Standards of Art (at least "good art")

Defining standards for art can be tricky. This is because each individual has a different perspective. Weather it's taste buds or an opinion on a piece of art, we all have a unique point of view and perspective to provide. Although, there are a few broad standards that most people will agree with.

* Art should create an emotion in the consumer. And like I said this will be the same emotion, or a different emotion depending on who the consumer is. One person might see a painting of a human head without a body as a symbol for insecurity while another person might see it as meaningless absurdism.

* Art should be thought provoking. This is similar to creating an emotion, but also different in many aspects. For example: A scene in a film where a father argues with a mother while their young child secretly listens from upstairs. There is a good chance that a number of people watching this scene will relate to it on a personal level and provoke thoughts from personal experience, thus creating an emotion. This is major aspect of art, especially film, that make it so popular and timeless.

* An obvious standard is that art should provide entertainment. People go see superhero movies like The Avengers, because of the action, special effects and the overall epic-ness of them. It gets them out of the real world for 2 hours. It gets them out of their head and their day-to-day lives. This is the classic purpose of all forms of entertainment, especially television and film. Forget about your moms cancer; Captain America just saved the day.

* Art should inspire the consumer. This is especially for other artists consuming art. If your'e a painter and you go to an art show and see a painting of a guy with turquoise hair and even though it's no realistic, it looks interesting and it's thought provoking. Then you'll be like "Hey I never thought about giving somebody turquoise hair before." And then you'll incorporate that into your own work, while hopefully not ripping off the painting, but just simply being inspired by it. Another example is that a film about a lazy guy who eventually gets his shit together and achieves something by the end of the film will most likely spark inspiration in the consumer to get their shit together if it's not already together.

* Art should hold value. This is a sort of a tricky one because of all the absurdist forms of art. Some may argue that they are meaningless, therefore not art. And others may disagree and say anything is art. Well, it's all a matter of perspective. But I believe that most people would agree that the art with the most meaning, thought, emotion, and talent behind it is the most valuable and makes for real good art

Study Methods

Since I'm not in film school I've come up with a reservoir of my own study methods that I use while watching a show or a movie.

Earlier today I was watching Curb Your Enthusiasm (if you haven't heard of it then WATCH IT). So, while I was watching it I was just jotting down funny lines. I will sometimes pause it and write out WHY that line is funny and WHAT makes it funny. On some of the jokes I write down I will go through an entire WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, HOW scenario.

This is interesting to do with Curb, because it's not exactly set up/punchline jokes. This is because it's not even a scripted show. Each episode just has a rather detailed outline and the actors improvise from there - much like how Reno: 911 was.

So, I.E.

In the pilot there is an ongoing joke about how Larry David called this woman CaroLIN, but her name was CaroLINE (Caroline) and she ends up getting very upset about it and Larry thinks it's not a big deal.  

WHO - Larry David and a woman he just met

WHAT - The joke is that Larry pronounced this woman's name wrong and she really overreacted about it.

WHEN - I see the when as "when does the joke come up during the episode." It is an ongoing joke, so it comes up on multiple occasion's as she makes an even bigger deal about it once she confronts Larry.

WHERE - The joke first happened during a short "I just wanted to say hello" moment between Larry and Caroline.

WHY - Simply because it is a relatable situation that breaths comedy.

The HOW doesn't really relate to this.  

I'm a firm believer in breaking jokes down to see what makes them funny. It's astounding what you can learn about comedy in doing this.