Chaplin managed to create cinema as an form of art! So here I am taking some notes, as I study his work.
Nowadays we have many of his his movies on youtube (as the copyright is expiring, no matter what - when I was a kid any appearance of Chaplin on TV was an event!).
Movies are compressed representation (as compared to books). They use additional visual/audio clues to tell a story - and to create a different kind of experience. Also the dynamics of movie scripts are quite different as compared to storytelling in a book. Someone had to figure out what works and what does not, and that guy was Chaplin (who did not have a formal education in any of these areas...)
- His early work are two-reel movies. In many of them he is fighting a big bully adversary.
- This doesn't work will full length feature movies: starting with 'The Kid', and later in all his movies in 'United Artist' - the adversary is something bigger, like poverty in 'the Kid', the system in 'Modern Times', fascism in 'The great dictator (that's when it becomes great art)
- The ending of his movies becomes more profound than a happy ending, appealing to something big /doing pathos the right way is a big thing in art!/
- 'The Circus' - The circus moving along, and the Tramp is staying behind.
- 'City Lights' - I can see
- 'Modern Times' - hope
- 'The great dictator' - the whole speech, as a big universal turnaround, if it were to happen for real...
Charlie Chaplin is a big hero and example for me, because he mastered big change in paradigms, in multiple instances. Each time he had to figure out what works and what does not work - during each of these transitions! /I think that alone is a big example to programmers, who need to deal with similar shifts in paradigm, on occasion/
- change from Vaudeville theater to cinema.
- change from two-reel movies to full feature movies (actually this was a big thing in general, around the time that Charlie did it!)
- change from silent movies to talkies
Maybe shrugging off disappointment and walking into the sunset /to face the new day/ is the right approach to life, in general...
2/1914-12/1914 - Keystone , several movies a month, each about 15 minutes long ; 36 movies! for 16 of these movies he was not the writer/director.
The first appearances of the Tramp, that's where the character became formed (Actually the Tramp is a bit of his own self - Chaplin had it rough as a child, and he knew how it looks around the poor side of town...) The genius of Chaplin: he created a character that evokes compassion and one that everyone can relate to.
2/1915-11/1918 Essanay studios one movie every couple of months, 12 movies ;
'Ultimately its biggest star was Charlie Chaplin, who for a time had his own production unit at the studio'
'the stories of the movies are much better developed, Chaplin already is the Tramp, Chaplin is the writer and director of all of these movies'
'The landmark film of the Chaplin series is The Tramp (1915),[19] in which Chaplin's vagabond character finds work on a farm and is smitten with the farmer's daughter. Chaplin injected moments of drama and pathos unheard of in slapstick comedies (the tramp is felled by a gunshot wound, and then disappointed in romance). The film ends with the famous shot of the lonely tramp with his back to the camera, walking down the road dejectedly until shrugging off his disappointment.'
5/1916-12/1917 Mutual Film 12 movies, one every month, each with two reel length (called the perfect dozen). Some say it's the most creative period.
'In 1916, Charlie Chaplin became the highest paid entertainer in the world when he signed a contract with Mutual for a salary of $670,000 per year. Mutual built Chaplin his very own studio and allowed him total freedom to make twelve two-reel films during this fruitful twelve-month period. Chaplin subsequently recognised this period of film-making as the most inventive and liberating of his career'
'Chaplin 'felt that the company's tight production schedules led to the films becoming increasingly formulaic. As a result of this concern, Chaplin went with First National Pictures to have a contract that allowed him more flexible production schedules so he could focus on making better films'
1918-1923 First National - nine movies, a movie for every season (sometimes skipping a season or two)
'Chaplin's contract allowed him to produce his films without a set release schedule. However, the production of the feature film The Kid ran so long that the company started to complain'
'To address their concerns, Chaplin invited the exhibitors to the studio, and they were so impressed by the project and charmed by the players, especially co-star Jackie Coogan, that they agreed to be patient. That patience was ultimately rewarded when The Kid became a major critical and box office success'
The kid - was his a big pivot moment towards great art and full feature movies in general.
9/1923-10/1952 United Artists, his big eight eight movies
'in 1918, Charlie Chaplin could not get his parent company First National Pictures to increase his production budget despite being one of their top producers' (like with 'the kid' - the first full feature movie by Chaplin)
Charlie was a perfectionist and required absolute control, in both theater and movies the result of this approach is of great value, but on the other hand there are practical limitations in terms of time and budget... Being his own boss was Charlie Chaplin's way to master this contradiction! (is there a some similarity with Steve Jobs and his computers?)
'Already Hollywood veterans, the four stars talked of forming their own company to better control their own work'
There is a dramatic twist: 'Sydney Chaplin, brother and business manager for Charlie, deduced something was going wrong, and contacted Pickford and Fairbanks. Together they hired a private detective, who discovered a plan to merge all production companies and to lock in "exhibition companies" to a series of five-year contracts.[8]'
Two movies produced in Britain, 1957 - A king in New York, 1967 - A Countess from Hong Kong
David Robinson 'Chaplin had a lifelong compulsion to do everything himself, even down to wanting to play every role in each of his films (his ideal was to find actors and actresses who would faithfully imitate and reproduce his own interpretation of their parts).'
Chaplin about his childhood: "Then something happened! It could have been a month or a few days later – a sudden realization that all was not well with Mother and the outside world. She had been away all the morning with a lady friend and had returned home in a state of excitement. I was playing on the floor and became conscious of intense agitation going on above me, as though I were listening from the bottom of a well"