Things on hold here while I work on a new online home for my links, videos, pictures and stuff.
Seems we’re all in a state of transition online:
How comfortable are we separating the ‘corporate image’ from our personal side?
Either way, sorting out a URL is probably more pressing.
In the meantime, take a look at these online presences which outshine this at the moment…
Turns out…
Alastair Clarke, a British evolutionary theorist, identified eight patterns which all jokes could fit into no matter where you come from in the world.
More from the Telegraph… the patterns include:
“positive repetition” such as Little Britain’s “Only gay in the village” catchphrase
“scale” like the oversized features on caricatures in Spitting Image.
“qualification” where a familiar word is said in an unfamiliar way. An example of this is Inspector Clouseau’s accent in the Pink Panther films.
“Qualitative recontextualisation” is described as when something you know well is changed. An example of this is when you laugh at someone’s new haircut.
“Application” is words having a double meaning.
“completion” where the audience has to guess at, imagine or complete a phrase or scenario,
“division” where a joke is broken up and told by different people
“opposition” which covers irony and sarcasm.
MORE SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION HERE:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080612150144.htm
As a follow up to “what writing with a standup actually looks like” – this is how “working on a sketch series pilot” looks.
Started this blog:- http://www.storygas.com
Here’s more:-
In 2008, I was a writer on Season 2 of the Online Drama KateModern: storylining 157 and scripting 74 webisodes in six months. The series gained 66 million video hits – and a community response so seemingly disproportionate to the short daily episodes we were delivering.
Something else was going on, and I was getting first hand experience (guided by the path blazed by Miles Greg and Amanda – The lonelygirl15 Creators) – a transaction with the audience which is vastly different from the one we’re used to in TV, Radio and Film production.
The series was being produced while the audience was able to comment, contact, contribute to and discuss – and feedback from that community was incorporated back into the series. Which, in turn, strengthened and grew the community around it.
Since the show came to an end in June this year, I have given talks on what it was like working on KateModern, and “Writing Online Narrative” more generally – and found myself referencing the same shows, links and sites. It seemed crazy not to have a place where I could ‘bank’ those, and update them with more news and links as I stumble upon them myself.
Welcome to StoryGas!
The posts here are biased towards…
- Online narrative
(rather than factual or entertainment series,
such as “Black Cab Sessions“
StSanders’ surreal genius Shreds,
or BBC News’ “The Box“)
- Live action
(rather than animations like Salad Fingers
or Charlie The Unicorn)
- ‘Open’ shows
(produced and uploaded while the audience are (or were) able to contribute, rather than ‘closed’ series which are completely produced, done and dusted, before uploading).
This is probably the biggest difference between “Online Narrative” and say, a TV show on, say, BBC iplayer. The definitions of ‘ongoing’ are still bedding down – a ‘closed’ one-off show such as Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog could be seen as part of the ongoing community around Joss Whedon’s content, or the completed series of The Guild as part of a larger building of a community around that show…
So this is the blog. In the meantime I’m working on 3 commissioned online shows, and hope to share gossip from them with you here as they progress.
Feel free to say HI by clicking on anywhere marked “Comments” — there are already others out there writing and producing online shows… with exactly the same questions as you — we can help each other out with the answers!
Or email direct – storygas at gmail dot com
HEDZ – the CBBC/BBC Scotland sketch show has been nominated for three BAFTA Awards
- Best Entertainment, Childrens’,
- Best TV Show, Kids Vote,
- and best Childrens’ Programme, Scotland (a Scottish BAFTA!).
Simon Cowell says:
“AND I SHALL BE THE JUDGE!”
http://www.bafta.org/awards/childrens/nominations-childrens-awards-in-2008,593,BA.html
Four star reviews from The Scotsman, The Times, and this is London, for John Gordillo: Divide & Conga, the Edinburgh Fringe 2008 Comedy show written with… John Gordillo.
The Scotsman
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/comedy?articleid=4388455
this is London, sorry, thisislondon
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/comedy/show-23398077-details/John+Gordillo:+Divide+And+Conga/showReview.do?reviewId=23531753
Here’s The Times review in vision(!)
And THE GUARDIAN tiping the show for a surprise nomination…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2008/aug/14/edinburgh.inthenews
UPDATE:
Guardian Review
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2008/aug/16/comedy
Fest Magazine – 4 stars
http://www.festmag.co.uk/article/43885-john-gordillo-divide-conga
2008 Edinburgh Fringe Show written with/for/around John Gordillo -(and its own steady stream of updates for this blog…),
today received a coveted FIVE STAR review from chortle.co.uk.
It is a highly charged, beautifully written piece of theatre…
It is moving, inspiring and important and something that everyone should make a point of seeing.
The full review is here.
http://www.chortle.co.uk/shows/edinburgh_fringe_2008/j/16029/john_gordillo%3A_divide_%26_conga/review/
And the full build up covered in the articles below
http://www.neilmossey.com http://neilmossey.wordpress.com Neil Mossey comedy writer
Written stand-up material for John Gordillo’s tour and 2008 Edinburgh Fringe show, DIVIDE AND CONGA.
It runs at the Pleasance Joker Dome until 25th August.
This is what writing with a stand-up actually looks like.
There’s some hints in there too about some of the topics coming up in John Gordillo’s 2008 Edinburgh Show, “DIVIDE AND CONGA”.
We’ve been working together over the year in sessions that look much like this. Wish I could share what they sound like too, but it involves saying very wrong things out loud in a bid to get to the things that John wants to say in public. A mate once best dubbed this process as performers gaining “mouth rights” over the material.
All those lines are then honed by John through gigs around the country 20 minutes at a time to shape the perfect hour. One month left for some more ‘mouth wrongs’…
Preview gigs are linked here. http://www.neilmossey.com http://neilmossey.wordpress.com Neil Mossey
