Silent Film Era Notes and Observations by Mr. Sabot

Sabot's Example

2023-01-12 18:47:28 UTC

I decided to watch The Astronomer's Dream by George Melies from 1898. What amazes me about his films, particularly these early ones, is the editing for characters and set pieces appearing and disappearing. Since this was so soon after the first projector was invented, Melies experimented with editing techniques and this film shows it off well. For example, the main character moves a ton in the film. For the appearing/disappearing trick the actor had to freeze while the director moved set pieces into frame and then unfreeze to pull off the illusion. I also love the backdrops and the huge moon face that appears in his room. He definitely took his time and put in tons of effort and magic into making shorts like this.

2025-01-14 19:07:25 UTC

I watched the drawing lesson. Which was a very interesting movie for sure. It was kinda cool because like there was a ghost and I don't know how to do. Like and there was a basketball which turned into the sun, which then turned into the ghost, which then turned into a a girl posing. It was very interesting to see them do all this stuff with like no form of CGI. I didn't like it because Bradly Cooper wasn't in it but beside that it was pretty good.

2025-01-14 19:08:14 UTC

I choose the short film "the golden beetle" from 1907 It starts with him doing magic on this fire pit that he lights up and it creates this creature that he realizes he didn't mean to make and the creature/women figure starts spitting out some sort of liquid and then two more of the creature/women figures appear and they then take the magic he did to make them to make him disappear. It surprised me it actually had a twist that I did not expect, I thought it was just going to be a pointless fun short film that they did to just experience films but it actually had a purpose. You could definitely tell when it became edited because the cuts were so obvious.

Charlie Moses - La Fee Printemps (1902)

2025-01-14 19:08:51 UTC

La Fee Printemps is about a poor couple, who help a hag escape the bitter winter cold, before she reveals herself as a witch, who reverses the winter, and gives the family a bouquet of yellow flowers that eventually become their children. What I liked about this film is that the flowers color is bright and vibrant, almost sickeningly so, which adds a strange and almost menacing contrast to the witch's giving actions. The snowfall at the beginning of the movie, was intense and greatly dispersed, emphasizing the cold bitterness of the winter. Also the cut where the hag transforms into the beautiful witch was surprisingly seamless and smooth, for it being the 1900s and going from a black and white hunched over hag, to a bright warm witch.

Eli C - The Untamable Whiskers

2025-01-14 19:16:15 UTC

I watched The Untamable Whiskers (1904) from George Méliès. The editing of it really impressed me, I don’t even know how they did it. There wasn’t much story to it, it just seemed like a demonstration of the editing tricks. I've seen other silent films doing hard cuts to make something appear or disappear but this one was different. The costume pieces faded in and out like magic. He did it a few times without any other types of tricks. Very interesting and impressive for the time!

Charlie Chaplin - Boxing Match (City Lights, 1931) - Mateo H.

2025-01-14 19:18:26 UTC

The Boxing scene from City Lights from 1931 is a comedy about Charles Chaplin in a boxing match where both of them are pretty bad at fighting. I liked how coordinated the actors where and how they have to follow each other steps and actions almost perfectly. It also has long scenes that go consecutively with very few cuts/editing so for them to be make the choreography go perfectly for so long is kind of impressive. The movie in general also semes sped up for comedic reasons. Since there is no sound, the acting is overexaggerated which is something im not so used to but it fits the theme of the movie well.

Sophie Worek- Sweet Dreams Intermingled with Nightmares

2025-01-14 19:19:13 UTC

I watched Sweet Dreams Intermingles with Nightmares by Segundo de Chomon from 1909. The first set that they use is very realistic which surprised me when things and people started coming out of the water. The sets and costumes are very surprising and interesting. The first magic trick of the man appearing was cool because I had to go back and watch it to see how he did it without me realizing. The transitions between in and out of the dreams are really interesting because they had to add water features on top of both scenes to make somewhat of a transition. If I had seen this in the time it was made, I would be surprised at how realistic it looks contrasting with the wacky and whimsical dreams.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKOoOK09HvQ

2025-01-14 19:19:40 UTC

I watched The Haunted House by Buster Keaton. It starts with this guy going to work at the bank, and he is doing his job when he spills glue all over the money. Then everyone in the bank is sticking to each other, the money and the floor, until a bunch of bank robbers come in and attempt to rob the bank. But when they set their guns down, the worker takes them, and the thieves run out. When the bank manager walks in, it looks like the employee is robbing the bank, so he hides. When he is found, he runs into this haunted house to avoid arrest by the police. The movie uses colors and shots well to illustrate the time of day. For example, scenes in the day are more yellow, but at night, they look more blue.

-Atticus Taylor

Jupiter's Thunderballs - Pierce Chambless

2025-01-14 19:20:23 UTC

I decided to watch Jupiter's Thunderballs by George Melies. The opening scene with the explosions and the background make it seem like they are in the sky. As it progresses, they come to a wall where their are more explosions where the actors have to pause while they add more to the scene. Making the woman appear was a clean cut and I was surprised to see them. The main guy was very good as he ran around causing the explosions. And at the end, he caused everything to go back to normal making it seem like he wasn't there.

A Funny Shave (1906) Andrew L

2025-01-14 19:21:47 UTC

I opened the playlist and watched a bunch of videos, none of them really caught my eye besides this one "A Funny Shave". The basics of this video is a man who is trying to shave his facial hair and yet when he looks back in the mirror a disturbing but funny picture pops up in the mirrors frame. The fact that this silent film was made as far as 1906 makes it impeccable that they were able to mask out frames and integrate there own funny shots. It was clever and obviously funny, displaying in the story where the funny bits are suppose to be; for instance when he looks back.

The Untamable Whiskers (1904) by Georges Méliès - Mitchell Berkeley

2025-01-14 19:21:52 UTC

The Untamable Whiskers by Georges Méliès is about a guy who draws on a chalkboard, and whatever he draws on the chalkboard becomes reality. Like for example he draws a picture of a man with a beard, and in turn his beard grows as a result. He then upgrades his magic by being able to write words on the chalkboard and then that becomes his reality. Like for example, he writes a couple words and then he becomes a clown with a pirate hat. I thought this movie was interesting because he not only used a cut to make this magic look real, he used a series of cuts or something to make it look like a seamless transition. I think this movie was sort of ahead its time in the sense that the cuts weren't harsh and were actually sort of gradual and seamless. The movie didn't have much of a plot and it more or less seemed like they were just showing off their new editing tactics in the form of a short film.

Micah VonFeldt - The Kid (pancake scene)

2025-01-14 19:22:07 UTC

I chose to watch the pancakes scene for Charlie Chaplin's The Kid. the scene shows the morning routine for Charlie and a kid. without any dialogue you can learn that they are poor and living in a hard situation through only the set and Charlie's acting. Charlie wakes up to see that the kid is already whipping up pancakes for the both of them. I think that the footage of the kid mixing the ingredients might have been sped up in some way, which adds a comedic aspect to the bit. Charlie gets out of bed and turns his blanket into a shirt which is very funny. Charlie eats his pancake with a full block of butter. Once Charlie finishes eating the kid leaves.

Colson Beebe - Legend Of A Ghost (1908)

2025-01-14 19:29:57 UTC

I really enjoyed watching legend of a ghost which was made in 1908. I was really impressed on how fluent the story went because of the costumes and set designs. My favorite costume in this film would probably be a man is a frog costume or the main grim reaper because seeing a white grim reaper around the other film reapers truly showed how important he is. It was also very impressive to see the editing to be very good for the time and to see different characters fade in and out. An example is when the main lady is at a grave or ruins, there are characters fade in that appear like a grim reaper, then later on they fade to the main lady's friends or companions. If I had to guess how they did this I would say that they overlapped two different film slips making it a truly genius way to edit with film strips. I do also love how in this film it is a love story but it follows a woman fighting for the man instead of the typical where a man would usually save a women.

Comedy Capers - Billy Bevan - ''The Poker Game''

2025-01-14 19:30:41 UTC

I decided to watch the silent film "The Poker Game" by Billy Bevan. I loved this film since it has one of the best silent films with the best comedies by how they use a trained dog to pull off these tricks. The dog was able to stand up, grab a hoes, grab other items, and many more. The movie starts with 3 humans and 1 dog playing poker. There is a man who is trying to cheat his way to make money. The man catches the man trying to cheat and sends the dog to explore to see what he is doing. The dog sees the man is using a card from his own deck and hides a card on his shoe, and the dog sees that and grabs it and gives it to the other man. The man who sent the dog wins all the money and they play one last game. The cheater has another plan to win but it doesn't last. The dog and the man has a plan to catch him again. The cheater has a stamper which he stamped blank cards to get the best cards to win, the dog sees that and grabs the stamp and stamps another blank card and gives it to the man which then he wins. The cheater gets very mad he didn't win and starts to beat the man up. The dog sees that and get the polices attentions how ever he can. He uses a hoes, he rolls a barrel to hit the police officers, many police officers come just to find it out wasn't the dog they were going for but the cheater beating the man. The dog saves the day and the story ends.

The motorist 1906

2025-01-14 19:39:52 UTC

I chose the short film The Motorist. Showing the duality of silent cinema and new-age movies. I enjoyed the transitions the most. Heavily, first by hitting and running over the man, going from the road to driving up a wall while being chased. How did they get that wall shot? was it a painting? They then shot up to the sky, flying over the city, and then went to space and drove on the moon and Saturn. Driving through the stars, managing to stay in the car. My main thought is that it was made through drawings. The car fell off the Saturn ring and then into a building. They shocked everybody inside, and they came running out. The car then turned into a horse and carriage, shocking everybody once again. Then, back into a car, it was cool, with the car. Overall, good illusions and tricks with cool transitions. No, they aren't gonna trick us now, obviously, but it was ahead of its time.

Blue Beard (1901)

2025-01-14 20:49:25 UTC

I chose to watch George Melies' Blue Beard, which was an intriguing tale about a king and his soon to be wife as she discovers secrets around his castle. The sets were well designed/painted. I could see this film modernly adapted. The costume design balanced well with the scenery.