NMC 435 Media Effects Paper

What’s So Funny?

Laughter; it’s something we are all capable of and is among one of our natural reflexes. Since the beginning of time laughter has connected people, communities, and history. From ancient Rome’s satires, to the Hollywood hits we see in the theaters today, comedy has proved just how much of a universal utility it is. But what makes something funny? How do you make someone laugh? These questions are just a few that arise when I think about laughter and its entertainment effect. When it comes to spicing up this entertainment factor of my Dating Game show I’ve produced throughout this term, it’s funny just to see what a little laughter can do.

My show is originally filmed and broadcasted live on KBVR channel 26 every Monday. It’s the classic game show where a single contestant questions a group of three contestants while remaining hidden from one another ending with the hopeful single would choosing one out of the three to go out with on a date based on the answered questions and dialog. Considering this is only its second term running, there is always room for improvements, I’ve learned a lot from my experience this last season. The show is usually pretty funny as all the contestants are local students; however there is no real way to gauge just how good the show will be when it begins. Keeping an audience’s attention is another thing. This is where the entertainment factor comes in as we pay close attention to everything involved with the production such as the sound effects, lighting, music, camera shots, and the set design to keep the audience stimulated.

At the introduction of the show we start off by showing a few short clips of older shows with an upbeat happy track playing. The purpose of playing the track is to grab the audience’s attention and make them feel giggly. Plus, every game show needs a catchy introduction. On the set, we have a white backdrop splattered with red, blue, green, and pink paint. We also have a few lights that have blue and red gels. The use of these bright and warm colors is to create a comforting mood in the viewer allowing them to relax more and be mindless of fear. According to a study done by Kendra Van Wagner at About.com, “these warm colors evoke emotions ranging from feelings of warmth and comfort to feelings of anger and hostility.” She also states “Red is associated with love, warmth, and comfort.” The use of color plays a very important role in the show as it sets up the initial mood of happy thoughts and comedy. If we were to have dark colors on the set it would not seem like a happy Dating Game show but rather a more dark sinister on making the comedic aspects impractical. Because bright colors encourage positive feelings we utilize this to add to our comedic production.

People are pleasure seekers who make choices depending on mood. In his studies, Dolf Zillman presents a theory of stimulus arrangement that “projects, amongst other things, that individuals consume media entertainment purposely in efforts to manage moods. More specifically, the theory posits that individuals are capable of choosing materials for exposure that modify and regulate affective experiences and mood states in desirable ways, and that these individuals frequently and habitually make choices that actually serve the specified ends.” (Zillmann 1988) What this means, in regards to my show and its entertainment factor, is its audience. For the audience, who may be viewing the show for this mood management or pleasure seeking, there needs to be a definite genre to my show. It is my hope that the show is portrayed as a distinct comical performance. This is important because if there is any ambiguity in the production, the audience would not know how to act accordingly to its material. As I mentioned before there were many corrections we added to the show over the course of it running. One of these corrections was to decrease the amount of silence on the set. When the show is observed without any complimentary audio, it loses its appeal. We needed a way to let the audience know that they were suppose to laugh. The laugh track encouraged this to boost participation and the entertainment factor. It is often that pleasure seekers also repeat pleasant experiences. In this case, we would be referencing the “return” audience and their consistency in watching the show. The addition of the laugh track to my recent runs of the show is just what was needed.

While looking for ideas to get a better crowd reaction and more viewers for my show, a friend of mine brought up the idea of the laugh track. I thought this would be a great idea, so I decided to do a little research. I found an article titled “Why do sitcoms have laugh tracks?” It says the laugh track is a cue to the audience telling them when they need to laugh. “For those who've spent the last 55 years in a monastery, a laugh track is a pre-recorded effect inserted into most sitcoms not taped in front of a live audience.” (Cartwright, 2005) The effect has been around for quite some time now, dating all the way back to its debut in 1950 when the "Hank McCune Show" decided to add in recorded laughter to its show to try and get more laughs since they were not getting an adequate amount of laughs from the audience. For the OSU Dating Game Show, we insert in the laugh track after one of the contestants say something that our sound operator thinks is funny. Since it is recorded live the track has to be inserted right then and there based on the personal judgment. So there are times where something said may not be particularly comical but, the track is still played anyways. This does lead to some problems; however, the laugh track is generally a comedic aid. (StraightDope.com, 2005)

Could the addition of a laugh track at the wrong time actually diminish the entertainment factor? In research done and documented by James M. Olsen in his book Self-inference Processes, he brings about the idea of mirth. Mirth is loosely defined as the amount of enjoyment usually followed by laughter. In his study, he cited creditable sources which “stated that a laugh track can have real effects on individual’s mirth responses.” (Olson, 1990) For his study James m. Olsen gathered three separate groups of subjects, one being the control, and placed each of them, individually, in an environment where they were provided two joke books; one containing a laugh track and one without a laugh track. They wore headphones with recorded audio instructions as their mirth reactions would most likely be influenced by company. Subjects were told “that the experiment was investigating factors that affect how people react to humor, especially external or environmental factors. Thus, they would be shown humorous materials under different conditions and would rate them for funniness.” (Olson 1990) They were then informed that canned laughter was one external factor being examined in the study. Those with “increased mirth” condition were told that laugh tracks have been shown to increase smiling and laughter. It was expected for these individuals to misattribute some of their mirth responses to the laugh track and therefore, assume that the jokes they were laughing at while exposed to the laugh track, were not actually as funny as they seemed. The control group was told that laugh tracks have been shown to have no impact on smiling and laughter. The hope was to see if these individuals would relate funniness directly from their own mirth responses. The final group, labeled “decreased mirth” condition, were told that laugh tracks were shown to reduce smiling and laughter and therefore were expected to augment the perceived funniness of the jokes they read while exposed to the laugh track. The study concluded that subjects inferred the funniness of the jokes, in part, from their mirth reactions, but either discounted or augmented their reactions during the laugh track depending on whether it was suppose to increase or decrease their mirth. What I understood from this study is that if people become aware of the canned laughter, it may reduce their overall enjoyment as they would feel conned or deceived. However, if they didn’t attribute their own laughter to the laugh track they would continue to stay entertained. I knew that the sound operator and I must understand the consequences of implementing a laugh track. Once we did we utilized it and have seen positive results.

When we first decided to add the laugh track to our show it took some time to get the timing down between jokes. The first time we placed in the laugh track, the timing was a bit off and interfered with the person asking the questions. This made viewers a little confused to why there was laughing going on while someone was asking a question. As time went on, the sound board operator was able to include the laugh track at more appropriate times. It became largely successful; even the people working in the control room were laughing more. This lead to an increase in our viewers boosting the OSU Dating Game to the number one hit on the streaming site KBVR.com.

The target audience most influenced by this media effect of entertainment would have to be the average college student. When I say average, I mean those who would otherwise not be familiar with the inner workings of entertainment and the comedic strategies used. After all, everyone is not a New Media Communication student. The typical college student most likely who grew up in the sitcom era is more than familiar with canned laughter, though they probably will not dissect its use and effect too much. This is important to note because there is a good chance college students watch the show to have some effect on their mood, usually positive and involving laughter, when watching a live game show. The more oblivious the audience is to the tactics we use to influence their emotions, the better.

Entertainment has always strived to keep people engaged, and their strategies in doing so have been formed over centuries of application and practice. When it comes to producing this entertainment, such as through a Dating Game show, the better understanding of both audience reaction and how to influence their moods, the more easily one can achieve the intended medium’s results; in regards to my show, creating a return audience, keeping their attention, and above all make them laugh. I believe with tactics my crew and I employ, including bright colors and a laugh track, we are largely successful as a comedic entertainment.






Works Cited

Cartwright, Robin. "The Straight Dope: Why do sitcoms have laugh tracks?" The Straight Dope - Fighting Ignorance Since 1973. 16 Aug. 2005. http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2218/why-do-sitcoms-have-laugh-tracks.

Olson, James M., and Mark P. Zanna. Self-inference Processes. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1990.

Wagner, Kendra V. "Color Psychology - The Psychology of Color." Psychology - Student Resources - Psychology Articles. http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/a/colorpsych.htm.

Zillmann, Dolf. Communication, Social Cognition, and Affect. Ed. Lewis Donohew, Howard E. Sypher, and Edward T. Higgins. Illustrated ed. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1988.