Ian Zeph
Chas Andres
FST 200
18 November 2017
FST 200 Film Thesis Paper
Throughout the baseball scene in the film The Cameraman where Buster Keaton shows up to start filming a Yankees game, Buster Keaton uses situational irony to give and promote laughter and comedy through his small but continuous misfortunes as he shows up to the game only to find out the yankees were playing in St. Louis that week. Although to invoke more of a comedic effect for the audience, Buster uses the massive size comparison between the big stadium and small Keaton to show how small and silly Keaton is with his mannerisms and movement throughout the stadium running around using grand arm motions and gestures pretending to be apart of a baseball game; even though he is the only one in the stadium disregarding his original plan intending to go there to film the yankees playing, which could possibly lead him to acquiring a job working with his love interest that he first met taking a photo of on the street.
The cameraman is a silent film so the scene has no character dialogue that the audience hears. Although there is no character dialogue or sound effects to add to the scene there is music that consistent plays all throughout the baseball scene. The music played throughout the scene is more lighthearted and blends with the upbeat tone of the comedic scenario of Keaton playing baseball all by himself. The tone is set correctly and makes watching keaton run around more enjoyable than if the scene were to have an ominous dark and scary overture that you would find in per say, a suspense or detetive film where it adds suspense. The lighthearted upbeat music helps give us the impression and emotion that the scene is comedic and meant to convey a calm environment to the audience. The flow of the music changes after Buster Keaton runs around the bases and makes it to home. When Keaton stands up after sliding into home the music slows down to a pace that fluctuates and goes in and out at a slowed down rhythm when the man who takes care of the stadium catches Keaton playing around. When Buster is surprised that the field keeper was watching him he begins to awkwardly walk away and the music changes the tone to let us sympathize with the feeling of awkwardness keaton feels when he has been spotted. Throughout the film the music has a general repetitive identifiable melody and sound to it, but as soon as the camera comes into view of the stadium the basic pattern of music is still playing except that its in a different tone and that tone is the old fashioned keyboard organ like sound you would hear at baseball game back in the day.
The lighting used all throughout the baseball scene is high-key lighting. The lighting is high key because they are in an outside environment where they have sunlight to use as their main source of lighting while filming the scene. Because they are at a baseball field that has an open roof and they clear view of the outside sky Most of the light co...
