Sherlock Jr

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Sherlock Jr. (1924) is a good example of Classical Hollywood editing. The movie tells the story of the projectionist/Sherlock Jr. (Buster Keaton) who tries to woo a girl (Kathryn McGuire) with a chocolate box while also in conflict with the “sheik” (Ward Crane) all while working as a projectionist and projects “himself” (through a dream) into a movie he projects and becomes a detective. The story is fairly standard and a serves as an example of Classical Hollywood editing as it relates to some characteristics of that type of system. This essay will explore the ways in which Sherlock Jr. serves both as an example of this type of editing and how it also deviates from it (showing some of the limitations from it) while using two sequences from…show more content…
One of the ways to interpret continuity in it is the difference between dramatic and mechanical editing being that mechanical follows a rough cut with a logical sequence for scenes and with the dramatic showing a smooth sequence that follows a story (Reisz and Millar 53). The dramatic editing seems to be preferred for regular editing regarding other rules. Considering as well how continuity has to be preserved regarding the direction of a character walking, the background as well as keeping the tone with all the shots that will go in a scene (lighting and quality must be the same) (Reisz and Millar 60-61). Continuity is kept through the visual qualities that converse a constant tone that makes the action fall into a logical order, allowing a story to be comprehended. Another way to put scenes in order is how one scene relates to the other, and there are two always to do this: either use a “straight match cut” that works for spatial and temporal continuity (use of shot/reverse shot in a conversation or when someone opens a door, show the scene both behind and in front of the person as he/she opens the door, first shown opening the door from one angle, and then entering the other space in another angle) showing a sequence through all its steps, or use “temporal ellipsis” showing a cut through time that eliminates steps in a sequence that can be inferred (Burch 32). Both of these show relation of time and can serve for various scenes, depending on whether the steps from one point to the other of a sequence have to be shown or whether they could be inferred by an audience. This serves in a sense of what information can or cannot be omitted limited by what the narrative may need but useful when making sure the audience pays attention to what happens. Other types of time articulation are “time reversal”, which relies on showing a part of a scene and followed by the actions that precede it, as well as the

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