Early Silent FilmsEarly Storytelling…

Everyone has a story to tellOral tradition

Greek mythology / OdysseyWritten documents

Egyptian hieroglyphics / papyrus

PhotographyImages on glass plates

Linking photographs – Movies!

Running Horse (1877)Muybridge

Early animation?Linked series of photographs

Frank Ott’s Sneeze (1894)First “motion picture”Filmed as individual pictures

First copyrighted film

Arrival of a Train (1895)Lumiere Brothers – France

Legend that the first group viewing this in a café were terrified of the train “hitting them” and they ran out of the café.Probably not true….but good publicity!

Even if NOT true, WHY would the viewers do this?

Arrival of a Train

Chicken or the Egg?Which came first?

Fun debate, eh?

Which came first…..

Desire to communicate?RULES of grammar?Or…..

Did they EVOLVE / CHANGE over time?

GrammarAgreed upon rules of writing / speaking /

English

A comma means…..

A period means….

A capital letter means….

In Film…..Grammar is present

Fades to black mean….

Cross-cutting means….

Close-ups mean….

Early days like this….the grammar is being solidified

Exiting the Factory (1895)Lumiere Brothers – France

Shot at 16 frames / secondWhat do we show films at now (well, before we

went digital)?

Did people really move that fast?

Exiting the Factory

Voyage to the Moon (1902)George Melies – French

Using animation and “special effects”Not just filming what humans can do

Popular at the time

Editing only to link scenes togetherNo “narrative form” created

Voyage to the Moon

Life of an American Fireman (1903)Edwin Porter

Beginning usage of editingContinuous narrative over 7 scenes

The Fireman's Vision of an Imperiled Woman and Child.A Close View of a New York Fire Alarm Box.The Interior of the Sleeping Quarters in the Fire

House.Interior of the Engine House.The Apparatus Leaving the Engine House.Off to the Fire.The Arrival at the Fire.

The Great Train Robbery (1903)Edwin Porter

Uses editing to tell the storyIs any of this confusing to you?

Why or why not?

The Great Train Robbery

Birth of a Nation (1915)DW Griffith

First blockbusterFirst feature-length film (almost 3 hours)

Negative view of African-AmericansPositive images of the KKK

(President Woodrow Wilson said it was his FAVORITE film!)

Birth of a Nation (1915)Innovative film techniques

Deep focusJump cutsClose-ups

Birth of a Nation

The Jazz Singer (1927)First feature-length film with synchronized

sound

Brings in the era of the “talkies.”

The Jazz Singer

Modern Times (1936)Charlie Chaplin

First time Chaplin’s voice heard on film.