Charlie Chaplin and his Captivating Comedy Techniques

Charlie Chaplin was a famous actor, comedian, and director (filmmaker) in the early 1900s. In his films Modern Times, The Kid, and The Circus, Chaplin used multiple techniques to achieve humor for those viewing his films. He used techniques such as slapstick comedy, lighting, and sound design in his films to create quality content for the viewers and to create comedy to make the films more entertaining for the audiences. In his films, he used slapstick comedy as one of his main elements to make the film comedic in a way that did not need dialogue, or at least not very much of it.

As a more in-depth example, in Modern Times, Chaplin uses quite a lot of slapstick. When he is working in the film, people come in with a machine that is designed to feed workers as they continue to work. Charlie Chaplin’s character is subjected to the testing of the machine, and as they demonstrate how it works, it malfunctions and he ends up in a mess of difficulties.

The part of the machine begins to hit him in the face repeatedly while the hot soup is poured all over him from another part. In my opinion, this made for wonderfully funny humor. It was extremely entertaining as it happened and made laughter fill the room. Another technique that he used, and used quite often, was lighting. He used lighting to show the importance of certain characters or objects compared to the importance of others. Lighting highlighted certain points, and certain things, and made them stand out more and have more comedic value.

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That’s at least in my opinion. He worked with the lighting to highlight himself and someone or something else in certain scenes to show that they were to be focused on. This also showed where the main comedy would be seen. In the scene in The Kid, where he was running from the police officers, he ran over rooftops and slipped quite a few times, nearly falling off. He was highlighted along with the police officer who was chasing him to show that they were the main focus and where the comedy was as he tripped and slipped among the rooftops. A clever technique using lighting to show importance and comedy.

The element that Chaplin is known most for is his sound design for films. Most of his films were silent films with only music to fit the scenes. Most, if not all, of his films, were silent with little to no dialogue to tell the story. The comedy was shown with actions and expressions rather than words. Some may say that their actions were supererogatory, or too much. They did too many hand gestures or went overboard with expressions. Then again, how else were they to show their emotions and reactions if they did not use words? In the film, The Circus, the actors are mostly, if not, silent, using mostly gestures and actions to tell their story and show comedy. Perhaps that adds to the comedy and makes the film appeal more to the audience in some situations. The extensive use of gestures and actions and expressions may be more comedic than intended, which would be a good thing for the audience if they would like the film to humor them. Sometimes, words make the comedy. Other times, actions make the comedy and make it well. Many different directors use different techniques to achieve their goals in their films. Comedy can be shown in several ways using several techniques, and result in the enjoyment of the audience. Charlie Chaplin is famous for his films, in which he used several techniques to show comedic value. He was a clever man, who used clever techniques. He and his films will never be forgotten and will continue to make audiences laugh for years to come.