As a group, Tsunamarama had a basic plan: to examine the conventions of television comedy, and adapt a single piece of prose into three individual screenplays to suit different comedy genres. To begin, we had selected the scenario of a ‘bad date,’ which, as time went on, and the deadline for the assignment grew nearer and nearer, proved to be an unexciting and uninteresting scenario. We had each intended to write an individual piece of prose, which could then be adapted into three scripts, which would be written to suit either mockumentary, multi-cam comedy or ‘stoner’ comedy respectively.
After a general lack of any progress whatsoever, Tsunamarama realised the irony of their own situation, and decided to create an overtly meta comedy piece based around the concept of group projects at university. This saw the birth of ‘The Group Project Project,’ an assignment focussing on semi-fictional versions of ourselves as we went about completing our group project. Of course, this idea sprung to mind after several static group meetings where conversation lingered to topics far away from the purpose of the project, leading some members to exclaim that, ‘This should be the project!’
Drawing influence from various mockumentary series, and multi-cam comedies, as well as the quirky and unique stylistic conventions of ‘That ‘70s Show,’ Tsunamarama got to work immediately on scripts which followed the group from the early points of their assignment, to a (un)productive group meeting, to the final class presentation.
In doing so, we were able to experiment with several filmic techniques, including fly-on-the-wall mockumentary style shooting, the use of green screen in post-production and a 360 degree ‘circle-shot’ modelled after the same shot seen in ‘That ‘70s Show.’ The convenience of using ourselves as actors also suited the limitations the project held. Limited time meant shooting during class was our best option, which meant having the university as a setting was our only choice.
Throughout the assessment, we realised how important cinematography can be when performing comedy. Particular techniques were only funny due to certain constraints or shoot-styles. Tsunamarama worked tirelessly to produce what George Costanza might describe as a ‘group project about nothing,’ and also discovered the importance of scripting and preparation in comedy.
Ultimately, our final piece differed slightly to what our original proposal was. Despite this, I feel our completed product is superior to our proposed product, and allowed for stronger collaboration, investigation and comedic value.