Early developments in Film

Images

• Still camera

• Zoetrope

• Magic lantern shows

1888• The first film was created by Louis Le Prince in

1888. It was a two second film of people walking around in Oakwood Grange garden, titled

Roundhay Garden Scene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1G6v4Ycmnk

Frenchman Louis Lumiere 1895

• Lumier develops a more portable and faster process and therefore has the more commercial potential than that of Eddison of America

• Lumiere's portable, suitcase-sized cinematographe was his camera, film processing unit, and projector all in one. He could shoot footage in the morning, process it in the afternoon, and then project it to an audience that evening.

• His first film was the arrival of the express train at Ciotat. • Other subjects were workers leaving the factory gates, a child being

fed by his parents, people enjoying a picnic along a river. • The portable and easily used portable camera quickly became very

popular in France. • Cinematographers buying his camera were soon developing their

work all over the world• The motion picture era began.

Novelty short films to the feature

• The first films were very short episodes maybe a few minutes in length and were called novelties

• They were often shown at fairgrounds and were often film of ordinary people – this was fascinating to everyone at the time

• The Great Train Robbery (1903), was the first narrative movie, one that told a story. And was so popular it could be said many saw the potential for creating cinema theatres

Many Cinemas are built in most towns and cities

Intertitles

Because silent films could not synchronize sound for dialogue, onscreen intertitles were used to narrate the story to,

•Give some key dialogue

•Comment on the action.

•The title writer became a key professional in the silent film industry.

Music • From the beginning of the industry music was seen as a vital

element of film –it gave emotional depth and atmosphere.

• The films were accompanied by live music from a piano – later organs became popular and even small orchestras were used

• Sound effects could be created on some of the organs notably the famous Wurlitzer"

• Some films had specially composed music scores

e.g The Birth of a Nation (USA, 1915)

• By the height of the silent era, movies were the single largest source of employment for instrumental musicians (at least in America).

Acting style • Silent film actors emphasized body language and facial

expression • This was supposed to help the audience better understand

both the story and the feelings • Today we see this as over acting and simplistic melodrama • But in silent comedies overacting is more natural and many

people still like these old film • This melodramatic acting style came from the actors

experience on stage • It was a slow process developing actors skills for film • Director Marshall Neilan in 1917:said,

"The sooner the stage people who have come into pictures get

out, the better for the pictures."

Realism /naturalism

• Maybe film creates a more intimate relationship with the audience through the large projection and darkened cinema

• A move towards subtlety and naturalistic acting begins to develop particularly with the European directors

• But some people still liked the very traditional melodramatic style

Stars

Greta Garbo (1905-90)Max Linder (1883-1925)Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) Harold Lloyd (1893-1971)Buster Keaton (1895-1966) Douglas Fairbanks (1883-1939)Rudolph Valentino (1895-1926)Lillian Gish (1896-1993)William S Hart (1864-1946)Louise Brooks (1906-1985)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/gallery/2011/nov/06/ten-best-silent-movie-stars-in-pictures#/?picture=381445026&index=0

Projection speed varied

• Silent film were shot at variable speeds so were often replayed badly in some cinemas making them seem jerky

• Some scenes were deliberately shot at different speed especially the slapstick chases

• 1926 is a key date because film speed is standardised

Visual qualities

• The visual quality of silent movies — especially those produced during the 1920s — was often extremely high

• But we often only see poor copies and many films were damaged or lost

Projectionists

• Was an essential and skilled job

• But even if shot at 16 fps (often cited as "silent speed"), the film was made with cellulose nitrate and even at that speed there was a strong risk of fire.

• Projectionists would receive very general instructions from the distributors as to how fast particular reels or scenes should be projected on the musical director's cue sheet.

• Cinemas sometimes varied their projection speeds depending on the time of day or popularity of a film so they could maximize their profit

Colour tinting

• The film was often dipped in dye – this gave shades or hues.

• Blue for night scenes, yellow or amber meant day. Red represented fire and green represented a mysterious mood.

• Toning of film (such as the common silent film sepia-toning) with special solutions replaced the silver particles in the film stock with salts or dyes of various colours.

• A combination of tinting and toning could be used as an effect that could be very striking.

Hand colouring

• Hand colouring was often used in early "trick" and fantasy films from Europe, especially those by Georges Méliès with all his magic illusions

• The famous director D.W. Griffith was very interested in colour and used tinting to a unique effect in many of his films.

• The1915 epic, The Birth of a Nation, used a number of colours, including amber, blue, lavender, and a strong red tint for scenes such as the "burning of Atlanta" and the ride of the Ku Klux Klan at the climax of the picture.

Box office hits • The following are the films that earned the highest ever gross

income in film history, according to Variety magazine in 1932. • The dollar amounts are not adjusted for inflation, and the values

were calculated in 1932

• The Birth of a Nation (1915) - $10,000,000• The Big Parade (1925) - $6,400,000• Ben-Hur (1925) - $5,500,000• Way Down East (1920) - $5,000,000• The Gold Rush (1925) - $4,250,000• The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) - $4,000,000• The Circus (1928) - $3,800,000• The Covered Wagon (1923) - $3,800,000• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) - $3,500,000• The Ten Commandments (1923) - $3,400,000• Orphans of the Storm (1921) - $3,000,000• For Heaven's Sake (1926) - $2,600,000• Seventh Heaven (1926) - $2,400,000• Abie's Irish Rose (1928) - $1,500,000

Web sites

• http://sparkcharts.sparknotes.com/film/film/section4.php

• http://www.tc.umn.edu/~ryahnke/film/cinema1.htm

• http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/gallery/2011/nov/06/ten-best-silent-movie-stars-in-pictures

• http://www.bfi.org.uk/