A European Journey through Life and Change How to tell a story? Technologies of telling a story

How to make a silent movie Comenius-Team Essen

Index History of silent movies What do you need? -a storyboard -a screenplay Different camera positions Camera movement Actors Contrasts

History of Silent Movies In 1895 the brothers Lumières organized the first public film show in Paris. The movies were very short and expensive. They were shown in variety theatres and on fairs, because the owner of a film had to find a new audience. As the films were short silent movies, the market was international. In 1907, the brothers Pathé of Paris became the first film distributors. The showmen paid a lending charge. From 1910 on, all important cities in Europe and the USA got movie theatres longer stories, national contents As the material of the films progressed, they told longer stories. In the 1920s, the actors got a voice.

What do you need? A good idea A storyboard A screenplay A camera An actor A coulisse / setting

Storyboard A storyboard is a sketch of the process of the story You can make little boxes Draw very coarsely what the scene looks like (also the camera) You can use arrows to show the movement ©Disney j. Pfeiffer, M. Staiger: Grundkurs Film 1, S. 78, Schroedel 2011

Screenplay You write down the dialogs and the stage directions The screenplay on the right was taken from There you can find the screenplays of those movies that were nominated for the Academy Awards and you can download them. Screenplaysite from: Django Unchained

Different camera positions

long-shot / wide-shot

Medium long shot

Three-quarter-shot (American)

Medium Shot

Medium close up / Head-shoulder close up

Close up

Extreme close up

Camera movement The camera doesn‘t move You can change the perspective but you need cuts

Actors The expression has to be very clear They have to play very excessively The make up has to underline the feelings

Contrasts Every person has to wear black and white The background has to be adapted to the actors

Thanks for listening Comenius-Team Essen