Chapelin A Communist?

The president exiled Chapelin as quick as he possibly could. Was it because he showed different ideas and different thoughts about how he felt about the government or was he really a communist? I mean he started out dressing like Hitler, but making fun of Hitler in a way with crazy actions and characterized him as a joke. Later he began to make fun of America and the immigrant policy and things like that. He made jokes of very serious activities and events. Many people liked him and his work, but as usual when it comes to film and books some people did not like his work. I am surprised he wasn’t truly banned completely from film work because like certain films we have talked about some have been banned from theaters or the public view because of their content. Do you think that just because Chapelin expressed his own ideas about countries he should have been exiled or banned? Do you think Chapelin was a traitor of his country or America because of his display?

Chapelin – Dramatic Change

Chapelin has gotten a bit full of himself by the second half of this autobiography. I mean he is a genius of comedy but everybody should have their limits and as his brother said “Take what you can get”. Instead Charlie in his pride tended to walk over the lesser people who had helped to make him who he was even those that gave him his big break. He ruled out the feelings of his own brother even and perhaps that could be either a good thing or end in a bad way. While many people were moving to words and sounds, Chapelin chose no words no dialogue just to stick to sounds and actions as indications and symbols which of course is another thing that made him a great producer. He was able to make a connection between sounds and the message he wanted to get across such as the one scene where he mentioned a blind woman and how she can tell a poor man from a rich man through the sound of a rich man’s car door. Brillant idea I would have never thought of anything like that. Although Chapelin’s ideas tended to be great and new, they also stopped being as funny as they once were. Was it possibly because he lost his touch? Was it because he lost the love of his life his inspiration? Was it because he just ran out of extremely funny ideas? Or was it simply because he was now trying TOO hard to bring the funny?

Chapelin Film

The tribute to Chapelin video was very funny and entertaining and somewhat realistic. I liked how they showed him growing up with his brother and mom. The film showed several instances of his past how it began or how he got started and advanced and learned and grew and how he pretty much created a name for himself with the help and support of others. His drunken acting is the best I have seen. It was very entertaining and I can see why that would catch the audience attention. It somehow portrays our actions in real life situations such as watching an intoxicated person act a fool. I know there have been plenty of times where I have laughed at my drunken friends fall off of chairs or slur their words.

Chapelin took what he watched and learned and formed a character, an unspoken comedian using whatever material he could find. He created his own character physically aside from himself as representing the funny. He was seen first acting as an old man full grown beard and facial hair. After that he shaved it off and then he portrayed what I like to refer to as a Hitler type character with the small tiny moustache, funny walk, and cane. It was more of a funny less serious side though. He more of a comedic artist creating scenes as he went like one of the first ones we saw of him was a wedding scene where they were filming and the other actors were told to go with it. While Chapelin did his own thing creating trouble the director was behind the camera telling the others what to do and how to follow his lead. Overall Chapelin from what I have seen so far appears to have been a comedic genius. The grown actor who played his part wasn’t so bad either, very intriguing. He had a funny face didn’t seem to smile much looked somewhat serious, but was still a goof which is really what made it catch my attention and the attention of others as well so far. I’m looking forward to watching more.

Birth of a Nation N Birth at Elderbush Glutch

Both “The Birth at Elderbush Glutch” and the “Birth of a Nation” are displays of the western genre on film. The Birth at Elderbush Glutch shows a piece of film for a while then displays some words. To me it seemed somewhat random such as the ”my baby” phrase that showed up from time to time. So how did they decide which words to actually display on screen? Why did they chose the words they chose? Did they think that the rest of the actions were pretty much self-explanatory?

Unlike the format in “Birth at Elderbush Glutch, D. Griffith maker of “Birth of a Nation” made more sense in his editing and word choice. He tended to put small story portions in between scenes which was understandable because they helped tell the story and really prepare the audience for the scenes to come. From time to time there was a line of dialogue or words of actors flashing up on the screen in the scenes also but they were relevant and important words. Both incorporated difficult complex techniques in their films that was not really seen in others in the past. They also displayed strong touching imagery.

Porter’s New Concepts

Melies did not edit his films, however Edwin Porter did. He incorporated pictures on top of pictures where you could see images but see more images lightly in the background. His films did not have smooth transition all the time either. Sometimes when the pictures changed one can still see the previous picture for a minute with the new picture. It reminded me very much of slide effects on the Microsoft PowerPoint program. Porter also managed to add in alot of color especially on the womens’ outfits which other producers of films did not. We began to see yellow and purple. That had to take a long time because he had to color on every film piece by tinting. It also seems like it was hard to keep the color on the particular object. I noticed sometimes the color bounced around or that when the color objects got close to the sides of the film strip the color disappeared. That was kind of strange to me that is why it caught my attention. Porter also captured early stock animation on film. In the film “Dream of A Rarebit Fiend”, the objects floated and jumped around and appeared and disappeared. That was very interesting and showed me why he was so known for his work and talent.