Silent films were the first film made. They are called silent films because there is no sound in them. The actors must make the audience know what is going on without saying anything. This was difficult because actors had to “over act”. Since they couldn’t say anything they had to express their emotions and thoughts through body language. This meant they had to act with their bodies; they had to jump around and swing their arms and kick their legs so that people knew what they were trying to say. Acting with their bodies was no longer needed once sound was put into films. I think that is the biggest difference between film with and without sound. In the movie The General the actors have to use their bodies because the film is silent but I still liked the film and was laughing at what was happening and had no trouble at all understanding what was going on. The over acting used in silent films is not missed because it is no longer needed in films. Audiences wouldn’t like the movie now if all the actors were over acting because now the movies have sound and the actors would look ridiculous if they were moving around like the used to in earlier films.
Films today would not profit from using the characteristics of silent film because now that there is sound people don’t want to watch a movie that is silent. The acting wouldn’t make sense and movies focus more now on the special effects of the movie so acting with their bodies wouldn’t make sense in movies anymore. It is sad but it is true, the innovation of sound has made silent films obsolete. Silent films, unfortunately, do not have a future. It is fun to watch these movies and study the history of film and see all the changes throughout the years but silent films themselves do not have a future. Silent films, however, will not be forgotten. I have developed an interest in silent films myself just by watching the one that I have watched.
Silent films were part of films progress to get where it is now. The first films made were very short in length and had virtually no acting. Silent films didn’t develop until movies started getting plots. That is when film started to get better and people went to go watch them for enjoyment. Silent films used to be as big as films are now when they first came out. Since silent films didn’t have sound some movies would have a few parts where the slides contained dialogue to help the audience understand what was being said if the characters in a movie were having a conversation.
I don’t think silent movies were bad at all they were actually good movies. The best kind of silent films are comedies because for a movie to be funny nothing really needs to be said funny stuff just has to happen. Cartoons from earlier times used the same concept. In Tom and Jerry nothing is ever said but people can sit and watch episodes of it because the actions in the movie make it funny. I think characteristics of silent films can be found in a lot of movies both from the past and the present.
That's cool that you brought up Tom & Jerry. I had forgotten all about the fact that it had no dialogue. The coyote and roadrunner cartoons were the same way. And I know that the movie Wall-E has been mentioned in class before. That's probably the closest thing to a silent film that's been made in a long time. I think it's interesting that it is more acceptable now for cartoons to be silent than it is for live action films. Maybe that's because kids have a better imagination and they don't need everything spelled out for them. ;)
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