The nineteenth-century was an explosion of industry and technology. Evidence of how these advances made an impact on people's lives and how they viewed the world was prevalent in the art of the time. The influence of the Freudian revolution, having given artists insight into the human psyche, would give birth to movements in art such as Expressionism and Surrealism. As the nineteenth-century came to a close, an entirely novel mixture of art and technology found its inception, cinema. Beginning with French filmmaker Georges Melies' fourteen-minute silent film, A Trip to the Moon, released to the public in 1902 and based on a Jules Verne novel, the art of motion pictures would become the epitome of modern medium. As new technology continued to emerge, artists in this field would make of it a revolutionary industry deeply rooted in modern culture.
Cinema began as short, silent films, spinning away on cellulose. Audiences would follow the plot through mime and title cards in cramped theaters, projectors clanking loudly. It wasn't until the late 1920's that sound would be introduced to the motion picture experience. With the release of The Jazz Singer in 1927and the new Vitaphone system, “talkies” would replace the silent film. Actors and directors of the Silent Era had to adapt quickly to the new technology but would literally find a voice in their art and use it to speak directly to their audience.
As “talkies”, or film with spoken dialogue, made their debut, Americans were struggling through the Great Depression. Being a relatively inexpensive form of entertainment, many people across the nation would attempt to escape into the fictional worlds that movies provided. In the 1934 film, It Happened One Night, the audience embarks o...
... middle of paper ...
... is given insight into this stark reality as a soldier looks directly into the camera and says, “We're not ready for this.”
The statement Junger and Heatherington made with their film Restrepo was a powerful one. This is exactly the purpose of Cinema Verite, to give voice to the truth. Many argue that the verite style presents a manipulative version of reality because the editing is used to influence the audience, dramatizing the events on screen, focused on eliciting a certain emotional response. It is also often criticized for being more reportage that artistic expression. However, as with all modern art, especially that in the film industry because of its wide audience and influence, Cinema Verite reflects the zeitgeist in which it was produced. There is a thirst for the truth, even in the harshest of realities. Artists, no matter their medium, strive for this.
Click here to unlock this and over one million essays
Show MoreThe cameras used to film “The Talkies” as they where known, had to be kept in enormous soundproof casing. This immediately hindered directors creativity and made movies such as Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) much more rigid. Because of the fascination with the lip-syncing that this new technology achieved less attention was played to other attributes that silent films used such as the comedic elements in Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights (1931.)
This film allowed for a whole new generation of filmmakers to add a new dimension to their films through the use of sound. Mary Anne Doane’s piece, “The Voice in Cinema,” ties into the elements of sound presentably, as it adds perspective on the unity of image and sound. Doane also provides insight into how voice- off is significant in film. Both of these concepts are characterized through different concepts such as the “denial of the frame as a limit” (Doane 37) and sound bridges. All of the elements of sound used in this film are still being used in modern film, which displays M’s ability to last through
Sound was first introduced into film by the film The Jazz Singer (1927). The transition for silent films to talkies was an experimental period in film history considering that, “[m]ost of the early talkies were successful at the box-office, but many of them were of poor quality - dialogue-dominated play adaptations, with stilted acting (from inexperienced performers) and an unmoving camera or microphone” (Kirk). When film was transitioning into sound a lot of silent film aspects disappeared. Many of the early talkies lacked in visuals because most of the filmmakers' attention was on sound. Another aspect of silent film making that was lost were the stars. Some stars transitioned into talkies; while others did not transition. The character Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard reflects the struggle many of the silent film actors and actresses faced because of talkies. There are many reasons as to why some silent film actors didn’t transition into talkies. Some reasons actors did not transition include: audiences did not like actor’s voices, actors did not like making talkies, and some actors could not speak english. In Sunset Boulevard, there are many silent film stars who did not transfer into talkies such as, Buster Keaton and Gloria Swanson.
As talkies became more refined and commonplace, silent films started to dwindle. A backlash occurred and these pantomimed movies were labeled as the true art (Geduld, 253). Yet, nothing could be done to slow down the continual development of cinema as sound poured out of studios on a daily basis. In fact, this new cinematic style was so popular, the film industry turned out to be one of the few prosperous enterprises during the Depression (Geduld, 253).
The Jazz Singer created a new advancement by introducing the first talking film. The article 1920s Movies mentions “The production of The Jazz Singer in 1927 did much to change the industry’s perception of talking pictures. The technology had advanced little in the previous five years, but the production was the first feature length talking picture to feature a star singer and actor, Al Jolson, speaking and singing on screen.” The Jazz Singer was the first film to incorporate speaking techniques in a cinematic setting. “The Jazz Singer is a special historical landmark as the first Hollywood feature film in which spoken dialogue was used as part of the dramatic action” (Carringer 28). In addition, The Jazz Singer was the beginning of a new technique that is still used in today’s society. “They talk of it today with awe, because in 1927 it was as though men had landed on the moon. The shaky, abrasive voice of the movies had been heard for the first time. Talkies had been born” (Higham 72)....
The silent era in film occurred between 1895 through 1929. It had a a major impact on film history, cinematically and musically. In silent films, the dialogue was seen through muted gestures, mime, and title cards from the beginning of the film to the end. The pioneers of the silent era were directors such as, D. W. Griffith, Robert Wiene and Edwin S. Porter. These groundbreaking directors brought films like first horror movie and the first action and western movie. Due to lack of color, the silent films were either black and white or dyed by various shades and hues to signal a mood or represent a time of day. Now, we begin to enter towards the sound era and opposed to the silent era, synchronized sounds were introduced to movies. The classic movie, The Jazz Singer, which was directed by Alan Crosland, was the first feature length film to have synchronized dialogue. This was not only another major impact in film history, but it also played a major part in film technology and where film is right now.
Silent animation films became increasingly popular throughout the 1910s as they were shown prior to live action films in theaters worldwide when, concurrently, enthusiasm towards cinema as a whole became a widespread phenomenon. During the ensuing decade, sound became a prevalent part of cinema when sound-on-film technology was first innovated, culminating in the famous release and subsequent popularity of The Jazz Singer in 1927. As expected, this technology was soon adapted to animation, most notably in Paul Terry's Dinner Time and Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie, both of which were released in 1928. These, and numerous other animated shorts that incorporated sound, were soon rendered as contemporary classics, but many still believed in and argued for the value and purity of silent animations, for they were often believed to exemplify the true essence of animation and imagination. Regardless, both silent and sound treatments of animated films show a great disparity in motion design and cinematography, aesthetic experience, and film structure and plot.
Filmmaking began in 1908, but as soon as the 1920’s hit, it was recognized as a widely known pursuit that took hold of the American people "The Rise of Hollywood and the Arrival of Sound”). Films were shown in just black and white, and no sound. Around the late 1920’s, a new technology was included into film: sound. Theodore Case developed this sound-on-film system, which were then called “talkies”. The success inspired other studios to produce competing newsreels, and became popular enough to have them be shown in theaters in major cities around the country ("History of American
Throughout much of the 20th century right after its inception during the tail end of the 19th century, film’s function within our world and society has been questioned, analyzed, theorized, and challenged time and time again. Robin Wood’s “Ideology, Genre, and Auteur” article is a testament to this predicament and he suggests that theory is something which inhibits understanding the evolving nature of cinema beyond the brackets put in place by theory. If the evolution of cinema were to adhere to the parameters of theory, we may not have groundbreaking film movements that offer an alternative understanding of cinema. If society chooses to understand film in the way D.W. Griffith defines film with his works in the 1910s, we may not allow filmmakers
Ever wondered how film has kept its popularity for years? During the 1890’s filmmaking has become longer and contained more shots. The very first film studio was built in the year of 1897, where the first rotating camera that took “panning shots” were built. This camera gave special effects, including action movements. In addition, in the 1900’s “continuity of action” shots were the first shots introduced by D.W. Griffith. Because of this invention most films were being called, “chase films”. “The Nickelodeon” was the first successful theatre in 1905 in Pittsburgh. Then, a Australian production became the first feature length multi-reel film in the year of 1906. Furthermore, by the year of 1910, actors started to get screen credit for their
For the first 30 years of film, videos where mostly silent. They had music, dialogue and narration but they could never figure out how to match both the lips an audio together. Giving up on audio for a bit the developed a way to shot video in both day and night time, without having the sunlight affect them, they called this the dark room. Around the 1920s Warner bros released a short film called the jazz singer. Like most videos is had music and narration in it, but for the first time a small part of the film they had synchronized talking. Even though it was only a little part it made people realize and thing that this could soon be in the future. In the future it was different they learned how to sync voices to actors completely. They also found a way to display video in color one of the first films to ever do this was Wizard of OZ. Film advances so quickly. For most people this was not enough, videos started to lose interest and most production company moved o...
With the discovery of techniques such as continuous editing, multiple camera angles, montage editing, and more, silent filmmaking developed from simple minute-long films to some of the most beautiful, awe-inspiring films that have ever been created—in only a few decades. In Visions of Light, someone alluded that if the invention of sound had come along a mere ten years later, visual storytelling would be years ahead of what it is today. This statement rings true. When looking at the immense amount of progress that was made during the silent era of films, one must consider where the art of film has been, where it is, and where it is
Over the course of the semester and watching many different films starting at 1927, my view on films and my filmic experience has changed in multiple ways. Starting with the film It (Badger, 1927) and six weeks later watching The Graduate (Nichols, 1967); I saw the differences in how the films were capturing the characters and the advances in technology. Watching Annie Hall (Allen, 1977), which came out 10 years after The Graduate, I saw differences how they went about showing the moments of intimacy since The Graduate came out when the production code was in effect. Seeing how films started with black and white and not having camera movement, to the camera moving and start having effects such as shot-reaction shot, breaking the 4th wall to
While viewers had an introduction to sound in movies in the early 1900’s with “talkies” sound conversion wasn't finished until 1930. Music encompassed so much joy and excitement to the viewer that they wanted more films with sound. Between 1927 and 1941 Hollywood produced over 10,000 movies with a wide range of genres. However, during the early 1920’s the majority of films were based on the taboo subjects of sex and violence which earned Hollywood a personal warning from the government to contain the matter it had been vastly producing. This led to the development of the Motion Picture Production Code, a detailed set of guidelines on appropriate and inappropriate material(Barsam, Monahan 425). The films produced during this era, World War II, were written with the viewer in mind. Meaning the objective was to get the viewer to forget for the duration of the film the sad happenings currently at play in the world. While providing entertainment the movies highlighted happy themes such as family life and community(Barsam, Monahan
Films initially began in silence. Filmmakers did not have the technology to synchronise sound with moving images for the first thirty years of cinema. The final introduction of synchronised sound was a change that altered the history of cinema forever. Of course, it’s impossible to discuss the arrival of synchronised sound in film without first acknowledging the era of Silent Cinema and everything that preceded it.