Coming Attractions

By incorporating the three principles: the past, present and future. We will post our discoveries about each phase of the cinema. From what we learned to what we know. So settle down with your popcorn and favorite beverage and stay tuned for the coming attractions.

Monday, February 7, 2011

A walk through City Lights: the arts perspective


"City Lights" a high budget movie; $1.5 million seemed a lot to people in 1931. Charlie had a big part in this movie. Not only did he direct it and starred in it, but also produced it and also edited it. It was a great example of slapstick comedy which is really popular today. In this movie there was no dialogue, it only had ragtime music playing the whole time in this movie. There was only one camera filming thorough out this movie. To get to another scene they usually stopped filming and they would cut the film and edit it to the next scene of the movie. Charlie Chaplin usually wore a costume when he was starring in the films.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zskO9O3hF78

7 comments:

  1. Christina, it is pretty funny when you look back on movies in the past and how they where made. The movies back then were low budget films that didnt cost that much to make. There was no technology around to make things alot better.To get to another scene they usually stopped filming and they would cut the film and edit it to the next scene of the movie because there was not a lot of technology for movies yet. Today's movie have everything from sound, graphics, and more all because technolgy evolved.

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  2. Christina I enjoyed this post. Charlie Chaplin was a master in his field. I remember watching his movies when I was a kid. He was so funny that there was no need for words. He truly was a model for the comedians today. I loved watching these movies particularly with my grandmother. I enjoyed your post. Mary Ann Reday.

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  3. For his times, Sir Charles Chaplin was one of the best-known film stars in the world before the end of the First World War. Chaplin used different acting methods such as mime, slapstick and other visual comedy routines to get his point across in his movies. His most famous role was that of The Tramp, which he first played in the Keystone comedy Kid Auto Races at Venice in 1914. I didn't know this but he was married 4 times, and had eleven children. Very interesting article. Thanks.

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  4. just looking back in the day to see how much movies cost to make and what they had around to make them is just crazy to todays standards. like you stated in your post, only on camera was used and only one song, if it can be called a song. this is a perfect example of how technology has improved from the past to present day.

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  5. Charlie Chaplin is a legend. He produced, edited, directed and even starred in this film. 1.5million dollars is a lot of money for 1931. Now, actors want that kind of money for just playing the lead role. I could not imagine how people reacted to this film when it first came out, it would have been great to see.

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  6. Charlie Chaplin was the biggest star of the silent film era. His movies were the most popular films up until the late 1920's. But he was also a producer, director, and editor. He directed many of his films and would constantly redo a scene to make sure it was right. His multitasking and need for perfectionism made working with him difficult though. Yet even today over 50 years since his final motion picture was released almost everyone recognizes Charlie's image and mustache.

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  7. Charlie Chaplin was one of the first real movie stars. I have never seen any of his films but I still refer to him as the Tramp, which was his most memorable role.

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