#Design of the silent age movie

Within a decade, the widespread production of silent films for popular entertainment had ceased, and the industry had moved fully into the sound era, in which movies were accompanied by synchronized sound recordings of spoken dialogue, music and sound effects. The idea of combining motion pictures with recorded sound is older than film (it was suggested almost immediately after Edison introduced the phonograph in 1877), and some early experiments had the projectionist manually adjusting the frame rate to fit the sound, but because of the technical challenges involved, the introduction of synchronized dialogue became practical only in the late 1920s with the perfection of the Audion amplifier tube and the advent of the Vitaphone system. Early sound films, starting with The Jazz Singer in 1927, were variously referred to as the ' talkies', 'sound films', or 'talking pictures'. The term silent film is a retronym-a term created to retroactively distinguish something from later developments.

#Design of the silent age movie

'Silent film' is typically used as a historical term to describe an era of cinema prior to the invention of synchronized sound, however it also naturally applies to sound-era films such as City Lights, Silent Movie and The Artist which are accompanied by a music-only soundtrack in place of dialogue. Though at the time the technology to synchronize sound with the film did not exist, music was seen as an essential part of the viewing experience. Sometimes a person would even narrate the inter-title cards for the audience. Pianists and organists would play either from sheet music, or improvisation. During the silent era that existed from the mid-1890s to the late 1920s, a pianist, theater organist-or even, in large cities, a small orchestra-would often play music to accompany the films. The term 'silent film' is something of a misnomer, as these films were almost always accompanied by live sounds. Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when necessary, be conveyed by the use of title cards. 1919Ī silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue).

Charlie Chaplin, widely acclaimed as one of the most iconic actors of the silent era, c.