Just ten years after the first moving pictures were shown to the public in Paris in the mid eighteen nineties, there were almost four thousand cinemas, nickelodeons, in the USA. Shows only lasted about half an hour with each individual film within the half hour being a single reel 300 metres long. There was action in some with the performers being fairly anonymous, but much was just documentary type news reel, fairly tame and uninteresting.
The age of great variety, plots, blockbusters, mondo films and musicals was still far away. The only music was the pianist within the cinema who played throughout because of course the films were silent. There were some changes before the First World War while off screen there were many disputes about rights and distribution.
One thing that did change was the use of more than one reel to tell a story. Two early examples were a film about Ned Kelly, the outlaw in Australia and the film was made by Australians. The other was the story of Moses. However perhaps one of the most significant on screen developments was the first cowboy film and the first cowboy star. Tom Mix was to spend the next two decades at the top of his profession. There was now plenty of action, although there was still silence.
Films were still fairly basic in content and plot; there was no attempt to be controversial in any way the concept of mondo films was still far away.
Europe particularly France and Italy was as strong a region as anywhere in the world, including the USA where production had generally been based around New York. That was to change as the War brought a stop to European film production while California developed and then surpassed the East Coast; Hollywood was born. Comedies where slapstick humour overcame the problem of no dialogue were very popular with another alternative with the same ability to overcome silence was the all action films, Wild West and piracy being particularly popular.
Throughout these years companies were trying to resolve the issues of sound. The problem was one of being able to synchronize the sound with the film and then to amplify it out to the audience. In the mid twenties, one of the largest studios began to produce films with recorded sounds not in synch with the film itself but not long afterwards, there was success. Although a silent film essentially, there was some synchronization for short pieces in a film called the Jazz Singer. By the end of the twenties, every film was a talkie and sound was credited in allowing the survival of the studios through the Great Depression, such was the impact of sound.
Some silent movie stars faded, their voices not at all suited to this new concept of sound, but others took their places. All of a sudden, reality was in place in the movie industry, action, script and sound.
The age of great variety, plots, blockbusters, mondo films and musicals was still far away. The only music was the pianist within the cinema who played throughout because of course the films were silent. There were some changes before the First World War while off screen there were many disputes about rights and distribution.
One thing that did change was the use of more than one reel to tell a story. Two early examples were a film about Ned Kelly, the outlaw in Australia and the film was made by Australians. The other was the story of Moses. However perhaps one of the most significant on screen developments was the first cowboy film and the first cowboy star. Tom Mix was to spend the next two decades at the top of his profession. There was now plenty of action, although there was still silence.
Films were still fairly basic in content and plot; there was no attempt to be controversial in any way the concept of mondo films was still far away.
Europe particularly France and Italy was as strong a region as anywhere in the world, including the USA where production had generally been based around New York. That was to change as the War brought a stop to European film production while California developed and then surpassed the East Coast; Hollywood was born. Comedies where slapstick humour overcame the problem of no dialogue were very popular with another alternative with the same ability to overcome silence was the all action films, Wild West and piracy being particularly popular.
Throughout these years companies were trying to resolve the issues of sound. The problem was one of being able to synchronize the sound with the film and then to amplify it out to the audience. In the mid twenties, one of the largest studios began to produce films with recorded sounds not in synch with the film itself but not long afterwards, there was success. Although a silent film essentially, there was some synchronization for short pieces in a film called the Jazz Singer. By the end of the twenties, every film was a talkie and sound was credited in allowing the survival of the studios through the Great Depression, such was the impact of sound.
Some silent movie stars faded, their voices not at all suited to this new concept of sound, but others took their places. All of a sudden, reality was in place in the movie industry, action, script and sound.
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