SIlent Film Industry in Hollywood

1036 Words3 Pages

Hollywood; when people hear Hollywood they usually first think of the giant Hollywood sign that is on Mount Lee in Los Angeles, California, celebrities, fame, money and last but not least movies. The Hollywood movie industry makes around thirty billion to thirty five billion dollars in the United States alone, while making ninety billion to hundred billion dollars worldwide (McCandless and Quick). The Hollywood movie industry has become one of the most successful industries in the United States. Every major industry has its beginning and Hollywood’s beginning goes all the way back to the late nineteenth century.
Hollywood’s early years are referred as the silent film Era in the film industries. This was due to the films having no synchronized recorded sound with the film. The thought to combine motion picture with recorded sound is nearly as old as film itself. However combining motion picture with recorded sound was not possible at the time due to technological challenges. Synchronized dialogue was only practical in the late 1920s with the perfection of the Audion amplifier tube and the introduction of the Vitaphone system. To convey what was going on in the film the dialogue was transmitted through either muted gestures, miming or title cards with dialogue on them would be used.
Whenever a silent film was shown, it always featured live music this was first introduced by the Lumière Brothers in Paris (Griffith). The music that was played was either improvised or compiled of classical or theatrical repertory music. The music was essential for silent films because it also contributed to the atmosphere and gave the audience vital emotional cues. Once full features became commonplace in society, music was compiled from photoplay m...

... middle of paper ...

...h 2014. .
Griffith, David Wark. "The Beginnings and Silent films." n/a n/a n/a. The Silent Era. March 2014. .
Kayleigh0812. "Silent Movies and their Techniques." 4 March 2012. Antiquity and Revenge on Screen. March 2014. .
McCandless, David and Miriam Quick. "How much does Hollywood earn?" 1 February 2012. Information is Beautiful. March 2014. . n/a. "n/a." n.d. make film history. May 2014. .
TV Tropes Foundation,LLC. "The speed of Silents." n/a. tvtropes. March 2014. .

Open Document