Silent Movies

Silent Movies are movies which have no accompanying soundtrack. The idea of combining motion pictures with recorded sound is nearly as old as the motion picture itself, but before the 1920s

The years before sound came to the movies are known as the "silent era" among film scholars and historians. The art of motion pictures grew into full maturity before Silent Movies were replaced by "talking pictures A sound film (or talkie) is a motion picture with synchronized sound, as opposed to a silent film. Although not the first, the most famous of the early talkies was The Jazz Singer in 1927.

In the early years after introduction of sound, sound films were called "talkies", from "talking picture" on the model of "movie" from "moving picture". And a number of film buffs believe the quality of the cinema actually decreased for a few years, before the new medium of sound was adapted to the movies. Since the films could not take advantage of synchronized sound for dialogue, titles were edited in to clarify the on-screen situation to the cinema audience or to add critical dialog. Want some more information about Silent Movies? Then carry on…

Showings of Silent Movies usually were not actually silent: they were commonly accompanied by live music. Early in the development of the motion picture industry, it was learned that music was an essential part of any movie, as it gave the audience emotional cues for the action taking place on the screen. Small town and neighborhood movie theaters usually had a pianist, a person who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an orchestra or smaller ensemble, or accompany one or more singers or solo instrumentalists.

A performing classical pianist usually starts playing piano at a very young age, some as early as three years old. Many well-known classical composers were able pianists themselves; for example, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Frederic Chopin, Robert Schumann, and Sergei Rachmaninov were all virtuoso pianists. Some pianists have special preferences as to which composer's music they play. So pianists play a very vital role in Silent Movies.

Accompany the film; large city theaters would have entire orchestras. An orchestra is a musical ensemble used most often in classical music. A small orchestra is called a chamber orchestra. Full size orchestras may sometimes be called "symphony orchestras" or "philharmonic orchestras"; these prefixes do not indicate any difference either to the instrumental content or role of the orchestra, but can be useful to distinguish different orchestras based in the same city. There can be many other combinations of these names, which one can come across.

The medium of Silent Movies required a greater emphasis on body language (a strong form of communication) and playground music. These two things were heart and blood for Silent Movies.