Tuesday, 11 October 2016

Hitchhikers Inspiration - Burn After Reading

Because most/a large majority of the film will take place in a car, it can be much more difficult to do physical comedy (due to the reduced space). This is why I have used this scene from Joel and Ethan Coen's 'Burn After Reading' as heavy inspiration for the type of comedy I would like to strive for as it manages to master physical comedy while being enclosed into the space of a small car.



This scene from Burn After Reading is one of my favorite scenes from any Coen movie, this is purely because of the acting and the characters (the scene is much better if the viewer has watched the rest of the film, as to see the characters motivations and personalities develop) rather than the script itself. Although their are a few lines in the scene that are funny, most of the comedy is down to the performances of Brad Pitt and John Malkovich. The comedy first starts with the use of props, Brad Pitt arrives on a bicycle while on a bicycle and wearing a safety helmet (these are explained earlier on in the film with the main character being an fitness obsessed idiot) which is funny due to the serious nature of the conversation that the two characters are going to have. The visual comedy is carried on when Brad Pitt enters the car and imitates Malkovich by squinting.
The real comedy of the scene is within the inflection of both Brad Pitt and John Malkovich. The way that each of them deliver their lines is what makes the scene funny. This will be very hard to achieve in my short film, which is why I will be using this scene as a frame of reference.

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