Narrative analysis of Seven Chances Chase Buster Keaton

Seven chances was a silent-comedy directed by Buster Keaton in 1925.

 ( Chase scene )
I'm only analysing the one 3 minute scene from this film as it is an hour long and would take too long to analysis, where as this short chase scene shows an example of narration that is involved in the film.  The film is about a man who learns that he will inherit a fortune if he marries by 7pm that day. So he searches for a woman who would accept him. He is a financial broker called Jimmie Shannon who is near bankruptcy when an attorney presents the grandfathers will leaving him with 7 million dollars. But he must marry on his 27th birthday which just so happens to be that day.

Problems with the clip however;>In the scene with the rolling rocks, the knees of Jimmie's trousers are out in some shots and intact in others.
>The boulders are clearly fake - one boulder hits Buster and bounces off of him but this is needed as they would have clearly done bad damage to him, and could have even crushed him. They just need to hide it more.
>Even though this is a black and white film a few sequences have a 2-strip Technicolor which means that they have some form of colour on them that isn't the bright colours we see with our cameras now.

Starting Off:
The clip starts by showing a long shot of a black suited man running on dirt that has been sped up. The use of the speeding up can help to not only make the film run on quicker and get to the point but to also add the hint of comedy in terms of the way they run. For example, in this film we can tell that this man is in a hurry because of the speed he is running at. With this speed he also seems to manage to get over anything that gets in his way.  The narrative of this shows the audience he is either running from something which can make the audience then question what since the camera isn't close enough to see his facial expression. Or that he is running to something, in which then the audience get excited by what he is running towards. Where ever the protagonist is going he is determined to get there. The music playing in the background also helps to make the main character seem as though he is running even faster than what he actually is.  The use of music in this scenerio is really effective as it can keep the audience intrigued to whats happening as well as at 3:42 where we see him over come any obstacle.
Extreme long shots and pans of the camera allow us to see the setting of the story and show us that it isn't where you would expect a man in a black suit to be considering it seems almost desertly.

Then the plot:Seeing him fall, trip over the boulders, and stumble allows the audience the first sneak peak at what type of comedy to expect. This is another example of slaptsick comedy or also known as physical comedy, where the actors mock violence for the comic effect.
It is only Jimmie, the buisness partner, and the lawyer who are aware of his grandfathers will and so Jimmie quickly proposes to his longtime girlfriend as well as poping the question to several other females but ends up with predictably embarrassing results. They being the buisness parter and lawyer then decide to place an advertisement in the newpaper.  Once this hits the streets the chase is on.  Keaton is persued through Los Angeles by dozens of willing brides, some with their dresses already on. It is these willing brides that then become each others obstacles as they try overcoming each others attempts of marriage to a man they know little about.
Keaton's comic genius allows Seven Chances to become a wildly entertaining film. The first half of the hour long film is good minor the slight imperfections. But the second half, is the better half for creativity and humour.

The scene i've selected from the film is after the newspaper advertisement has been sent out, and Jimmie Shannon is escaping from the wanting brides. Although we do not see the brides chasing him at first, we do get to see his reliefed expression when he manages to escape up a tree and his horrified expressing when he looks behind him after the tree falls over at 1:50. This scene gives comic effect to the audience by the main character not seeming to get any luck from escaping the horde of brides or the tumbling bolders around him.  At 2:50 we see Jimmie stuck between being crushed by the bolders as they tumble down or going into the horde of women waiting for him at the bottem as he starts to run out of time. Here, though the clip is only a few seconds long we see the clock and bell tower which indicates that he is almost out of time, and allows the audience to then question the verdict of the story, will he be able to marry in time or wont he?  This gives the narrative a double barrel ending as the audience has to wait until the end of the film to find out. Even though is it restricted, it is still restricted as the film doesn't give out everything of what is going to happen to the audience straight away. The audience and characters learn the information at the same time.

Narrative analysis of Charlie Chaplins The Fireman 1916

Charlie Chaplin in a very famous English actor who acts through silent movies.  The fireman (1916) is the second film that he has made.
Charles Spencer Chaplin was born in England, on April 16th 1889. His father was a versatile vocalist and actor; and his mother, known under the stage name of Lily Harley, was an attractive actress and singer, who gained a reputation for her work in the light opera field. You could literally say acting was in his blood. He is not only famous for his silent comedies but also for his famous quote saying "All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman, and a pretty girl.”
  ( Charlies Website )


The Fireman 1916 film
Charlie Chaplin plays in this film as a fireman who always does everything wrong. A man talks the Fire Chief into ignoring his burning home (he wants the insurance money) unaware that his daughter (the love of the Chief) is upstairs in the house. When the house next door catches fire its owner rouses Charlie who rouses the force to help out.  A comical experience that can get everyone laughing, showing that you don't always need dialogue to entertain.
The actors, the main ones, include: Charlie Chaplin as the main fireman
                                                         Eric Campbell as his chief
                                                         Edna Purviance as the chiefs sweetheart

Narrative Conventions

We are all used to reading narratives because we have done it from a very early age, they come in forms of fairy tales mostly and it is here that most of the theories based on narrative analysis come from and then we are able to read these narrations and compare texts with others that we understand that show these conventions. Narrative is the series of events that happens in order to construct a story. However all events must be linked in order to make sense.

When unpacking a narrative in order to find its meaning, there are a series of codes and conventions that need to be considered. When we look at a narrative we examine the conventions of

• Genre
• Character
• Form
• Time

Time and editing
When we look at the editing and time side of the film we can first look at the camera. 
After trying different effects on film making softwares i've realised that the effect called "old stager" was used which helps to give the film the old effect; causing the picture to have occasional lines through or the crackling effect. Also everything is in black and white which is easy to edit on camera's now because they've added these effects to their recording devices, this may not have been the case for the first type of filming camera's of Charlie's time (1920's). The black and white show how old the film is considering in that time coloured camera's hadn't been invented. On certain editing softwares such as Vegas 9 you can also change how much you want the image to fade into the black and white, it rates on a rating of 1-5; five being the highest which was common for the old type films (not just Charlie Chaplins) and one being the lowest fading, which looks like you've photoshopped something to the lightest shades (mainly greys or browns can be seen). Charlies films use number 5 but highten the contrast and sharpen the camera's to create the clear bright black and white and not the dull and dark versions.  This allows audiences to clearly see every expression the actors may pull or any little icons that are important in the film for example in The Fireman, we can see that Charlie's clothes are too big for him (the trousers) which gives him a smaller statue against his chief which can then symbolise his child-like behaviour around him, and how high in status the chief is compared to him. 

Camera and Filming
When filming, a lot of the film is quickened to help make it into a short film and to make sure it moves the story along.  The rushing can also lead to more accidents happening which help make the audience laugh and enjoy the comedy.
The camera stays focused in one place throughout the short film, it never follows the actors, pans to the side, or zooms in.  This may be due to the lack of equipment of the time as their equipment isn't as developed as ours now.  They help the audience to focus on the character and keep up with what trouble the clumsy fireman will end up in next.  The long shots help to show the characters full body, allowing the comedy to come through in body language more than just facial expressions, especially since the body language is enhanced for the audience to easily follow. An example of this would be the way they overuse their hands when they talk to each other.

Characters
When looking at the visual aspects of a silent-comedy hybrid trailer like we have been doing, we must take into account that to look for the narrative aspect of it we must not look into the story but more the way in which people will make it into a story and use their version of the story to interpret what's happening.  With visual it can refer to what the directors want us to see i.e the costumes, the background, the setting, the props that maybe used or the things that are not as prominent, like subtle hints of something bad happening. Or even down to the way a characters appearance. The chief in the Charlie Chaplin's short film has been made to look bigger than Charlie which can give the imitation that he is helpless compared to him. The moustache shows us that he is angry or furious by the harshness of the ends sticking out, once again his body language also shows this as he often blows his whistle and then crosses his arms, stomps about with exaggerated movement of the arms or uses "silent shouts" (shouting but without the sound) at the clumsy fireman.
When it comes to the fireman and the chiefs sweetheart meeting, we can tell of their infatuation by the way the actors behave shyly towards each other, and over feminise the female; causing her to flutter her eyelashes, the big cheesy grins and the damsel in distress behaviour.  Vladimir Propp's theory suggests that she is the heroine for the protagonist which is the clumsy fireman. He believes that there are a certain amount of characters that will pop up to display the narrative in most movies and The Fireman (1916) shows these characters easily. Allowing the audience to identify almost instantly what character is playing what role.

GenreMany people get confused in thinking that silent film is a genre, however it isn't. In fact, with the exception of musicals (although Von Stroheim did a silent version of The Merry Widow) they can contain as many genres as the films of today. Chaplin for example shows his productions about comedy. Silent movies were a form of expressionism in Germany during the 1920's. 
This type of comedy however, shows slapstick comedy in which the actors mock violence and bodily harm for comic affect.

Narrative of a typical silent/comedy hybrid

When analysing narrative we analyse the construction of the story (how it's made basically) and when doing this we also need to consider what the story is about (not in too much detail however) for example the theme of it.

All media texts have a narrative. This is essential to remember when anaylsing a specific media text!

 

To analyse narratives we must look at:

Technical Codes

Any thing to do with the technical decisions made for a film. Thinking about what they would mean, and what's going on for the audiences. How can they help to make sense of the film and to help move the film along.  When it comes to technical codes of a silent/comedy hybrid, these are very important in showing the story since the actors cannot speak for themselves anyway.  These props and designs will also help to show what is happening in the movie, relating to which characters are important and what the main features the audience need to look out for are. Technical codes refers to any thing to do with camera angles, movement, lighting, sound, props, shot framing,design, layout, and editing.

Verbal CodesSimply the use of language how it's written or spoken or the signs contained in graphics. We can learn a surprising amount of narrative through what we are verbally told through the use of intertitles in the case of silent films. However, the film's that show rather than tell show the best narrative according to critics.  Verbal codes are harder to create to show the narractive without the use of speech because silent films are supposed to be silent, hint the name.  A silent/comedy hybrid is especially hard to create because the humour must also come through using the intertitles as well.

Symbolic Codes

These are the signs in the film that we pick up are important. For example the way someone dresses shows their class. Allowing audiences to create their own ideas and conclusion.  In silent movies because of the time they were made, a lot of the costumes were of that time or older. This included the 1920's style fashion where women wore dresses.  However to make a modern silent movie it would be harder to consider the costumes because the directors would have to consider going to the classical old fashioned films or modernise it with modern day clothes. 
Symbolic codes can also be referred to as certain items or belongings in the film. For example, in our trailer the "freak show" poster would be on the wall before the main character enters the dreams and then throughout the trailer including in the end intertitles background. 
Symbolic codes may refer to the uniform of someone as well, for example we can tell someones role in a film by what they wear. In a silent movie we can tell a police officer is an officer due to the uniform and baton (if they are UK officers).

 

 

Marketing Silent Movies

Buying a film:

After searching through the shops of my local shopping centre, I've come to realise that it's harder than I expected to pick up an old silent movie considering the movie production teams no longer use that type of equipment when making their films now.
So, I looked online and found that you can visit websites such as Feature Films which contains many of the classic silent movies or sites such as:
WelcomeToSilentMovies

SilentfilmsDVD

DVD+CD Universe

SilentMovieCrazy
Plus Many More. There seems to be plenty online but hardly any in the shops unless they've recently come out, for example The Artist (2011).

Silent Films Dr Mabuse

THE TESTAMENT OF DR.MABUSE
This film was created as a German crime silent movie in the 1933 which is the sequel to Dr. Mabuse the Gambler also by director Fritz Lang.

PRODUCTION:
It is based on Norbert Jacques novel Mabuse' s colony.
When Hitler rose to power propaganda role over many of the cinema productions, including the the banning of the film by Goebbels. However it was still released in Europe while several were produced in the USA.

BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE:
Many of the cast and crew had worked with Lang on his productions before including Rudolf Klein-Rogge who returned to play Dr. Mabuse.

The film was composed at the end of 1932-1933 with the desire that it would spread world wide.
What many don't know is that when explosions and gun fire was needed Lang often used many real weapons including in the opening scene during a power outage where a stunt actor did the gun play.

Silent Movie The Artist 2011

(List of films)

The Artist 2011 
This French Rom-com drama is set in the classic black and white film type; taking on the silent film style that was almost forgotten considering that new films continue to
Modernize their movies with all the latest filming equipment.
The story of the film takes place in Hollywood between the 1927-1932 years where cinema was becoming more and more popular.
The director-Michel Hazanavicius- focuses the attention on the relationship of a young actress and a silent film star.

AWARDS:
This new silent film received many awards along with its positive feedback from many critics. Including being nominated for 6 Global globe awards, and 3 Best Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy awards.
The director had been fantasizing making a silent movie for years; many filmmakers he idolized were from the silent era.

PRODUCTION:
The film was filmed in 35 days and made in the 1.33:1 screen ratio which is also common for the silent film era.
Even though the final production was presented in black and white it was actually shot in colour and all technical details like the lenses, lighting and camera movements were calibrated and edited to create the right look.
Commonly enough, silent films have a sped up look to them especially those from the 1920's. To create this, the film was shot with a slightly lower frame rate (22fps) instead of the usual rate (24fps).

Intertitles

Intertitles

The recent critical and Oscar success of Michel Hazanivicius’s The Artist has gotten people talking about silent movies again, even if, perhaps, it hasn’t got them watching any. http://thefilmcricket.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/dustedintertitle.png

The fonts used in these intertitles are important to show the date, and atmosphere of the film or short movie.  Typical fonts include:

Sans Serif
Kock Original
Herold
Nickelodeon NF Regualar
Fontleroy Brown
LittleBoy Fontleroy
Speedball
Bellerose
Nathan Regular
Armalite
Zero
Ziperhea
Zombie
Zorque
Zurichi
Yarborough
Yataghan
Xband Rough
Xerox Malfunction
Xylograph
Warlock
Weatherd
Webster
Westminstergotisch
Witchcraft Normal
Woodplnk
Vademecu
Viking N
Vinque
Vivacs
Vivaldii