Component 2C: Essay

To what extent can it be said that your chosen film movement represents an expressionist as opposed to a realist approach to filmmaking? Make detailed reference to examples from the silent film or films you have studied. [20]

Early cinema throughout the 1910s and 20s explored the contrasting methods that directors took in order to convey two filmmaking approaches, one that portrays the realist and the other the expressive.

German expressionism was at the forefront of expressive filmmaking during the early years of cinema due to the large infrastructure for film that remained after the economic problems had crippled other sectors because of the impact of the first world war. In 1917, German military supreme command took control and consolidated all major film studies under one entity known as UFA, focusing on nationalist films that would help Germany win the war. Due to UFAs restrictions, independent companies that survived were forced to produce something unique to grasp the audiences attention such as ‘The Cabinet of Dr Caligari’ which stood out because of its expressive use of mise-en-scene rather than realistic, designed to give an artificial appearance with over-scaled doors and dark-eyed makeup to achieve a creepy effect, reflecting how German expressionism used exaggerated mise-en-scene to reflect the inner psychology of the characters.

Soviet montage was another expressive development that came about in a similar fashion to how German expressionism had been developed. Cinema was a powerful tool for social and political influence for the new government after the 1917 revolution, meaning they took a great interest in film, centralising the Russian film industry under one entity known as Narkompos. Restricted imports and reduced manufacturing resulted in a lack of raw film stock which resulted in many filmmakers beginning to study films, dissecting them whilst focusing on the length of shots and how they were edited together that would result in the development of new soviet montage films, such as ‘Battleship Potemkin’ (S.M. Eisenstein).

Lev Kuleshov discovered what became known as the Kuleshov effect during his time working at a film school, where a shot of a person with no expression, cutting to different images and then back to the person resulted in different responses from the viewer. When it was intersected with a bowl of soup he was perceived to be feeling hungry, however when it altered to a shot of a woman on a couch, the viewer thought that the person was feeling desire. Soviet filmmakers believed this technique was the true power of cinema and was something that no other art form could do: juxtapose two images to crate a new meaning.

Whilst both these expressive film techniques are used to create new meaning, some opposed the classical and expressive editing, mainly the film critic André Bazin. Although he isn’t against editing due to it’s basis of a films structure, he’s against the optical illusions it creates, adding meaning through juxtaposition rather than content of an image. Expressive editing invents meaning through this juxtaposition instead of the images themselves, removing the freedom on the part of the spectator to select for themselves. Bazin prefers that filmmakers use longer takes with less cuts to create a more realistic appearance, favouring that the audience make their own judgements about what they are watching, directing their own viewing process such as how long they should look at something and what they should be looking at initially.

These beliefs that Bazin had can be further seen in the French film movement in the 1960s known as Cinema verite that focused it’s attention on the realistic day to day lives, capturing life in it’s realistic form.

Buster Keaton films use both expressive and realist elements to create meaning throughout, utilising expressive aspects of mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and performance whilst further focusing on the expressive to covey meaning to the audience.

In Keatons 1920 film ‘One Week’, expressive elements of soviet montage and german expressionism are used in favour of realistic elements typically favoured by Bazin. The film portrays a week in the life of a recently married man as he attempts to build a house and settle down with his wife. Keaton attempts to carry a supposedly heavy brick chimney up a tall ladder reaching to the roof that he had taken from the front of the porch as he attempts to build his crooked house. In taking of the front of the porch to use as a ladder it shows an abstract use of a mundane item whilst carrying a chimney up a roof should be an impossible feat due to a traditional chimney being heavier and not nearly light enough to carry that applies comedic effect to the scene.

Keaton’s wife in the film washes in a bathtub after a milk bottle explodes in her face. As she reaches for a bar of soap besides the bath, half standing, stopping as she acknowledges the camera looking at her, engaging with the audience and breaking the fourth wall as a hand, presumably of the cameraman covers the lens as she reaches once gain for the soap and sits back down without being seen. This acts as a joke as it initially gives the audience the impression that she is going to stand up without clothes on, therefore breaking the illusion that the film is a realistic representation of married life whilst having dispiriting effect on the audience. The wide shot of the milk explosion in her face is very realistic however as during the 1920s, there were no tabs on milk bottles, meaning the user had to poke the cover off which caused the milk to spray everywhere after pressure inside the bottle is released, creating a mess that is present in the film.

Pathetic fallacy is something that could be considered as being elements of both the expressive and realistic categories as the weather is natural but the specific timing of the wether in cohesion with the disastrous events as their crooked house spins around in the wind and rain appears more expressive as it represents their futile situation as their guests leave, their house crumbles and they spend the night sleeping cold on their suitcase covered in mud. Should the decision have been made to withhold from using rain as a storytelling device, the audience wouldn’t have been capable of grasping the hopeless situation they find themselves in.

The film doesn’t however neglect to use realistic elements, using several references to superstition in the film such as the raction from the women in the house at the umbrella being open indoors and Keaton’s disposal of a horseshoe after him and his widfe have been launched from their own home, sitting drearily in the mud, perched on a suitcase. The act of opening an umbrella indoors is supposed to bring bad luck to its user whilst a horseshoe is supposed to bring good luck and fortune when hanging over a persons front door. The fact that he throws it away could signify hiss loss of hope that he and his wife will ever have a completed and settle down.

Another Keaton film that favours the expressive over the realistic is ‘The Scarecrow’. Editing throughout the film remains largely realistic as continuity editing depicts a narrative in a linear way that allows the story to play out in real time. Mise-en-scene on the other hand differs between the expressive in that it’s used for comedic effect whilst realistic features are representative of society in time in which they were made. Similar to the German expressionistic style of mise-en-scene, Keaton uses common household objects in atypical ways, placed in unusual areas such as the salt hanging above the table on string and space for the table on the wall with attached plates, presenting an abstract home with mise-en-scene designed to show he hasn’t compromised usability in a small space.

The idea of two men going after the same woman is a common theme that has branched throughout both 20th century literature and film, mainly because it connects with the audience as it was highly likely that some viewers would have experienced this for themselves as the 1920s was a very patriarchal male dominated society, making this is a film that both uses realistic and expressive elements to have an effect on the audience. The woman they both attempt to seduce briefly looks at the camera after running away from the scarecrow, engaging with the audience to convey her shock and confusion.

When a man attempts to chase Keaton and the framers daughter, the car topples backwards when he sits at the back because he is a large man and despite being partially realistic, its an expressive depiction of what would happen in reality to emphasise the man weight. Also, the horse that Keaton intends to escape on is given the appearance of a real horse as two horses stand beside each other, one real and one fake, so when the woman gallops away on her horse he left behind on a stationary horse, leaving him in bewilderment. Both these are used for comedic effect too emphasise a characters personality or their stupidity rather than portraying a realistic depiction of life. This realistic depiction can nevertheless be further seen in the film by the use of different object such as alcohol and a cigarette. A hidden bottle of alcohol contained within the scarecrows jacket is relevant to 1920s America due to the prohibition era that banned the sale of alcohol until 1933 whilst the lighting of a cigarette after Keatons chase with a supposedly rabid dog would have been a common sight as tobacco was widely available and seen as fashionable habit as there was less awareness about the dangers it could cause.

Keaton’s High Sign is based on more realistic premises whilst portraying them in an expressive manner so as to show different character traits possessed by different characters without the use of sound. The film presents an ordinary person getting caught up in extraordinary events in an American society where gangs were commonplace during the time period, hiding away behind a false front such as the “Blinking Buzzards” behind a gun range whilst the carrying of firearms was legal in America which resulted in crimes such as robbery common as it was easy to obtain a gun and commit a crime without being caught.

Mise-en-scene is expressive in that the newspaper Keaton starts to read is absurdly large as he continues to open it multiple times as it keeps expanding, acting as a comedic tool for the audience. The mise-en-scene is deliberately unrealistic to show how out of place he is in this new town that he has been throw into. Whilst aiming at a row of bottles on a wall for target practice, he accidentally shoots a man standing beside them who leaps high into the air and proceeds to run rapidly away, clutching his behind to exaggerate the pain inflicted upon him. Keaton’s shooting at one target and hitting another target when aiming at the bottles and his shooting from behind his back and under his legs later at the gun range causes destruction all around him as he us a careless and inexperienced gunman, showing the audience that he is quite incapable of working for a gang or preventing the killing of someone. The unique design of the house of the man he attempts to protect against the gang is an expressive method of manipulating mise-en-scene to express the rudiculousness of the event as he is far out of his depth. It’s also unrealistic that all the rooms in the house can be seen at the same time as he is chased from one room to another when running away from the gang.

The cinematography in the film is comprised of both the expressive and the realist. Wide shots are typically used in the houss as they chase each other whilst a long depth of field is traditionally used throughout the majority of scenes to give a greater focus on everything that’s happening rather than just one specific thing. There are however occasions when Keaton uses expressive cinematography to direct the audiences attention on something specific. Iris shots manipulate where the audiences focus should be such as the death note given to the old man he attempts to protect.

To conclude, whilst there are elements if expressive film techniques and realistic depictions of life, Keaton favours the use of expressive cinema as it provides far greater meaning for the audience through comedic effect or as a narrative device.