About Sherlock Jr.
It was a rowdy setting filled with unfamiliar faces shouting and hurling unfriendly remarks all around. The smell of human perspiration filled the air and there was some pushing and shuffling of people in the area. Did the screening of Buster Keaton's short films at the Esplanade Outdoor Theatre on the 17th of June 2006 turn out really bad?
Well, if you could transport yourself into the Silent Movie Era, you would find that the above mentioned descriptions were in fact a compliment to the film and a sign of its success. These reactions would be the typical sight at a silent movie screening in the 1920s, where the general public would gather around a small theatre to watch the film and react to the onscreen performances with ‘boos’ to the villains and ‘awws’ to a romantic scene. An organ or a small ensemble would be present to underscore the events taking place on the film. All these were exactly what happened during the screening of Buster Keaton’s Film, Sherlock Jr. (1924), at the Esplanade.
Sherlock Jr., which was directed in 1924 by Buster Keaton, was far from being a clichéd slapstick comedy during the silent movie era. Keaton manages to amuse even the modern day audience with a rich but simple plot, coupled with a surreal approach to the content.
The film is about a detective-obsessed theatre cleaner, (Buster Keaton) trying to win a girl’s heart but is, however, framed by his love rival (Ward Crane) into being rejected by her family. The theatre cleaner later tries to use his obsession with detective investigations to humorously free himself from the malicious claims and win the girl’s heart all over again. This simple plot, in freeing himself from the unjustified claims, is well textured and timed with Keaton’s comical strategies, which even consists of dangerous stunts and actions. In addition, it was well presented with impressive cinema techniques. One instance is the scene where the theatre cleaner dreamt himself into being the main character of a theatre movie within the film itself, trying to solve mysteries as Sherlock Jr. The whole movie experience was indeed an engaging one, evident from the constant cheers when Keaton wittingly solves a hurdle and the occasional boos when the villain frames Keaton in a cruel manner.
The screening of Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. was accompanied by the Blue Grassy Knoll Band, led by the charismatic Simon Barfoot. The five men band dedicated themselves to scoring for Buster Keaton’s films and playing these compositions out of their love for the great director and his works. Barfoot kicks off the whole event with a short introduction about Buster Keaton and his films, before encouraging the diverse audience at the Esplanade to rehearse their boos, hisses, awws and woos to the film characters where appropriate. Within minutes, the Blue Grassy Knoll was able to allow their love for the silent cinema to course through the Esplanade Outdoor Theatre and flow onto the audiences.
The film experience during the screening itself was far from dull or irksome as a modern day audience would expect from a silent black and white film. In fact, I was treated to a whole new exciting experience of the silent movie era, which I thought had taught me the very essence of film and its significance.
Blue Grassy Knoll of course, was playing live in the background, supplementing the visuals with their mixture of country and cha cha music. The band also took their role to another level by providing even the sound effects to the film, using purely their instruments. Some creative ideas like knocking on the wooden body of the double bass for a door knock and tapping lightly on the violin’s fret for a galloping horse were pumped into their compositions, creating realistic sound effects on the spot. It was, indeed, to a great extent that the live music and audio supplements brought us all to a deeper appreciation of the film medium.
Through the integration of Buster Keaton’s film and Blue Grassy Knoll’s music and sound, it could be concluded what film is. Film to me is the marriage of the different art elements, the holy matrimony to give birth to a whole new joy and experience. This is indeed true and supported by what was displayed during the screening of Sherlock Jr.
Seated in the centre front row, I began to indulge in how the visuals of cinema became the conductor of the music elements which the band was playing. One instance can be observed in the scene where Keaton’s character was transiting from location to location in the film within the film. This location transition was achieved with Keaton’s unique cinema technique of changing the background of the scene periodically but with the main character still in place. This change directed the Blue Grassy Knoll’s transition of the mood and feel of their music; a cold winter background begged for a melodramatic piece on the violin, the transition to a background of a cliff with the main character almost falling screamed for the band to underscore a close-to-insanity piece of music. All these complemented the visuals to give birth to this whole new experience, filled with literal ahhs, awws, and woos.
It became apparent therefore, that any good film should be a combination of good elements married to each other. Elements such as the script, acting, sound, music, colours, lights, movement and even photography are all crucial to complement and direct each other in this marriage. If for instance, the audio element was lagging and the acting element thrived, the marriage would be one heading for a bad ‘divorce’. As in a marriage where the couple has to complement and support each other for a harmonious relationship, do the elements of a film come together to create a harmonious relationship and therefore create that great experience.
Film is also in this sense a very unique art form as compared to any other art forms, such as literature, music, paintings, etc.; are art forms which can stand alone independently to create a great experience. Film however, is an art form where all these other art forms have to be married to each other to create that experience.
In the process of filmmaking, too much emphasis has, at times, been given wrongly to certain areas of the process and others get too little emphasis. This in my opinion should be corrected as arguably, Film should be that marriage of elements where all the elements that make up a film (Editing, Cinematography, Literature Content, Acting, Sound etc.) are given an equal amount of emphasis for this marriage to work.
am pleased to say that I am honored to have attended the screening of Sherlock Jr. at the Esplanade Outdoor Theatre and to have witnessed how Blue Grassy Knoll packed a great soundtrack for the film. I must say that the screening was in fact to me a wedding ceremony, where I witnessed a great marriage of different elements coming together to birth forth a whole new experience. May this marriage last forever in the films ahead.
Written by: Josiah Ng |
