The Morning Watch: British Vs American Comedy, Movie Geometry & More

(The Morning Watch is a recurring feature that highlights a handful of noteworthy videos from around the web. They could be video essays, fanmade productions, featurettes, short films, hilarious sketches, or just anything that has to do with our favorite movies and TV shows.)

In this edition, a video essay takes a look at the differences between American comedy and British comedy while another looks how how geometry is used in movies to add another layer of visual storytelling. Plus, watch a supercut of a bunch of 1980s film production company logos that have long since been retired.

In this video essay from Now You See It, there's an attempt to figure out the difference between American and British comedy. It starts off by comparing the characters of David Brent and Michael Scott, the bosses played by Ricky Gervais and Steve Carell in the British and American versions of The Office respectively. An easy explanation is that British comedy seems to love failures while American comedy pushes for success in the end, but comedy also continued to evolve. What do you think?

Next up, here's anotherĀ  Now You See It video essay, this one taking notice of how geometry is used to add layers to visual storytelling by utilizing certain kinds of shapes for certain kinds of characters. It begins by explaining the "bouba/kiki effect," a psychological observation of how humans tend to perceive certain shapes as friendlier or more antagonistic, and then moves into how this is used to craft characters in a certain way to make them appear as heroes or villains. And this isn't just something that happens in animation either.

Finally, as a little blast from the past, check out a supercut of movie production logos from the 1980s, featuring companies like Orion, Cannon and Carolco that you constantly saw on VHS tapes when you were watching your favorite movies decades ago. Orion has actually made a comeback recently, but otherwise the rest of the these logos are long gun, either because they've been update or because the companies no longer exist.