Charlie Chaplin’s Film ‘Modern Times’ A Treasure of Visual Communication Art&Technique

Abstract

This Research intends to understand the visual aspects of Charlie Chaplin’s film Modern Times..This paper will also try to contemplate other Chaplin’s film to vividly understand the dynamics of visuals in Chaplin’s film journey.  In this paper I would try to explore Visual communication as a perception   through films and its impact on the viewer’s mind. Charlie   Chaplin’s films have always had a hidden meaning in his story plots. Let it be A great dictator,TheGold Rush, City Lights etc.  Through hilarious scenes he always tried to imbibe his narrative on the minds of viewers. Watching his film without dialogues and sometimes without subtitles never became a barrier for understanding the story of the film and his broader message. His subtitles are also apt and precise "We ain’t burglars — we’re hungry is the sentence in the Film Modern Times. When so called thieves enter into a department store and caught by police this sentence pop up. This is a most valuable commentary made to show the condition of the recession and unemployment era in US.

When we talk about imagination, it’s all our brain activity and perception process. As what we see in a film is our physical and optical experience, but it doesn’t go straight to our brain, but it goes with our own interpretation about the scene &visual we see. So necessarily our imagination and perception are two slightly different stages of our viewing experience.

There are three major approaches for our experience of watching film. Matravers put, it is a matter of perception where imagination plays no significant role, particularly in the fiction film genre. Currie has a different outlook. While watching a film perception boils down to the input of imaginative feelings. The third approach accepts imagination & perception are essential factors in experiencing a film.