Keaton Close-Up (The Scarecrow)
The Scarecrow is a black and white, silent comedy about Buster Keaton (the main character and director) who competes with his roommate to win the love of a farmer’s daughter. Keaton is chased by a dog for a large part and is forced to wear the clothes of a scarecrow in order to escape the farmer and his own roommate. After escaping over a river with the girl, they come across a minister who marries them while riding a motorcycle.
The film begins with a compression of time (the moon moves) in order to convey important contextual information. Then we see Keaton, sat on a bed and his expression shows he is in pain. These are both forms of expressive filmmaking since they force the audience to think something. The over the top performances from all the characters throughout the film tell the audience exactly how they are feeling.
However, an over the shoulder shot of the roommate, showing a mirror which then shows his face, is an example of realist filmmaking since the viewer can choose to look at either his face or the mirror or the back of his head and shoulder. Keaton however uses cross cutting between both characters which is expressive since it tells the audience what to think.
Keaton mixes both expressive and realist filmmaking to convey the poverty of the time. Expressive since the crazy mise-en-scene of the house and the swinging objects mixed with the realist which is the fact its a wide shot showing all of the crazy stuff going on at the same time. Viewers can choose to look at which ever part of the complicated set they want. The scene is still funny and clearly very rehearsed since it was all done in one take.
Keaton uses close-up shots of the farmer’s daughter to get the audiences attention on her and as the shots became closer and closer, the direct manipulation of the film increases. We also see an iris shot in the film which is an expressive form of filmmaking since the audience is forced to see something unlike using a long shot. Camera angles are very important to Keaton because they can decide whether a joke is good or bad; it all depends on the perspective of the viewer. He uses camera angles to create comedy and therefore make the viewer laugh which is expressive.