Silent comedy Conventions

Critically Acclaimed: We've Got Mail #10 | Buster Keaton vs. Charlie Chaplin !

 Due to sound not being used in cinema until almost 1930, filmmakers had to improvise- and with that came genre conventions. In silent comedy, they used their body language to deliver visual jokes rather than facial expressions and dialogue for obvious reasons; those being sound was not invented as well as close-ups being quite difficult to do at the time. Because of this, many key figures adapted a characterising prop to distinguish them- such as Charlie Chaplin's hat and moustache or Buster Keaton's dead pan face. This is also why slapstick comedy became popularised within silent comedy, as well as stemming from Vaudeville (in addition to the use of animals as props and an array of stunts and chases). This greatly appealed to the mainstream working class audience since Vaudeville was seen as the working class version of theatre. Because of these conventions, the use of mise-en-scene became essential to the narratives, which tended to be quite basic and linear. 

Many silent comedy key figures utilised these conventions, such as the "keystone Cops" which heavily relied on the portrayal of the police force as satirised and quite trivial. This resulted in a lot of their films containing many chase scenes. However, other than the representation of the police force, they provided little social commentary in contrast to Charlie Chaplin. 

Charlie Chaplin's films were seen as much more emotive, containing more social commentary on the struggles of the average working class man- this was his star persona: The Everyman. Someone like Harold Lloyd usually played around with these and took on various personas, but was infamous for his romantic suitor persona. 

Buster Keaton also played around with these persona's, taking on roles of each one. Yet what stands out is his outsider clown persona which portrays someone outside of society; a more in depth insight into the human psyche than other silent comedy filmmakers provided. He also took framing into consideration more, and many scenes depended on the framing for the joke to be delivered. His consideration for dimension connects with his expressionism jokes, which not everyone was doing at the time. Although in the industry today, expressionism and abstract editing is encouraged as creativity, it wasn't always viewed this way. Although Keaton often relies on expressionistic gags, his editing was invisible. In the 20's, some filmmakers, such as the Lumiere brothers and Bazin, believed editing was "cheating", and so began the Expressionism Vs Realism debate.

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