LAB:
If you did not take the film test last class, you will do that now during period 1. Please note the missed homework/classwork!
If you took the test last class: please make sure you have viewed the following videos:
The montage changed the way filmmakers approached film narrative. It allows a filmmaker to tell a story through a sequence of shots that manipulate time. The jumble of images and cuts of a montage affect the psychological impact and effect of the film's content. There are 5 types of montage:
Metric
Rhythmic
Tonal
Over-tonal
Intellectual/Ideological
The montage technique is still used in editing today. In a script it is indicated by a series of descriptive lines, each spaced apart to indicate a series of shots, rather than description that would indicate one shot or scene. Click here for an example and click at this link for an explanation of how this works. You can also take a look at this short lecture on The History of Cutting that further explains how the Russian montage works if you are planning on studying film in college or as a career path--or if you are just interested in the art of editing/photography.
"All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman, and a pretty girl." -Sir Charles Chaplin
Sir Charles Chaplin (1889-1977)
The Idle Class (1921, short film)
The Kid (1921, clip)
The Lion's Cage clip from the Circus (1928)
The Gold Rush (1925) Table ballet sequence from The Gold Rush and another scene; (sound and words added later by Chaplin)
The boxing scene from City Lights (1931)
Modern Times (1936) trailer
The Great Dictator (1940), clip
Limelight (1952)
Charlie Chaplin Extra Credit (see posts below for details on how to get extra credit for watching these films...)
The Rink (1916, short film)
The Circus (1928)
City Lights (1931)
If you did not take the film test last class, you will do that now during period 1. Please note the missed homework/classwork!
If you took the test last class: please make sure you have viewed the following videos:
The material and information in these short films should be somewhat familiar in the chapter readings we have been assigned for previous homework. Add to your notes & understanding by taking notes on the following (also click the links for videos to further explain and learn the content!)
Montage: the juxtaposition of images in film to create an emotional impact on the viewer.
The montage changed the way filmmakers approached film narrative. It allows a filmmaker to tell a story through a sequence of shots that manipulate time. The jumble of images and cuts of a montage affect the psychological impact and effect of the film's content. There are 5 types of montage:
The montage technique is still used in editing today. In a script it is indicated by a series of descriptive lines, each spaced apart to indicate a series of shots, rather than description that would indicate one shot or scene. Click here for an example and click at this link for an explanation of how this works. You can also take a look at this short lecture on The History of Cutting that further explains how the Russian montage works if you are planning on studying film in college or as a career path--or if you are just interested in the art of editing/photography.
Comedy:
Much of comedy (reasons why we laugh) have to do with these things:
- Incongruity or Non sequitur. Humans are rational (supposedly) and laugh at anything that breaks a pattern or does not logically follow. Anything we are not expecting as a logical sequence creates incongruity, and so we laugh.
- Farce or physical humor (often pratfalls, slapstick, hurting people, etc.) What doesn't kill us makes us laugh. This is only funny if the victim is not really hurt (consider cartoons!) If the character/victim is killed and we laugh, we fall into black or dark humor (and bad taste!)
- Superiority vs. inferiority (we laugh at those weaker or in a worse situation than us). Usually an underdog or weaker protagonist gets to overcome a stronger opponent. This usually makes us feel better, and in a comedy plot, makes us feel stronger over our own oppression as viewers.
- Mistaken identity. Ever since farce and satirical plays from the Greeks and Roman theater, mistaken identity has been a constant element in farce.
- Absurdity (if it doesn't make sense, we laugh). Similar to incongruity, absurdity is, well, absurd.
- Surprise. Humans will usually laugh is you can surprise them (and they are okay). The adrenaline rush is often accompanied by laughter.
Some literary devices often used in literature, film, or T.V.:
- Hyperbole. Exaggeration—when it comes to comedy, hyperbole is king.
- The rule of 3: the set up is like this: two common or related items followed by a third that breaks the pattern or doesn’t fit.
- Understatement/overstatement: presenting something as being less important or less significant than it really is. Overstatement is the opposite—making mountains out of molehills, as the saying goes.
- Wit: clever word play.
- Mismatched pairs: tall & short, fat & thin, foolish & wise, pessimist & optimist, smart & stupid, etc.
- Puns: a joke based on an alternative meaning of a word.
- Innuendo: a comment or remark that is referring to a situation (often sexual) that is disparaging or suggestive.
Period 2: Classroom
Charlie Chaplin, an Overview
"All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman, and a pretty girl." -Sir Charles Chaplin
Sir Charles Chaplin (1889-1977)
• Born in 1889 in London, UK to theatrical parentsTake a look at some of Chaplin's films:
• Chaplin’s childhood was one of extreme poverty and hardship
• Abandoned by an alcoholic father and left with a mentally unstable mother who was unable to support him, he struggled through life in the poor house and on the streets
• He learnt much of his timing and technique in the employment of impresario Fred Karno (1866-1941) whose troupe he left during an American tour in 1913
• Offered a contract by Keystone Films
• After 1914, he convinced Keystone producer Mack Sennett to allow him to direct his own films - often wrote, directed, acted and composed his own musical scores for his films
• In many silent shorts, he established the grammar and ground rules of screen comedy using his physical dexterity and pantomime skills to create expertly choreographed, visually humorous entertainment that mixed irreverence, romance, and pathos (feeling)
• Co-founder of United Artists in 1919
• Married Oona O’Neill (daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill)
• His left-wing sympathies caused him to emigrate to Switzerland during the 1950’s, McCarthy period
• He published his autobiography in 1964 and was knighted in 1975
• Chaplin died on Christmas day, 1977
• A writer Performer, director, composer and icon, he was a vital figure in the development of the screen comedy Films (incomplete list): Making a Living (1913) Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914) The Champion (1915) The Tramp (1915) The Pawnshop (1916) The Rink (1916) A Dog’s Life (1918) The Kid (1921) The Gold Rush (1925) City Lights (1931) Modern Times (1936) The Great Dictator (1940) Limelight (1952) A King in New York (1957) A Countess from Hong Kong (1967)
The Idle Class (1921, short film)
The Kid (1921, clip)
The Lion's Cage clip from the Circus (1928)
The Gold Rush (1925) Table ballet sequence from The Gold Rush and another scene; (sound and words added later by Chaplin)
The boxing scene from City Lights (1931)
Modern Times (1936) trailer
The Great Dictator (1940), clip
Limelight (1952)
Charlie Chaplin Extra Credit (see posts below for details on how to get extra credit for watching these films...)
The Rink (1916, short film)
The Circus (1928)
City Lights (1931)
HOMEWORK: Read the article on "The Hays Code." Choose at least one of the following films and identify examples of early film comedy (see list of comedy techniques above): Fatty Arbuckle & The Keystone Kops in "Fatty Joins the Force"(1913); Fatty Arbuckle, Charlie Chaplin & Mabel Normand in "A Film Johnnie (1914); Fatty Arbuckle & Buster Keaton in Coney Island (1914); Fatty Arbuckle & Buster Keaton in "Backstage"(1919)
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