A New Art Form For A New Century
In human history, there has not been many new art forms created but in the 1900s people around the world had been experimenting with cameras to create film. Nobody knew what to do or even the concept of film as even every filming technique had to be invented. Before people of different countries could communicate easily, film was being created meaning everyone was doing it in a different way. Due to this isolation, film looked very different in each country. In France, film had taken a more artistic approach whereas in England film was different.The main 3 countries we look at for this component are America, Germany and Russia. Each have a different filming technique due to resources available and culture.
Germany
In Germany, they focused on the meaning of films created through metaphors. This meant German films included lots of exaggerated, over the top costumes and crazy Mise-En-Scène. They also included high contrast lighting and over the top performances. Instead of showing things, German films hinted towards them but after sound was introduced German expressionism started to die however the style can be seen in many modern films such as The Grand Budapest Hotel made by Wes Anderson.
Russia
In Russia, a style known as Soviet Montage was being created. It involves little actual film but a lot of editing techniques like a montage which we see lots today. Due to Russia lack of resources needed to create the actual film used in old cameras, they improvised by creating many editing techniques. While German expressionism told truth through metaphor, Soviet Montage showed truth through juxtaposition.Contrasts were shown through edits between scenes or shots. This is where the Kuleshov effect was created.
The Kuleshov effect states that edits are what create meaning and proved it by showing a short clip of a man’s emotionless face staring down the lens. He then adds a few different scenes after it: a bed and some food. He showed people the short film with the man and then the bed and they said the man feels tired. He then shows them the exact same man but it cuts to food instead of the bed; all the people said he was hungry. We see a lot of editing in today’s film showing how Russia used their lack of resources to create short but great films through editing.
America
During the time when film was being developed and slightly before, America had become this new country which welcomes people from all around the world to come and experience the American dream. No matter who you are, anyone can arrive and make a fortune for themselves. Due to this, lots of people started businesses and commercial services, so when film came along people immediately began to use it to make money. The studio system was created here, where people would collect actors and workers to use the cameras etc. , then they would create the film, distribute it, show it to the people for money and then use the money to start the cycle over again.
In many other countries around the world, film was an art form and people expressed themselves through film. In America, it was a business where one would make a film the public would want to see and then use the money to make more. You can slightly see the Russia and German style in films nowadays but you can almost always see the American style now where studios will create films simply to make money.
Stars (popular actors) were also created here as actors that gained a lot of attention and therefore money would be kept on and used to make more films. Other studios would try to buy the stars as to attract more attention to their films. Because film had become a business in America, there was lots of competition and copying and one upping each other so film evolved very fast.
During this period of time when film was being developed, the maximum time a camera could film for is 10 minutes and so films started by being 20 minutes long which is two reels of film. This is where films got the name ‘two reelers’. Nowadays films are around 1 and a half hours to 2 hours and recorded at 24fps. Two reelers were filmed at 16 fps and were black and white. The film itself was silent but there would almost always be added sound over the top of the film, sometimes by actual bands and voice actors which play while people watch it.
The main stars in America during the development of silent film were Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Loral and Hardy. All were comedians as that’s what people liked and wanted to watch more of. Most of these stars were performers before film and they could show their funny acts on film to a much wider audience than in a theatre. They were the only people who could transfer however as film had no sound for singers and plays as films involving dialogue was impossible.
Overall, film has developed differently in different countries mostly due to culture and how available the resources needed to make film are. In modern film we can see many of these styles joined together and as an art form has evolved massively since it was first created.