What is a silent film
A silent film, as the very name implies, is a film with no sounds but ringing silence instead, right? Not exactly.
While the first silent films were, indeed, released without soundtracks due to the technical impossibility of creating synchronized sound, they were not actually totally soundless. The silent movie theaters hired pianists to accompany a film.
Still, to convey the message without words, the directors had to use other means, such as dialogue cards. Actors, by today’s standards, overacted heavily, they gestured expressively and "made faces".
Nowadays, when "talkies" (films with sound) have captured a market, silence can still be used as an artistic device. But now it can be just an absence of dialogues while the ambient noise (car horns, birds’ chirping, etc.) stays intact. For example, in the film "The Tribe", all the characters are deaf-mute, so not a single word is spoken.
The brief history of silent movies
The official birth year of cinematography is 1894: that’s when Thomas Edison presented his Kinetoscope, the precursor of cinema, to the public. The first commercial motion picture house was opened shortly after that, the same year in New York. The first cinema was built in Paris by Lumiere Brothers in 1895.
As for the first silent film, it’s a tricky question. It is considered to be the Roundhay Garden Scene — a less than two-second-long footage taken in 1888. The first feature-length film is supposedly The Story of the Kelly Gang, 1906.
1910-20-ss gave birth to many talented silent actors, such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Greta Garbo, Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, and others. Surprisingly, silent films were not just comedies, as we tend to think sometimes: there were also horrors, adventure movies, dramas, and even science fiction.
In 1927 the first "talkie" — The Jazz Singer — premiered, and that marked the decline of silent movies. It took another several years, but by the mid-1930s silent films were fully replaced by sound ones.
Nevertheless, they still exist. First of all, many original silent films are restored and being shown in art-house cinemas. Also, some directors produce silent movies as an experiment, a try to stand out, or just as a parody, for example, the "Silent Movie" (1976) by Mel Brooks.
Why silence is still powerful
Speech is silver, silence is golden. Silence speaks loud and clear. These and other proverbs prove that silence can be way more expressive and informative than any verbal discourse.
Here is a brief and non-exhaustive list of reasons modern filmmakers remove audio and/or use silent sound effects.
- To emphasize the importance of the moment. The abrupt disappearance of sounds makes the audience focus and realize: something really important is going on the screen.
- To illustrate the isolation or loneliness of the character.
- To add emotional intensity.
- To highlight the visual part, which may convey way more details than direct speech.
- To make the film look and feel more real. In real life, we don’t have background music or a voiceover to comment on all our thoughts, feelings, and actions. More and more directors choose this realistic way of shooting, especially in Scandinavia or Eastern Europe.
- To create an artistic effect.
As for the examples of movies, their name is legion. The most famous are: Saving Private Ryan, There Will Be Blood, The Artist, No Country for Old Men, A Quiet Place, and others.
FAQs
What was the first silent film?
It depends on what to consider the one. Officially it’s Roundhay Garden Scene, a short footage of three people in the garden.
How were silent movies shown?
They were shown in special movie theaters and accompanied by hired pianists.
Why are silent films sped up?
In those days there was no fps (frames per second) standard (today it’s usually 24). They were shot at a lower speed, 16 or 18 fps, so being played according to the modern standards they look sped up.
Final thoughts
Various art types come and go, some of them stay, and others melt away. Silent movies seemed to be the latter, but surprisingly they have much more to offer than we might think. Silence is a powerful tool, which can come in handy not only in arthouse films but also in vlogs.
