Transcript Hollywood/American Silent Film

Hollywood/American Silent Film
1895-1929
American Silent Film
• A silent film, is a film with no synchronized
recorded sound, especially with no spoken
dialogue.
• In silent films for entertainment, the dialogue
is transmitted through muted gestures, mime
and title cards.
Legend (2015)
• The film we have decided to do is the recent
Tom Hardy film legend.
• It is about the Legendary Kray Twins
American/Hollywood Silent Film
• The idea of combining motion pictures with
sound is nearly as old as film itself, but
because of the technical challenges involved,
synchronized dialoged was only made
practical in the late 1920’s, with the perfection
of audio amplitude.
American/Hollywood Silent Films
The Artist
• A silent movie star meets a young dancer, but
the arrival of talking pictures sends their
careers in opposite directions.
• Michel Hazanavicius
Metropolis (1927)
• Metropolis is a 1927 German expressionist epic
science-fiction drama film directed by Fritz Lang.
• Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia and
follows the attempts of Freder, the wealthy son of the
city and Maria, a poor worker, to overcome the vast
gulf separating the classes of their city.
• The appearance of the city in Metropolis is strongly
informed by the Art Deco movement, however
incorporates elements from other traditions.
• he style is often characterized by rich colours, bold
geometric shapes and lavish ornamentation. (opposite
of what we wanted to achieve).
City Lights (1931)
City Lights (1931)
• Speech was not how he really expressed himself. In
most silent films there's the illusion that the characters
are speaking, even though we can't hear them.
• But he is more of a mime, a person for whom body
language serves as speech. He exists somehow on a
different plane than the other characters.
• He stands outside their lives and realities, is judged on
his appearance, is homeless and without true friends
or family, and interacts with the world mostly through
his actions.
Intolerance (1916)-D.W Griffiths
Intolerance
• Intolerance is a 1916 epic silent film directed
by D.W Griffiths and considered one of the
great masterpieces of the silent era.
• Intolerance and its unorthodox editing were
enormously influential, particularly among
European and Soviet filmmakers.
• The earliest American films, which appeared
around 1895, were created primarily for the
working-class audience. This is because they told
stories without words, they appealed to the
large, mostly illiterate immigrant population in
the United States.
• After 1900, film became a more middle-class
phenomenon, as filmmakers exploited film’s
storytelling potential by adapting bourgeois
novels (which incorporated middle-class values)
for the screen.
Camera shots/styles
• The first silent film era movie camera that
could be carried by the cameraman were
bulky and not very practical to simultaneously
support, aim and crank by hand.
• Most early silent films were shot with
handheld cameras which gave a gritty style to
it.
• We decided to have more designated shots on
tripods to bring in a modern edge to our film.
Film Directors
• D.W Griffits, Griffith grew up with his father's
romantic war stories and melodramatic
nineteenth-century literature that were to
eventually mold his black-and-white view of
human existence and history.
• Charlie Chaplin, considered to be one of the most
pivotal stars of the early days of Hollywood, lived
an interesting life both in his films and behind the
camera. He is most recognized as an icon of the
silent film era, often associated with his popular
"Little Tramp" character