re-enacting the
Battle of Chemulpo Bay, which occurred on 9 February that year off the coast of present-day
Incheon, South Korea|alt=A film of a re-enactment of a naval battle, depicting Russians firing at a Japanese ship with a cannon The art of motion pictures grew into full maturity in the "silent era" (
1894 in film –
1929 in film). The height of the silent era (from the early
1910s in film to the late 1920s) was a particularly fruitful period, full of artistic innovation. The film movements of
Classical Hollywood as well as
French Impressionism,
German Expressionism, and
Soviet Montage began in this period. Silent filmmakers pioneered the art form to the extent that virtually every style and genre of film-making of the 20th and 21st centuries has its artistic roots in the silent era. The silent era was also a pioneering one from a technical point of view. Three-point lighting, the
close-up,
long shot,
panning, and
continuity editing all became prevalent long before silent films were replaced by "
talking pictures" or "talkies" in the late 1920s. Some scholars claim that the artistic quality of cinema decreased for several years, during the early 1930s, until
film directors, actors, and production staff adapted fully to the new "talkies" around the mid-1930s. in
Laila (1927) The visual quality of silent movies—especially those produced in the 1920s—was often high, but there remains a widely held misconception that these films were primitive, or are barely watchable by modern standards. This misconception comes from the general public's unfamiliarity with the medium, as well as from carelessness on the part of the industry. Most silent films are poorly preserved, leading to their deterioration, and well-preserved films are often played back at the wrong speed or suffer from
censorship cuts and missing frames and scenes, giving the appearance of poor editing. Many silent films exist only in second- or third-generation copies, often made from already damaged and neglected film stock. Another misconception is that all silent films lacked color. In fact, color was more prevalent in silent films than in the first few decades of sound films. By the early 1920s, 80 percent of movies could be seen in some sort of color, usually in the form of
film tinting or
toning or hand coloring, but also with fairly natural two-color processes such as
Kinemacolor and
Technicolor. Traditional colorization processes ceased with the adoption of
sound-on-film technology. Traditional film colorization, which involved the use of dyes in some form, interfered with the high resolution required for built-in recorded sound, and was therefore abandoned. The innovative three-strip technicolor process introduced in the mid-1930s was costly and fraught with limitations, and color would not have the same prevalence in film as it did in the silents for nearly four decades.
Inter-titles '' (1920) used stylized inter-titles. As motion pictures gradually increased in running time, a replacement was needed for the in-house interpreter who would explain parts of the film to the audience. Because silent films had no synchronized sound for dialogue, onscreen
inter-titles were used to narrate story points, present key dialogue and sometimes even comment on the action for the audience. The
title writer became a key professional in silent film and was often separate from the
scenario writer who created the story. Inter-titles (or
titles as they were generally called at the time) "often were graphic elements themselves, featuring illustrations or abstract decorations that commented on the action".
Live music and other sound accompaniment Showings of silent films almost always featured live music starting with the first public projection of movies by the Lumière brothers on December 28, 1895, in Paris. This was furthered in 1896 by the first motion-picture exhibition in the United States at
Koster and Bial's Music Hall in New York City. At this event, Edison set the precedent that all exhibitions should be accompanied by an orchestra. From the beginning, music was recognized as essential, contributing atmosphere, and giving the audience vital emotional cues. Musicians sometimes played on film sets during shooting for similar reasons. However, depending on the size of the exhibition site, musical accompaniment could drastically change in scale. Small-town and neighborhood movie theatres usually had a
pianist. Beginning in the mid-1910s, large city theaters tended to have
organists or ensembles of musicians. Massive
theatre organs, which were designed to fill a gap between a simple piano soloist and a larger orchestra, had a wide range of special effects. Theatrical organs such as the famous "
Mighty Wurlitzer" could simulate some orchestral sounds along with a number of percussion effects such as bass drums and cymbals, and
sound effects ranging from "train and boat whistles [to] car horns and bird whistles; ... some could even simulate pistol shots, ringing phones, the sound of surf, horses' hooves, smashing pottery, [and] thunder and rain".
Musical scores for early silent films were either
improvised or compiled of classical or theatrical repertory music. Once full features became commonplace, however, music was compiled from
photoplay music by the pianist, organist, orchestra conductor or the
movie studio itself, which included a cue sheet with the film. These sheets were often lengthy, with detailed notes about effects and moods to watch for. Starting with the mostly original score composed by
Joseph Carl Breil for
D. W. Griffith's epic
The Birth of a Nation (1915), it became relatively common for the biggest-budgeted films to arrive at the exhibiting theater with original, specially composed scores. However, the first designated full-blown scores had in fact been composed in 1908, by
Camille Saint-Saëns for
The Assassination of the Duke of Guise, and by
Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov for
Stenka Razin. When organists or pianists used sheet music, they still might add improvisational flourishes to heighten the drama on screen. Even when special effects were not indicated in the score, if an organist was playing a theater organ capable of an unusual sound effect such as "galloping horses", it would be used during scenes of dramatic horseback chases. At the height of the silent era, movies were the single largest source of employment for instrumental musicians, at least in the United States. However, the introduction of talkies, coupled with the roughly simultaneous onset of the
Great Depression, was devastating to many musicians. A number of countries devised other ways of bringing sound to silent films. The early
cinema of Brazil, for example, featured
fitas cantatas (singing films), filmed
operettas with singers performing behind the screen. In
Japan, films had not only live music but also the
benshi, a live narrator who provided commentary and character voices. The
benshi became a central element in Japanese film, as well as providing translation for foreign (mostly American) movies. The popularity of the
benshi was one reason why silent films persisted well into the 1930s in Japan. Conversely, as
benshi-narrated films often lacked intertitles, modern-day audiences may sometimes find it difficult to follow the plots without specialised subtitling or additional commentary.
Score restorations from 1980 to the present Few film scores survived intact from the silent period, and
musicologists are still confronted by questions when they attempt to precisely reconstruct those that remain. Scores used in current reissues or screenings of silent films may be complete reconstructions of compositions, newly composed for the occasion, assembled from already existing music libraries, or improvised on the spot in the manner of the silent-era theater musician. Interest in the scoring of silent films fell somewhat out of fashion during the 1960s and 1970s. There was a belief in many college film programs and
repertory cinemas that audiences should experience silent film as a pure visual medium, undistracted by music. This belief may have been encouraged by the poor quality of the music tracks found on many silent film reprints of the time. Since around 1980, there has been a revival of interest in presenting silent films with quality musical scores (either reworkings of period scores or cue sheets, or the composition of appropriate original scores). An early effort of this kind was
Kevin Brownlow's 1980 restoration of
Abel Gance's
Napoléon (1927), featuring a score by
Carl Davis. A slightly re-edited and sped-up version of Brownlow's restoration was later distributed in the United States by
Francis Ford Coppola, with a live orchestral score composed by his father
Carmine Coppola. In 1984, an edited restoration of
Metropolis (1927) was released with a new rock music score by producer-composer
Giorgio Moroder. Although the contemporary score, which included pop songs by
Freddie Mercury,
Pat Benatar, and
Jon Anderson of
Yes, was controversial, the door had been opened for a new approach to the presentation of classic silent films. Today, a large number of soloists, music ensembles, and orchestras perform traditional and contemporary scores for silent films internationally. The legendary theater organist
Gaylord Carter continued to perform and record his original silent film scores until shortly before his death in 2000; some of those scores are available on DVD reissues. Other purveyors of the traditional approach include organists such as
Dennis James and pianists such as
Neil Brand, Günter Buchwald, Philip C. Carli,
Ben Model, and
William P. Perry. Other contemporary pianists, such as Stephen Horne and Gabriel Thibaudeau, have often taken a more modern approach to scoring.
Ben Model in particular advocates in‑era scoring—“keep the sound inside that world so the picture plays the way it should”—rather than contemporary sound palettes. Orchestral conductors such as Carl Davis and
Robert Israel have written and compiled scores for numerous silent films; many of these have been featured in showings on
Turner Classic Movies or have been released on DVD. Davis has composed new scores for classic silent dramas such as
The Big Parade (1925) and
Flesh and the Devil (1927). Israel has worked mainly in silent comedy, scoring the films of
Harold Lloyd,
Buster Keaton,
Charley Chase, and others.
Timothy Brock has restored many of
Charlie Chaplin's scores, in addition to composing new scores. Contemporary music ensembles are helping to introduce classic silent films to a wider audience through a broad range of musical styles and approaches. Some performers create new compositions using traditional musical instruments, while others add electronic sounds, modern harmonies, rhythms, improvisation, and sound design elements to enhance the viewing experience. Among the contemporary ensembles in this category are
Un Drame Musical Instantané,
Alloy Orchestra,
Club Foot Orchestra,
Silent Orchestra, Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, Minima and the Caspervek Trio,
RPM Orchestra. Donald Sosin and his wife Joanna Seaton specialize in adding vocals to silent films, particularly where there is onscreen singing that benefits from hearing the actual song being performed. Films in this category include Griffith's
Lady of the Pavements with
Lupe Vélez,
Edwin Carewe's
Evangeline with
Dolores del Río, and
Rupert Julian's
The Phantom of the Opera with
Mary Philbin and
Virginia Pearson. The Silent Film Sound and Music Archive digitizes music and cue sheets written for silent films and makes them available for use by performers, scholars, and enthusiasts.
Acting techniques , the "First Lady of the American Cinema", was a leading star in the silent era with one of the longest careers—1912 to 1987. 's ability to transform into the most physically grotesque characters earned him the nickname "The Man of a Thousand Faces". Silent-film actors emphasized
body language and
facial expression so that the
audience could better understand what an actor was feeling and portraying on screen. Much silent film acting is apt to strike modern-day audiences as simplistic or
campy. The melodramatic acting style was in some cases a habit actors transferred from their former stage experience.
Vaudeville was an especially popular origin for many American silent film actors. The pervading presence of stage actors in film was the cause of this outburst from director
Marshall Neilan in 1917: "The sooner the stage people who have come into pictures get out, the better for the pictures." In other cases, directors such as
John Griffith Wray required their actors to deliver larger-than-life expressions for emphasis. As early as 1914, American viewers had begun to make known their preference for greater naturalness on screen. Silent films became less vaudevillian in the mid-1910s, as the differences between stage and screen became apparent. Due to the work of directors such as
D. W. Griffith, cinematography became less stage-like, and
close ups allowed for understated and realistic acting.
Lillian Gish has been called film's "first true actress" for her work in the period, as she pioneered new film performing techniques, recognizing the crucial differences between stage and screen acting. Directors such as
Albert Capellani and
Maurice Tourneur began to insist on naturalism in their films. By the mid-1920s many American silent films had adopted a more naturalistic acting style, though not all actors and directors accepted naturalistic, low-key acting straight away; as late as 1927, films featuring expressionistic acting styles, such as
Metropolis, were still being released.
Greta Garbo, whose first American film was released in 1926, would become known for her naturalistic acting. According to Anton Kaes, a silent film scholar from the University of California, Berkeley, American silent cinema began to see a shift in acting techniques between 1913 and 1921, influenced by techniques found in German silent film. This is mainly attributed to the influx of emigrants from the
Weimar Republic, "including film directors, producers, cameramen, lighting and stage technicians, as well as actors and actresses".
Projection speed Until the standardization of the projection speed of 24 frames per second (fps) for sound films between 1926 and 1930, silent films were shot at variable speeds (or "
frame rates") anywhere from 12 to 40 fps, depending on the year and studio. "Standard silent film speed" is often said to be 16 fps as a result of the
Lumière brothers' , but industry practice varied considerably; there was no actual standard.
William Kennedy Laury Dickson, an Edison employee, settled on the astonishingly fast 40 frames per second. Additionally, cameramen of the era insisted that their cranking technique was exactly 16 fps, but modern examination of the films shows this to be in error, and that they often cranked faster. Unless carefully shown at their intended speeds silent films can appear unnaturally fast or slow. However, some scenes were intentionally
undercranked during shooting to accelerate the action—particularly for comedies and action films. or to fit a film into a prescribed time slot. Film speed is often a vexed issue among scholars and film buffs in the presentation of silents today, especially when it comes to DVD releases of
restored films, such as the case of the 2002 restoration of
Metropolis.
Tinting ) awakens in
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The amber
tint indicates a daylight setting. With the lack of natural color processing available, films of the silent era were frequently dipped in
dyestuffs and dyed various shades and hues to signal a mood or represent a time of day. Hand tinting dates back to 1895 in the United States with Edison's release of selected hand-tinted prints of
Butterfly Dance. Additionally, experiments in color film started as early as in 1909, although it took a much longer time for color to be adopted by the industry and an effective process to be developed. Blue represented night scenes, yellow or amber meant day. Red represented fire and green represented a mysterious atmosphere. Similarly, toning of film (such as the common silent film generalization of
sepia-toning) with special solutions replaced the silver particles in the film stock with salts or dyes of various colors. A combination of tinting and toning could be used as an effect that could be striking. Some films were hand-tinted, such as
Annabelle Serpentine Dance (1894), from
Edison Studios. In it,
Annabelle Whitford, a young dancer from Broadway, is dressed in white veils that appear to change colors as she dances. This technique was designed to capture the effect of the live performances of
Loie Fuller, beginning in 1891, in which stage lights with colored gels turned her white flowing dresses and sleeves into artistic movement. Hand coloring was often used in the early "trick" and fantasy films of Europe, especially those by
Georges Méliès. Méliès began hand-tinting his work as early as 1897 and the 1899
Cendrillion (Cinderella) and 1900 ''
Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc) provide early examples of hand-tinted films in which the color was a critical part of the scenography or mise-en-scène''; such precise tinting used the workshop of
Elisabeth Thuillier in Paris, with teams of female artists adding layers of color to each frame by hand rather than using a more common (and less expensive) process of stenciling. A newly restored version of Méliès's
A Trip to the Moon, originally released in 1902, shows an exuberant use of color designed to add texture and interest to the image. Comments by an American distributor in a 1908 film-supply catalog further underscore France's continuing dominance in the field of hand-coloring films during the early silent era. The distributor offers for sale at varying prices "High-Class" motion pictures by
Pathé,
Urban-Eclipse,
Gaumont,
Kalem,
Itala Film,
Ambrosio Film, and
Selig. Several of the longer, more prestigious films in the catalog are offered in both standard black-and-white "plain stock" as well as in "hand-painted" color. A plain-stock copy, for example, of the 1907 release
Ben Hur is offered for $120 ($ USD today), while a colored version of the same 1,000-foot, 15-minute film costs $270 ($) including the extra $150 coloring charge, which amounted to 15 cents more per foot. Although the reasons for the cited extra charge were likely obvious to customers, the distributor explains why his catalog's colored films command such significantly higher prices and require more time for delivery. His explanation also provides insight into the general state of film-coloring services in the United States by 1908: By the beginning of the 1910s, with the onset of feature-length films, tinting was used as another mood setter, just as commonplace as music. The director
D. W. Griffith displayed a constant interest and concern about color, and used tinting as a special effect in many of his films. His 1915 epic
The Birth of a Nation used a number of colors, including amber, blue, lavender, and a striking red tint for scenes such as the "burning of Atlanta" and the ride of the
Ku Klux Klan at the climax of the picture. Griffith later invented a color system in which colored lights flashed on areas of the screen to achieve a color. With the development of sound-on-film technology and the industry's acceptance of it, tinting was abandoned altogether, because the dyes used in the tinting process interfered with the soundtracks present on film strips. == Early studios ==