Silent film visuals

It's taken me quite a while to become a fan of Silent films, being raised with sound it's quite an adjustment to sit and watch something where people talk but you can't hear anything. I stuck with them though because although I wasn't comfortable with the silence I was captivated by the films visuals. Forget CGI the visual effects and editing in Silent films are truly something to behold, all the more so because the films were edited by hand and effects often created by camera trickery.

It's staggering to think of the time and energy that went into creating these films and how many hours it must have took to create those staggering visuals that we have come to admire, for example the futuristic city in Metropolis, the ghost effects in The Phantom Carriage and the razor slicing an eye in An Andalusian Dog.

I also love that many Silent films are tinted it’s quite a striking look and the colours can add something extra to the film you’re watching. There’s a fantastic documentary from 1924 called Epic of Everest and some scenes are tinted blue, this gives the effect of cold and icy conditions.

Silent films to me are like watching art being brought to life in front of my eyes, there are few visuals in sound films that can compare to those in Silent films and that’s what keeps bringing me back to them. The more I’ve watched the more comfortable I’ve become with the fact that there is no sound(apart from music)and I now really love these films.

I would say to anyone who wants to get into Silent films but is unsure if they'll be for them or not to start with something simple like a comedy or even a short like A Trip to the Moon.Considering that was made in 1902 how amazing are the visuals in that film?)Don't start with a three hour epic because it may be too much, my first Silent was Metropolis and if wasn't for the visuals I think I would have given up but they entranced me.

Apologies for the ramble but I love these films so much. Anyway I'm just wondering what your favourite Silent visuals are? It could be an effect, some set design, the epic scale of a scene(crowds for example) or just the look of an entire film.

Here's a few that I love.

The ghostly effects in The Phantom Carriage.

Lillian Gish on a piece of ice on the river in Way Down East(Griffiths and the cast filmed in an actual blizzard and Gish had to lie on real ice).

The little boy walking underneath a crowd of horses in Strike . His mother then comes to get him and is attacked by one of the guards on horseback, the crowd of workers come to her aid.

The steps sequence in Battleship Potemkin.

Pretty much the whole look of Male and Female, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Broken Blossoms, The Ten Commandments and Metropolis.




Go to bed Frank or this is going to get ugly .