Difference between revisions of "Silent Film"

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(Music)
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Auguste and Louis Lumiére had one of the first public exhibition of motion pictures that were filmed and projected by their Cinématographe in 1895 (Wierzbicki, 2009).  There they employed a piano player at their first exhibition and eventually hired full orchestras to accompany their films. The earliest films were shown in Vaudeville theaters before the rise of the Nickelodeon beginning in 1905. With the release of feature length films, larger theaters were built and the Nickelodeons went into decline. Each of these stages had an impact on the relationship of sound and the silent film.  
 
Auguste and Louis Lumiére had one of the first public exhibition of motion pictures that were filmed and projected by their Cinématographe in 1895 (Wierzbicki, 2009).  There they employed a piano player at their first exhibition and eventually hired full orchestras to accompany their films. The earliest films were shown in Vaudeville theaters before the rise of the Nickelodeon beginning in 1905. With the release of feature length films, larger theaters were built and the Nickelodeons went into decline. Each of these stages had an impact on the relationship of sound and the silent film.  
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===Before Vaudeville===
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The earliest films had similar to the content of Stereoscopic studies. Out of the 1,424 films the Lumiére brothers created between 1895 and 1907, only approximately 100 were staged and the majority were documenting occurrences.
  
 
===Vaudeville===
 
===Vaudeville===
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"like most films offered to the public after the turn of the century the venue for 'The Great Train Robbery' was the vaudeville theater" (quoted in W FIND PAGE #)
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Vaudevillian audiences were accustomed to musical support for the myriad of acts performed on stage, and films were no different. By 1908, 96 percent of American Films had a narrative and the industry was becoming more standardized in technology, content and presentation (W p.27) which lead to the rise of venues just for movie display.
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===Nickelodeons===
 
===Nickelodeons===
  
Odeion is a Greek word for a theater with a roof.  
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Odeion is a Greek word for a theater with a roof. With the rise of Nickleodeons
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"Funning" musicians purposely using music to make fun of an aspect of the film.  The viewing experience was also very fractured due to funning and musicians that did not play appropriate or constant music. During this time, trade publications began to publish notes to suggest what type of music be played with films. Also they tended to stress music continuality as an important part of the movie going experience (W 2009 p.34-35).  
  
 
===Photoplay Music===
 
===Photoplay Music===
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Because of teh inconsistancies in Nickelodeon music
  
 
Films were finished and then the scores were created and distributed to theaters before the release dates.
 
Films were finished and then the scores were created and distributed to theaters before the release dates.

Revision as of 21:54, 25 April 2010

The Jazz Singer (1927) was the first commercially successful 'talkie', or film that has synchronized sound. By 1930, films that were produced without accompanying sound were becoming more uncommon. While films are occasionally made without a soundtrack as an aesthetic choice, the technology and conventions that were utilized to make silent films are no longer in use. Also exhibitors of films have theaters capable of playing sound films.

Flammability

Nitrocellulose or nitrate film is highly flammable and was used for motion picture film until the 1950s. If a projector was run too slowly, then there was an increased chance that the film could catch on fire due to the exposure of the intense light source utilized for production. Frame rates were not standardized, but when 'talkies' were introduced, frame rates became standardized. Acetate film came into prominence in the 1950.

Pantomime

Silent films tend to be over acted. Charlie Chaplin utilized mime and slapstick to create visual comedy.

Intertitles

There were 'scenario writers' and there were 'title writers' --> language and action composed by two different people. Language which was developed verbally first.

movement vs language. movement vs codified existence.

Music

Auguste and Louis Lumiére had one of the first public exhibition of motion pictures that were filmed and projected by their Cinématographe in 1895 (Wierzbicki, 2009). There they employed a piano player at their first exhibition and eventually hired full orchestras to accompany their films. The earliest films were shown in Vaudeville theaters before the rise of the Nickelodeon beginning in 1905. With the release of feature length films, larger theaters were built and the Nickelodeons went into decline. Each of these stages had an impact on the relationship of sound and the silent film.

Before Vaudeville

The earliest films had similar to the content of Stereoscopic studies. Out of the 1,424 films the Lumiére brothers created between 1895 and 1907, only approximately 100 were staged and the majority were documenting occurrences.

Vaudeville

"like most films offered to the public after the turn of the century the venue for 'The Great Train Robbery' was the vaudeville theater" (quoted in W FIND PAGE #)

Vaudevillian audiences were accustomed to musical support for the myriad of acts performed on stage, and films were no different. By 1908, 96 percent of American Films had a narrative and the industry was becoming more standardized in technology, content and presentation (W p.27) which lead to the rise of venues just for movie display.


Nickelodeons

Odeion is a Greek word for a theater with a roof. With the rise of Nickleodeons

"Funning" musicians purposely using music to make fun of an aspect of the film. The viewing experience was also very fractured due to funning and musicians that did not play appropriate or constant music. During this time, trade publications began to publish notes to suggest what type of music be played with films. Also they tended to stress music continuality as an important part of the movie going experience (W 2009 p.34-35).

Photoplay Music

Because of teh inconsistancies in Nickelodeon music

Films were finished and then the scores were created and distributed to theaters before the release dates.

Remediation

Professional silent films were remediated in the home movies before the 1980s when camcorders began to be able to capture sound. Home screenings of films though, are not typically accompabied by music, but rather conversation (Weirzbicki, 2009, p.19).

References

  1. Wierzbicki, J.E. (2009). Film music: A history. Routledge: New York.