Lecture One

Review of Film I

Film and art in general are often seen as forms of communication. In communication a sender transmits a coded message to the reciever who decodes the message. In normal conversation the speaker is the sender and the hearer the reciever. The message which starts in the speaker's head is encoded to a specific language which is then sent to the hearer who decodes it.

In art, the artist is the sender of the message, the work of art contains the coded message and the audience decodes the message. The code for films is called "The language of film" and invovles a number of choices made in terms of set designs, costumes and from a technical point of view, lenses, lighting, camera placement and movment and so on. Each choice is made for a reason, the reason being the transmission of the message. It is important that the artist and the audience share the same code to prevent misunderstanding.

It is always imortant to define terms when looking at a problem. So since this is a genre course, the first question needs to be ----
WHAT IS A GENRE?

Comedy is considered a major film genre, but even the idea of genre is unclear. It means a kind of classification by some characteristic. Who chooses the characteristic and what significance does that choice make?

Some genres for example, seem to be constructed from the emotional response the films is designed to elicit from the audience Comedy is supposed to produce laughter or at east amusement, horror should horrify and terror should terrify. Other genera seem to be rooted in location or content: westerns, science fiction, fantasy, adventure and so on.

Genre means a “kind” of something. It is the plural form of the word “genus” as in “genus and species” Some people feel that genres don’t really exists or matter = films are either good or bad? People however recognize there are kinds of films they like or don’t like based on their “genres” – whatever that means.

What is the point of all these classifications? To some degree it is for marketing. Different films appeal to different audiences and the film companies may target different audiences depending on how the film is perceived.

Certain genres have appeal because the viewer likes to see certain things (scopophilia) and the film makers respond with set pieces which fulfil their audiences desire to see something specific (specularize).

Within genres are sub genera. Supernatural films may be in horror or fantasy (usually depending on the nature of the ghost. Friendly ghosts are in fantasy, hostile ones are in horror. Monster films may be placed in horror or adventure (Is King Kong a monster films, a horror film or an adventure film or all three? It seems clear that films can fall into more than one genre at a time and these are known as mixed genera – for example “comedy-horror” “mystery comedy” and so on.

Because the people who go to see different genres because of what is significant in the genre, the film will have specific high points – the first appearance of the monster in a horror movie. The person’s desire to see something is called “scopophilia” and the scenes which fulfill the audiences’ scopophilia are “set pieces” or high points of the film. For most film makers, the important scenes in the film are the opening, closing shots and the set pieces which typify the genre.

For comedy then, one of the tasks is to identify the “set pieces” for comedy. To some degree this is determined by the kinds of comedies there are. Some examples are:

A. Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity which exceeds the boundaries of common sense.

1. A boisterous form of comedy marked by chases, collisions, and crude practical jokes.
2. A paddle designed to produce a loud whacking sound, formerly used by performers in farces 1. (Theatre)

1. broad comedy characterized by violently boisterous action.
2. a stick or lath used by comic performers or characters for striking other persons, esp. a pair of laths that produce a loud noise without causing injury.
adj.
3. using, or marked by slapstick

B. Sophisticated comedy or comedy of manners

a comedy satirizing the manners and customs of a social class, especially one dealing with the amorous intrigues of fashionable society.

upper classes of society made fun of

C. Screwball comedy

female dominates male whose masculinity is challenged – battle of the sexes. Dialog is face paced repartee; farcical situation, escapist themes and plots involving courtship and marriage. Social classes in conflict. (It Happened One Night)

D. Farce

1. a light, humorous play in which the plot depends upon a skillfully exploited situation rather than upon the development of character.
2. humor of the type displayed in such works.

E. Parody

1. a humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of literature or writing: his hilarious parody of Hamlet's soliloquy.
2. the genre of literary composition represented by such imitations.
3. a burlesque imitation of a musical composition.
4. any humorous, satirical, or burlesque imitation, as of a person, event, etc.

F. Satire

1. the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.
2. a literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule.
3. a literary genre comprising such compositions. (usually is set up to display people or institutions as corrupt)

G. Burlesque:
(noun)

1. an artistic composition, especially literary or dramatic, that, for the sake of laughter, vulgarizes lofty material or treats ordinary material with mock dignity.
2. any ludicrous parody or grotesque caricature.
3. Also, burlesk. a humorous and provocative stage show featuring slapstick humor, comic skits, bawdy songs, striptease acts, and a scantily clad female chorus.

(adjective)

4. involving ludicrous or mocking treatment of a solemn subject.
5. of, relating to, or like stage-show burlesque.

(verb (used with object)), burlesqued, burlesquing.

6. to make ridiculous by mocking representation.

(verb) (used without object), burlesqued, burlesquing.

7. to use caricature.

H. Black comedy or Dark Comedy

comedy that employs morbid, gloomy, grotesque, or calamitous situations in its plot. (Hitchcock claimed Psycho was a “black comedy” Can you find elements of humor in it?

I. Camp

Self acknowledged theatricality often associated with gay male culture (Hairspray, Pink Flamingoes and some films that are "over the top" like Mommy Dearest, Valley of the Dolls etc.) These films became cult classics and attracted a fairly large gay male audience – some question about “a stereotyping of women”)

J. Gross Out Humor

Humor which is “tasteless” or disgusting. Often used for shock value after the breakdown of the “code’. Usually involved with bodily functions (Animal House, etc.)
Often associated with Schadenfreude the joy of seeing someone else’s discomfort. Akin to “to gloat” but a noun

MAKE A LIST OF THE KINDS OF COMEDIES THERE ARE. DEFINE THEM.

Laughter is also a result of something comical, but what makes people laugh can vary from person to person, from time to time, from context to context and culture to culture. Many people will have had the experience of seeing a film at some point in their lives and thinking it is very funny. Then they see it years later and have no idea why they thought it was funny at all. The same thing is true of horror.

Laughter is a physical reaction in humans and possibly some other species of primate. Laughter comes about from such things as being tickled or from humorous (there is that word again) stories or thoughts. Usually it is seen as the result of some positive emotional states, such as joy, mirth, happiness, relief, etc. But other - e.g. embarrassment, apology, or confusion may result in what is known as nervous laughter or courtesy laugh. Horrific or scary moments in film may also produce nervous laughter in the audience

Laughter in itself is an interesting phenomenon. Humans may be the only animal that laughs although this is not clear (partly because of definition) and because of anthropomorphism. But we have a large number of words for different kinds of laughter:

MAKE A LIST OF ALL THE WORDS YOU CAN THINK OF AND HOW ARE THEY DEFINED?

There are many interesting problems in “laughter” – why does it happen? Why does tickling make people laugh? Why can someone tickle you, but you can’t tickle yourself? One definition dealing with mental problems had to do with “inappropriate laughter” When is laughter inappropriate? Who decides? One definition involved laughter when there was nothing going on? What would it mean if someone thought of something funny and began to laugh? If something going on in one’s head is “something going on” who can you say “When nothing is going on?”

What does it mean to “laugh hysterically” or “laugh demonically”?

What can you say about “screamed in delight” “Screamed in fear”

Notice how often the word humorous creeps into definitions? Is that any easier to define?

In the history of comedy films there are many famous people and you need to know some of them. Among them are: PERFORMERS

. Consider also words usd for comedians:

1915 Roach began producing films with his friend Harold Lloyd (Lonesome Luke)

HAROLD LLOYD

Harold Clayton Lloyd, Sr. (April 20, 1893 in Buchard Nebraska– March 8, 1971 in in Beverly Hills California) was an American actor, comedian, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and stunt performer. His silent comedy films were his forte. His parents divorced in 1910. and he remained closer to his father than his “overbearing mother”. Generall consideredd one of the greats and ranks with Chaplin and Keaton – probably the three most famous comics of the silent screen era. Each of them had a “persona” like “the tramp” (or little guy) a stoic dead pan “great stone face character. For Lloyd it was a resourceful, bespectacled go getter character that fit the 20’s like a glove. He was called “Lonesome Luke” in some earlier pictures. In many films he is called Harold – even Harold Lloyd as many vaudevillians used their own names as stage names as well (Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello and so on) He started to move away from the tragic-comedy character associated with Chaplin and donned his trademark glasses which he felt made him more human, more like a neighbor. He had adopted them, because Roach had felt he was too handsome to do comedy and needed some disguise (he had used a fake moustache and badly fitting clothes earlier, which were somewhat copied from Chaplin). With the glasses he switched to properly fitting clothing and this also made him more “real” to audiences – someone they could identify with as someone they knew. His character was always striving for success and recognition he was not restricted to a specific social class.

Like Keaton he was a very physical comedian involved in chases and daredevil events. His films were commercially successful although they did not make as much per film as Chaplin’s. He made up for it in quantity. There are 12 full length Lloyd films made in the 20’s as compared with Chaplin’s 4. In this case quantity is relevant to the gross amount earned and Lloyd’s films grossed 15.7 million vs Chaplin’s 10.5 million.

Lloyd had been interested in being an actor from the time he know what an actor was and started playing roles in stage productions. Somewhere around 1912 he started filming with the Edison Company. At 20 he moved to California where he began to work for the Keystone Company (known for their comedies which included the Keystone Cops/Kops. He made several comedies there. He also worked for United and became friends with Hal Roach> Roach had formed his own studio in 1913. Both the Keystone Company and the Hal Roach Studio would become famous for their comedies.

A tragedy struck in 1919 when Lloyd was posing for promotional sills when a lit "prop" bomb, from which Lloyd was lighting a cigarette. turned out to be real one and exploded in his hand causing the loss of his right thumb and index finger. It also burned his face and injured his eye. The blast was strong enough to injure the camera man and the prop director who were nearby quite seriously. Lloyd thought he would never work again, but he did and you can often notice the glove on his hand with the prosthetic fingers. This makes even more incredible some of the stunts that he did in his films. He started his full length comedies in 1921 and two years later in 1923 he made Safety Last!. This is the oldest film in the American Film Institute’s list of the most thrilling movies. In 1924 Roach and Lloyd split up and Lloyd formed his own company with his films distributed by Pathé and later Paramount and Twentieth Century-Fox. Lloyd was a founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The roaring twenties gave way to the great depression and Lloyd’s on screen persona no longer matched the times. He made the transition to sound but was not as popular as before, He became a Freemason in 1925 and did a great deal of charitable work with them especially with the Shriner’s Hospital for Crippled Children.

SAFETY LAST!
1923
Fred C. Newmeyer (as Fred Neymeyer), Sam Taylor
Harold Lloyd

Safety Last! is a romantic comedy in which we get to see one of the most famous images from the silent movie era. (Please remember that silent films were never silent, they just lacked synchronized dialog). In fact in later years there were very few theatrical releases of Lloyd’s silent, because most of the theaters had a piano and not an organ. Lloyd said he wanted an organ because that was how he had always thought of it being shown. They were rarely shown on TV since he wanted a high price for each one ($300,000.) The cast includes Harold Lloyd as “Harold Lloyd”; Mildred Davis as the girl Mildred (Lloyd was married Davis on Feb 10 ’23 – the year the film was made. It was released April 1); Bill Strother as "the pal, Bill"

The film was reviewed positively and has since gotten wide acclaim as one of the best films of its kind.

AFTER THE FILM

It is certainly hard to believe that Lloyd does most the climbing with only 8 fingers! He was motivated to do this climb in a film when he saw Bill Strother actually scale a building in Los Angeles. It was widely held that Lloyd did all his own stunt work, but after his death, it was found that Robert L Golden (often listed as assistant director) often doubled for Lloyd in some (but by no means all) stunts. He is the double in this fil when the mouse goes up Lloyd’s pants leg.

Jackie Chan in Project A salutes this film. Chan often claims Lloyd was an influence on his work.

The scenes are not what they appear. There is actually a façade built on the roof of a building and the shots are done in such a way the roof is not visible, but the street beyond is. Actually a fall from the façade would have been quite dangerous and in a test with a dummy, it bounced over the edge of the roof and fell to the street below.

This is one of the ways that the camera can mislead the audience into believing one thing when it is actually something else. There are a number of “tricks” to watch for in comedies that give the film a specific look that makes them somewhat comical. See if you can spot them as the term progresses. One is undercranking and making the action somewhat faster than real.

Consider the opening shot with the bars and the noose and the arrival of the priest. The images lead you to suspect one thing, and suddenly you are made to realize it something else. Since this is not necessarily funny, it doesn't help understand why something is funny, but it tells us that this might be one way of creating something humerous.> What kind of things make people laugh in the film? The first shot shows bars, a hangman's noose and a priest coming to talk to the person behind the bars while 2 women are "outside" the bars. The revelation is that it is not what it seems - the bars are not a jail, but a window in a raiway station; the noose is for the mail bag and the priest and women have come to say good bye to the man leaving on the train - all visual gags.

We see the two police change place and so we know before Harold and his pal do, that the police officer he is about to knock down is not the one he knows.

From these and other moments we can begin to abstract information about some things that are humerous. In the first example, things are not what they seem to the audience (althought the characters are not confused by the situation). The humor comes when it is revealed to the audience that they have been mistaken

The sequence in the film where Harold is buying the chain shows him looking at a plate of food and as he parts with each amount of money to the jeweler, food vanishes from the plate. Strictly speaking this is not a "POV" shot since the food isn't actually disappearing, but rather we are are allowed to see a kind of symbolic representation of something in the person's mind.

Verbally there are also a number of ways to joke, some of which parallel the visuals. Others like puns are restricted to language. Non sequitors or shifts in focus on a topic (an unimportant part of a sentence is taken as more crucial)

Telegraphing a joke means telling too much too soon so the tension is broken. However sometimes in humor, the telegraphing is a lie - that is you get to see the punch line early but it turns out to be a different punch line then the one expected.>p> Once again it is easy to see the relation between mystery, horror and comedy. Hitchcock let the audience know things the characters did not e.g. a bomb about to go off in a room where the people in the room don't know it. Val Lewton in his horror (or terror films as he liked to call them) often build to some point where something frightening is expected, but it doesn't happen. He may do this several times before he builds to a point where something does happen. This is a process noted in some theories on aethetics where building a pattern and then breaking it call attention to the place where the pattern is broken.