. Available: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/vaudeville. Last accessed 11th May 2017.
- Elrick, Ted. (2003). I Love Lucy: Directing the first multi-camera film sitcom before a live audience.. Available: http://www.dga.org/Craft/DGAQ/All-Articles/0307-July-2003/I-Love-Lucy.aspx. Last accessed 11th May 2017.
- Hillis, Aaron. (2009). THE SKETCHY HISTORY OF SKETCH COMEDY MOVIES. Available: http://www.ifc.com/2009/09/sketch-comedy-movies. Last accessed 11th May 2017.
- IMDB. (c2017). Arrested Development. Available: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367279/. Last accessed 12th May 2017.
- Pharis, Chuck. (2003). The DuMont ELECTRONICAM. Available: http://www.pharis-video.com/p4589.htm. Last accessed 12th May 2017.
- Saul, Marc. (2016). PINWRIGHT'S PROGRESS | A TELEVISION HEAVEN REVIEW. Available: http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/pinwrights_progress.htm. Last accessed 11th May 2017.
- Wickham, Phil. (ca. 2003-14). Sitcom: Ever-popular television genre. Available: http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/445368/. Last accessed 11th May 2017.
Example 1:
Mystery Science Theatre 3000
Mystery Science Theatre 3000 (or MST3K) is a show in which a sardonic janitor is trapped aboard a satellite orbiting the Earth by two mad scientists who force him to watch bad B-movies so they can "monitor his mind". In a petty act of defiance he builds two equally jaded robots (which were puppets) to mock the films alongside him.
The show's ridiculous premise is noted in the show's theme tune which tells viewers to "repeat to yourself 'It's just a show. I should really just relax'". Each episode is made up of "host segments" in which the cast would discuss the film or talk to the mad scientists (or "Mads"). The host segments would end with a "movie sign" where the host and robots are alerted to go to the theatre on-board the satellite to watch the films they'd been sent. The films are shown in their entirety with the cast shown in silhouette "riffing" them (making jokes and pop-culture references). MST3K first aired with a shoe-string budget on KTMA, a public access channel in Minneapolis. It was bought by The Comedy Channel (now Comedy Central) when KTMA went bankrupt where it ran for 7 years before being cancelled again and picked up by The Sci-Fi Channel (SyFy) and cancelled once again in 1999. Some the cast of the show then went on to create similar productions. Joel Hodgson (the show's creator and original host) went on to make Cinematic Titanic along with other cast members, which used the same format of the original show without the sci-fi framing story. Mike Nelson (the show's second host after Hodgson left) launched Rifftrax, a site on which Nelson and other MST3K alumni record upload audio commentaries that can be synchronised with more popular and contemporary films (unlike the ones shown on MST3K) such as the Star Wars saga. In 2015 Hodgson made a Kickstarter to bring back the show for an 11th series which made $5,764,229 (almost 3 times its original goal of $2,000,000) making it the most successful Film or Television project on the site. The finished series was put up on Netflix in April 2017 with the title Mystery Science Theatre 3000: The Return. ProductionMystery Science Theatre has, what Hodgson described as, a "miniature golf" aesthetic. The series' budget constraints meant that props and sets were very cheaply made (and it shows).
Hodgson based his puppet co-hosts, Crow and Tom Servo, on the designs of C3P0 and R2-D2 respectively (Servo is red and white due to Hodgson misremembering R2's design). Both puppets are cobbled together from found objects; Crow is made of Tupperware, a plastic bowling pin, a soap dish and a lacrosse mask and Servo's head is a gumball machine. The "host segments" take place on board the Satellite of Love which was a sound stage set with flat, studio lighting. The Satellite of Love has a retro-futuristic look, full of flashing lights and machinery and is made of Styrofoam and cardboard, which was a result of the very low budget available for the production but it also calls back to the terrible sci-fi B-movies featured on the show. The revival, despite having a much larger budget and having access to more realistic visual effects, still uses Styrofoam and cardboard sets. Another defining feature of the programme that was carried over to the 2017 series is its use of miniatures which are used in the series to establish the setting of "Gizmonic Institute" or the Satellite of Love. The movie segments, which take up the vast majority of each episode, consist of the host and bots, shown in silhouette, sitting on a row of cinema seats at the bottom of the screen whilst the film plays. Hodgson took this idea from an illustration for the Elton John record I've Seen That Movie Too. |
The show's first two hosts, Mike Nelson (far left) and Joel Hodgson (centre).
Prop builder Jef Maynard (left) giving a tour of the set in 1992.
A miniature set used in the show's 2017 revival.
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- Hodgson, Joel. (2015). We've got 5 DAYS LEFT, we're 74% FUNDED and Joel answers 3 BIG QUESTIONS about the new episodes. Plus: bonus reward unlocked!. Available: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mst3k/bringbackmst3k/posts/1436818. Last accessed 9th May 2017.
- McGrath, Derek. (2017). THE NEW MST3K IS EXCELLENT. WATCH IT.. Available: https://dereksmcgrath.wordpress.com/2017/04/10/the-new-mst3k-is-excellent-watch-it/. Last accessed 4th May 2017.
- Raftery, Brian. (2014). Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Definitive Oral History of a TV Masterpiece. Available: https://www.wired.com/2014/04/mst3k-oral-history/. Last accessed 4th May 2017.
- Rowsdowr. (2014). Original Drawings that Joel Hodgson Used to Pitch MST3K. Available: https://www.rowsdowr.com/2014/05/01/original-drawings-joel-hodgson-pitch-mst3k/. Last accessed 5th May 2017.
Example 2:
Space Ghost: Coast to Coast
Space Ghost: Coast to Coast (SGC2C) was a surreal animated comedy that treads the line between sitcom and talk-show. It aired on Cartoon Network from 1994-2004. It starred "Space Ghost" (voiced by George Lowe), a fairly obscure animated superhero from the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon of the same name, who takes the role of a late-night talk show host and his former enemies "Moltar" and "Zorak" (both voiced by C. Martin Croker) as his producer and bandleader respectively.
Interviews were pre-recorded and edited, lines were often taken out of context and re-purposed to make the interview seem incredibly awkward and to make the guests come across as slightly insane. Space Ghost: Coast to Coast also subverted other conventions of talk-shows. For example, it's common to have musical guests to play over the credits at the end of a talk show; lo-fi indie rockers Pavement were invited onto the show (who are referred to as "The Beatles" throughout the episode). They played a song in which they shout "Space Ghost!" repeatedly, all whilst Space Ghost conducted an interview inaudibly in the background. ProductionSpace Ghost: Coast to Coast utilised very cheap animation techniques such as re-using canned animations taken from the original Space Ghost series. Over the course of a few episodes you will see the titular character go through certain actions multiple times as animations are re-used.
Space Ghost hosts from his studio on "Ghost Planet". The set appears to be a combination of miniatures and 2D animation with Space Ghost superimposed on top. |
Pavement's guest appearance.
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- Adams, Erik; Barsanti, Sam; Hughes, William; McLevy, Alex; Wanserski, Nick. (2016). Where to start with the late-night absurdity of Space Ghost Coast To Ghost. Available: http://www.avclub.com/article/where-start-late-night-absurdity-space-ghost-coast-243073. Last accessed 4th May 2017.
- Collins, Sean T. (2015). The Phantom Fame: ‘Space Ghost Coast to Coast,’ Secretly TV’s Most Influential Show. Available: http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/the-phantom-fame-space-ghost-coast-to-coast-secretly-tvs-most-influential-show/. Last accessed 11th May 2017.
- Jensen, Thor. (2014). Transmissions From the Ghost Planet: A definitive history of Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Available: http://www.blastr.com/2014-6-19/transmissions-ghost-planet-definitive-history-space-ghost-coast-coast. Last accessed 4th May 2017.
- Marlborough, Patrick. (2016). Remembering C. Martin Croker, the Weird Genius Behind 'Space Ghost: Coast to Coast'. Available: https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/space-ghost-coast-to-coast-the-forgotten-cartoon-that-inspired-basically-every-other-show-you-love. Last accessed 4th May 2017.
Artist:
C. Martin Croker
Clay Martin Croker was an animator and voice actor. He was the lead animator on SG:C2C and an animator of its spin-offs: Cartoon Planet, The Brak Show and Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
He often used quite cheap methods of animation (i.e. re-using frames) due to projects he worked on having very low budgets.
Many of the shows he worked on were very influential to modern comedy shows.
He often used quite cheap methods of animation (i.e. re-using frames) due to projects he worked on having very low budgets.
Many of the shows he worked on were very influential to modern comedy shows.
- Schorr, Evan. (2016). C. Martin Croker tells the beginnings of Adult Swim. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAwiaw3NWXU. Last accessed 9th May 2017.
Target Audience
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From the survey I have learnt that there is an audience for my production because 86% said they would watch it.
Drama was the most popular film genre amongst the participants so I will choose a film from this genre for my production.
I will use an older, public domain film because 85% said they at least sometimes watch films made before the 1970s and around half of those who don't said they would if it was given a contemporary commentary.
Drama was the most popular film genre amongst the participants so I will choose a film from this genre for my production.
I will use an older, public domain film because 85% said they at least sometimes watch films made before the 1970s and around half of those who don't said they would if it was given a contemporary commentary.
I will try to make my commentary both funny and informative because the majority of respondents said they would prefer a combination of the two.
81% of the respondents said they would prefer the narrator to not be seen on screen but I will probably disregard this when it comes to the production because I want to show that I have made some kind of modification to the film rather than submitting a pre-existing film as my own work. In the last question of my survey I asked the respondents to choose which of four frames from different pieces of media they prefer in terms of colour, lighting and style. The majority preferred the still from Amélie (36%); second place was one from The Grand Budapest Hotel (32%) and third Twin Peaks (25%). MST3K got the least with only 7%. I regret my choices for the pictures because they are quite recognisable from their respective films or shows and this may have influenced people’s choices (i.e. people may have chosen the frame from Amelie because it is a popular film they enjoyed or recognised rather than because they like the “colour, lighting and style”.) |
The four frames I used in my survey.
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Platforms
YouTube
As well as hosting independently produced content, YouTube has produced some of it's own high-production-value shows under the "YouTube Red" banner.
Incognito Cinema Warriors XP is a show that was originally sold online in DVD-format but was released on YouTube for free when stocks sold out. ICWXP takes a lot of inspiration from Mystery Science Theatre 3000, using the same format of commentating over old B-movies.
The show has received a relatively small amount of views for a show of its production quality so it's unlikely that it makes a profit from YouTube alone; a comment from the production company, Agonywolf Media, states "Sadly, if we don't start getting a LOT more views it doesn't look good for more."
There are other disadvantages. Ina recent survey conducted by Business Insider, YouTube ranked the lowest for sites that respondents "feel the safest participating in or posting on". YouTube is often criticised for its "toxic" comment section in which controversial (and often offensive) comments are shown first by virtue of YouTube's algorithms favouring comments which get the most replies.
Incognito Cinema Warriors XP is a show that was originally sold online in DVD-format but was released on YouTube for free when stocks sold out. ICWXP takes a lot of inspiration from Mystery Science Theatre 3000, using the same format of commentating over old B-movies.
The show has received a relatively small amount of views for a show of its production quality so it's unlikely that it makes a profit from YouTube alone; a comment from the production company, Agonywolf Media, states "Sadly, if we don't start getting a LOT more views it doesn't look good for more."
There are other disadvantages. Ina recent survey conducted by Business Insider, YouTube ranked the lowest for sites that respondents "feel the safest participating in or posting on". YouTube is often criticised for its "toxic" comment section in which controversial (and often offensive) comments are shown first by virtue of YouTube's algorithms favouring comments which get the most replies.
Other VOD (video-on-demand) services
There are plenty of online VOD services that offer TV show-length content either for purchase or included with a subscription.
Some free-view TV channels offer their own VOD services such as BBC iPlayer, All4 and ITV Hub on which they host programmes shown on their respective channels as well as exclusive content (as in the case of BBC Three since it became online-only) often for free, provided the user has a TV license.
Two of the best known premium subscription-based VOD services are Netflix and Amazon's Prime Instant Video. Both license Film and TV from other companies (BBC, ITV, HBO, etc.) as well as producing their own content.
Some VOD sites offer more specifically curated content, for example Crunchyroll offers anime, the US-only service SeeSo offers comedy and MUBI provides a small selection of critically acclaimed films to its subscribers every month.
Some free-view TV channels offer their own VOD services such as BBC iPlayer, All4 and ITV Hub on which they host programmes shown on their respective channels as well as exclusive content (as in the case of BBC Three since it became online-only) often for free, provided the user has a TV license.
Two of the best known premium subscription-based VOD services are Netflix and Amazon's Prime Instant Video. Both license Film and TV from other companies (BBC, ITV, HBO, etc.) as well as producing their own content.
Some VOD sites offer more specifically curated content, for example Crunchyroll offers anime, the US-only service SeeSo offers comedy and MUBI provides a small selection of critically acclaimed films to its subscribers every month.
Agonywolf Media. (2014). Incognito Cinema Warriors XP | Ep. 201 - Victory Gardens. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTStoL-BBjU. Last accessed 18th May 2017.
Cox, Jamieson. (2016). YouTube Red's first batch of original content is premiering on February 10th. Available: https://www.theverge.com/2016/2/3/10905654/youtube-red-originals-premiere-date-scare-pewdiepie. Last accessed 18th May 2017.
Gallagher, Kevin. (2017). People don't trust YouTube, but they can't look away. Available: http://uk.businessinsider.com/people-dont-trust-youtube-but-they-cant-look-away-2017-4?r=US&IR=T. Last accessed 18th May 2017.
Tait, Amelia. (2016). Why are YouTube comments the worst on the internet?. Available: http://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/internet/2016/10/why-are-youtube-comments-worst-internet. Last accessed 18th May 2017.
Cox, Jamieson. (2016). YouTube Red's first batch of original content is premiering on February 10th. Available: https://www.theverge.com/2016/2/3/10905654/youtube-red-originals-premiere-date-scare-pewdiepie. Last accessed 18th May 2017.
Gallagher, Kevin. (2017). People don't trust YouTube, but they can't look away. Available: http://uk.businessinsider.com/people-dont-trust-youtube-but-they-cant-look-away-2017-4?r=US&IR=T. Last accessed 18th May 2017.
Tait, Amelia. (2016). Why are YouTube comments the worst on the internet?. Available: http://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/internet/2016/10/why-are-youtube-comments-worst-internet. Last accessed 18th May 2017.
Contingency plan
- If any crew are unavailable I will fill in for them myself or not use the scenes in my final production.
- If there is a problem with my footage I can re-film it because I have plenty of time in my schedule.
- I will make back-ups of all my files.
Legal and Ethical issues
I plan on using the British ephemeral film What A Life (which I downloaded from the National Archives) but I was unsure what the legality of using it in full would be.
As far as I can tell, using the information from a document on "Copyright and related rights" published by the National Archives, the film has fallen out of copyright. Because the film was created before 1 June 1957 under the direction of the Crown, it was under Crown copyright (which has a shorter duration than normal copyright). It was first published in 1949 and according to this document "Films made before 1 June 1957 were not protected as films but as sequences of photographs." The flowchart in section 12 serves to explain when Crown copyright expires. According to this, the copyright on photographs created before 1 June 1957 expires 50 years after its creation -- which in this case would be 1999 meaning it is now in the public domain. The National Archive states that documents posted on their site are published under the "Open Government License" unless stated otherwise which would mean that the film could be used under this license if it's still in copyright. I intend to put a message stating that I have used the film under this license in case I am wrong about the film being in the public domain. The Open Government License allows me to "exploit the Information commercially and non-commercially for example, by combining it with other Information, or by including it in your own product or application." |
National Archives. (2013). "Copyright and related rights" | |
File Size: | 720 kb |
File Type: |
National Archives. (c.a. 2010-2017). Open Government License. Available https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/