The Golden Age of Film: Silent Film & the Birth of Talkies

Transcription

1 Pop Culture Name: Shen The Golden Age of Film: Silent Film & the Birth of Talkies I. Origins of film a. As early as , crude animated films were shown on screens in the U.S. b. First picture show in NYC in Fueled great curiosity and its success attracted many entrepreneurs to the business c. The development of moving pictures was an outgrowth of advances in d. What were some of the advances & challenges that came with early film efforts in the 1800s? Advancements Challenges e. By the turn of the 20 th century, millions of homes had a which did what? f. George Eastman s handheld Kodak camera made it possible for people to do what? g. Throughout the 19 th century, inventors and artists had tried to find a way to represent motion but it wasn t until started working on film devices that significant progress was made. i. The Kinetograph (like a flip book) and Kinetoscope (short films seen through a view-finder) were first displayed at the 1893 Chicago World s Fair. After that, viewing parlors were set up around the country to screen early motion pictures. h. With Edison s advancements, penny arcades popped up around the country. i. Penny arcades allowed viewers to see short scenes of everyday life a girl dancing or a man sneezing. i. Promoters quickly realized they could make money if numerous people could watch a projected movie at the same time. j. What did Edison build in 1892?

2 II. III. Flickers, or makeshift theaters which showed movies called flickers, sprung up all over the country. Business owners converted old shops/restaurants into exhibit halls where patrons sat at tables and watched flickers projected onto a screen or bed sheet while a single musician played musical interludes on piano or violin. DEFINE: Nickelodeons a. By 1908, there were nearly nickelodeon theaters in the U.S.. b. By 1910, nearly 10,000 movie theaters were servicing more than people a week. c. Nickelodeons offered a mix of live entertainment singing, dancing, comedy acts, and sound effects. i. Shows were minutes long and changed every couple of days (and sometimes even daily!) ii. Quickly produced with simple storylines. iii. Located close to working class & immigrant neighborhoods. IV. What, according to Adolph Zukor, was appealing about early films? V. Early films were popular with what group(s)? a. Why? VI. Shifting Audiences a. Initially, the urban working class made up a sizeable percentage of moviegoers. b. What did the upper class think about early movies? c. By 1910, business owners began to open theaters in nicer neighborhoods. The middle and upper-class then too began going to the movies in greater numbers. i. How did films change once the audience included more middle to upper class folks?

3 d. As film improved in quality, films began to tell more complex stories of important cultural and political events, prizefights, car races, etc.. e. Films themselves lasted minutes and were short enough for people to fit them into their daily lives. VII. VIII. An expanding medium a. By the end of the 1910s, nickelodeons faced increased competition from larger, more luxurious theaters with plush seating and elegant décor. b. By the mid-1920s, most small towns had a movie theater, while major cities such as New York and Chicago boasted hundreds. By 1928, the country had an estimated 28,000 movie theaters, which charged moviegoers cents per ticket. The Great Train Robbery (1903) a. The film was directed by Edwin Porter. It debuted at the Huber Museum in NYC before being shown in 11 other theaters in the city. b. The film used simple editing techniques (each scene is a single shot) and the storyline is mostly linear (with only a few meanwhile moments) but it was a significant step forward in moviemaking. i. WHY was it regarded as innovative at the time? Watch first and then EXPLAIN. Hollywood: A Celebration of American Silent Film, Episode 1: Pioneers 1. How did music enhance the silent film experience? 2. Describe theaters of the silent era.

4 3. What made silent films the most powerful medium of mass entertainment the world had ever known? 4. What made silent film an art? (Consider why they describe silent movies as a thinking person s form of entertainment.) 5. How did The Great Train Robbery change the film business? 6. What made foreign films more desirable than American films? 7. What was the popular response to DW Griffith s The Clansmen, later renamed Birth of a Nation? What made this film so significant?

5 IX. Early animation a. Early animation started appearing before 1910 and consisted of simple drawing photographed one at a time. (Extremely labor-intensive as there were 100s of drawings per minute of film.) b. By 1913, animation was easier to manage thanks to technology which enabled the animator to make a complex background or foreground and then paint drawings onto clear sheet which was then held over the background image (making it unnecessary to repeatedly draw the background which remained static.) This created the illusion of depth as well. c. How did Walt Disney change animation?