Black Comedy Research

Competitors
In Bruges
Very Bad Things
Natural Born Killers
Fargo
The Cable Guy
American Psycho
Fight Club
Grosse Point Blank
Office Space
The Matador
Pulp Fiction
Burn after Reading

“Wikipedia” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedic_genres
Black comedy or dark comedy
Black comedy deals with disturbing subjects such as death, drugs, terrorism, rape, and war. Some dark comedy is similar to the horror movie genre. Television examples include Brass Eye.

“The Free Dictionary” http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Black+comedy
Black´ com`e`dy (blăk´ kǒm`ĕd`ŷ)
n.
1.
(Drama) a comedy that treats of morbid, tragic, gloomy, or grotesque situations as a major element of the plot.

Conventions (I gathered these black comedy conventions by watching the highlighted films above)
Character – Immoral. Quite strange. Normal looking. Usually more than one key character. Swear a lot. They do bad things but they don't do these things for immoral reasons, e.g. in `In Bruge` Colin Farrell's character was suicidal because he killed the wrong person, so he did feel bad for doing what he did.
Plot – Someone usually dies. Not a common sort of story.
Shot Types – All types are used. Close-ups used often.
Locations – Often isolated locations.
Music – Used very often, differs in type.
Black comedies are usually slow paced.

In Bruges (2008) – Bruges is quite isolated in the film as not a lot of people are there. A few people die in the film. The characters are immoral as they are hit-men (contract killers). They are average looking people. There are a few key characters. Slow music is used. The film is quite slow paced. There is also a lot of swearing.

Fargo – The location in this film is also isolated, they are in a small town with a low population from the looks of it. Also there are quite a few scenes on a really long empty road. The characters are immoral; one man pays for his wife to be kidnapped and some other men kill some people. There are a few key characters. Slow music is used throughout the film. There is a lot of swearing.

Fight Club – The house the two main characters live in is in the middle of nowhere, there is no one around for miles. The characters are also immoral as they are beating people up very violently. There is a lot of swearing in the film. They are average looking people. The film is quite slow paced.

Burn after Reading – There is more than one main character. They are average looking. The characters are immoral as they are cheating on their spouse, breaking into peoples houses and blackmailing others. People die in this film. The film is quite slow paced also. There is a lot of swearing.

Swearing is used a lot in black comedies because it makes the films a lot funnier. Not all black comedies have a lot of swearing in but most of them do.
In all of the films I have written about, close-ups are used to show emotions of the character. Emotion is a very big part of black comedies I feel.
In `In Bruges`, close-ups are used to show the emotions of Colin Farrell’s character, Ray. He is upset and feeling deep remorse for accidently killing a young boy.
In `Fargo`, close-ups are used to show the emotions of William H. Macy’s character, Jerry Lundegaard. He is worried because he has paid to have his wife kidnapped and it is all going wrong.
In `Fight Club`, close-ups are used to show the emotions of Edward Norton’s character. He is feeling deep boredom in his life and he is constantly tired because he is suffering from insomnia.
In `Burn after Reading`, close-ups are used to show the emotions of John Malkovich’s character, Osborn Cox. He is feeling bored and is getting more and more paranoid as the film progresses. For example, a close-up is used when he is sitting at home bored and then the phone rings; a sudden look of excitement comes on his face because he will get to talk to someone.
(I viewed all of these films to gather this information)