Creating Better Web Videos: Comedy Acting

These days it seems like everyone is making web videos. People from all walks of life are uploading a huge variety of Internet videos. A lot of home made-videos feature someone speaking in front of the camera, partly to express personal thoughts and partly for entertainment reasons. Others make videos in more creative ways. This article is written with these home video-makers in mind.

YouTube is the most popular web site people upload their videos to, but other sites are popping up everywhere. For video makers, the idea of these sites is to build an audience. The marketing process is very similar to social networks, interaction. Members exchange subscriptions, views and comments with other users. Being a member of sites like these, I am often called upon to rate and make a comment on a video. You don't really have to, but it is often appreciated and enhances interaction (subscriptions and views).

There are several ways to makes comments on these sites. Someone may respond with text, audio or video clips. Most are written in short text comments. Criticism is usually positive but occasionally it can be adolescently negative. Quite often you will see a 'lol' 'funny' or a short comment.

I rarely offer any actual critique. As a former instructor I look for the positive. I understand that what you are really critiquing is the artistic expression of an individual. Critique can sometimes be discouraging for an artist, especially a young artist. For this reason I may only write, 'great job' or 'nice edit work'. I focus more on the overall project, not talent skills.

For this reason I have chosen to write my comments and critiques in these next few articles. Mistakes are common when starting out, and can be easily corrected. Here I can offer constructive criticism on videos without having to point them out in a public comment. So you can correct them in private and egos are not bruised. This article centers on the actor. The person facing the camera in your home made video.

There are three genres new video makers gravitate to: Science Fiction, Horror and Comedy. Of these genres most people make comedy videos. So let's focus here.

Here is the reality. Comedy is hard to pull off improvising in front of a camera. Comedy requires more skill from the actor than drama or horror. It also requires timing and rehearsal. If you don't believe me watch an old Warner Bros cartoon or Marx Brothers film. They were masters of comedy timing and leading up to a punch line. These same techniques are used today. They work many hours planning every detail of comedy gags. Even a great improviser uses an outline to tell a story. This is the way it is done to get the best results, which is the point.

Now I'm not saying to stop making comedy videos. I'm only saying it takes some effort and planning to pull one off successfully. Let's say you have the funniest punch line or visual gag in the world. What you want to do is build your joke up to that climatic point. How? However you do it, it has to have timing. Do you have a friend that for the life of him can't tell a joke? Timing is part of the reason why. If it takes too long to set it up, an audience gets bored. They might even select another video and miss your gag all together.

So how do you keep your audiences' attention until the end? My advice is to write a script. If that's too hard then write down a basic outline. Please! The problem with improvising is that you are thinking on your feet and trying to be funny at the same time. The reality is that only a few people are talented enough to pull it off.

If you're buddies with Jim Carrey or Chris Rock, you have no problem. If not, then most video-makers rely on a friend's acting skills or camera work. Some even do it all themselves. But unless you're Robin Williams, consider keeping improvisation to a minimum. Rehearsing tightens up each scene too! If the scene is planned out, even without a script, you will have time to concentrate on being funny. Trust me. Don't lose focus on the bigger objective. You are trying to capture the best useable video footage you can. This is important later on in editing. A lot of video space (time) is wasted when people improvise.

Another way to achieve timing is by breaking down long scenes into smaller ones. Use more cutaway shots. This way you only have to rehearse short segments. In film they use what is known as a 'master shot'. This is a scene, usually a 'long shot', recorded from beginning to end. Then they record closer cutaway shots of any interaction between the actors.

The advantage is that cutaway shots help to visually hold an audiences' attention and tell a story. Remember that by doing this it will give you more to do. You have to write and plan some kind of a script. It adds more scenes to shoot and edit. Man what a hassle! But just a simple outline and rehearsal (even improvised ones) before shooting will be worth the effort. I promise. You want more people to watch subscribe and rate your videos, don't you?

One final note on acting, most people can do comedy. With some it comes naturally. With others it takes time and work. You have to determine your personal limitations. This may take some soul searching. If you are naturally funny you have no problem. If not, you need to work around what you can do well. Are you a physical comedian? Maybe you're a comedian that uses words. You might like to create your comedy in other ways. Find your special talent and style. You might even realize your talents are not in front of the camera but more of a writer/director. That's okay too.

Comedy can be expressed in many ways. However way you create your brand of comedy, your success at it will rely heavily on timing. The more you use this simple technique in your videos you will receive more positive comments, and hopefully more subscribers.