For those of you have of you who haven’t heard about it, CollegeHumor is a website designed to showcase the videos, pictures, and articles created by the staff, that any college student could tell you is great for procrastination. The funny and vulgar humor may not be ideal for your mom or your professor, but they can provide hours of mindless entertainment for the college crowd. Great examples of these are the "Point-of-View" videos. Here’s our favorite:
The situations in each video are different stereotypical college situations, whether it's "failing a test " or " girl buying condoms" . However, many of the components in each video are identical. Here's our break down of the general elements of the POV videos, drawing examples from the Dorm Bathroom Video.
How it works mechanically:
The technologies used are a camera to film the scene in one shot, and the audio of the guy’s voice appears to have been recorded later and then dubbed over the audio. Some of the sound effects, like when he pounds on the shower wall, also appear to have been added later. There is most likely a professional set involving lights and other equipment, as Collegehumor is a well-known site that produces many videos and they are high quality clips.
The authors of the video probably produced scripts for the actors (girl talking on phone, singers), and then had to find actors and extras (passed out drunks, random college kids). The story-boarding process probably involved coming up with a common college experience, like using the dorm bathrooms, and using exaggerated situations for humor. Examples of this are the guy walking out of his room naked and the quartet singing.These things don't actually happen (at least not that we've seen), but it's this exaggeration that makes the videos funny.
How it works mechanically:
The technologies used are a camera to film the scene in one shot, and the audio of the guy’s voice appears to have been recorded later and then dubbed over the audio. Some of the sound effects, like when he pounds on the shower wall, also appear to have been added later. There is most likely a professional set involving lights and other equipment, as Collegehumor is a well-known site that produces many videos and they are high quality clips.
The authors of the video probably produced scripts for the actors (girl talking on phone, singers), and then had to find actors and extras (passed out drunks, random college kids). The story-boarding process probably involved coming up with a common college experience, like using the dorm bathrooms, and using exaggerated situations for humor. Examples of this are the guy walking out of his room naked and the quartet singing.These things don't actually happen (at least not that we've seen), but it's this exaggeration that makes the videos funny.
How it works rhetorically and multimodally
The intended audience for this is college students. This is obvious because it’s a situation only college students would really relate to and find funny. The intended purpose is entertainment. This is obvious because it comes from “Collegehumor” and from the funny elements involved in the video. The point is to make students laugh at the exaggerated versions of stereotypical situations.
Ethos works to help us relate to the main character. Because it’s shot through his "point of view" and you’re seeing it through his eyes, it’s supposed to feel like it’s happening to you. This makes the videos relatable for college kids. Logos isn’t used, but that’s the point. The videos aren’t supposed to be fact-based, they’re supposed to be funny. The pathos used is the humor. The video is supposed to make the audience laugh and instill that good feeling in them.
What is generally accepted in this genre is a video clearly shot from the main character's point of view with his thought process played out over the scene, and it is supposed to display a humorous situation. Because it's intended audience is college kids, the videos humor is probably more vulgar and graphic than what would be acceptable in a lot of other genres. It wouldn't be possible for these videos to have some form of moral or lesson at the end, because that would ruin the entertainment quality.
The assumption made in this video is that the viewer is a college student who has experienced dorm bathrooms before. The video is only funny if you can relate to it and understand the exaggerations in it. They’re also assuming that this is the stereotypical view of a dorm bathroom.
The assumptions made about the genre is that it will be entertaining. A person will watch these videos hoping to be entertained.
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