Making Death Funny

Semiazas

Semiazas

I'm really curious as to how to make instances of violence and death darkly comic. I have an idea for a black comedy that will involve a large amount of violence and I'm wondering if anyone has tips on making it funny.
 
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You just reminded me of another scene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5YHNTDEtG4

i think it works best when the scenes before it are done really realistically and then you kind of work up to the violence and then when it climaxes and shocks the audience you make them laugh even though they really shouldnt because of the severity of what happened, thats what Nolan sought to do with the joker in TDK as well
 
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Take a look at Spike Tv's '1000 ways to Die', series. You'll find stuff so bizarre and stupid, it's funny. Also, death/killings in cartoons, even though caricatures, can provoke some parallel live action examples.
 
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Check out "Weekend at Bernie's"

Treat the scene you're writing deadpan, and make the situation have at LEAST one element of the surreal or total incongruity. That is to say, something about it is so outrageous that a normal person couldn't possibly treat it as normal, yet everyone in the scene does.
 
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Semiazas said:
I guess I may have phrased it wrong. Umm.... just, way of doing the death scenes in a way that could get laughs, or lines during or after the killings that make them funny.
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No, you did not phrase the question wrong. Kgasser has, uhhh, a slightly different worldview than perhaps you or I, and he's just messing with you.

As for your question, dude, I don't think comedy has a formula. I think you just have to write whatever makes you laugh, and hope that other people think it's funny, too.

Adeimantus did mention a good idea, however, in that it might help to watch some other movies that deal with death in a humurous manner, and use them for inpiration. Man, that's gonna be a really long list. Just a few off the top of my head --

"Little Miss Sunshine" (inspired by "Vacation")
"Beetlejuice"
"Pulp Fiction"
 
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This really depends on what you want to be funny.

The Idea of Death As in films like Little Miss Sunshine, Death at a Funeral, Burn After Reading...etc.

The Act of Killing As in films like Kick-Ass, Shoot 'Em Up, Man Bites Dog...etc.

I would refer you back to IndieBudget's earlier Mel Brooks quote: 'Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die.' Good quote IB.
 
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