1. My silent comedy film "Patty Take" develops forms and conventions of real products
slightly more than it challenges them. There is a range of forms and conventions of
classic 1920s silent comedy films which I have included in my film.
I realised that my silent comedy wouldn't have been anywhere near successful if I did not
develop certain conventions which is used in real media products. I had to develop the
use of intertiles showing the audience what is happening on screen in a text which is
legible. Intertiles had to be used otherwise the audience will have to try and distinguished
what the characters are doing as there is no sound being heard apart from the piano being
played. However, because "Patty Take" is aimed at an Afro-Caribbean audience, the
intertiles included West Indian dialect which was a slight challenge in conventions
because most silent comedies use real English words on the intertiles whereas I changed
that so that the West Indian audience could understand it better.
The intertiles were made relevant to the Afro-
Caribbean audience by including words they
understand. In this example, I over exaggerated
an adaptation of Red Riding Hood’s name by
including “Redineisha, Keisha, Taneisha,
Shaniqua” which are names that are commonly
used in the Afro-Caribbean community.
Another way in which I developed forms and conventions of a silent comedy is by
making the film in black and white with grains in order for it to have the 1920s theme.
This was a key convention I developed,
making the film have a 1920s theme by
including the aged film and black and white
effects. In my opinion, if my film was not in
black and white it wouldn’t have a silent
comedy feel.
Films that were made in the silent era had no colour which made the film look more
classical because it had the 1920s effect so the audience would know that "Patty Take" is
a silent film. I also developed the convention of making the film run at a fast pace to
relate to the fact that during the 1920s film were made in the rate of 24 frames per
second. We also done this to make the action on screen speed up which made the visuals
seem funnier and made the duration of the film itself more than within the space of 5
minutes which allowed us the time to add more intertiles.