Task 1 - The Silent Era Presentation

The Rink

The narrative follows the clumsy waiter portrayed by Charlie Chaplin, who keeps making mistakes in the restaurant he works at, making his coworkers more and more annoyed at him. Despite his clumsiness, he also attends the rollerskating rink near by frequently, and can do so with ease. It is there that he meets The Girl (played by Edna Perviance) and saves her from unwanted attention from a former customer of his - Mr. Stout. She is very thankful so invites him to a skating party, which ends in disaster, and Charlie ends up making a quick escape.

The film was produced by Henry P. Caulfield and was directed by Charlie Chaplin and Edward Brewer. It's main stars were Charlie Chaplin and Edna Perviance, but starred three other actors including Henry Bergman and Albert Austin, who had starred in other silent films before.

The technology of the time was not at the point of syncing sound with the film, but they did have the technology to film in a collection of photographs, one projected after the other to create the illusion of movement. They would have used a camera with reals of film in, that took photographs at a very fast rate, which could later be put through a projector. At the actual cinema where it would be shown there would have been an orchestra, or a simply a pianist, who would play music along with it to fill the silence.

The audiences liked the film, Charlie Chaplin was still popular, and performed his usual slapstick humour, which is what they would have expected. Apparently his skill on roller skates was surprising to many of his fans, however.

It didn't go on to inspire any films by itself, however, as part of Charlie Chaplin's work you could say that it was greatly influential. Charlie Chaplin is considered the most iconic figure in cinematic history by many critics and his films signified the beginning of cinema, and how interested audiences could be.