Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Inspiration: Early 1900s Film Footage
After seeing "The Artist" recently I became very interested in watching silent films. I had never actually seen one before that because I didn't really think it would keep my attention but wow, I was completely wrong! After watching a few silent films this week, mainly from the late 1920s, I got a bit curious in general about the history of film including the transition from silent to "talkies" as well as when color was introduced. With a little google research I found some really interesting early 1900s film shorts, some of my favorites of which are above. The first is an absolutely stunning test of Kodachrome color motion picture film from 1922. The second is a mind blowing hand colored dance short from 1899. The third is just... ridiculousness circa 1895.
Anyone else out there into old films, silent or not, and want to share some for favorites with me? :)
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You should definitely watch Metropolis! One of the most famous silent films. Anything with Charlie Chaplin, such as Modern Times. And the film The Rat is also quite entertaining. Alfred Hitchcock also started out making silent films. I studied a few of his, as well as Metropolis, in a film studies class a few years ago. I LOVED The Artist as well.
ReplyDeleteI actually started watching Metropolis (the restored version) last night! I started it at 1 am which was a little bit silly so I only got through half of it but will def watch the other half tonight. So good and strange with the 1980s sound track ha. I will def put Modern Times and The Rat on my list to watch next :) Thank you for the recommends!
ReplyDeleteHoly cow! The actors are so much more expressive in these than what they are today.
ReplyDeleteFor sure! Early cinema seemed a lot more like theater, which you over express partially because there is distance involved. Without dialogue you have to work a lot more with your expressions and movement to tell the story.
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