Humour and successful children's films: Structures and relevance of a cinematic medium

Description

André F. Nebe uses his humour structure analysis to make viewers' preferences and corresponding audiovisual offerings in films visible. Complex and multi-layered audiovisual (hypotactic) humour is used in the more successful films, while less successful films make simple (paratactic) humour offerings. The humour structure analysis offers insights into promising humour offerings and can also be used in the story development phase for writers, directors, producers and dramaturges. Contents Abbreviations List of Figures List of Tables 1: Introduction and Preparatory Questions 2: The Children’s Film and Its Definition 2.1 Target Group and Content Elements as a Characteristic of the Children’s Film 2.2 Multi-Perspective Approaches 2.3 Theme and Age-Appropriate Implementation as a Feature of Children’s Film 2.4 Discussion and Own Definition of Children’s Film 3: Humor in Science and Practice 3.1 Humour and Related Terms in Current Linguistic Usage 3.2 Humour in the Theories of Philosophy and Psychology 3.2.1 Superiority and Degradation Theories 3.2.2 Incongruence and Discrepancy Theories 3.2.3 Theories of Relief, Relaxation and Liberation 3.2.4 Game Theories 3.3 Humour in Research Practice 3.3.1 Sociological Research 3.3.2 Humour in Medical and Psychological Research 3.3.3 Humour in the Context of Media Studies 3.3.3.1 Subsuming Analyses 3.3.3.2 Multi-Perspective Approaches 3.3.3.3 Thematic and Genre Theoretical Approaches 3.3.3.4 Categorical Research 3.3.3.5 Recipient Research 3.3.3.6 Monothematic and Historical Analyses 3.4 Everyday and Television Humour of Children 3.4.1 Everyday Humour of Children in Research 3.4.2 Children’s Television Humour in Research 3.5 Discussion and Summary 4: Empirical Part 4.1 The Goal and the Questions 4.2 Questioning Children About Humour 4.2.1 Group Discussion 4.2.2 Recruitment of the Group 4.2.3 Guide 4.2.4 Implementation 4.2.5 Methodology of the Analysis of the Interviews 4.2.6 Definition of the Humour Categories 4.2.7 Results of the Group Discussions 4.2.7.1 Humour Categories Mentioned by the Children Interviewed 4.2.7.2 Humor Categories by Gender for Theatrical and DVD Movies 4.2.7.3 Humour Categories by Age 4.2.7.4 Humour Production of Girls and Boys 4.2.8 Context Specific Humour Description 4.3 Summary: Humour of Children of the Group Discussions 4.4 Film Analyses 4.4.1 Film Selection and Meeting the Children’s Film Definition 4.4.2 Scope and Methodology of Film Analysis 4.4.3 Components of the Humour-Structural Film Analysis 4.4.3.1 Definition of the Terms Humour Sequence, Humour Part and Humour Density 4.4.3.2 Forms of Appearance of Humour Sequences 4.4.4 Components of Technical and Qualitative Film Analysis 4.4.5 Exemplary Case Study for Film Analysis 4.4.6 Paula’s Secret (2008) 4.4.6.1 Content and Genre 4.4.6.2 Sample Humour Sequence 4.4.6.3 Humour Categories of the Sample Scene 4.4.6.4 Film Technical Implementation of the Humour Categories in the Example Scene 4.4.6.5 The Film “Paula’s Secret” and Its Humour 4.4.7 Hanni and Nanni (2010) 4.4.7.1 Content and Genre 4.4.7.2 Sample Humour Sequence 4.4.7.3 Humour Categories of the Sample Scene 4.4.7.4 Film Technical Implementation of the Humour Categories in the Sample Scene 4.4.7.5 The Film “Hanni and Nanni” and Its Humour 4.4.8 Lilly the Witch: The Dragon and the Magic Book (2009) 4.4.8.1 Content and Genre 4.4.8.2 Sample Humour Sequence 4.4.8.3 Humour Categories of the Sample Scene 4.4.8.4 Film Technical Implementation of the Humour Categories in the Example Scene 4.4.8.5 The Film “Lilly the Witch” and Its Humour 4.4.9 Wicki and the Strong Men (2009) 4.4.9.1 Content and Genre 4.4.9.2 Sample Humour Sequence 4.4.9.3 Humour Categories of the Sample Scene 4.4.9.4 Film Technical Implementation of the Humour Categories in the Sample Scene 4.4.9.5 The Film “Wicki” and Its Humour 4.4.10 The Wild Guys 4 (2007)65 4.4.10.1 Content and Genre 4.4.10.2 Sample Humour Sequence 4.4.10.3 Humour Categories of the Sample Scene 4.4.10.4 Film Technical Implementation of the Humour ­Categories in the Sample Scene 4.4.10.5 The Film “The Wild Guys 4” and Its Humour 4.4.11 Comparison of All Films 4.4.11.1 Coverage Ratio Between Children’s Humour ­Preferences and Humour Offerings in the Analysed Films 4.4.11.2 Complexity of Humour Offerings 4.4.11.3 Relevant Film Humour Devices 4.4.11.4 Interior and Exterior Motifs in the Humour Sequences 4.4.11.5 Characters in the Humor Sequences 4.4.11.6 Camera Movements in the Humour Sequences 4.4.11.7 Shot Sizes in the Humour Sequences 4.4.11.8 Focal Lengths in the Humour Sequences 4.4.11.9 Sound in the Humour Sequences 4.4.11.10 Acting in the Humour Sequences 4.4.11.11 Relevant Qualitative Parameters 4.4.11.12 Correlations to Budget, Shooting Days and Number of Visitors 4.5 Summary: Humour in the Analysed Films 5: Concluding Remarks References