SILENT FILM RESEARCH BASED ON TUTORIAL FEEDBACK ABOUT EDIT WORKSHOP OUTCOME
Between the years of 1894 and 1929 combining synchronized sound and text was near on impossible due to it's complexity until the perfection of electronic amplifiers and 'Vitaphone' sound systems. Until then films would be largely in silent with a theatre pianist or organist playing either improvised or prewritten classical or theatre sheet music. Improvisational flourishes were often added by the musician to highlight and heighten the onscreen drama. At its peak the silent movie industry formed the largest source of employment for instrumental musicians, such was the necessity of music.
As all classic silent films were filmed before colour imagery, they were all in black and white and originally had an in-house interpreter however as they increased in length and complexity onscreen intertitles were introduced to narrate the events. As well as this, silent film actors emphasised facial expressions and body language to help with conveying feelings to the audience. In comparison to modern day acting techniques these videos appear camp or over-acted however to an audience who had never experienced film before these techniques were scintillating. I think the style is interesting and highly characteristic of the time however it doesn't appeal to my modern tastes. The ability of the short simple films to express complex concepts and scenarios completely without sound is very impressive, and highlights the ability to distill ideas down to their simplest forms whilst still maintaining legibility.
By 1929 sound era films became dominant and in today's world it is accepted that around 70-75% of historic silent films are now lost, partly due to destruction by theatres when sound based films rose to prominance and also partly due to the highly unstable and flammable nitrate film they were filmed on.
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