The Cameraman (1928): MGM Buster Keaton Feature Film
The Cameraman (Rough Draft)
The Cameraman (1928), an MGM Buster Keaton feature, is one of the last truly great feature films of the silent era. From the artistic balance it finds between the simplicity of an all-too-familiar storyline and the complexity of technique and cinematography, to the very-entertaining and captivating performances of its actors, the film that was nearly lost to the annals of motion-picture history is a multi-faceted gem that is joyous to watch.
Simplicity is one of the big keys to the success of The Cameraman. The simple plot is of the age-old yet noble type ("hero-sees-girl, is-knocked-off-feet, goes-to-great-lengths-to-be-noticed, getting-in-much-trouble-en-route"). It has Buster trying to get a break as a cameraman …show more content…
The editing was quite impressive for its time, and some of the tricks are believed to be the best of the first of their kind. For instance, panning shots and moving shots had both been seen in features for quite some time before 1928, but none quite as artistically impressive as the split-building shot of Buster running hell-for-leather first up then down the flights of stairs in a building, from basement to roof, in one cut of film. Or of him chasing down a speeding fire truck and hopping on, all while carrying a large tripod and video camera. There is a shot resulting from one of Buster's mishaps, an accidental double-exposure of film that showed a battleship destroyer sailing down 5th Avenue between the skyscrapers. Another unfortunate mishap left him with a diver on film going through a dive, then backwards. This may be one of the first instances that such tricks were incorporated into a full-length …show more content…
Only the mistake I made was, I photographed the doorman. That was my first error. Then I got over to the Hudson River and got a shot of a battleship, and then a parade on 5th Avenue, and I double-exposed it by accident. So I had the battleship comin' down 5th Avenue and the parade comin' down the Hudson River. I went to a launching of some millionaire's new yacht, one of the Vanderbilts, and I make a mistake and set my camera up on part of the cradle that launched the boat. So I was launched with the boat. In a finish I photographed a disappearing gun - one of those great big things that they had come up and shoot. While I'm photographing one, I didn't know it, but I was right up against another one that nearly took the seat of my pants off (laughs)....[Later in the film] I got mixed up in that Tong War down there and because they saw me photographin' they came at me. I didn't seem to have any choice but to just leave my camera and dive out the window into a fire escape and get away from 'em. And then go ahead and round out the story. We previewed it and we thought the last reel was a good reel...and the last reel just died the death of a dog. It dawned on us what that was. I deserted that camera. So I had to
The Cameraman (1928), an MGM Buster Keaton feature, is one of the last truly great feature films of the silent era. From the artistic balance it finds between the simplicity of an all-too-familiar storyline and the complexity of technique and cinematography, to the very-entertaining and captivating performances of its actors, the film that was nearly lost to the annals of motion-picture history is a multi-faceted gem that is joyous to watch.
Simplicity is one of the big keys to the success of The Cameraman. The simple plot is of the age-old yet noble type ("hero-sees-girl, is-knocked-off-feet, goes-to-great-lengths-to-be-noticed, getting-in-much-trouble-en-route"). It has Buster trying to get a break as a cameraman …show more content…
The editing was quite impressive for its time, and some of the tricks are believed to be the best of the first of their kind. For instance, panning shots and moving shots had both been seen in features for quite some time before 1928, but none quite as artistically impressive as the split-building shot of Buster running hell-for-leather first up then down the flights of stairs in a building, from basement to roof, in one cut of film. Or of him chasing down a speeding fire truck and hopping on, all while carrying a large tripod and video camera. There is a shot resulting from one of Buster's mishaps, an accidental double-exposure of film that showed a battleship destroyer sailing down 5th Avenue between the skyscrapers. Another unfortunate mishap left him with a diver on film going through a dive, then backwards. This may be one of the first instances that such tricks were incorporated into a full-length …show more content…
Only the mistake I made was, I photographed the doorman. That was my first error. Then I got over to the Hudson River and got a shot of a battleship, and then a parade on 5th Avenue, and I double-exposed it by accident. So I had the battleship comin' down 5th Avenue and the parade comin' down the Hudson River. I went to a launching of some millionaire's new yacht, one of the Vanderbilts, and I make a mistake and set my camera up on part of the cradle that launched the boat. So I was launched with the boat. In a finish I photographed a disappearing gun - one of those great big things that they had come up and shoot. While I'm photographing one, I didn't know it, but I was right up against another one that nearly took the seat of my pants off (laughs)....[Later in the film] I got mixed up in that Tong War down there and because they saw me photographin' they came at me. I didn't seem to have any choice but to just leave my camera and dive out the window into a fire escape and get away from 'em. And then go ahead and round out the story. We previewed it and we thought the last reel was a good reel...and the last reel just died the death of a dog. It dawned on us what that was. I deserted that camera. So I had to