Studying Silent Cinema Keaton booklet_compressed_watermark-3.pdf

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SILENT CINEMA:
BUSTER KEATON
Component 2: Global filmmaking perspectives
Section C: Film movements

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You will answer on a total of four of Keaton’s short films, namely ONE WEEK (1920), THE
SCARECROW (1920), THE 'HIGH SIGN' (1921) and COPS (1922). It is expected that you will
reference at least two as a minimum in your response in the exam, however you should be aiming
to include analysis of three of the four short films if possible..
The focus for these questions is on the following core areas:
•the key elements of film form – cinematography (including lighting), editing, sound, mise-en-scène,
performance;
•meaning and response: how films function as both a medium of representation and as an aesthetic
medium and
•the contexts of film: social, cultural, political, historical and institutional, including production.
•CRITICAL DEBATES: The realist and the expressive. The opposition between the two, the realist
and the expressive, has informed thinking about film from the beginnings of cinema when the
documentary realism of the Lumière Brothers was set in opposition to the fantasy films of Méliès. This
Component will explore how the same films can be explored both as expressionist and realist.
A typical question for these films would be:
Discuss how far your chosen film or films reflect aesthetic qualities associated with a particular film
movement.
Elements of this question...
‘Discuss’ – this you need to be critical but exploratory in your answer: aim to find an answer or
viewpoint quickly and establish this at the start of your answer but also be mindful and
acknowledge other interpretations. This will allow you to then explore the idea in the question in
a cohesive and expressive manner.
‘how far’’ – this allows you the opportunity to offer a response that does not need to fully agree
or commit to a particular response, meaning you’re able to both acknowledge differ
‘aesthetic qualities’ – this refers to the visual look of the film, in this case, the relevant film form
that stands out as being significant or that creates meaning and that demonstrates a realist or
expressive style or ideology.
‘associated with’ – this is your link to the films you’ve studied: it opens the door to you selecting
the most useful and valuable films of the selection/collection we’ve explored and looked at that
will allows you to produce the best answer.
‘particular film movement’– again, here is an opportunity to select an approach, from silent
cinema in general, realist or expressionist, that suits your needs to create the best answer.
Section C: Film movements

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An advised approach
o Before you start, sketch out a plan for your argument and/or your ideological approach.
o Choose the most relevant scenes for the movement you’ve selected to respond to the question,
but ensure that they are ones that you know very well and can analyse and apply to your
ideological approach.
o Decide on a few points for each scene, shot or moment of the narrative that will show how your
chosen approach creates meaning and understanding. If you’re struggling for points then you’ve
picked the wrong scene.
o Get your points and chosen scenes into a good order. It might be that you look at the scenes in
the order they are in the film or you might build up to the most meaningful scene.
o Don’t start until you have a secure plan and a core argument because the great essay won’t
emerge as you’re writing it.
o Make sure that the response is persuasive. Whilst you’re not writing a ‘persuasive‘ essay, your
ideas need to stand out as being well-written, well-observed and well-researched; an original and
interesting argument will allow you to do this.
Some final tips
ü Name directors and their intentions, eg. Keaton shows us…
ü Smart students often remember the names of people other than the directo, in this case perhaps
artists whose work may be considered an influence. For example, Picasso’s Guernica displays…
(he was a cubist painter who used expressionist styles that Keaton arguably is influenced by).
ü Examiners like students who correctly use the technical terms, so ensure your knowledge of these
is flawless.
ü Refer to characters by their names, not the actor’s name and where they are the same, define this
early on in your essay.
ü Avoid using ‘you’. Eg. When you see this you think that … This is clumsy expression, refer to the
audience or we, when we see… etc.
ü It is perfectly acceptable to suggest meaning rather than insist that x means y. You are studying
complex films so verbs like suggest, implies and denotes are key to showing that this is your
interpretation and modal verbs like ‘could’ and ‘perhaps’ allow you to explore ideas without
trying to claim that your idea is definitive.
ü Make sure ideas are supported by relevant examples from your chosen scenes and films. Don’t
refer to a scene unless it helps to prove your point.
ü Re-read your work before submitting it. Any unclear idea is likely to be ignored by examiners,
they won’t spend time organising it for you or trying to guess what on earth you mean.
ü And finally…spelling and punctuation, even capital letters for names. Don’t let silly errors distract
from the work you are presenting.
Now, re-read this and refer to it for any practice essays and revision.
Finally, the focus of this section is on a range of key aspects of filmmaking and not just the role
and influence of the expressive and the realist. To this end, this also means that the areas listed
below will need to be considered, learned and studied, as any of these could be the focus of
an exam question.

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Area 1. The key elements of film form: cinematography, mise-en-scène, editing, sound and performance.
Area 2. Meaning and response: how film functions as both a medium of representation and as an aesthet
medium.
Area 3. The contexts of film: social, cultural, political, historical and institutional, including production.
AREA 1 - THE KEY ELEMENTS OF FILM FORM
CINEMATOGRAPHY, INCLUDING LIGHTING.
Camera shots including point of view shots, focus including depth of field, expressive and canted angle
shots, handheld camera in contrast to steadicam technology • composition, including balanced and
unbalanced shots.
Creative use of cinematography
• camerawork including subjective camera, shifts in focus and depth of field, mixed camera
styles, filters
• monochrome cinematography
• the principles of 3-point lighting including key, fill and backlighting and
• chiaroscuro lighting and other expressive lighting effects.
Conveying messages and values
• how shot selection relates to narrative development and conveys messages and values
• how lighting, including 3-point lighting, conveys character, atmosphere and messages and
values how cinematography, including lighting, provides psychological insight into character
• how all aspects of cinematography can generate multiple connotations and suggest a range of
interpretations
• how and why different spectators develop different interpretations of the same camera shots
and lighting
• how cinematography, including lighting, is used to align spectators and how that alignment
relates to spectator interpretation of narrative
• how cinematography, including lighting, contributes to the ideologies conveyed by a film.
Indication of an auteur approach and film aesthetic
• how cinematography including lighting can be indicative of an auteur approach (director or
cinematographer)
• how cinematography contributes to a film’s overall aesthetic.
• how cinematography including lighting can be indicative of an auteur approach (director or
cinematographer)
• how cinematography contributes to a film’s overall aesthetic.
MISE-EN-SCENE
Principal elements
• setting, props, costume and make-up
• staging, movement and off-screen space

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•how cinematography impacts on mise-en-scène, in particular through variation in depth of field,
focus and framing (a significant area of overlap with cinematography).
Creative use of mise-en-scène
• how mise-en-scène can be used both naturalistically and expressively
• how the principal elements of mise-en-scène can generate multiple connotations and suggest a
range of interpretations
• how changes in mise-en-scène contribute to character and narrative development.
• how mise-en-scène conveys messages and values
• how mise-en-scène, including setting, props, costume and make-up, can generate multiple
connotations and suggest a range of possible interpretations
• how staging, movement and off-screen space are significant in creating meaning and
generating response
• the significance of motifs used in mise-en-scène, including their patterned repetition
• how mise-en-scène is used to align spectators and how that alignment relates to spectator
interpretation of narrative
• how and why different spectators develop different interpretations of the same mise-enscène
• how mise-en-scène contributes to the ideologies conveyed by a film.
• how mise-en-scène can be indicative of an auteur approach (director or designer)
• how mise-en-scène contributes to a film’s overall aesthetic.
EDITING
Principal elements
• the shot to shot relationships of continuity editing including match editing, the 180° rule
• the role of editing in creating meaning, including the Kuleshov effect
• montage editing and stylised forms of editing including jump cuts.
Creative use of editing
• how editing implies relationships between characters and contributes to narrative development
including through editing motifs and their patterned repetition
• how the principal elements of editing can generate multiple connotations and suggest a range
of interpretations
• how visual effects created in post-production are used, including the way they are designed to
engage the spectator and create an emotional response
• the use of visual effects created in post-production including the tension between the
filmmaker's intention to create a particular emotional response and the spectator's actual
response.
• how editing conveys messages and values
• how editing is used to align the spectator and how that alignment relates to spectator
• how and why different spectators interpret the same editing effects differently
• how editing contributes to the ideologies conveyed by film.

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• how editing can be indicative of an auteur approach (director or editor)
• how editing contributes to a film’s overall aesthetic.
SOUND
Sound Principal elements
• vocal sounds (dialogue and narration), environmental sounds (ambient, sound effects, Foley),
music, silence
• diegetic or non-diegetic sound
• parallel and contrapuntal sound and the distinction between them
• multitrack sound mixing and layering, asynchronous sound, sound design.
Creative use of sound
• how sound is used expressively
• how sound relates to characters and narrative development including the use of sound motifs.
• how sound conveys messages and values
• how the principal elements of sound can generate multiple connotations and suggest a range
of interpretations
• how sound is used to align the spectator and how that alignment relates to spectator
• how and why different spectators interpret the same use of sound differently
• how sound contributes to the ideologies conveyed by film.
• how sound can be indicative of an auteur approach (director or sound designer)
• how sound contributes to a film’s overall aesthetic.
• how sound can be indicative of an auteur approach (director or sound designer)
• how sound contributes to a film’s overall aesthetic.
PERFORMANCE
Principal elements
• the use of non-verbal communication including physical expression and vocal delivery
• the significance of the interaction between actors
• performance styles in cinema including method and improvisatory styles
• the significance of casting.
Performance as a creative collaboration
• the role of directing as a 'choreography' of stage movement
• the relationship between performance and cinematography.
• how performance conveys messages and values
• how performance is used to align the spectator and how that alignment relates to spectator
• how and why different spectators interpret the same performance differently
• how performance contributes to the ideologies conveyed by film.
• how performance can be indicative of an auteur approach (director or performer)
• how performance and choreography contributes to a film overall

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AREA 2 – MEANING AND RESPONSE
In making sense of film, learners explore how film functions as both a medium of representation
and as an aesthetic medium.
Learners study the following in relation to film as a medium of representation:
• how film creates meaning and generates response through cinematography, mise-enscène,
editing, sound and performance (including staging and direction)
• how all aspects of film form including narrative contribute to the representations of cultures and
societies (gender, ethnicity and age), including the ideological nature of those representations
Learners study the following in relation to film as an aesthetic medium:
• the role of mise-en-scène, cinematography including lighting, composition and framing in
creating aesthetic effects in specific film sequences
• the role of music and editing in conjunction with the above in creating aesthetic effects
• the significance of the aesthetic dimension in film including the potential conflict between
spectacle and the drive towards narrative resolution in film
• the aesthetic qualities of specific films and the concept of film aesthetics
• film aesthetics, approached critically, including the relationship between film aesthetics and the
auteur as well as film aesthetics and ideology.
AREA 3 - THE CONTEXTS OF FILM
Films are shaped by the contexts in which they are produced. They can therefore be understood in
more depth by placing them within two important contextual frames. The first involves considering
the broader contexts of a film at the time when it was produced – its social, cultural and political
contexts, either current or historical. The second involves a consideration of a film’s institutional
context, including the important contextual factors affecting production such as finance and
available technology.
Learners study the following:
• Social, cultural, political contexts (either current or historical)
• social factors surrounding a film's production such as debates about ethnicity or gender
• cultural factors surrounding a film's production such as a significant film or artistic movement
• political factors surrounding a film's production such as the imposition of restrictions on
freedom of expression or a major movement for political change.
Institutional, including production, context
• relevant institutional aspects of a film's production
• key features of the production process including financial and technological opportunities and
constraints.

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Regarded as one of the finest comedic actors of all time, Buster Keaton is perhaps only rivalled
by Charlie Chaplin as having had a greater impact on physical comedy. Keaton's work was
mostly forgotten for many years, much like the works of many other notable silent-era actors.
There was a resurgence of interest in his films only toward the end of his life and allowed cinema
fans and academics alike to appreciate that Keaton was one of the most accomplished and
forward-thinking artists of his day. He produced fourteen significant silent features in addition to
scores of short films, demonstrating his acrobatic skill and psychological insight in all of them.
Whilst Keaton’s name and his films did show a resurgence after his death, to this day the silent
era is still largely ignored and under-appreciated. Given the era’s significance in developing and
establishing the rules of modern cinema in the West, there maintains an almost arrogant dismissal
of the movement because of the lack of audio. However, this is worthy of study: with no sound,
how did performers and directors make meaning and how did audiences derive this meaning?
From here we can see the relevance and importance to the study of the artform: by experiencing
an analysing the silent era we can fully appreciate how cinema itself reaches and aims to affect
audiences.
In the space of less than forty years cinema went from its very early ‘pre-history’ of single shot
short films, novelty items played in fair grounds and music halls into full features, with distinctive
styles and film movements, film stars and studio systems based on industrial practices. Until
Warner Bros released THE JAZZ SINGER (Crosland, 1927) the first ever film to feature
synchronized sound, all cinema was silent. This period of silent film was a period of great
invention and experimentation a period where a lot of what we now regard as standard
filmmaking practice took shape.
Of significance too are the events surrounding silent cinema: the word saw enormous change and
development between the turn of the century and the first 3 decades, so as with any cinema, the
silent era brings with it the opportunity to explore how context both influences and reflects upon
the films of the period. For this reason then, studying the silent era allows us to appreciate what
was happening in the world at that time and why it has significance for us today.
Buster Keaton is considered one of the greatest
comic actors of all time. His influence on
physical comedy is rivalled only by Charlie
Chaplin. Like many of the great actors of the
silent era, Keaton’s work was cast into near
obscurity for many years. Only toward the end
of his life was there a renewed interest in his
films. An acrobatically skilful and
psychologically insightful actor, Keaton made
dozens of short films and fourteen major silent
features, attesting to one of the most talented
and innovative artists of his time. PBS American
Masters
RATIONALE: Why study silent cinema?

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When studying silent cinema, we will examine the key elements of film form: cinematography,
mise-en-scène, editing, sound and performance how film functions as both a medium of
representation and as an aesthetic medium. The contexts of film: social, cultural, political,
historical and institutional, including production. We will also in addition to these areas look at
the debates between realism and expressionism and how these distinctions in film form took
shape during the early days of cinematic history.
‘In its fourth decade, the cinema was no longer a novelty art form: it was ready
to reach for greatness. The 20s saw plenty of the experimentation that had filled
the 1900s and 10s, but also a growing refinement of cinema’s universal
language: sophistication in camera and editing technique, more naturalistic
performances, increasing narrative ambition. The films made in the 20s look like
the best of what we watch today, with one quiet difference…The 1920s is the
first era in which America dominated the global film market, newly centred in
Hollywood, developing a studios-and-stars system that would flourish for
decades to come. Slapstick comedians exploited fattened budgets to transform
their gag routines into feature-length classics infused with emotion, beginning
with Chaplin’s The Kid in 1921 (though The Circus is my personal favourite),
through to Buster Keaton’s deadly civil war chase The General and Harold
Lloyd’s show-stopping climb in Safety Last!’
Pamela Hutchinson, The Guardian, April 4th
, 2018.

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Although there continues to be a debate around exactly who, when or
where the first ever camera was invented, George Eastman is recognised
as the pioneer of photographic film manufacturing the first piece of film in
1885 which was originally made out of paper then made out of celluloid.
In 1888 Eastman also created the first ever single lens camera for
commercial sale called the ‘Kodack’ in 1889 although the Thomas Edison
company had already painted the designs for a similar device that
recorded the images on to a cylinder (similar to how music was recorded
at the time) also in 1889. Whereas in France Louis Le Prince had already submitted a patient for a
photographic device that used a perforated roll of film in January of the same year.
While we can’t say who invented the first camera we do know
for definite that moving image photography arrives during the
late 1800’s and that the oldest surviving piece of film footage,
Roundhay Garden Scene, Le Prince dates back to 1888. Le
Prince’s first film lasts less than three minutes and is the earliest
example of what Lumiere brothers would later refer to as
moving photographs. Le Prince went on to design a 16-lens
camera that also doubled up as a projector which he took on a promotional tour of the USA in
1890 during which he mysteriously disappeared and was never seen or heard of again.
Most film historians identify the Lumiere Brothers screening in Paris in 1895 as the first ever
programme of films to be exhibited to an audience. The programme included ten films all under 60
seconds. Most of the films included short single shot pieces that documented such things as workers
leaving the Lumiere factory in Lyon, a blacksmith at work, street and domestic scenes (one film
REPAS DE BÉBÉ featured a baby eating breakfast) all shot from real life or actualities as the
Lumiere’s referred to them arguably the first examples documentary.
Another film that appears on the Lumiere’s programme at the Grand
Café in December of 1885 was LE JARDINIER (L'ARROSEUR
ARROSÉ) ("The Gardener", or "The Sprinkler Sprinkled"). This film is
possibly the first ever piece of narrative cinema
in that although it is only one shot and 46
seconds long it presents a visual practical joke
and is an early example of slapstick comedy.
It is during one of these programs where the
Lumiere’s first exhibited their film ARRIVAL OF A
TRAIN AT LA CIOTAT which is said to repel in
shock at the seemingly imminent crash of the
train through the screen, due to the positioning of the camera and
direction of travel of the train.
SILENT CINEMA - HISTORY AND CONTEXT

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TASK: Watch (in chronological order) the silent films above and for each, make notes on your
general reactions, considering how the films develop over the years.
THE GARDENER (Auguste and Louis Lumière,1886)
THE MILLER AND SWEEP
(George Albert Smith, 1897)
THE MANOR OF THE DEVIL (Georges Méliès, 1896)
THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (Edwin S. Porter,1903)
THE DENTIST (Charlie Chaplin, 1914)
TASK 2:
In the case of each film note down how many;
Different types of camera shots occur in each
Different types of camera movements occur in each
How are they edited to present cohesion and narrative?
What elements of an emerging film language can you identify from watching these in sequence?

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As we can see on the previous pages, innovation in filmmaking was rapid and meaningful. In just 15
years film went from being a 30-second-long carnival curio depicting brief slices of life, to 13 minute-
long narrative shorts with parallel action and a range of new, innovative filmmaking techniques. This
evolution was not just due to a few people though, rather it was a collaborative effort that took place
all over the world, with filmmakers from the United States, Britain, France, and beyond coming
together to, somewhat unknowingly, forge a universal visual language for cinema that endures to this
day.
In America in the early 1900s, Edwin S. Porter made significant strides with
films like THE LIFE OF AN AMERICAN FIREMAN (1902) and THE GREAT
TRAIN ROBBERY (1903). These works pioneered techniques like continuity
editing and cross-cutting. In THE LIFE OF AN AMERICAN FIREMAN, Porter
blended interior and exterior shots to depict the rescue of a family by a
firefighter, showcasing one of the earliest instances of continuity editing.
On the British front, George Albert Smith is often acknowledged for employing perhaps the first use of
a close-up shot in his 1900 film GRANDMA’S READING GLASS. He also introduced the concept of
focus pulling in another 1900 production, LET ME DREAM AGAIN. Smith, along with his compatriot
Robert Paul, explored the art of constructing films by editing together
various shots. Paul, in fact, had been experimenting with editing as far
back as 1898 and this group of English filmmakers, collectively known
as the Brighton School, included luminaries like Cecil Hepworth and
James Williamson, who made names for themselves by advancing
narrative through editing techniques.
It was Hepworth's 1905 film, RESCUED BY ROVER, that depicted a gripping story of a family dog
saving a kidnapped baby that marked a significant leap in using edited sequences of shots to weave
narratives. The film incorporated many techniques that were innovative and recognised today even in
modern filmmaking, such as cross-cutting, tracking shots, panning shots, long takes, and matching
actions from shot to shot. These were all done in service of the narrative to infuse drama and dynamism
into the storytelling.
Meanwhile, over in France the prolific French filmmaker Georges Méliès
was relentlessly revolutionising the industry. Méliès experimented with
techniques such as dissolves, split screens, time-lapse photography, and
superimposed images. His fantastical films, characterised by intricate
mise-en-scène, transported audiences to otherworldly realms,
demonstrating the boundless potential of cinema to transcend reality.
These were most prominently displayed in his renowned work LE
VOYAGE DANS LA LUNE in 1902.
Simultaneously, other European filmmakers were experimenting with longer, feature-length films. These
productions often revolved around literary or historical narratives, aiming to lend an air of
"respectability" and gravitas to film, aiming to appeal to the middle classes. Noteworthy examples
DEVELOPING AND EXPERIMENTING WITH FILM FORM

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included Louis Mercanton's QUEEN ELIZABETH (1912), Giovanni Pastrone's THE FALL OF TROY
(1913) and CABIRIA (1914), and Enrico Guazzoni's QUO VADIS? (1913).
Another pioneering filmmaker, and one often overlooked, was Alice
Guy-Blaché, also from France. She was a trailblazer in the realm of
narrative filmmaking after being inspired by early actualités by the
Lumière Brothers but was convinced that film could be a vehicle for
storytelling, not just capturing real events. In 1896, she crafted her first
narrative film, LA FÉE AUX CHOUX (The Fairy of the Cabbages) and she
was eventually the head of production at French studio Gaumont, one of
the era's giants, where she continually refined and expanded the
possibilities of narrative filmmaking. Her credits include THE LIFE OF
CHRIST, a grand historical narrative film completed in 1906.
Finally, perhaps one of the most influential and indeed controversial filmmakers
of the age (or perhaps any), was D.W Griffith. Building upon the narrative,
cinematographic, mise-en-scène, and editing innovations of figures like Porter,
Guy, the Brighton School filmmakers, and Méliès, American filmmaker Griffith
played a pivotal role in refining and consolidating these cinematic conventions
into films that are widely recognised today as creating prototypes of modern
feature-length films. Griffith championed techniques such as close-ups, initial wide
shots to establish locations, cutting on action, and cross-cutting to sustain narrative
dynamism, tension, and suspense. Most notably, he championed a more
naturalistic style of performance, breaking
away from the exaggerated vaudevillian style that had prevailed
until then. Inspired by the longer narrative films from France and
Italy, such as those by Mercanton, Pastrone, and Guazzoni,
Griffith’s productions, backed by substantial budgets and
characterised by meticulous mise-en-scène, included epics like
BIRTH OF A NATION (1915) and INTOLERANCE (1916). These
colossal undertakings, lasting over three hours, featured
expansive casts, including thousands of extras, and pushed the
boundaries of realism and attention to detail in mise-en-scène.
BIRTH OF A NATION, widely regarded as one of the most
influential silent films of all time, is also notable for its positive portal of the Ku Klux Klan and its
depiction of slavery as being benign. The film lead to riots in some more northern states in the US but
was praised by others, leading to a chaotic reception that rightly lingers to this day. In 1919 he
founded United Artists together with Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks to try and
create a studio based on allowing actors to control their own interests rather than being dependent
upon traditionally commercial studios.
RESEARCH TASK:
Watch one of the films mentioned in the text above. Make notes on how the film communicates
ideas without the use of sound.

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When THE JAZZ SINGER arrived in 1927, it changed the world
forever. Whilst the recording of sound was something that had
been achievable since the 1870s, recording sound to be in
synchronisation with moving images had been a significant
technological barrier. When Warner Brothers managed to
successfully synchronise the images being recorded or played
back to a turntable physically coupled to the projector motor,
they knew they had something significant on their hands. This
system, which they called Vitaphone, was first introduced with
short films in 1925 and went on to be used in over 1000 short
films and was used for the first feature film, THE JAZZ SINGER, in 1927. However, this didn’t suddenly
mean that the process was simple: actors had to be close to microphones, had to talk directly into
microphones, could barely move when performing and generally had to avoid mistakes to avoid trying
to re-record the sound. The physical recording and record-making process involved a machine cutting a
groove into a slab of wax-like material that span on a turntable. When played back in correctly-
equipped theatres, the turntable that heled the recoding was physically attached via an interlocked
mechanism to a projector that was fixed to a playback speed of 24 frames per second. The sound was
then played back through an amplifier; and a loudspeaker system, whereby the projectionist would be
careful to place the phonograph needle at a point indicated by an arrow scribed on the record's
surface. When the projector was started, it rotated the linked turntable and thereby automatically kept
the record "in sync".
Given the relatively rudimentary set-up needed for Vitaphone films,
the vast majority of films by the end of the 1930s were “talkies”.
However, the use of sound was initially seen as crude and a “blunt
instrument” that devalued the creative talents and innovation needed
to communicate without using sound. Some critics even felt that film
as a visual art form was being devalued and would take a creative
step backwards - we see in the work of Keaton et al, that those who
worked without sound had to be especially creative and vivid in their use of imagery. For years after
the introduction of sound filmmakers continued to make silent films, and ultimately some actors and
filmmakers struggled to transition to the new format and way of working. Keaton arguably falls into this
category-his very best work was ‘silent’ in its production and perhaps best serviced by the types of
comedy films that relied on physical stunts and strong visual imagery. It’s also true to say however, that
the era of sound coincided with Keaton reaching a much older age, with most commercially successful
films being feature length (unlike Keaton’s best work which were mostly of the shorter length) and a
film industry increasingly obsessed with profits driven often by young, attractive “movie stars”.
THE INTRODUCTION OF SOUND AND
THE END OF SILENT CINEMA

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Until the arrival of sound in 1927 silent cinema, through a constant process of invention and
experimentation, was able to create a sophisticated style of communication forming what we now
regard as the principles of film language and grammar.
Innovators such as Porter and Hepworth using the camera shot as the principle building block of
cinematic story telling were able to construct narrative and meaning through editing. Through the use
of match on action, crossing cutting and shot reverse shot, a continuity style emerges very early on in
the history of cinema. Due in part to its ability to convey narrative and involve the spectator in the
action this style becomes a dominant style particularly in the newly emerging American film industry.
As all cinema was without sound, language did not provide a barrier to accessing audiences and
neither ‘Hollywood’ nor English as a language held anyway near as dominant position as they were
to in later decades.
Up until the outbreak of WW1 in 1914 when European film making would be seriously disrupted and
the post war Dawes plan effectively destroyed Germany’s ability to export its films, Europe was the
mayor centre for production and creativity. Pathe, a French film company was the largest film studio
in the world and is credited as making the first ever newsreels, factual news programmes that would
appear before the main feature. Other European countries had similarly vibrant and experimental
film industries, Germany and Russia in particular were to form arguably the world’s first artistic
movements in film respectively expressionism and montage.
RESEARCH TASK:
Define the following terms:
Expressionism
Realism
Surrealism
SILENT CINEMA – HISTORICAL, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT

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German expressionism began in the 1900’s as
movement in art, illustration and graphic design
reflected the country at a moment of cultural
change. Early expressionist arts include Kandinsky,
Kirchner and Max Beckmann.
Expressionism is mainly concerned with the expression of
internal thoughts and feeling and forgoes any intentional
replication of reality in art and is typified by simplistic shape, bold colours and broad gestural
brushstrokes.
Expressionistic cinema came slightly later after the events of WW1 (1914-1918) and expressed the
emotional trauma of the experience of conflict. After the Great War, Germany was isolated from the
rest of the world. Foreign films were banned in Germany and in turn this increased the demand for
more domestic films. Due to the isolation, German Expressionism flourished and peaked in the early
1920s, eventually becoming an internationally recognised film
movement that would, for decades, become incredibly influential.
The typical features and overall aesthetic of German Expressionism in
film and especially cinematography, was born out of the larger
Expressionist movement that had existed in the first decades of the
20th century throughout Germany and Austria. The Expressionist
movement is known for its birth of a “renaissance in the graphic arts”
with artists living in Germany during this time beginning to focus their
craft on graphic art, especially in the form of printmaking.
This style was borne out of the Expressionists seeking to assert their feelings of “dissatisfaction with
the existing order, and [their] desire to effect revolutionary change.” They did
this by using the visual arts to create a look into the emotional and
psychological state of people, culture and the country as a direct result of the
trauma of the 1st
World War, through the use of distorted images and irregular
shapes. In this way, the Expressionist sought to bring the human subconscious
to view without the use of literal symbols, aiming to spark an emotional reaction
to the art.
As the Expressionist movement grew, it began to move beyond printed materials into theater and
literature, and eventually into the world of film and the aesthetic of film using cinematography. The
same distorted imagery and irregularities made their way into German films for the same reasons: to
elicit an emotional connection between the film and the audience’s subconscious and this is perhaps
best typified in a range of films early in the movement.
One of the most famous examples of German Expressionism and perhaps one of the most influential
films of all time, THE CABINET OF DR CALIGARI (1920) was written by Hans Janowitz and Carl
GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM

17
Mayer and based on the writers' experiences as WWI soldiers. As a result of their distrust of
authoritarian leadership, the filmmakers chose to deliberately distort reality, exaggerate imagery and
play with the expression of emotions of the film. This was done in part to disorient the audience to
invoke a feeling of the distrust and distortion, a somewhat radical move given that traditionally film
had sought to offer a truthful or realistic depiction of place, time and people. With THE CABINET OF
DR CALIGARI however, the nature of the story meant that for the filmmakers, a much more
expressionist approach was needed. With the protagonist of the film, Francis eventually revealed in a
twist ending as being an asylum inmate and the others in his stories being either, patients or the asylum
director, a complex and thematically rich film is perhaps not easily explored in a realist manner.
Indeed, given the nature of the “dual worlds” in the film, it made sense for one to look radically
different, and the ‘flashback’ setting of Holstenwall looks significantly different. Of course, the
aesthetics of the film are also developed because the film, according to some academics, reflects the
subconscious need in Germany for a tyrant, and the film therefore features an example of Germany's
obedience to authority no matter how desperate the need is. Others have interpreted Caligari as
representing the German war government, with Cesare symbolic of the common man, like soldiers who
had been conditioned to kill. Other themes of the film include the destabilized contrast between
insanity and sanity, the subjective perception of reality, and the duality of human nature. As a result,
the stark, oppressive and aggressive imagery is especially striking and significant and for the time
would have been a viscerally jarring look. Despite being made and released in isolationist Germany,
by 1919 foreign film industries were easing restrictions on the import of German films following World
War I, so it was screened internationally meaning that THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI became a
revolutionary, highly influential film which has been referred to as the first horror film, the template for
all thrillers and latterly, a direct descendent for Film Noir.
NOSFERATU (1922), is another highly influential n unauthorized
adaptation of the novel Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker. Given that
the Expressionists were deeply interested in the emotion of horror,
director F.W. Murnau and screenplay writer Henrik Galeen employed
similar ideas in their film, exploring the themes of the Dracula story
through visual ideas. A core aspect and theme was the darkness at
the heart of the story, both literal and metaphorical, meaning that the
cinematography of the film needed to bring more attention to
darkness than light, with most shots containing low-key lighting effects.
One of the most iconic shots of Nosferatu is one with the shadow of
the vampire, played by Max Schreck, walking up a staircase. This shot is very limited in detail, yet invokes a
response of fear and horror with the darkness of the shadows being a direct symbol for the evil nature of the
vampire as well as the relative secretive nature of his life.

18
By the late 1920s, the Expressionist movement was beginning to wane in Europe, in part due to the rising
tensions after the First World War. The German artists were beginning to be overshadowed by the rise of the
Nazi Party, and some decided to relocate before the Nazis gained complete control. The rising power of
Hollywood in the United States coerced most of the German filmmakers to emigrate to larger United States
cities. The type of cinematography that the German Expressionists brought from overseas was beginning to find
a new home in Hollywood films, and the foundation for Film Noir was beginning to take shape.
As more and more German filmmakers found a new home in
the United States, the more their
influences on
Hollywood
began to show.
Among the
relocated
filmmakers who
left a significant
mark was Fritz Lang. Lang had enormous success in Germany,
utilizing the techniques taught by the German Expressionists. The
most famous films Lang directed during his time in Germany
included METROPOLIS (1927) and his first “talking”
film M (1931). M, which many consider Lang’s masterpiece, has many elements in its style and plot that
would later serve to define Film Noir as a genre. M is a film about a child murderer named Hans Beckert
(Peter Lorre), and the hunt to find him by both police forces and the criminal underworld. As with most Film
Noir films, the plot was centered around criminals in a positive light – an idea that was only beginning to be
accepted by audiences the world over. Lang would soon leave Germany after Hitler’s rise to power in 1933,
due to his Jewish heritage. He spent a small amount of time in Paris before eventually leaving Europe
completely for the United States. Lang joined MGM studios and directed numerous films over the next couple
of decades, and many of his films are recognized as being the first of Film Noir.
TASK 1: Watch the following and make notes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6XDyth0qxc
TASK 2: Create your own summary of German Expressionism, featuring:
What it is, what influenced it, where was it seen before it seen in films, in art what features
typified German Expressionism and what was the aim or purpose of it?
TASK 3: In terms of film, what aesthetic qualities is German Expressionism typified by? Make a bullet
pointed list of at LEAST 5 features that typify the aesthetic.

19
Overall, German Expressionism is a style or aesthetic the German film critic Lotti Eisner called
Helldunkel “a sort of twilight of the German soul, expressing itself in shadowy, enigmatic interiors, or
in misty, insubstantial landscapes”. The influence of German expressionist cinema can be seen
in film noir and across the horror and thriller genres even now.
RESEARCH TASK :
Go to You Tube and look for a scene from both;
THE CABINET OF DR CALIGARI (Robert Wiene,1920)
NOSFERATU (F.W. Murnau,1922)
Do any of the clips you have watched remind you of other films you may have seen? Can you
identify any way in which these films may have influenced modern film genres or contemporary
film makers?

20
The word ‘montage’ is rooted in the French language. In
film, it’s a term to describe the connection of individual shots
into a cohesive whole. A key component of cinema,
montage was a major component of Soviet cinema and in
many cases it was Russian film makers who formalised
editing techniques and styles. To understand how this came
to be, we need to look at how these formalised techniques
and the Russian formalists came to this point, considering the industry at large.
In 1896, the Lumiere Brothers brought their new cinematograph
contraption to Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia. They were
travelling and showing off some of the first motion pictures ever
made and as they did, wowed audiences with their ‘moving image
shows’. In that same month Russia’s first motion picture was
exhibited: the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II at the Kremlin. Just 20
years later, when Nicholas’ reign ended and the Bolsheviks took
control after the October Revolution, the Russian film industry was producing over a hundred films
a year. The Bolsheviks were keen proponents of propaganda, and were quick to realize the power
of cinema as another propaganda tool, and from this, a post-imperial” cinema was born. Given
the political and fervent nature of revolution as a whole, and the dramatic nature of The Russian
revolution of 1917, it inspired and threw up a new generation of artists and even more
dramatically, new art forms and styles.
Constructivism was one such style. It sought to abolish the
traditional artistic concern with composition and replace it
with 'construction', hoping to focus the viewer on the
nature of the formalised process of how it was created.
This style was quickly adopted as a style that people
believed could create an art form that could serve the
people of the new socialist state.
Soon after the revolution and in part as a result of the
Bolshevik’s propaganda machine, The Moscow Film School or VGIK was founded in 1919. One of
the foremost professors at the School was Lev Kuleshov, who had begun experimenting with new
ways of editing film by 1920.
Whilst the practices of continuity editing had become an established
practice in cinema as early as the 1920’s, not all film makers agreed
with the principles of continuity. Still using the camera shot as their
building block in Russia Soviet montage rejected in its entirety
continuity editing.
SOVIET MONTAGE THEORY

21
In 1923, Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks usurped control of the
Russian government. What followed was a period of radical change,
both socially and economically. Consequently, at this time it was
incredibly difficult to find film stock in Russia, so instead, the people
were left to study the existing film stock that was already in the country
rather than creating films using new film stock.
Kuleshov, along with his students, explored the process of film editing
rigorously. During his professorship, Kuleshov released a short film that
would go on to become the foundation of Soviet Montage Theory.
The artists and film makers producing these works were hoping to define “Soviet art and soviet
film” as something distinct from that produced by capitalism. Early soviet film makers had rejected
Hollywood’s practice of continuity editing as being bourgeois in nature. Due to its unambiguous
and effectively invisible character, continuity editing they felt acted in such a way as to fake reality.
The true nature of capitalism is that of an exploitative relationship between the proletariat and
those who own the means of production the bourgeois. This resulting struggle around ownership of
the means of production gives rise to a conflict between classes. This notion of conflicting forces is
central to understanding Soviet montage styles. At the
centre of Montage is the collision of elements: shots
should not be seen as linked, but rather as conflicting
with one another. The spectator can create a new
concept in her or his mind realising the conflict
between elements. The objective is to stir the audience
to political consciousness through pictorial
associations.
As Kuleshov and his begun to essentially re-edit
pre-revolution Russian films as part of their
experiments, they began to then ideologically
rid them of the bourgeoisie messages of the
past. As a result, Kuleshov developed one of
the most important concepts in montage theory;
this came to be known as the “Kuleshov
effect.” Kuleshov cut together several identical
shots of an actor named Ivan Mozzhukhin with
different shots including those of a bowl of
soup, a dead child, and a beautiful woman. Although the shot of Ivan is the same, over and
over, his expression seems to change because of the image following it.
This proved to Kuleshov that in cinema, it is the way images relate to each other that creates meaning—not
the images themselves. This concept is one of the most important pillars of filmmaking. It is very natural for
audiences to relate two sequential images to each other to create anything from an ideological meaning to
even a comedic effect. From this, Kuleshov, and one of his star pupils, Sergei Eisentsein, developed and
formalised a range of montage types, beginning with Intellectual Montage, where the editing together of

22
clips to create an intellectual or ideological meaning. This is seen in the Kuleshov Effect, as outlined above,
but also in this clip from The Godfather (which itself is an example of parallel editing) – Intellectual
Montage – The Godfather (1972) https://youtu.be/aipxWaOaJ0k
The next type of editing was the Metric Montage, in which a film is cut per frame. Inspired by the pacing of
a musical score, AKA the meter, this montage style is used to create a visual pace within a film scene by
cutting to the next shot after a finite number of frames no matter what is happening on screen. In more
modern terms, this is sometimes known as “cutting to the beat” but is often not quite as dramatic and as
clear as this in the traditional sense which was much less about cutting to a sound, but perhaps cutting close
to a ‘feeling’ of pace-when does it make sense to cut-perhaps when the pace you’re trying to convey
demands it. This is a very modern approach to editing, with actions films often using this style of montage.
METRIC MONTAGE https://youtu.be/ya56lFPzmzM
Next is the rhythmic montage. If the Metric Montage is used to establish a visual pace, then the Rhythmic
Montage is used to keep to the pace, in both a visual and auditory sense. This clip from WHIPLASH is a
great example, as each shot keeps to the pace of the music, which ultimately creates an engrossing
continuity that also emphasises the music and the feeling generated from it.
Whiplash Amazing Final Performance (Caravan) (Part 1) | Whiplash (2014) | 1080p HD
https://youtu.be/ZZY-Ytrw2co
Then there is tonal montage, where the use of two or more shots that support one another and build a
theme, quite to the opposite effect of the Intellectual Montage. As the name implies, the Tonal Montage
helps to establish the tone or feeling of a scene through editing shots together that have the same thematic
aim or message. Here's a video essay on Parasite's montage; Director Bong Joon-ho crafts a scene which
skillfully weaves integral themes of social inequality, deception, and infiltration.
Parasite’s Perfect Montage https://youtu.be/ma1rD2OP85c
Finally is the overtonal montage. This is essentially an amalgamation of the four other types of montages:
Intellectual, Metric, Rhythmic and Tonal. Perhaps the most famous scene of the Soviet Montage Theory is
that of the Odessa Steps in BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN. This scene makes use of all four types of Montage
filmmaking to expert effect in attempting to draw reaction from the audience. One of the most enduring
images, perhaps in all of cinema, is that of the baby in the pram falling down a flight of stairs. It’s used here
as an example of Intellectual Montage as it uses the tragic circumstances to evoke an emotional response
from the audience.
1925: How Sergei Eisenstein Used Montage To Film The Unfilmable https://youtu.be/g5WbeoP_B8E

23
After WW1 America entered a post war economic boom that
continued into the 1920s until the stock market crash of 1929 led
to the great depression.
America’s involvement in WW1 had elevated it to that of world
power and in the years between the end of the war and the
great crash of ’29 the American economy would grow by 42%.
This rapid economic growth was formed out of manufacturing
that had resulted from technological innovations and new
‘Fordist’ industrial practices. The resulting increased demand for
labour saw mass migrations from rural areas and for the first time ever the majority of Americans now
lived in cities. Many those migrating workers were African Americans from the southern States moving
north to cities such as New York and Chicago the effect of which was to change the ethnic composition
and culture of these cities for ever.
In this period household income doubled and the ability to market
goods nationally had led to the birth of consumer society. The cost
of previously luxury goods such as cars fell dramatically by the mid
1920’s the cost of a Ford model T was around $250 with auto
industry producing on average one car every ten seconds. Wages
increased as did spending and leisure time, it is estimated that by
the end of the 1920’s 75% of the US population went to the
cinema once a week, approximately 90 million people. Perhaps
most remarkably, American cinema was arguably only 20 years
old at this point, and had been the global leader for less than a decade.
Until the middle of the 1910s the American film industry didn’t hold the dominant position it would Until
the mid-1910s, the American film industry did not hold the dominant position it would later achieve.
Europe, both creatively and financially, was arguably the epicenter of the film industry. French company
Pathé stood as the world's largest producer and distributor of films. The American film market was
primarily under the sway of Thomas Edison, who was resolute in preserving his dominance.
During this period, film exhibition transitioned from improvised temporary "cinemas" to more permanent
venues, often hastily converted shops or other modest structures. These rudimentary theaters earned the
moniker "nickelodeons" due to their 5-cent (a single nickel) admission fee. Many nickelodeons, apart
from screening films, even produced their own. Cinema was demonstrating its potential for substantial
profits, yet these nickelodeons operated without regulations, often employing patented equipment
without authorization for both filming and projecting movies. Many also screened films without
compensating their creators.
To address these issues, Edison collaborated with the two other major American film companies at the
time, Biograph and Vitagraph, as well as prominent players in European film, including Pathé, to
establish the Motion Pictures Patents Company (MPPC) aimed at safeguarding their commercial interests.
The MPPC utilized their collective influence to compel Kodak, the sole supplier of film stock in America at
AMERICAN FILM INDUSTRY & HOLLYWOOD

24
that time, to exclusively provide film stock to their members, effectively granting them a monopoly over
film production and distribution, squeezing out nearly all potential competitors.
Originally, the American film industry was centered in New York, but it began migrating to the Los
Angeles suburb of Hollywood in the early 1910s. Part of this shift can be attributed to independent film
production companies seeking distance from the New York offices of the Motion Pictures Patents
Company. However, other factors played significant roles, including the consistently sunny Californian
weather, the availability of diverse locations (coastal areas, deserts, mountains, forests, etc.), and the
affordability of land for building studios.
In the industry's early days, numerous film production companies thrived, including those previously
mentioned like Edison Studios/Thomas A. Edison Studios, Biograph, and Vitagraph, among others such
as Independent Moving Pictures (IMP), Champion, Rex, Lux, and Nestor. As the 1910s progressed, a
process of consolidation ensued as smaller studios and production companies were acquired by larger
entities, eventually culminating in the formation of major film studios such as United Artists, MGM,
Warner Brothers, Universal, Fox, Paramount Pictures, and Columbia.
Not everybody felt comfortable with the rapid pace of change.
For those who remained on the land life was incredibly hard
over production during the war years had left a glut of cotton
and wheat which resulted in a collapse in prices and
widespread rural poverty. The division between city and
country, fears about immigration, the pace of change, the
reforming of the Ku Klux Klan and prohibition (making the sale
of alcohol illegal) led to what some historians have referred to
as the culture wars of the 1920’s.
During its early period Hollywood didn’t really have any time for film stars: anonymous actors were
cheaper to employ but they soon realised the potential draw the film stars and began to use known
performers in their marketing.
However, that’s not to say that there were no stars of the
silent era. Whist Charlie Chaplin warm and perhaps still is,
the most significant, the likes of Buster Keaton Mary
Pickford, Greta Garbo, Harold Llyod, Douglas Fairbanks,
Lilian Gish, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle and Laurel and Hardy
were all household names, amongst others, in America in
the 1910-30s.
TASK: Complete research on the actors below and for each add a summary which touches on where
and when they were especially famous, ideally included references as to why, or what they were
known for.

25
Greta Garbo, is regarded as one of the greatest of all time & was known for her
melancholic, sombre person. This was reflected in many of her roles which were
often of tragic characters. In the silent era she was known for her subtle and
understated performances and in the era of the talkies she became even more
successful. She made one film in her native Sweden and a second in Germany
before coming to Hollywood. The camera loved her, and she made 10 silent
films in five years, the greatest being Flesh and the Devil (1926).
Harold Lloyd,
Douglas Fairbanks,
Lillian Gish,
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy,

26
TASK: Now complete your own initial research on Buster Keaton ahead of further work on
him later on.
Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle,
Mary Pickford, pioneer in the American film industry, (though was actually
Candian), she co-founded Pickford–Fairbanks Studios and United Artists, AND
was one of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Referred to as "America's Sweetheart" during the silent film era, and the "girl
with the curls". She was one of the earliest stars to be billed under her own name
and was one of the most popular actresses of the 1910s and 1920s, earning the
nickname "Queen of the Movies", pioneering the role of the ingénue, someone
who is generally a girl or a young woman, and is endearingly innocent.
Charlie Chaplin, was the stage name of Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. was an English
comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who became a worldwide icon through his screen
persona, the Tramp, and is considered one of the film industry's most important figures.
His career spanned more than 75 years, from childhood in the Victorian era until a year
before his death in 1977, and encompassed both adulation and controversy. Chaplin
began performing at an early age, touring music halls and later working as a stage actor
and comedian. He directed his own films and continued to hone his craft and by 1918,
he was one of the world's best-known figures. In 1919, Chaplin co-founded distribution
company United Artists.

27
As with many aspects of film that are not commonly
experienced or even made anymore, “silent cinema” tends
to be grouped together in a way that is inflexible,
inaccurate and generally quite unhelpful for study. For
example, attempting to identify and explore the aesthetics of
silent cinema would encapsulate a period of approximately
30 years and therefore tens of thousands of films. Therefore,
it would be impossible to identify a single aesthetic for silent
film. As we have seen so far, the key influences of German expressionism and Soviet montage are
important to consider in many circumstances, but both have a very different aesthetic to each other and
of course have a very different aesthetic to the studio produced work of Hollywood.
To make things easier for us to study, we will, consider some features that do cut across many silent
features.
A quick note on ‘feature films’- The notion of how long a feature film should be has varied
according to time and place. According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
the American Film Institute and the British Film Institute, a feature film runs for more than 40
minutes, while the Screen Actors Guild asserts that a feature's running time is 60 minutes or
longer. Traditionally, a feature film was defined as having a running time long enough to be
considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial
entertainment program and therefore the term feature film
originally referred to the main, full-length film in a cinema
program, that also included a short film and often a newsreel.
The first narrative feature film was the 60-minute THE STORY OF
THE KELLY GANG (1906, Australia) and not, as is often
misattributed, to Hollywood and specifically the likes of D.W
Griffith. Today, most feature films are between 75 and 180
minutes long.
All silent films are experimentations in visual communication, innovative expressions of a visual artistic
form (although it is worth remembering that most were shown to musical accompaniment, so the
experience was not silent). Given the lack of dialogue, it’s possible that silent film invites us to look more
closely at the screen and because of a lack of sound that
helps to define what our reaction could or should be, we
often project our own meaning and own detail on to the
frame. This in turn forces us to become more active
spectators akin to co-story tellers. It’s also possible that as
spectators, the silent film will require us to use more of our
imagination: the tendency for longer takes and a stylised
mise-en-scene often creating more striking and sometimes
quite surreal or grotesque imagery, means that the silent films can create an intense atmosphere that
may stay with the audience for a long while.
THE ARRIVAL OF THE SILENT ERA AND OF SILENT CINEMA
“Silent film was not only a
vigorous popular art it
was a universal language
- Esperanto for the eyes”
- Kevin Brownlow -

28
In this respect, silent fil borrows from melodrama, a form of
expressive theatre that used exaggerated gestures and
characters designed to appeal the emotions. We can see this in
expressive facial expressions and large gestures from open and
exaggerated body language both of which utilise performative
codes to provide what is referred to as visual amplification. This
means that the gestures and visual references are used to create
a narrative point, which is then repeated, then possibly repeated again, often as a direct
substitute for the lack of dialogue which would otherwise use exposition.
Without synchronous sound then, the silent era, from 1895 to 1927 was a time when the “rules” and
conventions of filmmaking that we take for granted, learn and analyse today were being explored,
developed and defined. It was a period of huge experimentation and creativity and for us film students
now, it is not only a vital part of film history that allows us to understand and appreciate how we got to
where we are now, but it also provides a fascinating moment of history and art history to study. What
may be of a surprise, however, is how America was far from the dominant force in the burgeoning film
industry. As we have seen already, it was Europe that was the centre of the film world, both creatively
and in terms of the commercial side of the industry-making money.
Early on, films travelled and were often seen as part of a ‘roadshow’- a
fair moving from one town and city to another, attracting locals and
passing visitors before moving on to find a new audience in a new
place. Anxious to establish more permanent locations that could
continue to bring in a consistent income, shops, theatres and other small
buildings were converted into ‘nickelodeons’. These early cinemas were
named after the 5 cent (one nickel) entrance fee and Odeon, derived
from Greek, a noun meaning a building used for musical performances
which later became the term used to define a cinema: a place to watch films.
These cinemas showed the potential to make money but the lack of defined industry meant that many
were unregulated and often used films and equipment without the correct permission and as a result
often didn’t pay royalties to the rights holders. One such holder was Thomas Edison who was
notorious for patenting large numbers of inventions with a few to controlling industries and revenue
streams. This is typified in his development of the Motion Pictures Patents Company (MPPC) to protect
his, and others’, commercial interests by, for example, using the power of the MPPC get Kodak, the
manufacturer of the only film stock available in America to provide its members with film stock. The
catch? Kodak were not allowed to supply anyone else.
This allowed the MPPC and its members to gain a
monopoly on film production and distribution and creating
a focus on New York where many of these ‘studios’ or film
companies operated from. However, by the early 1910s
film companies began to move towards Hollywood in Los
Angeles. Some of this movement could be attributed to film
production companies wanting to get as far away as
possible from the MPCC for a range of reasons. However, a key reason for the migration can also be
explained by the geographical location of Hollywood and its lack of development as a suburb. At that

29
time, land was relatively cheap and plentiful meaning that film studios could be built significantly
cheaper than in New York, and when combined with the sunny West Coast weather with a wide range
of relatively close locations with coast, desert, forest and mountains all nearby, Hollywood held many
reasons to relocate to. In a relatively short period of time, many of the major studios that would
dominate film production and distribution emerged, including Universal, Fox, Paramount Pictures,
Warner Brothers, MGM, Columbia and United Artists so that by the 1920s, the Hollywood studio
system that we recognise and study today existed and were churning out thousands of films a year.
RESEARCH TASK:
Looking online, find examples of American silent cinema up to 1919. Try to watch
at least 3. For each, note what the narrative is, what key features of film form you
noticed and what you think the general reaction of the audience was likely to be.
FILM 1
FILM 2
FILM 3

30
With an absence of sound, comes a need to be especially creative in
visual storytelling. As a result, one of the most significant genres in
America was the ‘silent comedy’. Developed from the popular and
well-established theatre style vaudeville in the 19th
Century, this saw
a variety of short acts that featured comedy shows that were based
around physical, ‘slapstick’ humour. Silent comedy stars such as
Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton came
from vaudeville backgrounds. This meant that silent comedies were a
key genre in the silent era, leaning into the tradition and popularity of vaudeville, resulting in films
that featured simple narratives and set-ups alongside physical, slapstick comedy, often performed
at a rapid pace.
The silent comedy was a very popular genre in American silent film, especially those films which
utilised and emphasised gag-based comedy. Visual comedy was the perfect genre for
contemporary cinema, as gags could be shown without the need for dialogue and were
understood by all audiences, including immigrant populations in the USA who may not have been
fluent in English. As we’ve already seen, the earliest film pioneers exploited film’s potential to
create gag-based comedy. The Lumière Brothers’ early film, Le Jardinier/The Gardener (Auguste &
Louis Lumière, 1895), is one of the very first examples of film comedy and not too long after,
American cinema becam infatuated with this style of film.
In 1912 Mack Sennett founded the Keystone Company and studios. Keystone gained a reputation
for short, gag-based and fast-paced physical slapstick comedies. Keystone was the biggest
producer of comedies in the mid-1910s. Its most popular series of films was the Keystone Cops,
featuring inept, comic policemen failing to capture a criminal no matter if they outnumbered the
perpetrator who could often escape via simply running away. These comedy films would often be
“two reelers” and not feature-length, and as a result were often played as part of a longer
programme of films that might have also included newsreels.
Keystone as a studio also helped to usher in the era of the film
‘star’; if people were demanding films made by the same groups
of people, then why not an individual (or small groups)
performer? We can see that the 1920s was the golden age of
American silent comedy in part through the roster of famous
names successfully making films at the time: Buster Keaton,
Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle, Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd (all of
who developed their styles at Keystone), Laurel and Hardy and
Charlie Chase were all famous, successful and in-demand actors.
Arbuckle and Keaton frequently worked together and the two influenced each other’s comedy
style. Keaton was influenced by Arbuckle’s character-motivated gags. Arbuckle had said, ‘if
anyone gets kicked or has a pie thrown in his face, there’s going to be a reason for it.’ The
distinct personas and comedy styles of the great silent comedians were developed by the studios in
AMERICAN SILENT CINEMA

31
which the comedians honed their craft. Many of these silent comedians were given a great deal of
creative control over their films. In 1919, film executive Joseph M. Schenk set up Buster Keaton
Productions and gave Keaton complete creative freedom in writing, directing and acting. As a
result of this creative freedom and star system, slapstick comedians of the early 1920s were more
concerned with character development and star performances than in the early slapstick films. As a
result, produced longer and far more sophisticated and ambitious comedy features-films longer
than 60 minutes. These Chaplin films such as THE KID (1921) and THE GOLD RUSH (1925),
Harold Lloyd’s SAFETY LAST (1923) and what is widely acknowledged as Keaton’s masterpiece,
his 1926 film THE GENERAL.
One result of the success of the American silent comedy was a clear development of its generic
conventions. Many of these films shared features, with Film historian and scholar Charles Wolfe, in
Idols of Modernity (2010), listing the following conventions and pleasures of American silent film
comedy
• falls and chases played for big laughs
• stunts which thrill audiences
• star comedians with intriguing personalities
• implausible scenarios
• stories told efficiently and clearly
• evoking of dream-like states
• critiques of American society
TASK:
After having watched the 4 Keaton shorts, return to this task and note examples of these
conventions as seen in his work. This will provide you as to guidance of how typical Keaton’s work
was in relation to American Silent Comedies.
falls and chases played for big laughs
stunts which thrill audiences
star comedians with intriguing personalities
implausible scenarios
stories told efficiently and clearly
evoking of dream-like states
critiques of American society

32
The whole industry soon reorganized itself around
the economics of the multiple-reel film, and the effects
of this restructuring did much to give movies their
characteristic modern form. Feature films made
motion pictures respectable for the middle class by
providing a format that was analogous to that of the
legitimate theatre and was suitable for the
adaptation of middle-class novels and plays. Known
as “dream palaces” because of the fantastic
luxuriance of their interiors, these houses had to
show features rather than a program of shorts to attract large audiences at premium prices.
Griffith typified this: he was the first filmmaker to realize that the motion-picture medium, properly
vested with technical vitality and seriousness of theme, could exercise enormous persuasive
power over an audience, or even a nation, without need for human speech. Griffith’s political
stance leaves a lot to be desired (see BIRTH OF A NATION (1915), (or perhaps more
appropriately BLACKKKLANSMAN directed by Spike Lee in 2018) but he was instrumental in
refining and consolidating film conventions developed by these early pioneers and arguably
cementing how Hollywood would forever communicate ideas using visual mediums. He
recognised the significance of close ups to communicate emotions, the use of wide shots at the
beginning of scenes to establish location, editing techniques such as cutting on action and cross
cutting to build and maintain narrative dynamism as well as tension and suspense. But perhaps
most significantly he developed a more naturalistic style of performance as opposed to the very
different, expressive and exaggerated vaudevillian style common until that point. Griffith was
also a key figure in developing the idea of the feature film, with big budget productions that
allowed him to use thousands of extras, an elaborate approach to mise-en-scene with huge film
sets, and produce films with running times of over 3 hours in length. Perhaps the most famous of
these is INTOLERANCE (1916), pictured above, which featured a set with walls over 90m high.

33
Buster Keaton, born Joseph Frank Keaton in 1895, was a renowned
American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. Known for his deadpan
expression and physical agility, Keaton became one of the most
influential figures in the history of silent film.
From an early age, Keaton developed a keen interest in vaudeville and
comedy, performing alongside his parents in their traveling stage act.
This early exposure to the world of entertainment honed his comedic
timing and physical dexterity, which would later become his trademark
skills in the film industry. Growing up in the theatre Keaton had no
formal education but despite this always held a fascination with
engineering and machinery in fact one commentator on his life and
work suggested his fascination with cinema may have begun as an interest I the mechanisms of
cameras and projectors. Possibly because of his interest in mechanics, his shots and framing all
possess a certain degree of precision and that sets and alignment of objects in sets with clearly
defined shapes and geometrical composition that some commentators have likened to cubism in
art.
Keaton's career took off when he joined forces with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle in the early 1920s.
Together, they created a series of successful short films that showcased Keaton's extraordinary
acrobatic abilities and his innovative approach to visual gags. His stoic, stone-faced persona
became his signature style, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face."
As a filmmaker, Keaton pushed the boundaries of the silent film era, incorporating elaborate stunts
and intricate visual gags into his work. His meticulous attention to detail and precise timing set him
apart from his contemporaries. Keaton's films often featured complex physical comedy, utilizing
props, mechanical contraptions, and daring stunts to create jaw-dropping
comedic moments that still captivate audiences today.
Keaton's most notable works include classics like THE GENERAL (1926) and
SHERLOCK JR. (1924), which showcased his genius for blending physical
humor with clever storytelling. He often performed his own dangerous
stunts, such as daring leaps, falls, and intricate chase sequences. Keaton's
commitment to authenticity and his ability to seamlessly integrate comedy
into thrilling action sequences set a new standard for comedic filmmaking.
Embedded within his cinematic oeuvre, Keaton's distinct brand of comedy, characterized by
impeccable timing and trademark facial expressions, remains a noteworthy facet. Particularly
evident in his early two-reelers is his comedic prowess, where he exhibited an unparalleled
mastery of slapstick humour, often incorporating the iconic pie-in-the-face trope. Noteworthy, too,
is Keaton's inclination to personally undertake perilous stunts, thereby cementing his status as a
Hollywood legend, not merely for his remarkable falls but also for his remarkable lack of resultant
injuries.
BUSTER KEATON

34
At the zenith of his career, during the mid-1920s, Keaton experienced a level of celebrity
comparable to that of another luminary of the silent film era, Charlie Chaplin. His weekly
remuneration reached an astounding $3,500, affording him the capacity to construct an opulent
$300,000 residence in the exclusive environs of Beverly Hills.
However, Keaton's professional trajectory took an unfortunate turn in
1928, an action he would later lament as the gravest mistake of his
life. As the era of talkies dawned, Keaton entered into a contractual
arrangement with MGM, producing a series of sound comedies that,
while achieving modest success at the box office, failed to recapture
the distinctive Keaton essence that had hitherto defined his oeuvre.
This divergence from his artistic vision was principally attributable to his relinquishment of creative
autonomy to studio executives. Consequently, Keaton's life took a precipitous nosedive, marked by
the dissolution of his marriage to actress Natalie Talmadge, the mother of his two sons, and the
onset of tumultuous struggles with alcoholism and depression.
By 1934, with his MGM contract annulled, Keaton found himself in the throes of financial
destitution, his declared assets amounting to a meager $12,000. The subsequent year saw the
termination of his second marriage to Mae Scriven.
A resurgent phase in Keaton's life commenced in 1940 when
he entered his third matrimonial union with Eleanor Morris, a
21-year-old dancer whose presence is widely acknowledged
as a stabilizing influence. Their marital partnership endured
until Keaton's demise in 1966.
A revival of his career unfolded in the 1950s, instigated in
part by British television appearances that reintroduced the
aging comedian to audiences. American viewers, too, were reacquainted with Keaton through his
portrayals of himself in Billy Wilder's SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) and Charlie Chaplin's
LIMELIGHT (1952). Augmenting his public profile were numerous American television
appearances and commercial endorsements. Paramount Pictures secured the film rights to THE
BUSTER KEATON STORY in 1956, remunerating him with $50,000 for this cinematic
representation of his life, albeit with certain inaccuracies. Concurrently, enthusiasts of cinema
revisited Keaton's silent film repertoire, with the reissue of THE GENERAL in 1962 drawing acclaim
from aficionados and critics across Europe.
In October 1965, Keaton's resurgence culminated when he was extended an invitation to
showcase his latest endeavor, FILM, a 22-minute silent production based on a Samuel Beckett
screenplay that he had crafted in New York the previous year, at the Venice Film Festival. Upon
the conclusion of his presentation, Keaton was greeted with an emphatic five-minute standing
ovation from the captivated audience. Overwhelmed with emotion, Keaton tearfully proclaimed,
"This is the first time I've been invited to a film festival, but I hope it won't be the last."

35
Remaining indefatigable until the end, Keaton, in the twilight of his life, garnered an annual
income exceeding $100,000 solely from his commercial endeavours. His enduring contributions to
the cinematic medium were duly recognized when he received a special Academy Award in 1959.
On February 1, 1966, Buster Keaton passed away peacefully in his sleep, succumbing to
complications arising from lung cancer at his residence in Woodland Hills, California. He was
interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
Beyond his remarkable skills as an actor and filmmaker, Keaton left an indelible mark on the
history of cinema. His unique visual style and innovative techniques continue to inspire generations
of filmmakers and comedians. The influence of his physical comedy can be seen in the works of
legendary filmmakers like Charlie Chaplin and Jacques Tati, as well as modern comedians who
draw inspiration from his timeless humour.
Buster Keaton's legacy as a pioneer in the art of silent
film endures to this day. His ability to elicit laughter
through silent gestures and his mastery of physical
comedy cemented his status as a true icon of the silver
screen. Keaton's contributions to cinema, both in front
of and behind the camera, have left an everlasting
impact on the world of entertainment and continue to
bring joy to audiences worldwide.
EXTENSION TASK
Go to YouTube and watch Lyndsey Anderson’s documentary on Keaton,
A HARD ACT TO FOLLOW (Anderson, 1987)
From what you can gather from watching, make notes on the questions below and be able
to provide not only answers, but your own interpretations:
How do you think his childhood and early life shaped him as a performer?
What seems to have been his most important collaborations/ influences?
Where did the idea for his on screen persona come from?

36
For this section of the exam you will need to be familiar with
what is referred to by Eduqas as a “critical debate”, in this
instance “the realist and the expressive”. This is what they
say about it in the specification:
“Learners are required to study the following… debate.. in
relation to [silent cinema]: The realist and the expressive. In the
1940s, the French film critic André Bazin set in motion a major
debate when he argued that both German Expressionist and Soviet Montage filmmaking went against
what he saw as the ‘realist’ calling of cinema. This opposition between the realist and the expressive has
informed thinking about film from the beginnings of cinema when the documentary realism of the
Lumière Brothers was set in opposition to the fantasy films of Méliès.”
The specification and the guidance notes on the realist and
expressive debate in relation to silent film mention the French
film critic and theorist André Bazin. Bazin was active in the
1940s and 1950s and set up the hugely influential magazine
Cahiers du Cinema which inspired the French New Wave film
movement of the 1950s and 60s – indeed many New Wave
filmmakers were regular contributors to the magazine. In a
series of essays written in the 1940s and 1950s Bazin wrote in
praise of realist cinema arguing that it gave the audience the
space to interpret a film for themselves. He was critical of the expressive approach taken by the
German Expressionist and Soviet Montage movements as he felt their stylistic exaggeration directed
audiences towards pre-determined readings (more on this when we explore spectatorship . As we
watch our set films you will need to have an awareness of Bazin’s arguments and be able to apply
them to Keaton’s films. The debate between realism and expressionism in film originates in the
writings by film theorist and philosopher Andre Bazin. In his work Bazin argues that the true form that
cinema should take is that of realism and that forms such as Soviet montage which he argued was too
didactic and forced the audience to adopt certain positions and German expressionism betrayed the
true meaning of cinema which is to engage us in a discourse with the reality of world around us.
Bazin’s arguments are quite complex but in essence Bazin sees cinema because of the abilities of the
camera to capture reality as superior to art and because it is able to record events “an imprint of the
duration of the object” superior to photography. He never at any time claims that cinema is an
objective presentation of reality as he acknowledges that film is not unaffected by ideological and
cultural factors but that cinema is a transfer akin to a fingerprint of reality. The ultimate evolution of
cinema is logically toward a realist style, thus the true calling of cinema “let us first take a good look
at the cinema to see where it stands today. Since the expressionist heresy came to an end,
particularly after the arrival of sound, one may take it that the general trend of cinema has been
toward realism.”
CRITICAL DEBATES – ANDRE BAZIN, THE REALIST
AND THE EXPRESSIVE

37
It is not entirely correct to say that Bazin totally dismisses montage film making but in fact sees it as
an essential period in the history of the development of cinema “it was montage that gave birth to
film as an art, setting it apart from mere animated photography, in short, creating a language.” It is
worth pointing out that in the context of our study that for Bazin the real evolution of cinema doesn’t
come until after the silent period. After the emergence of sound comes more naturalised
performances and location shooting, that realism becomes the dominant form a period that comes
much later than the one we are studying. His support for realism as cinema’s ultimate objective also
stems arguably from his own philosophy and belief in humanism. To Bazin Italian Neo-realism offered
us the possibility of positive engagement with the world and that these film great merit was their own
humanism “But does one not, when coming out of an Italian film, feel better, an urge to change the
order of things, preferably by persuading people, at least those who can be persuaded, whom only
blindness, prejudice, or ill-fortune had led to harm their fellow men?”
According to Bazin the ‘imagists’ a term he used to describe expressionism and montage, dominated
early cinema reaching their hight at the end of the 1920’s, with the arrival of sound realism came into
the ascendancy and by the 1940’s was the dominant form. This is a slightly simplistic paraphrasing of
his thinking, but it is fair to say that his assertions were not entirely accurate as expressionistic form
carried on long after the invention of sound in the genres of horror and film noir.
Expressionism as we know concerns itself with the distortion of reality in order to make it expressive
of the artist’s inner feelings or ideas, broadly defined it is a rejection of Western artistic conventions,
and its depiction of reality which instead expressionism chooses to widely distort for emotional effect.
As artists expressionists were less concerned with producing aesthetically pleasing compositions as
they were with creating powerful reactions to their work through the use of bright, clashing colours,
flat shapes, and jagged brushstrokes. In its nature, the movement is interested in the relationship
between art and society.
Early cinematic expressionism used light, shadows and exaggerated
angles to create distortion and a sense of foreboding, the films
possessed dark story themes often featuring greed, betrayal and
violence perhaps reflecting the socio-political contexts of the post-World
War 1 experience. (It is worth noting that Film Noir with its
incorporation of expressionistic styles and dark psychological themes
would become popular in the years immediately after World War 2).
Although originating in Europe because of the migration of film makers,
set designers and cinematographers evidence of the influences of expressionism can be seen in early
Hollywood silent film.
This overview from Wikipedia simplifies things in an effective manner:
“[Bazin] is notable for arguing that realism is the most important function of cinema. His call for
objective reality, deep focus, and lack of montage are linked to his 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, which emphasized how the cinema could manipulate reality”.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/André_Bazin
Writing in a 1999 Sight and Sound article Peter Matthews also sums up Bazin’s arguments, specially
his objection to more “expressive” film movements, well: [Bazin] took a notoriously dim view of
Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) and other films made in the German expressionist

38
style because he judged their elaborate manipulations of lighting and
decor a willful attempt to bend reality out of shape and force it to reflect
perverse states of mind. What Bazin objected to in the work of Sergei
Eisenstein was how the Soviet director splintered reality into a series of
isolated shots, which he then reassembled through the art of montage.
Bazin distrusted montage on the grounds that its dynamic juxtaposition of images hurtles the viewer
along a predetermined path of attention, the aim being to construct a synthetic reality in support of a
propagandist message. Bazin’s arguments are also summarised well in a 2013 article in BFI’s Sight
and Sound magazine by Pasquale Iannone:
“One of the famous theoretical debates of the 1940s set up a clear dichotomy between (Soviet)
montage cinema and filmic realism. Coming down firmly on the side of realism, French critic and
theorist André Bazin argued that montage cinema was didactic and manipulated the viewer into a
particular point of view. On the other hand, realism and its stylistic devices such as deep focus and
long takes helped the filmmaker maintain “an aesthetic of reality” without “imprisoning the
viewer” – which Bazin argued was the case in montage cinema.” https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/deepfocus/roots-
neorealism
Patrick Phillips work on silent cinema published by Eduqas, explores Bazin’s argument further:
“This debate centres on whether film should be a ‘realist’ or an ‘expressive’ medium. In other
words, should a filmmaker be concerned with representing the world as is, for example in the
manner of a documentary, or should a filmmaker regard the medium as a creative one in which
the everyday world is transformed? In film history this divide is traced all the way back to the
period around 1895-1902 in France. The Lumiére Brothers conceived of this new invention as one
for recording found reality and in so doing encouraging the spectator to gaze freshly on a world
that might otherwise be taken for granted. By contrast George Méliès made fantasy films of great
imagination and reativity. A moral dimension to this opposition was introduced in the 1940s by
the French critic André Bazin. In supporting Italian Neo-Realism, he declared that this film
movement represents the ‘true calling’ of cinema which is to enable us to look intently and deeply
into the ordinary world around us, represented by the filmmaker in an unadorned documentary
style. By contrast he denounced the flamboyantly ‘expressive’ Soviet and German cinemas of the
1920s, seeing their high-blown visual rhetoric as a betrayal of this true calling of cinema. While it
may be easy to take-on Bazin’s argument, his writing is the first significant critique of the major
silent cinema movements of the 1920s so we need to take it seriously if only for that
reason.”http://resource.download.wjec.co.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/vtc/2017-18/17-18_3-10/silent-film.pdf
TASK: Watch the following video and make notes on Bazin’s arguments and ideas around realist
vs expressive medium. Be prepared to share your ideas and questions with the class.
https://youtu.be/V2XbszCDZt8?si=JEYiYKRKhzq5lwql
EXTENSION TASK:
Read Bazin’s original article on the debate, entitled THE EVOLUTION OF THE LANGUAGE OF
CINEMA.
https://www.mccc.edu/pdf/cmn107/the%20evolution%20of%20the%20language%20of%20cinema.pdf

39
TASK:
Use the guidance above when watching each short for the second time to give you guidance and
ideas in relation to the work of Keaton. As you will read later, you need comprehensive notes on
each short, including your interpretation of where/when/how Keaton utilises the realist and/or the
expressive and why he may have done so.
As you can see, the work of Bazin is quite complex, fraught with difficult language and ideas and
for some is quite debatable. Having read and studied his ideas, we can now see that perhaps his
overall specific ideas, and one most applicable to Keaton, can be summarized thus:
A REALIST APPROACH TO FILMMAKING MAY INCLUDE:
Lack of title cards.
Use of deep focus.
Use of wide shots.
Realism of much of the mise-en-scene.
Relative realism of some aspects of performance.
Location shooting.
Static camera.
Low contrast, even, “flat” lighting.
Continuity editing and long takes.
“Unsatisfactory” narrative resolution in most of his short films.
WHEREAS A MORE EXPRESSIONIST/EXAGGERATED APPROACH MAY INCLUDE:
Exaggeration of some key elements of mise en scene, especially performance and some
key props and elements of set.
Exaggeration of action and situation.
Stunt work.
Formality and careful structure of shot composition.
Use of cross fades, dissolves and/or “irising”.
Breaking of the fourth wall in some scenes.

40
At its heart, expressionism is simply: an art style and movement in which the image of reality is
distorted in order to make it expressive of the artist's inner feelings or ideas. Whilst we have already
seen how it can be represented in film, as an art movement it initially appeared in poetry and
painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Of course,
deriving from expressionism other art movements developed, often with the same aim: to portray
ideas, feelings and thoughts in a new and innovative manner. Some of these movements arrived
and developed as part of a new, broad style, termed modernism. Although many different styles
are encompassed by the name, there are certain underlying principles that define all modernist art
but principally, a rejection of history and conservative values such as aiming to create a realistic
depiction of subjects. Modernists were innovative and experimented with form (a broad definition of
form means the shapes, colours and lines that make up the ‘work’ or piece) with a tendency to
move to abstraction-not depict things in a realistic or authentic manner. There was also an emphasis
on materials, techniques and processes and whilst this could be seen in the materials used by
painters, modernist filmmakers may play with the film and cameras itself, using new and
unconventional materials and methods.
Across Keaton’s work, we may see the influence of some of these styles in the compositional
cinematography, the art design, the mise-en-scene or simply in our own interpretation. It’s important
to note that some of these styles were not widely recognised until after Keaton’s film were made so
may not be directly influenced by the art style. However, the cultural influence of the ideas behind
the movement may be something which is of relevance, so be sure to read the details below
carefully before then exploring when/how each could be relevant to the work of Keaton which we’ll
be analysing.
TASK:
Read each of the texts below to learn about different art styles and movements. As you do so,
highlight the key conventions, elements or aspects that define each. You will need these when
analysing the Keaton shorts, so be sure to identify at least 3 key features of each.
MODERNISM
Modernism has also been driven by various social and political agendas. These were often utopian,
and modernism was in general associated with ideal visions of human life and society and a belief
in progress. During the 1920s and 30s the rise of consumerism was reflected in art with the rise of
‘Modernism’. Perhaps the most classical vision of modernism is the
New York skyline silhouette, a composition of clear straight lines and
simple symbolic strength. The emphasis of ‘modernism’ in art was
placed onto the beauty and simplicity of everyday objects. Art in this
period widely featured geometric shapes and reflected the flourishing
industrial age and an interest in the movement of trains and ships. It
was a period that celebrated the creativity of engineering and was
also one of technological change, as the production line method of
factory production was introduced by Ford in 1907. Key elements of
CRITICAL DEBATES – EXPRESSIONISM AND MORE
Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow
(1930) by Piet Mondrian

41
modernism include break from tradition, Individualism, and disillusionment. One of the major
changes in the modernist era is a break from tradition which focuses on being bold and
experimenting with new style and form and the collapse of old social and behaviour norms.
CUBISM
Cubism was a revolutionary new approach to representing reality
invented in around 1907–08 by artists Pablo Picasso and Georges
Braque. They brought different views of subjects (usually objects or
figures) together in the same picture, resulting in paintings that appear
fragmented and abstracted. Cubism was one of the most influential styles
of the twentieth century. It is generally agreed to have begun around
1907 with Picasso’s celebrated painting Demoiselles D’Avignon which
included elements of cubist style. The name ‘cubism’ seems to have
derived from a comment made by the critic Louis Vauxcelles who, on
seeing some of Georges Braque’s paintings exhibited in Paris in 1908,
described them as reducing everything to ‘geometric outlines, to cubes’.
Nighthawks
(1942) by Edward Hopper
The Snail
(1953) by Henri Matisse
Bow of Fruit, Violin and Bottle
(1914) by Pablo Picasso
TASK:
When you have watched the four Keaton shorts, return to this task. Having watched the shorts,
note where you feel that there could be the influence of modernism on any of the films.
Remembering that modernism may not be seen directly or referenced explicitly, give examples
of where the style could be seen and why the example from each of the shorts is an example of
modernism.
THE SCARECROW:
ONE WEEK:
COPS:
THE HIGH SIGN:

42
Cubism opened up almost infinite new possibilities for the treatment of
visual reality in art and was the starting point for many
later abstract styles including constructivism and neo-plasticism. By
breaking objects and figures down into distinct areas – or planes –
the artists aimed to show different viewpoints at the same time and
within the same space and so suggest their three-dimensional form. In
doing so they also emphasized the two-dimensional flatness of the
canvas instead of creating the illusion of depth. This marked a
revolutionary break with the European tradition of creating the illusion
of real space from a fixed viewpoint using devices such as
linear perspective, which had dominated representation from
the Renaissance onwards.
FUTURISM
Futurism was launched by the Italian poet Filippo
Tommaso Marinetti in 1909 when, on the 20th
of
February he published his Manifesto of Futurism on the
front page of the Paris newspaper Le Figaro. Among
modernist movements futurism was exceptionally
vehement in its denunciation of the past in part, because
in Italy the weight of past culture was felt as especially
oppressive. In the Manifesto, Marinetti asserted that “we
will free Italy from her innumerable museums which
cover her like countless cemeteries”. What the futurists
Untitled (Race Car)
(1920) by Ugo Giannattasio
Mandora
(1910) by George Braque
TASK:
When you have watched the four Keaton shorts, return to this task. Having watched the shorts,
note where you feel that there could be the influence of cubism on any of the films.
Remembering that modernism may not be seen directly or referenced explicitly, give examples
of where the style could be seen and why the example from each of the shorts is an example of
cubism.
THE SCARECROW:
ONE WEEK:
COPS:
THE HIGH SIGN:

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