silent films
Intertitle-dependent cinema
Silent films are movies produced without synchronized recorded dialogue, dominant from cinema's origins through the late 1920s.
Actors conveyed emotion through exaggerated gestures and facial expressions, with dialogue and narration appearing as title cards between scenes.
Live musicians typically accompanied screenings.
The era ended when "talkies" arrived: Chaplin resisted the transition, continuing to make silent films into the 1930s.
Text frames in silent films
- title cardsOn-screen text displays
- black-and-whiteWithout color gradations
- celluloidTransparent flammable synthetic material
- projectorLight-casting display device
nickelodeon · screening · motion picture · feature · shorts · cinematography · close-up · montage
French cinematograph inventors
- EdisonProlific American inventor
- kinetoscopeEarly motion picture viewer
- zoetropeSlotted cylinder animator
- magic lanternOil-lit painted slide projector
Exaggerated physical humor
- pratfallComedic fall on buttocks
- chase sceneExtended onscreen pursuit
- sight gagJoke told through action
- pantomimeDrama through gesture alone
gestures · facial expressions · body language · physical humor · deadpan · double take · Keystone Cops · custard pie
Keyed percussion instrument
- organistPipe keyboard performer
- orchestraLarge instrumental ensemble
- live musicOnstage musical performance
- improvisationSpontaneous, unplanned creation
mood music · pit orchestra · musical cues · Wurlitzer · accompanist · sound effects · drummer · score
Prosperous 1920s era
- Jazz Age1920s American cultural heyday
- vaudevilleTheatrical variety entertainment
- golden agePeriod of peak prosperity
- HollywoodAmerican film industry center
flapper · speakeasy · talkies · The Jazz Singer · studio system
- Rudolph ValentinoSilent era matinee idol
- vampAlluring seductress
- flapperTwenties unconventional young woman
- leading ladyPrincipal female performer
intertitles
Text frames in silent films
- title cardsOn-screen text displays
- black-and-whiteWithout color gradations
- celluloidTransparent flammable synthetic material
projector · nickelodeon · screening · motion picture · feature · shorts · cinematography · close-up · montage · studio
Lumière brothers
French cinematograph inventors
- EdisonProlific American inventor
- kinetoscopeEarly motion picture viewer
- zoetropeSlotted cylinder animator
slapstick
Exaggerated physical humor
- pratfallComedic fall on buttocks
- chase sceneExtended onscreen pursuit
- sight gagJoke told through action
pantomime · gestures · facial expressions · body language · physical humor · deadpan · double take · Keystone Cops · custard pie · banana peel
piano
Keyed percussion instrument
- organistPipe keyboard performer
- orchestraLarge instrumental ensemble
- live musicOnstage musical performance
improvisation · mood music · pit orchestra · musical cues · Wurlitzer · accompanist · sound effects · drummer · score · theme music
Roaring Twenties
Prosperous 1920s era
- Jazz Age1920s American cultural heyday
- vaudevilleTheatrical variety entertainment
- golden agePeriod of peak prosperity
Hollywood · flapper · speakeasy · talkies · The Jazz Singer · studio system
Charlie Chaplin
- Rudolph ValentinoSilent era matinee idol
- vampAlluring seductress
- flapperTwenties unconventional young woman
Buster Keaton · Mary Pickford · Greta Garbo · Lon Chaney · leading lady
- old mediabooks, radio, newspaper, newspapers, television
- old-time entertainmentcircus, theater, opera, ballet, vaudeville
- Roaring Twentiesflappers, Charleston, speakeasies, jazz age, Prohibition
- filmscomedies, dramas, documentaries, thrillers, westerns
- moviesblockbuster, Titanic, Jurassic Park, The Matrix, Forrest Gump
- visual mediavideo, drawing, photograph, television, TV
silent filmsmusicals
Theatrical works with songs
radio drama · radio dramas · audiobooks · podcasts · sound recordings
film, silence, silent, silently, films, filmed, filming, filmmaker, filmography