Research on silent movies

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. The idea of combining motion pictures with recorded sound is nearly as old as film itself, but because of the technical challenges involved, synchronized dialogue was only made practical in the late 1920s.

Acting techniques
Silent film actors emphasized body language and facial expression so that the audience could better understand what an actor was feeling and portraying on screen.  

For the first twenty years of motion picture history most silent films were short--only a few minutes in length. At first a novelty, and then increasingly an art form and literary form, silent films reached greater complexity and length in the early 1910's. The films on the list above represent the greatest achievements of the silent era, which ended--after years of experimentation--in 1929 when a means of recording sound that would be synchronous with the recorded image was discovered. Few silent films were made in the 1930s, with the exception of Charlie Chaplin, whose character of the Tramp perfected expressive physical moves in many short films in the 1910's and 1920s. When the silent era ended, Chaplin refused to go along with sound; instead, he maintained the melodramatic Tramp as his mainstay in City Lights (1931) and Modern Times (1936). The trademarks of Chaplin's Tramp were his ill-fitting suit, floppy over-sized shoes and a bowler hat, and his ever-present cane. A memorable image is Chaplin's Tramp shuffling off, penguin-like, into the sunset and spinning his cane whimsically as he exits. He represented the "little guy," the underdog, someone who used wit and whimsy to defeat his adversaries.

Films from the Silent Era

YEAR	FILM	DIRECTOR	COUNTRY
1915	Birth of a Nation	D. W. Griffith	USA
1919	Broken Blossoms	D. W. Griffith	USA
1919	The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari	Robert Wiene	Germany
1922	Nosferatu	F. W. Murnau	Germany
1922	Nanook of the North	Robert J. Flaherty	USA
1924	The Last Laugh	F. W. Murnau	Germany
1925	Strike	Sergei Eisenstein	Russian
1925	Potemkin	Sergei Eisenstein	Russian
1925	The Gold Rush	Charlie Chaplin	USA
1925	The Street of Sorrow	G. W. Pabst	Germany
1926	Metropolis	Fritz Lang	Germany
1927	Sunrise	F. W. Murnau	Germany
1929	The Blue Angel	Josef Von Sternberg	Germany
1930	All Quiet on the Western Front	Lewis Milestone	Germany
1931	M	Fritz Lang	Germany
1931	City Lights	Charlie Chaplin	USA
1936	Modern Times	Charlie Chaplin	USA

15/11 genre ideas

The genre that our group are considering at the moment is:

Silent mystery crime thriller

This is because our ideas definitely encompassed the idea of a crime but with elements of 'the unknown' and audience interpretation within it also, so we decided on a hybrid of genres instead of deciding between the two. The reason for a silent movie is that it unique and would be interesting so that emphasis can be put more on sound and body language. As well as this, the movie will be a modern silent thriller which is very unique and hasn't been done before.

Brainstorm of Ideas

The following brainstorm shows our initial ideas as to the type of opening sequence that we want to make. These includes details about whether or not we want to do a hybrid or sub genre, and also initial ideas about sound, lighting, mise-en-scene, editing, shots and also location and plots. However, these ideas are rough and need development and a final decision will need to be made soon as to the choices on this brainstorm.

Media evaluation

Throughout Media so far I have learnt primarily that in order to succeed in this course I must be organised and thorough in my work so that I don't have to go back and re-do mistakes. As well as this I have learnt a lot more Media key terms following on from GCSE Media which has helped me enormously in my essay writing to reach higher grades. Following on from this, my essay writing has improved because I have learnt to split media texts into manageable sections and then analyse them so I achieve greater detail which again helps me gain higher grades.

I have learnt all of this mainly from practicing and from class work so that I learn what I am doing wrong and therefore can improve them after.

Within the course I have learnt that my strengths lie in analysis and structuring an essay however I am weaker in other areas such as considering other people's analysis and working in a group.

As well as this I struggle with placing media key terms into an actual essay. This is because I easily get confused between an indexical sign, iconic sign etc. so I tend not to input them into an essay so that I don't make a mistake. However, I think this is something I will have to work on because it will prevent me from reaching top grades in an exam.

I also think that my camera and technical skills lack within Media for example working on an Apple Mac and using a camera. This could prevent me from making a successful opening sequence because I lack the technical skill to make it work.