FILM MOVEMENT : SILENT FILM COMEDY

Silent film comedy was a very popular genre  in the silent era  ( 1895-1928 ) in the USA and UK

It still exists as an art form in the modern era and has influenced much modern physical and visual comedy.


Silent comedy is predominantly based on physical and visual gags and jokes
 with occasional written puns and jokes in the title cards.


It was heavily influenced by the broad "slapstick " humour of the popular  vaudeville theatre of the 19th century ( where Buster Keaton started) and included standard routines such a "custard pie in the face " , " tripping on banana peel " as well as much comedy physical violence and acrobatics.


Buster Keaton's work in his early short films was in many ways typical of silent comedy : the influence of vaudeville, the use of  slapstick, the representatation of police, the use of  personae such as the outsider, everyman or romantic suitor, and  the modernist use of formal and technical experimentation .

Keaton's deadpan persona was his unique selling point and he stands out in silent comedy for his careful and precise use of framing, his general refusal to repeat  jokes and falls and his general  refusal to fake stunts and physical jokes  through editing : Keaton usually allows his jokes to take place within the frame rather than cutting.

 One of the major contributions of American popular cinema to European art cinema, especially in the Soviet Union, was Silent Comedy. American Silent Comedy produced a significant body of work, now regarded as of great importance in film history. The key exponents of this movement (Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd) all knew each other, influenced each other’s work and were always experimental, pushing at the boundaries of film form and film technology. In particular American Silent Comedy further illustrates the preoccupation with modernism in the film movements of this period. In this latter case this can be seen in a similar interest to the Soviet constructivists in the machinery of cinema and the mechanics of acting. Just as German Expressionism was repeatedly engaging with genre cinema, so American Silent Comedy marries formal experimentation from popular culture, in particular vaudeville, exploiting the possibilities of cutting edge cinema technology available in Southern California in the 1920s. It is possible to place American Silent Comedy in the wider frame of the 1920s avant-garde, with particular connections to the emerging art forms of Dadaism and Surrealism in Europe, as well as its strong impact on Eisenstein and others in the Soviet Union.


KEY PRODUCERS

Mack Sennett

Hal Roach

KEY STARS 

Buster Keaton

Charlie Chaplin

The Keystone Cops

Harold Lloyd


The narratives in silent comedy often developed in length and complexity from 1910s onwards as the films became longer :  one reel films of  about  10 minutes  developed into feature length 3-4 reelers of 40+ minutes and longer.
 Keaton's 20-minute 2 reel shorts of the early 1920s form a part of this process.

During this time  cinematic, narrative and genre conventions,  editing techniques , technical methods  and other uses of film form were  being developed alongside changing  audience expectations and understanding of narrative cinema.

The invention of sound in cinema in 1927/8 meant that original silent comedy became less popular and was generally phased out in the industry  but  its influence on modern film comedy and action remains. The conventions of physical and verbal humour established in the silent era can still be seen in a range of filmmakers and stars.





LINKS


Paul Merton's film about early screen comedy is good at its origins and early technology and conventions and key early figures like Max Linder

Merton's documentaries about the key stars of the silent era ( including Buster Keaton )

Context of silent comedy in history of film comedy


The wikipedia page for silent comedy is an ok starting point for some background information.

OVERVIEW :Buster Keaton

video essay 1

compilation of jokes and moments

His flexible and layered persona included the following elements and recurring motifs :

           • Deadpan humour and neutral expression• Acrobatic  skill and heavy use of stuntwork.
• Interactions with physical objects and locations ( sometimes skilled,occasionally clumsy)

He developed a combination of various personae : 


        The outsider clown , not integrated in or subject to the rules of  everyday society or                    underworlds 

         The everyman trying to join in or get ahead• 


          The suitor : Seeking a soulmate and competing for a woman's attentions

article on  his persona and work, with a focus on Cops

YOUTUBE PLAYLIST OF VIDEOS ( Buster Keaton ,silent cinema, contexts.,issues and debates)

Paul Merton's Silent Clowns : Buster Keaton ( 59 min) 

Other scenes  from other films

Car on train tracks ( Parlor,bedroom and bath 1931)

                     
                                                      Dream scene from Sherlock Jr (1924)

                                                  Motorcycle chase from Sherlock Jr



Buster Keaton wikipedia

THE SHORT FILMS

                 Here are the texts for the Silent Film section of the exam :


                                                                     One Week ( 1920)

In 2008, One Week was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

                                                                                                         

                                                 

                                                                 

                                                           The Scarecrow  ( 1921)

                                             


                                                        The High Sign ( 1921 )

                                                                 

                                                                     Cops ( 1922 )

                                                         

                                                       KEY  ANALYSIS OF THE SHORT FILMS

                                 How do each of the short films apply the following elements ?

 

Use of Film  Form

 use of cinematography ,lighting and framing : e.g  framing to fit the joke, use of 2d , naturalistic bright lighting

style of editing ( invisible/when necessary ) , use of cuts and special effects, 

use and role of mise-en-scene, e.g props and background used actively as part of narrative and jokes

 performance ( body language, facial expression , size and contrast in physique )

Buster Keaton's film persona

e.g aspirational everyman, romantic suitor or outsider clown , links to performance 


Representations

e.g gender roles , police, class, social institutions/rituals  such as marriage and religion



General Silent comedy  conventions

e.g use of stunts, chase scenes , falls, props, animals , slapstick humour, vaudeville tropes and routines e.g banana peel

Keaton's specific use of conventions and techniques

 "postmodern" techniques such as breaking fourth wall , cartoon gags , layering and building of jokes, subverting classic vaudeville routines and expectations, interest in technology/media 

Cultural  contexts and references 

e.g advertising, art , technologies, vaudeville, political and news events 

             
                                                   

article about 'One Week'



blog review of  some of the short films

film essay on 'The High Sign '

SILENT CINEMA : Star persona of the 1920s

•Film studios would create personas for actors and actresses, crafting a celebrity  image for each performer – they created regulations such as morality clauses and built gender stereotypes into their persona.

Guardian article on silent era film stars

•This was a precursor to the emergence of the Studio System with Hollywoodland dominating cinema with its use of vertical integration from 1930s-1960.

•Buster Keaton bypassed this by having creative control on his productions (not just an actor, but producer, writer and director as well) – essentially, Keaton crafted his own persona.

His flexible and layered persona included the following elements and recurring motifs :

           • Deadpan humour and neutral expression• Acrobatic  skill and heavy use of stuntwork.
• Interactions with physical objects and locations ( sometimes skilled,occasionally clumsy)

He developed a combination of various personae : 


 The outsider clown , not integrated in or subject to the rules of  everyday society or underworlds•

          The everyman trying to join in or get ahead• 


          The suitor : Seeking a soulmate and competing for a woman's attentions

.

SILENT COMEDY : Cultural contexts

Cultural contexts :  other art forms and movements, Keaton's background and own influences, new technologies , social roles and expectations,  wider social events,contexts and representations.... and  their impact on the texts , genre, filmmaking process . audience experience , knowledge and expectations.

FURTHER LINKS


VAUDEVILLE  wiki

Rube Goldberg ( 1920s cartoonist )   wiki 


Ford 's prefabricated homes ( 1919 video)




CUBISM : Definition 




SURREALISM :   Definition

Buster Keaton was admired by the surrealistic art movement :  academic article

EXAM QUESTION EXAMPLE 1

Discuss how far your chosen film or films reflect cultural contexts associated with a particular film movement  

( 20 marks )    30 minutes  approx

FILM MOVEMENT  = SILENT COMEDY 


CHOSEN FILMS =  4 short films by Buster Keaton  You should make reference to at least two of the films if it is this type of question


CULTURAL CONTEXTS =   can include the history and conventions of the film movement iteself ( i.e silent comedy , social and historical factors, the influence of vaudeville, the influence of art and cultural movements e.g surrealism, modernism. DON"T FEEL YOU HAVE TO COVER EVERYTHING


PARTICULAR SEQUENCE = an extended scene ( ideally in one location ) This can be up to 10 minutes approximately so may be half of  the short film . You should briefly make it clear where the scene fits in the film's narrative


e.g     One week :   building a house sequence, destroying a house sequence etc.

       The Scarecrow  :  the multipurpose room sequence, the dog chase sequence, etc.

                 Cops : police chase sequence

         The High Sign  :  shooting gallery sequence ,  assassination/ action chase sequence  

YOU SHOULD INCLUDE ANALYSIS OF  AT LEAST TWO OF THE SHORT FILMS IN YOUR ANSWER , UNLESS YOU ARE ASKED TO FOCUS ON A SINGLE KEY SEQUENCE.

BAND 5 EXEMPLAR RESPONSE

CRITICAL DEBATE realist v expressionist cinema

REALIST CINEMA  : 

 The relationship of film to reality has always been one of the main discussion points in cinema since the  189os and early 1900s.  Consider the Lumiere Brothers ultrarealist short films vs  Melies' fantasy narratives such as Trip to the Moon 

There is no single  formal definition of what a "realist " film is : it can refer to the narrative   showing   realistic or everyday events or  the use of film form being simple,unadorned and stylistically straightforward ( as we would see it in life). Bazin's definition below is the starting point and basis for how you should be exploring realism in your answer.


"Film should be rooted in reality and shot and edited to match reality as closely as possible for the audience. The director should be as invisible as possible." 

( Andre Bazin ) 

 

Film form was described by Bazin as realistic when it focused on the image itself and did not manipulate the audience through cuts or changes of camera angle. This is an extreme definition of realism in film but it can easily be applied to silent cinema and Keaton.

The concentration on objective reality, deep focus, and lack of montage are linked to Bazin's belief that the interpretation of a film or scene should be left to the spectator.

 This placed him in opposition to film theory of the 1920s and 1930s and expressionist ideas of film, which emphasized how the cinema could manipulate reality.



"Realism"  is also linked to genres that focuses on  the drama of ordinary life such as drama  and  it can also refer to the depiction of real events and is often used to describe documentary.


LINK to further theories and discussions




EXPRESSIVE CINEMA:  

Essentially this is mainstream narrative  and auteur-led cinema cinema , where the director is more concerned with expressing subjective experience  than objective reality. This leads to filmmakers developing their own individual aesthetic and creative signature and the extensive manipulation of audience response through creative and  stylised "anti-realist"  use of film form such as extensive or intrusive editing, extreme and symbolic use  of lighting and colour and creative use of diegetic/non-diegetic sound.


Expressive cinema can also refer to genres and narrative that are less concerned with everyday life and ordinary reality such as science fiction, fantasy and surrealistic dramas.





KEY QUESTION : Does Keaton show realistic and everyday events in a simple unadorned "realistic" way ? Or is he simply an expressionist filmmaker ?

Consider his creative signature , his  use of framing and editing  , his use of silent comedy conventions such as stunts and slapstick, his use of documentary and real footage, his exaggerated setpiece scenes such as chases, the "reality" of his stunt work, his use of impossible "cartoon" gags, the themes and narratives of the short films, the emotional content and uses of persona, the settings and the chains of cause and effect in his work.



EXAMINERS REPORT  Summer  2019 Q 3.2

 Identifying expressionist feature was not difficult for nearly all candidates, even in the case of the Keaton Shorts about which more will be said in a moment. The challenge came in the identification of realism and it is here that more work could focus for future years. Some candidates identified realism in relation to ‘true to life’ so unlikely occurrence fell outside this working definition. This was not very productive. Some identified realism in terms of photographic realism, including the lack of distortion or special effects. This led to some interesting exploration.

 Very few related an understanding of realism to Bazin’s argument which is the stated theoretical underpinning for this topic.

 Keaton’s Shorts proved to be both a popular choice and surprisingly well suited to the question. Candidates were able to think through the extent to which Keaton’s unadorned photographic representation of what was in front of the camera was ‘realism’ even if some of the things caught on camera were completely crazy. Many candidates introduced a third term to the discussion – surrealism while the house in One Week was described as cubist. 

 Overall, what was so good about work in response to this question was that candidates were thinking, actively working out an argument. Examiners rewarded this engagement even if some of the arguments and or examples were somewhat contentious. 

It is expected that when close study of a sequence is asked for, then one sequence from one film is sufficient. This means that candidates did not have to offer a sequence from Man With a Movie Camera and from A Propos de Nice, either would have sufficed. The same applies to the Keaton Shorts although here candidates were actually advantaged by referring to more than one of the shorts in answering 3.2 as the balance of realist / expressionist features varies across the four.