Black Comedy
Black comedies tend to have a negative atmosphere with the comedy coming from the negative situations that arise to the characters in the film. They are usually dark natured and involve controversial themes, such as death or situations such as pain. Irony often plays a key role in genre. It is also a very immersive genre, keeping the audience on the edge of their seat due to slight confusion and anticipation of what is to happen.
Black comedies often take a humorous approach to dark or controversial subject matter using a sarcastic tone and sometimes the humour can come from completely normal straightforward characters put in controversial circumstances, or the characters may be morally or ethically questionable, especially to audience, causing the situation they are within to be treated differently by the audience. Black comedies present dark subject matter in a comedic, sometimes satirical way.
Our two minute opening sequence includes black comedy, as our protagonist leaves the room she does a dark, twisted, evil smile, despite the situation, in which someone has just overdosed and in severe conditions. It is a dark situation, but the protagonist is happy about it. The whole film would also be a black comedy, as the protagonist who overdoses her best friend then triggers a chain of revenge. After a downward spiral, people realise they're wrong, but it is too late and the police capture many of them.
As previously mentioned, much of our influence has come from the teen drama Heathers, also a black comedy. In Heathers every scene is darkly comedic and filled with irony. The film deals with teen suicide in a comical way; shocking, funny, and very very unconventional. The film also deals with teen pressure and comes up with some dark character stereotypes. This has influenced our film, because Heathers explores the serious events within a group of high school teenagers lifes, and our film is targeting a similar age group and aiming to explore the lifes of young adults, and their relationships between eachother, trying to hurt and gain revenge at eachother in a comical way, in order for the audience to laugh and enjoy the film but also perhaps add a layer of discomfort as they laugh, because they feel like they shouldn't be - part of the thrill factor of watching dark comedy. Other black comedies include films such as Pulp Fiction in which Uma Thurman plays Mia Wallace, who overdoses on heroin, after thinking it to be cocaine and is found by Vince foaming at the mouth, and lying on the floor sweating and completely out of it.
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