Silent Films

I researched black and white silent films. Most of the ones i watched like The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917) and The Mark Of Zorro (1920) both start with music with the titles. Also there is a dramatic music bed and you can also hear the atmos. Even though both films are silent films the sound is still very important. The music tells the story. 

In both short films to help the narrative there are title pages.
To me the music added humour, it helped tell the story but because our generation are used to movies with better sound it sounded weird.

I then started looking into how black and white silent films changes over the years.

A film i instantly thought of when I was in the meeting with Lewis was Nosferatu (1922), it's a film about Dracula. I always loved this as a child, it scared me though. . Again like the films done only a couple of years earlier it starts with dramatic music and title pages and then moves on to the film. This one is different from the others because colour is used to an extent. And this film is a lot longer but still has the same methods of cinematography and lack of on screen sound. 

I then started researching and seeing if people still made black and white silent films now. The closest to 2018 I found was a film made in 2011 called The Artest (Michel Hazanavicius,2011) Simply put on IMDB the film is about "A silent movie star meets a young dancer, but the arrival of talking pictures sends their careers in opposite directions." 
 After watching clips on line I have found that there is sound in it. It seems to mess with the perception of sound.  Or the perception of sound within film.
It's a film  I need to make a point of watching throughout.

From research and experience at University I think sound is really important. However if the lack of sound in a film is used correctly and effectively then it will benefit the film and help the audiences understanding of the film.

In terms of our experimental I think there should be ambient sound of the surroundings but no dialogue. I also agree that it should not be black and white but should have a lack of colour so that colours like red can really stand out. It's an experimental film so we can really play with perceptions and emphasise the cliche's in the film.



By Sophie