Aristotle on Comedy

The Movies of Sykes, Barker, Tati and Chaplin have all been comedies.  We did not set out to find comedies but movies telling their stories without significant quantities of dialogue.  They have turned out to be comedies and while not remotely constituting a genre have threads in common. Before discussing those threads it would be useful to consider what comedy itself might be.  The link below makes a number of observations about comedy.  That

1.  Traditionally, comedy has to do with the concerns and exploits of ordinary people. And
2. Again, the true hallmark of comedy isn't always laughter. More often, it's the simple satisfaction we feel when we witness deserving people succeed. (David L Simon  De Paul University Chicago 1998)

Read the link and consider how this relates to the work of Sykes et al.
http://condor.depaul.edu/~dsimpson/tlove/comic-tragic.html

Kurt Vonnegut on the reasons for laughter

Kurt Vonnegut was a very distinguished writer of science fiction stories.   In this interview with the Christian Century website he discusses the nature of humour.  In the body of the interview he observes that humour introduces something troubling to the audience.  He then observes that Laurel and Hardy are particularly funny because they have a sweetness that it is too sweet to survive

http://www.vonnegutweb.com/vonnegutia/interviews/int_xiancentury.html

The Plank -opening sequences

Group 2a
We noted that in the opening sequence of The Plank Tommy Cooper appears in the lumber yard anachronistically.  The plot actually has him appear in the yard minutes later.  Why has Sykes done this?.  One way of looking at this is to consider  the opening as psychological preparation for the audience.  We see Cooper and latterly Sykes appear after 1) some establishing sound and shots of the lumber yard as a place of threat and 2)  Cooper as a clown who cannot cope with the environment in which he finds himself.

We also noted the way in which Sykes constructs both his prop gags and his visual gags.
 Have a look at Its Your Move on You Tube to see the was in which these gags are constructed.

Do this for sequence 1 at the address below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeRT07fvzXg

Stan and Ollie-Examples of the Inner and Outer Clown

In the article Stan and Ollie:  The Two Clown Angels, Kyp Harness suggests that Stan and Ollie stand as " oppressed every men".   Read the article and consider the 2 characters as examples of the Inner and Outer Clown. In the article Harness suggests that clown have a tragic "structural premise".  They propose to do something and they fail.

http://laurelandhardycentral.com/angels.htm

Have a look at the link below.  You will see scenes from the American sitcom Perfect Strangers.   In this the actors re-enact a scene from Laurel & hardy.  While they accurately imitate the physical movements of Laurel & Hardy consider how far they reproduce their "clowning".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o1uLvzOgHw&feature=related

Having read the article view part one of Duck Soup for evidence of the Inner and Outer Clown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ4YF7xkiXE&feature=related

The Art of Clowning

Look at the link below.
 In this short video Eli Simon an American Professor of Drama identifies 2 types of clown-The Inner Clown and the Outer Clown. The former is self possessed and confident while the latter is sad and something of an out cast. we will soon be beginning to develop your own characters.  You might want to consider how you will develop your characters. Simon's ideas may be a starting point
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ57_prZ9e4

Studs Terkel: The Workers' Archvist

Studs Terkel was an American journalist and radio presenter whose mission was to bring the life experience of "ordinary"  workers to the attention of the wider world.  This is a review of his book Working and neatly summarises the main themes of Terkel's work

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0531-03.htm

Theodore Zeldin: also raging against the machine

Zeldin is a philosopher and sociologist who has studied work and progress as a phenonomenon.  He is interested in the consequences that everyday processes .  Both for the individual and society as a whole.  He wonders if we have become richer why are we not happier?

http://www.hsbcprivatebank.com/perspective/future-of-boring-work.html

Research activity 2-Group A

Each group has been set a mini film project.  Remember you are to film using Tati's techniques.  Some reminders of what we talked about

1. Tati employs a variety of wide shots
2. Narration (such as it is) his films move from order to chaos
3. They privilege the cool independent viewer
4. There  is the subtle reframing of the viewers attention by the use of internal frames

Next screening

In this film Sykes a movie based on comic set ups linked a slim narrative thread

Research Topic

Using YouTube channels, DVDs or other media view scenes from a Jacques Tati movie and

• Identify the dominant framing technique employed by this director
• Sketch 3 story board images from the beginning, middle and end of the sequence
• Consider how the sequence relates to Tati's notions of the built and organic world

In the seminar be prepared to articulate your general findings about this directors use of the camera, cinematography and cutting.

Next Screening

Our next featured screening is Play Time.  This was Tati's commentary on the de personalisation brought about by industrial society

Recent Screenings

Both HND Media 2a & 2b viewed Chaplin's ModernTimes and Tati's M Hulot's Holiday.  In addition both groups watched the short "Sylvette Baudrot on Tati and Playtime (available as an extra on the BFI edition of Playtime).  This gives an insight into Tati's working methods and a little of his philosophical and artistic interests.

Tati's approach to his main character

This is a quotation from an article by Elliot Stein in the Village Voice (31/12/69).  Stein points out that Tati create an imaginary world as a defense against the less than humane "real world".

Tati's signature comic character ambled into movies with Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953), his second film. Tall, awkward, blank-faced Hulot is an endearingly clumsy everyman whose incompetence is preferable to the inhuman competence of the modern world.

Tativille is the official website for Jacque Tati's films. You will see a collection of slides. Pay attention to the framing, composition and colour

http://www.tativille.com/

Silent Movies

Eric Sykes maitained the tradition of dialogue free movies.  The link below  refers you his television short  Its Your Move

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTx3XGcSKV4