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Silent Cinema: Realist and Expressionist - Coggle Diagram
Silent Cinema: Realist and Expressionist
Background Context
Andre Bazin
Cahiers du cinéma critic
Viewed cinema as important medium for duplicating reality
Championed the realist way of making films
Long takes, deep focus, limited editing, non-professional actors
These documentary style features allow for films to depict real life events in a realistic manner
Lumiere Brothers
actuality films demonstrated how real life could be captured in film
Eg. 1985 ‘Workers leaving the factory’
Depicting real events, people unaware of filming
George Méliès
An early example of expressive filmmaking
Went against criteria of realist filmmaking
Created special effects and fantasy worlds
Eg. 1902 ‘A trip to the moon’
The High Sign (1921)
Realism
Class convention
Upper class seen to live in a rich home and fancy furniture
The working-class men hideout in sparsely furnished and dusty settings
Generally, realistic weapons of guns, genuine to the real world
Reinforce the representation of gangs during the 1920s, appear more realistic
Flat lighting, deep focus, long takes throughout
Appear unobtrusive, representative of real life
Expressionism
Primary use of realist camera choices was to accommodate the gag playing out on screen
Eg. Impossible gag of painting a peg to hang up his hat
Elaborate set design of the house, secret passageways to distort reality for the audience framed with four rooms
The unusual technique used to emphasise the gag of the house’s traps and evolved gags
Show off vaudevillian roots shown during the chase as characters move into each room
Increased Editing, does not appear seamless
jump cuts, undercranking result in sped up man running away from the gang leader
Influence from trick films, 1898-1908 explored different pacing, slow and fast motion
About: a drifter who cons his way into working at an amusement park but soon ends up being hired as a hit man by a gang and by the man they want him to kill
Cops (1922)
About: Keaton going through a series of mishaps that end up in him being chased by the city’s entire police force
Expressionism
Gags often surreal or dream-like
Eg. Exaggerated mise-en-scene = the never-ending opening newspaper is different from reality
Increased Editing, does not appear seamless
Fade to black to show passing of time
Eg. When he piles furniture onto the cart
Avoid audiences becoming bored but takes them out of the authentic time frame
Fast pace, quick cuts in chase sequences to increase the pace of events and encourage a specific audience response, paired with symmetry
Eg. Police running towards the centre and cross over losing Keaton, highlight expressionist techniques
Realism
Dealt with real problems, corruption of contemporary society
Eg. The man who pretends to be unemployed and trick Keaton giving him money
Shot on location
Real streets of Los Angeles near the production studios
Everyday life is being presented (cars driving by and people walking on the streets)
Flat lighting, deep focus, long takes throughout
Appear unobtrusive, representative of real life
Hollywood
Finally, Keaton stars in all his short films, abiding to the Hollywood Star system, where audiences would go to watch his films to see him perform.