Wednesday 21 October 2009

How to tell a joke

At the moment, I think my storyboard is far too long for the amount of time I have. I need to cut out anything unnecessary and keep in only what I need to get the point across. I read this article on how to tell a joke and found the folowing steps apply to my story the most:

#5 There must be ample set-up to the joke, providing the pertinent details the audience needs to know.

#6 There must be a punch line or strong conclusion.

#7 When in doubt, the shortest distance through Step #5 and onto #6 is usually best.

#8 Avoid detours. As a rule, jokes work best in a straight line.


Based on these principle steps, I can break my story down into 3 crucial parts giving me the principle three act structure.

Set up/ Begining:
  • Man buys a baboon, is told not to touch it.
Middle:
  • Man touches baboon anyway
  • Baboon goes crazy and chases the man
Punch line/ End:
  • Baboon catches man and touches him back, says "Tag you're it"

Each part is crucial to a good joke and a good story. Without the set up, the punch line would make no sense, without the middle, the story would not flow, without the end, it wouldn't be funny.

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