Silent Films

Today was the first time we used our timetables and had a schedule to stick to - meaning that we had a feel for what the usual days would be like. For our first lesson, we were taught some of the styles and conventions of silent films and how they are different to the films that come out today. I found this to be very enjoyable and I learned a lot about moving image from the work we did today.

We were shown some silent films and were told to identify some of the conventions.  One of these conventions were very obvious to spot when watching the silent films, this was the use of text. These were used to give the audience a clear idea of what the scene was about/ what the characters were saying. We also picked up on that there was very little camera movement in the films and there was usually only one or two cameras used throughout the whole film. These were used because cameras were relatively new, basic and very expensive so there was not a lot that the films could accomplish through equipment. The set design was very simple and all the clothes the characters worn were very similar to the other characters.

After we looked at the films, we were set a task to design our own silent film and were told to try and incorporate the conventions that we had noted down earlier.  When shooting our film, we tried to move the camera as little as possible and only used two shots throughout our whole film. Most of the silent film features were added while editing - I added a black and white filter to the film and cropped the film to try and give it the silent film style. I also added text to my film while editing, to introduce the film and add some dialog to my character so that the audience could understand what the film was about and how the character was feeling. 

My silent film can be seen here, maybe with some more time I could have finalised things but I am very proud of the end result and I feel like I have learned a lot from today's moving image lesson. Hopefully it will be this enjoyable all year round!