Silent Movies

            

      Styles and convention of silent film

                    The silent film era lasted from 1894 to 1929. Silent films don't use sound because of the technical difficulties they had synchronising the audio and film. Film and recorded sound came about in the same era. 

The actors exaggerated facial expressions and gestures to get the point across to the audience. They also exaggerated their body language to emphasise what they were trying to say. Scenes with moving vehicles and trains would terrify the audience and give them the shock of their lives as many people experienced cinema for the first time and thought the vehicles and trains would actually hit them. 

They couldn't move the camera because they didn't have the understanding of camera technology at that time in history, so early in film production. 

Cinema/silent film made actors for the first time famous around the world, as ordinary people could go and watch people like Charlie Chaplin, and actors would become household names. 

In smaller cinema's with less space they would have a pianist or an organist playing in the corner. In a larger cinema with more open space with a stage, they would have a full orchestra playing. They put music over the top to make it have its own atmosphere and meaning, also to get across different emotions.