Are silent films more artistic and less mechanical as compared to today’s action films? Engl 332 N. Langah

Silent Film  Has no accompanying, synchronized recorded spoken dialogue  Invented 1860  Silent film era is referred as ‘Age of the Silver Screen’  Sound film began in late 1920s

Characteristics of a Silent Film  emphasis on body language and facial expressions  silent comedies are more popular due to natural comedy

What makes film ‘unreal’ or mechanical production of art? (particularly sound film) Arnheim’s theory:  Accessories used in film: Camera equipment, staff, lighting machinery create superficiality  The scenes are illusionary  Editing cuts out the originality  Shooting from one angle and linking it with another  The difference between a cameraman and a painter can somewhat be compared with the role of a magician and a doctor. The painter maintains distance from reality while the cameraman plunges into and distorts reality

Silent films  Is silent film a dumb pantomime (farce, drama)?  Can speech be shown in a silent way?  Why did we never miss the sound of walking feet, rustling leaves, ticking of a clock, or fragrance of flowers from silent films?  How was revolver shot filmed in a silent movie?  Artistic effects in films were also produced in a silent film. For instance how did Charlie Chaplin or Mr. Bean create the emotions of love, happiness or sadness in their films?

Silent films  In a silent film, lips are no longer word forming physical organs but only visual expressions  How is laughter, excitement, sadness portrayed in a silent film?  The absence of a spoken word concentrate the spectator’s attention more closely on the visible aspects of behaviour  This changed when cinematographic techniques began to be applied on films. Everyday things were portrayed as ‘real’. For instance, a train moving towards the audience.

Intro to Mr. Bean  British TV series broadcasted in 1990  Lead role Rowan Atkinson  Based on a character developed by Atkinson in Oxford university in 1980s ‘Child in a grown man’s body’ (Atkinson)  He performed in front of French audience to see what would be the respond to the silent character

Intro to Mr. Bean  Mr. Bean lives in North London  He is employed in a national art gallery in London as a guard  Comedy is created through his efforts of problem solving and finding solutions to these problems as he performs everyday activities

Characters:  Mr. Bean  Car  Teddy  Irma Gob  Scrapper the one eyed cat

Mid term  Compare and contrast the ‘artistic effect’ created through silent and sound comedy films. Refer to Arnhiem’s chapter discussed this week and challenge or support his theory of film and reality through your analysis.

Sources  Rudolf Arnheim, From ‘Film as Art’ Film and Reality, pages  Walter Benjamin, ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Production’ pages    