Chapter 9: The Speed(s) of Silent Film
These clips demonstrate the ways in which undercranking was utilized in silent film to create gags that do not exist as gags in real time and to create illusions of movement.
Excerpt from A Study in Undercranking, a video essay I made for the Criterion Collection’s Blu-ray release of Chaplin’s The Kid (1921). This segment demonstrates and deconstructs the sequence from A Dog’s Life (1918) that takes place in the employment office.
A Dog’s Life copyright © Roy Export S.A.S. All rights reserved.
View the entire video essay A Study in Undercranking on the Criterion Channel or on the Criterion Blu-ray of Chaplin’s The Kid.
Excerpt from Harold Lloyd’s The Freshman (1925). The jig that Harold does throughout the film cannot be performed in real life, is not funny at “cranking speed” (16 fps is my estimation), but becomes a gag when seen at projection speed (24 fps):