A Celebration of American Silent Film, Ep. 11: "Trick of the Light"+ Analyzing "The kid" by Charlie Chaplin POST #7

    Reading chapter 5 in Grazian one of the main points I took away from the chapter was “cultural producers tend to work collectively in collaborative circles and other social groups.”(pg.115) this I felt really related heavily when I learned of the fascinating techniques that were utilized in Hollywood: A Celebration of American Silent Film, Ep. 11: "Trick of the Light" documentary, especially being able to manipulate the light but using white tablecloths or boards till it became a standard in filming. Then as technology had grown there were also a development of artificial lighting than natural lighting, although it was pretty harmful to the eyes, until it was legally required to have glass used. Even for effects with glass if they wanted to create more elaborate sets they would paint over the glass and have it used to film with the camera in the front at the exact spot you were shooting at to create a scenery as if you were transported to different time periods or countries. There were many different innovations and methods to create a certain look but within reasonable budget from the looks of it, because it never seemed that these film crews never seemed they were willing to shell out a lot of money to these short films, unless the exception of large scale props if they couldn’t achieve a certain look they wanted. After watching the documentary, I watched Charlie Chaplin’s “The kid” because it was apparently written, produced, musically composed and directed by Charlie Chaplin. As Grazian states “not from the minds of individual geniuses as much as from their interactions within small communities of teachers and mentors, pupils and disciples, colleagues and rivals. Their meetings, discussions, debates, and arguments provided a fertile context for the development of refined thought, just as artists working and kibitzing together inevitably share techniques and styles, evaluate each other’s work, and push each other to excel.”(99) aside from Charlie Chaplin, as it appears in the beginning it may appear as an independent project, but it is not without the help of other people.

    I realized that all the principles and techniques that came to lighting and angles were also applied here in this film as well. I also noted two scenes in particular that stood out to me in terms of lightning, one literally and one that was more symbolic. For the one that was a more literal approach to using lighting was when Charlie Chaplin and his son entered the room stay place and the owner saw in a newspaper clipping that there would be an award to whoever would find the orphan. He turned down the two light bulbs in the room to create a stark contrast between himself as he was inspecting Charlie and the child to verify their identity, followed by taking the child to the police. Turning down these lights creates a sense of uneasiness of what the character was about to do is sneaky even though ironically according to the newspaper turning the orphan in would be considered the “rightful” thing to do but he only did it for rather self-motivated reasons for money. Which made sense why the scene is depicted more sinister in the dark than where Chaplin was in the light from the window. The second scene that stood out in the symbolic sense of light and dark was when Chaplin fell asleep in front of his home after being dispirited after losing his son he enters into a “dreamland” of what seems to display him and other angel like characters and his son. All the angels of course are depicted as “pure” and “white” while the demons that sneak into this dream land are depicted as black, causing a very “Adam and Eve” like chaos where the sins of jealousy and lust enter. But that was just my take on it, and what I was able to take away from what I saw.