Why Not Use Words?

There is something really odd about a character that doesn’t talk.

Silence holds a unique tension. Stillness is the same. They create a wonderful expectancy.

Think of being in any situation with a group of people, one of whom never speaks. What would you think of that person?

I not against talking. I’m definitely not against sound. (In the double act that I work in, my partner talks for the entire show and we pay a huge amount of attention to creating rhythm from the natural sound of our movement, our props and our environment.)

I don’t want to make characters that are silent for the sake of being different. For me silence is not an “experimental” choice.

On the contrary, we spend most of our days in silence. Much of our interaction is non-verbal. A huge amount of our observation of other people is of their movement. We’ve all sat in a cafe window people watching!

So we don’t need to make fraudulent “mime” scenes. We can just make scenes where talking naturally is absent. Most obviously, when people are on their own and when people are watched from afar. Or you could set a scene on a deafening oil rig. Or even where two hostages have their mouths taped. (These last two are less interesting to me as they will inevitably involve attempts at talking through mime.)

I enjoy the fun of interpretating or “working out the puzzle” of non-verbal scenes. And equally I love the creative puzzle of making clear inferences without resorting to pointing or unrealistic mime!

As noted in a previous blog, I love the freedom given to the audience to be vocal – not worrying about interrupting the performer or other audience members.

And, finally, but most importantly for me, there is the mysterious anonymity given to a character who we cannot hear. In watching something without the extra information given by the voice, we infer our own ideas about their personality and psychology. Once a character speaks, it is as though the mask slips, and we are presented with something different – something more obvious and less animalistic. Maybe less unpredictable. (I always feel like Chaplin has a great wild animal quality.)

Is there perhaps something more  universal about the non-verbal? Do we avoid projecting our preconceptions about people with certain accents and vocal qualities? Does it allow us to relate more deeply to the character as a result?

To conjure a simple example, imagine watching people on the road from up on a bridge. You see someone waiting, then someone arrives to stand next to him. Another person stands on the other side of the first. The last two exchange glances.

If I was watching that from afar I would be captivated, and a little anxious. And it is that feeling of interpreting what you are watching and not hearing that I find so thrilling.

But this doesn’t mean that everything is about a mysterious narrative. So long as the viewer believes that what they are watching is realistic – or at least consistent – you can explore an extraordinary world of subtle and outlandish behaviour.

Jacques Tati is probably the greatest exponent of this style of film-making. His use of “anonymous” behaviour is fascinating. He often uses a character that is a “watcher of the action”. In Jour de Fete there is an artist and an old lady. In Les Vacances de M. Hulot many of the characters watch each other. And it interesting to read that in French art, there is a well known character called “le flâneur” – someone who spends his time drifting around people watching.

There is a great example of Tati’s vision from 30 seconds:

The exclusion of words has a long tradition, particularly in France where the use of words was banned in theatre unless specifically licenced. This resulted in the French traditions of mime and pantomime. such as the manifesto of French physical performer Étienne Decroux in which he suggested that words be banned from theatre completely for a few years so that actors could learn to use their bodies effectively.

My exclusion of words is not about artistic  resistance training! It is about accessing an unusual experience of interpreting what you are watching and a freedom to vocalise as an audience.

Am I being too fussy?! Or do you get a unique experience from watching non-verbal comedy?

Please let me know what you think!

How to Make a Film on Your Own (or How to Keep a Beard Too Long)

A few years ago, I decided I was going to make a film.

Being fairly optimistic, I turned up with just a camera and costume – and a beard that I wasn’t terribly keen on.

I had my shooting list for the first day which covered three scenes of about 2 minutes each. Easily done thought I. The whole hour of film should be ready in a matter of weeks and the beard could come off.

When I actually finished, it was two and a half years later – and I had learnt some valuable lessons. I have listed the main ones below.

MY 14 FILM MAKING COMMANDMENTS

1. All I had was a camera and myself, and for a first go, it was enough.

2. A good location is essential. It is the foundations of your film. If your location is good, it will help everything. If it doesn’t quite fit your script, it will undermine everything.

3. Leaving the house to go and film yourself is one of the hardest things I have known – and it never got easier. Accept this! The sense of accomplishment at the end of the shoot was always exhilarating.

4. Rehearse the shoot properly – including filming a walk through somewhere easy like your back garden. I could have saved myself days of re-shoots and re-edits by doing this.

5. Keep writing and filming – you will get a feel for it.

6. Simple technical rule: Each shot of the same scene should be at least at a 30 degree angle from the others. Google this as I can’t explain it very well!

7. Simple technical rule: Don’t cross the line. Google this as I can’t explain it very well!

8. Apply the photographic rule of putting the subject of the shot one third into the frame. Google this as I can’t explain it very well!

9. When it comes to editing, trim as much as you can.

10. When it comes to the “final cut” be happy to cut out scenes that took a lot of money and time to film!

11. Google as much information as you can, but don’t worry about it too much.

12. Use a costume that can be easily replaced for continuity.

13. Be brave and get other other people to feedback throughout the entire process.

14. Finish it!

THINGS I’D DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME:

1. Concentrate more on narrative.

2. Have a clearer idea of the target audience.

3. Use more characters.

4. Don’t start filming with a beard that you don’t really want.

In summary, all I can say is, do it!

And keep doing it until you are done.

Because when you are done, you will have done something amazing.

IN A NUTSHELL

You’re going to need the basic kit:

Then, you’ll need the specific props:

And very importantly, you’ll need a location:

And when you’ve got a first draft, you’ll need some friendly critics:

GOOD LUCK!

(If you want to have a look at my efforts, visit http://www.thesillyseasons.com and watch the trailer.)

Performer Analysis: Chaplin (or A Kick Up My Backside!)

I had been feeling rather pleased with myself.

I had worked out that I’d performed thousands of live shows to over half a million people; I felt that I had a developed a high level of understanding of the process of clowning and visual comedy; and I had just finished making four short slapstick films, which I thought were “not too shabby” for a first attempt.

Then I watched a Chaplin short called “Behind the Screen”.

Suddenly I didn’t feel so special any more!

Well, it turns out that in his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell is right – there is a difference between capable and extraordinary!

I had come across the title reading Bryony Dixon’s essay on slapstick, “The Good Thieves”. I was delighted when I found the whole film on youtube.

Delighted… and distraught.

It turned out, my self-conceived “expertise” was nothing more than a knowledge of the absolute basics of a craft which Chaplin had taken to extraordinary heights.

Unlike my youthful introduction to Laurel and Hardy, I had never seen a Chaplin until about five years ago. Prior to that, I had the impression that Chaplin films were at best interesting curios of a bygone era and at worst saccharine and dated. But I was completely wrong.

In “Behind the Screen”, Chaplin displays an extraordinary level of physical ability, performance skill and, above all, visual creativity.

Most striking to a fledgling film maker like myself is Chaplin’s variety of visual jokes and varied visual construction:

• the angles at which he manoeuvres (and his great use of depth)
• his general movement – walking, behing lifted up
• the creation of images eg the human hedgehog made from chairs stacked on his back
• the close up character work (eg his onions reactions)
• the chaos – the huge pillar, the trap door

And then , on top of all this, is my favourite feature of Chaplin films: the consistency of  “other worldliness”. The Chaplin character stands out above his contemporaries because it embodies an animal, non- human character. This allows him to behave in odd ways without having to adhere to naturalism – which, for other slapstick performers, can hinder their antics. This idea is played out in modern cartoons – invariably animated characters are non-human, allowing the creators to play around with ideas that are not restricted by human reality. Chaplin’s tramp, although “humanoid” is more like a cartoon. And our emotional reaction to this sort of protagonist is subtly different. (See my blog “Animal Magnestism”) Traditional circus clowns represent a similar detachment from “natural humanness”. And the lack of verbal language is justified by this choice.

Even when his peers moved on from the cartoon-ish behaviour of early slapstick towards more naturalistic characters, Chaplin made the decision to remain animal-like – and his impish innocence, strange costume and make up remain valid choices beyond the end of the limitations of early film technology.

Perhaps this is why, above all else, Chaplin’s films hold up under contemporary scrutiny: they are in world of their own.

Have a look at some of my own slapstick attempts here! 

http://www.thesillyseasons.com

The New Slapstick Film NOW AVAILABLE!

Things have been manic getting the first New Slapstick films through post-production.

We are so pleased with the results. And here’s a sneak peek…

You can download each episode for just £1.99

Or, if you’re in the UK,you can get the luxuriously packaged DVD! (A perfect stocking filler!)

While the proper website is being created, here are the links for downloading:

EPISODE 1: http://www.digitalgoodsstore.com/c/KX9uMb

EPISODE 2: http://www.digitalgoodsstore.com/c/OGMWN7

EPISODE 3: http://www.digitalgoodsstore.com/c/jqOIgv

EPISODE 4 (Christmas): http://www.digitalgoodsstore.com/c/T9FGep

I hope you enjoy them! Please let me know what you think.

 

Thanks for all your support over the year.

Chris

The Celestial Light of the Silver Screen

Since 2006, the well known UK comedian Paul Merton has shared his enthusiasm for silent comedy in books and television programmes.

I love Merton’s delight for the genre – and he has made it fashionable with a previously skeptical audience.

A few years ago, I went to see Paul Merton talk.

I was expecting an interesting but academic evening. The evening ticked along calmly until Paul Merton showed a Chaplin short accompanied by live music.

It was the proverbial divine revelation!

I had never watched a silent comedy with lots of other people before. Despite working in front of large audiences every day – and constantly saying how silent film comedians used all the tricks of vaudeville clowns –  I hadn’t given any thought to what it would be like watching a silent comedy film with a large audience.

Well, I’m telling you – it was WILD!!!

Suddenly these films burst into focus.

It was like watching the most magnificent stage show. All the timing within the film was built to fit with the predicted reactions of a live audience’s. I heard myself – not just laughing – but shouting out loud, “Uh oh!”, “Watch out!” and “He’s going to get it!”

(This was in no small part down to Neil Brand’s cunning live musical accompaniment.)

It was liberating. You could make as much noise as you liked without interrupting the performers or the rest of the audience.

The only thing similar to it that I have experienced is pantomime. Which is not surprising as both performance styles stem from the same root.

In his recent documentary, “The Birth of Hollywood”, Merton also highlights the “enthusiasm” of early cinema audiences.

During my own shows, I often see this “liberating effect” working on individuals in a crowd. Especially on more “cool”  people (invariably between 21 and 33) who tend to go through a period of resistance before letting the laughter take them over.

Other groups are naturally at ease with the freedom afforded by a wordless show – children have few inhibitions; stressed adults find a great release in “giving in” to the silliness; and old ladies are more than happy to be vocal – I have no idea why!

In my series of short films “The Silly Seasons” I hadn’t really considered that the audience might join in in the same way that a live audience might. But having experienced “The Merton Revelation”, I am determined that my next film will be a real joiner-inner – even if I do have to bribe a few old ladies to hide in the audience!

 

We want New Slapstick is a resource for everyone involved in visual comedy of any kind.

We’re putting our money where our mouths are and creating films of our own. To have a look at the attempts so far, click here:

http://www.thesillyseasons.com