Comedy on Campus: Off the Wall
Topic: I will look at the group Off the Wall, started by Maryland student (and Journalism major) Justin Cousson. The group performs stand-up comedy, inviting students to perform at open mics but having a core group of people who perform. In addition, they invite some professional comedians from Washington to do stand-up comedy. I will look at how it was started, how they relate to other comedy groups, and what students think of the group.
Interest: Small, low-publicized comedy performances that students can attend.
Research and Previous coverage: I will look up comedy on other campuses as well as Maryland’s other comedy groups. There was a story in the Diamondback on comedy groups early last year.
Visuals: The group doing standup, workshopping jokes during meetings. Shots of the audience.
Audio/Video: Audience reactions, group interaction, interviews with Off the Wall members and members of other comedy groups, interviews of audience members.
People: Justin Cousson, Vish Bhatt, Mike Casiano, open mic performers, audience members.
Location: Queen Anne’s Hall performances.
Access issues: none
People who would be interested: people who want to perform, people who live where performances happen, people who would like to see or learn about stand-up comedy on campus, anyone who wants to know how comedy groups work here.
Time frame: Attend hour-long open mics (one every 2 weeks), any other events the group does. It will take about 2 weeks to compile everything beyond attending the actual events.
Story will be published after events occur, lets people know about the group for next semester.
Cost: none expected.
Media: All used in the class: audio, photo, video.
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ReplyDeleteGood potential for strong visuals and sounds here. One trick for the video part will be lighting, but if they're on a well-lit stage you can probably get some useable clip from a performance. You may have better luck getting footage and interviews during rehearsals, though.
ReplyDeleteYou should think about narrowing your focus a little bit, or finding a character or two to highlight, to help draw viewers in to the topic. Because these kind of comedy groups are common, it's better to focus on some unique character in the bunch. It might be good to do some initial interviews or chats with group members to try to see who is most promising (the best talker). Instead of just talking about how they are similar to other groups at other colleges, maybe talk about what they think is funny and the particular challenges of college comedians. That would give you more of a hook, and something to focus your interviews around.