Dear Members, I am so lost in my own unrealistic dreams. The thing is, I am trying to make a short comedy video, but I don't know how to start. I am so frustrated. I know my audience, but when I try to write something, I feel it will turn out to be stupid. How can I write a comedy video when I personally feel I am not funny. How can I be funny in papers, and be a successful writer that delivers themes (moral lesson) in a comedy video. How can I overcome my fears of being judged and criticized by others? This is the worst thing to me. All I am looking for is a 3 to 4 minutes video . I want to write something funny for all ages, whether a kid or an adult watch it, it must make them smile. Please help me, I hate writing, but I need it master it.
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How to write a short comedy video?
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What you are essentially asking is 'how do I become a great writer?'. If only there was a magic formula. The only thing that you or any of the rest of us can do when we want to be good at something, is do it. Write everyday, watch comedies, read comedy screenplays, and did I mention write everyday?
Now, deeper down it seems like your problem is that you don't have an idea. You've got a target audience that I think is very challenging to write for. It's incredibly difficult to appeal to both kids and adults and everything in between. I think you should narrow down your audience first and foremost. Who can you relate to best?
You, who you are, needs to be a part of every story you write. If you aren't, the audience will know it. It will be contrived, unrealistic, boring, and worst of all predictable. Since you are new, maybe make the main character you. Then it will be easy for you to imagine situations that could be comical if you were in them. You can always ask yourself how you would react to a funny situation and make your character do it. Maybe it won't be funny at all, but you have to get started somewhere. All story really is is interesting characters in interesting situations. Surely you can be an interesting character.
So stop worrying about messages and themes and moral lessons. Worry about character. Who knows, maybe you will discover your real potential as a writer along the way. You could be right, maybe you aren't funny. Maybe you are an excellent action writer. CLICHE ALERT: If you don't try you'll never know.
Also remember that anyone who has ever tried anything has failed. Including the people that may judge you.
-Robert
Now, deeper down it seems like your problem is that you don't have an idea. You've got a target audience that I think is very challenging to write for. It's incredibly difficult to appeal to both kids and adults and everything in between. I think you should narrow down your audience first and foremost. Who can you relate to best?
You, who you are, needs to be a part of every story you write. If you aren't, the audience will know it. It will be contrived, unrealistic, boring, and worst of all predictable. Since you are new, maybe make the main character you. Then it will be easy for you to imagine situations that could be comical if you were in them. You can always ask yourself how you would react to a funny situation and make your character do it. Maybe it won't be funny at all, but you have to get started somewhere. All story really is is interesting characters in interesting situations. Surely you can be an interesting character.
So stop worrying about messages and themes and moral lessons. Worry about character. Who knows, maybe you will discover your real potential as a writer along the way. You could be right, maybe you aren't funny. Maybe you are an excellent action writer. CLICHE ALERT: If you don't try you'll never know.
Also remember that anyone who has ever tried anything has failed. Including the people that may judge you.
-Robert
I'm not sure this is possible. I think I might be misunderstanding the question, though. Could you restate it in just one sentence?
There are many filmmakers who can't write. That's why they hire writers. You don't need to master it. Just partner with someone who likes to write. Although I can't think of a single successful filmmaker who doesn't know how to tell a story. Draw it in pictures if you need to. Humans have told stories for thousands of years by just drawing pictures.
Getting over fear of criticism first requires getting over your fear of failure. We all fail. It's a fact of life. But you must crawl before you can walk, and walk before you can run. Best to try and fail than not try at all. How many times did you fall down before you could walk? How many times did you trip over your shoelaces? Think of it that way.
Now being funny, not sure you can learn "funny". You either have it or you don't. But funny is more in the delivery than the words. Give the exact same line to Robin Williams and to Hugh Grant. Can you predict the outcome? Then there's comedic timing and comedic circumstances (Christina Applegate squatting against a man's urinal comes to mind, and she's a master of comedic timing). Watch sitcoms with a DVR to learn comedic timing. Rewind them and break down the sequence of events that made you laugh (or not). Family Guy always makes me laugh because it invariably leaps to the absurd. It's so ridiculous, it's funny. I mean, Rush Limbaugh jumping out of the shadows and kicking the crap out of a bunch of thugs just to get a devout liberal to read his book? Now that's freakin' hilarious.