Charlie Brown Teachers

Know what a Charlie Brown Teacher is?

Here's a definition from the Urban Dictionary:

Refers to the "whaa-whaa-whaa" trombone effect from old Peanuts TV specials, indicating when an adult was speaking.

When Charlie Brown's teacher speaks, you don't know what she is saying.

But, the fact is, it doesn't really matter. We understand the gist of it from the reaction or one-sided dialogue of Charlie Brown or Linus or Peppermint Patty (or which ever member of the Peanuts gang is in trouble).

However, Charles Schultz not the first or only one to use this technique. Another Charlie -- a guy with the last name of Chaplin -- did something very similar (pre-dating the Peanuts gang, of course) in his City Lights (1931).

Take a look at the opening scene:



You don't need to know the exact words the City Official and the Lady with the Flowers. Just by the setting and their actions, you know what is happening.

In Chaplin's case, this was probably his attempt at thumbing his nose at the brand new talkies that were taking Hollywood by storm. In his Little Tramp movies, you didn't need dialogue to make the movie.

As Chaplin (and even the teachers of Charlie Brown) prove, sometimes the spoken word isn't always necessary.

[Photo by: Forty Two]

Breaking the Fourth Wall

The Fourth Wall originally applied to theatre... that "invisible wall" that separates the audience from the characters living within a world made up of the other three walls of the stage.

In a movie, the fourth wall is the camera lens.

The characters never seem to notice that they're being watched. Even the movie viewer is hardly aware of the fourth wall.

When watching the characters in that favorite spy drama, we usually don't consider that the top secret plans are being overheard a bunch of people sitting in theatre seats. Top secret plans that could threaten all of civilization.

And that's because we've bought into the idea that film is (usually) supposed to imitate life. Since most people do not have a camera following them around -- outside of reality television -- that invisible wall is accepted and even taken for granted. It's the norm.

But that doesn't mean that the fourth wall cannot be broken.

Shakespeare did it with the aside. You know, when the character momentarily turns to the audience with a little comment. Usually done for comedic effect.

And so it is with breaking the fourth wall in movies. It's a wink at the camera. And it's tricky to do it right. It can be too intrusive, as if it were breaking the spell of the story.

But sometimes it works very well. Like when Ferris Buehler does it for his Day Off. Woody Allen has also done it. And Mel Brooks. Any others?

[Photo by: B.Mayer]

It Can be Filmed

"If it can be written or thought, it can be filmed."

Stanley Kubrick

This quote is a little on the optimistic side, especially when it comes to indie filmmaking. The budget doesn't always allow for expensive CGI effects.

But it's not always about a costly way to film something. It's about finding a creative way to do it.

And that's a challenge to drive anyone involved in the film industry.

[Photo by: Adam Jarmon Brown]

Hitchcock on Coverage

Hitchcock rarely resorted to "camera coverage".

Coverage refers to the convention of starting a scene with a Master Shot... something like in a live theatre performance where the audience gets to view the entire scene once the curtain goes up.

But in filmmaking, we get to go closer. So, coverage will then shift to a Medium Shot, then cut to the Close-ups of the characters. That's the traditional way to get camera coverage.

But when Alfred Hitchcock was making his movies, he didn't always do that. Often, he'd do the exact opposite; toss convention to the wind by opening with the big head and then close with the Master Shot. For the time, it was unconventional. But it obviously worked, because his films are still studied and considered to be some of the best out there. A lot of today's filmmakers have adopted this style and made it another option when shooting a scene.

The lesson. In filmmaking, don't always go with the textbook way of doing things. Getting traditional camera coverage isn't necessarily bad. Maybe it works best for the film. But the filmmaker shouldn't be afraid to mix things up a bit.

[Photo by: Iguana Jo]