Sherlock Jr Essay

Sherlock Jr. is a black and white silent movie released in 1924. Bister Keaton is the protagonist, who projects movie in a theater and also longs to be a detective. The clip starts from 10:30 to 11:30, consisting of fifteen shots. It shows the moment when the young man volunteers to take charge of the stealing of the pocket watch without noticing the tricks of the local sheik, after he hears the news in the girl’s home. Even though the extra-diegetic music does not belong to the world of the movie, its different rhythms function as one of the primary devices for the viewers to understand the plots in the silent movie and its importance would be further elaborated in the essay.
The first shot starts with a title card: “[s]ome one has stolen my watch”(Keaton, Sherlock Jr.), informing the viewers the silent dialogue happened among the figures. The off-screen music, which might be made by an orchestra, further helps the viewer to imagine the atmosphere in the room. The following shot shows the father from a slightly lower angle with a medium close-up, as well as two other people on the side, while the edges of the frame appear blurry due to the use of a soft focus lens or an iris shot. Following the instruction on the title card, the second shot

presents the old man interrogating his wife and the hired man in the living room. His wife looks at the two men questionably, while the hired man shakes his head and denies the charge of his master. The facial expression of the old man discloses his anger.
The camera shifts quickly to Sherlock with a standard lens and a medium shot with a straight angle. He sits on a sofa and observes the family for a while. The extra-diegetic music speeds up when Sherlock takes out the book, “How to be a Detective,” from his coat and looks for the answer. A medium close-up from a slightly lower angle in the fourth shot records the facial expression of the local sheik, who steals the pocket watch from the old man. His wandering eyes rove over the family and Sherlock, exposing his uneasiness as a theft. Following the movement and direction of the last shot, the camera pans slightly to the right with a medium long shot. The extra-diegetic music keeps speeding up as the villain approaching gradually to the back of the seated Sherlock and peeking at the detective book. The eye line match in the sixth shot offers a close-up of the book that reveals the several steps of being a detective. The next shot employs a masking technique forcing the viewer to pay extra attention to the first step: “[s]earch [e]verybody”(Keaton, Sherlock Jr.). This shot also indicates the viewer the future activities of the protagonist.
The camera returns to the living room with a medium long shot, and the cheerful music starts to be serious with regularly accented beats.

Standing behind the sofa, the villain slips a piece of paper in the pocket of Sherlock, while Sherlock is still reading his tutorial book on the sofa without noticing the little trick. The music, to some extent, not only corresponds to the intense emotion of the villain but also indicates Sherlock’s upcoming troubles. The camera, then, pans slightly to the left with a long shot at the moment the villain walks to the curtain. In the living room, four members of the family are arguing on one side, while the villain observes the situation. Sherlock, on the contrary, still watches his

book.
The tenth shot immediately returns to the face of the villain with a medium close-up from a slightly low angle, while the music continues to speed up gradually. After a long time of silence, the villain joins the conversation of the family by proposing a suggestion that is inscribed in the title card 11). The next two shots switch from the villain to the angry father with medium close-ups, functioning as reaction shots to the title card, the suggestion of the villain. Then, returning to a long shot, the father flings his cloth on the ground and about to leave. The camera remains stable and unchanged during later shooting. Meanwhile, the music attains a faster rhythm, not only corresponding to the emotion of the father, but also alluding to the intense situation in the room. At the moment Sherlock stands up and volunteers to take charge of this research, the music changes suddenly into a slow pace with a sense of sadness. The father does not stop Sherlock till Sherlock begins searching from himself. A title card, which is the last shot in the clip, explains the reason of the father to the viewer because he is the man who loses the pocket watch. According to the title card and the behavior of Sherlock, both of his searching and detective dream are doomed to be failed.