Film Research

My biggest influence and inspiration for my short film will be Charlie Chaplin and the comedy black and white silent films he starred in. Charlie Chaplin is one of the most well know actors with regards to black and white silent films. Some references to his character and films he has starred in are still made reference to in modern films today. Some specific films I will study whilst creating my script are: The Kid (directed by Charlie Chaplin, released in 1921) and Mabel's Strange Predicament (directed by Henry Lehrman, released in 1914). The reason I have chosen these two specific films is because they were two of the first films that Charlie Chaplin starred in as 'The Tramp' a costume and character he devised himself and became globally famous for.

A popular feature of Charlie Chaplin's silent films as well as other silent films in the early 1900's, is the text included in the film to give the sense of speech. In many silent films, a character would speak and be shown on screen with his/her mouth moving, however it cannot be heard by the audience. Instead, a piece of text comes up full screen to tell the audience what has just been said by the character, just like the picture below.

Almost every silent film included live music being played as the film was being played in the cinema. The soundtrack included was essential to the film experience, as the sound track added to the suspense/comedy/romance/fear of the film. My film is set in the 1920's - during this time period in the majority of cinemas, a pianist/band were in the cinema showing rooms and played along side to the film. I have decided to include an originally made continuous soundtrack throughout my film due to the fact that I cannot get a pianist/band to play next to the screen which my film is being shown for obvious reasons.

This is a clip from House Bunny directed by Fred Wolf and released in 2008. 9:05 - At this point in this clip, I have taken inspiration for my clumsy waiting scene. In my waiting scene I plan however, on the waiter being the clumsy ones (Mario) as opposed to the woman having a meal (Rosa). Additionally, the actual physical comedy will be over exaggerated because there obviously being no sound included in my film.

This is a clip from Eat Pray Love directed by Ryan Murphy and released in 2010. I have specifically looked at the mise-en-scene in this scene. This part of the film is set in Italy and although it is a recent film and therefore, does not fit in with the time period the film is set in, it does give me an idea of what things I need to include in my mise-en-scene like: things included on the table in the restaurant, things included in the background.