Silent film

Early sound films, starting with The Jazz Singer in 1927, were variously referred to as the "talkies," "sound films," or "talking pictures."

A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film.

In silent films for entertainment, the plot may be conveyed by the use of title cards, written indications of the plot and key dialogue lines.

They were a mainstay of silent films once the films became of sufficient length and detail to necessitate dialogue and/or narration to make sense of the enacted or documented events.

Early sound films, starting with The Jazz Singer in 1927, were variously referred to as the "talkies," "sound films," or "talking pictures."

The first feature-length motion picture with not only a synchronized recorded music score but also lip-synchronous singing and speech in several isolated sequences, its release heralded the commercial ascendance of sound films and ended the silent film era.

The art of motion pictures grew into full maturity in the "silent era" (1894 in film – 1929 in film).

The days of the silent film are numbered.

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (and in particular, no audible dialogue).

Until sound film became commercially practical in the late 1920s, motion pictures were a purely visual art, but these innovative silent films had gained a hold on the public imagination.

During the silent-film era that existed from the mid-1890s to the late 1920s, a pianist, theater organist—or even, in large cities, a small orchestra—would often play music to accompany the films.

A theatre organ (also known as a theater organ, or [especially in the U.K.] a cinema organ) is a distinct type of pipe organ originally developed to provide music and sound effects to accompany silent films during the first 3 decades of the 20th century.

It was a two-second film of people walking in "Oakwood streets" garden, titled Roundhay Garden Scene.

Roundhay Garden Scene is an 1888 short silent actuality film recorded by French inventor Louis Le Prince.

Starting with the mostly original score composed by Joseph Carl Breil for D. W. Griffith's groundbreaking epic The Birth of a Nation (1915), it became relatively common for the biggest-budgeted films to arrive at the exhibiting theater with original, specially composed scores.

The Birth of a Nation (originally called The Clansman) is a 1915 American silent epic drama film directed and co-produced by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish.

An early effort of this kind was Kevin Brownlow's 1980 restoration of Abel Gance's Napoléon (1927), featuring a score by Carl Davis.

Napoléon is a 1927 silent French epic film written, produced, and directed by Abel Gance that tells the story of Napoleon's early years.

An early effort of this kind was Kevin Brownlow's 1980 restoration of Abel Gance's Napoléon (1927), featuring a score by Carl Davis.

Brownlow became interested in silent film at the age of eleven.

An early effort of this kind was Kevin Brownlow's 1980 restoration of Abel Gance's Napoléon (1927), featuring a score by Carl Davis.

He has written music for more than 100 television programmes, but is best known for creating music to accompany silent films.

Other purveyors of the traditional approach include organists such as Dennis James and pianists such as Neil Brand, Günter Buchwald, Philip C. Carli, Ben Model, and William P. Perry.

Beginning in 1969, he presented historically informed live accompaniments for silent films, with piano, theatre organ, chamber ensemble and full symphony orchestras, throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and overseas.

In 1984, an edited restoration of Metropolis (1927) was released with a new rock music score by producer-composer Giorgio Moroder.

The silent black and white film is regarded as a pioneering science-fiction movie, being among the first feature-length movies of that genre.

Israel has worked mainly in silent comedy, scoring films of Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, Charley Chase and others.

Harold Clayton Lloyd Sr. (April 20, 1893 – March 8, 1971) was an American actor, comedian, director, producer, screenwriter, and stunt performer who is best known for his silent comedy films.

Davis has composed new scores for classic silent dramas such as The Big Parade (1925) and Flesh and the Devil (1927).

The Big Parade is a 1925 American silent war drama film directed by King Vidor, starring John Gilbert, Renée Adorée, Hobart Bosworth, Tom O'Brien, and Karl Dane.

In Japan, films had not only live music but also the benshi, a live narrator who provided commentary and character voices.

Benshi were Japanese performers who provided live narration for silent films (both Japanese films and Western films).

Their first film, Sortie de l'usine Lumière de Lyon, shot in 1894, is considered the first true motion picture.

Workers Leaving The Lumière Factory in Lyon (La Sortie de l'Usine Lumière à Lyon), also known as Employees Leaving the Lumière Factory and Exiting the Factory, is an 1895 French short black-and-white silent documentary film directed and produced by Louis Lumière.

Davis has composed new scores for classic silent dramas such as The Big Parade (1925) and Flesh and the Devil (1927).

Flesh and the Devil (1926) is a romantic drama silent film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and stars Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Lars Hanson, and Barbara Kent, directed by Clarence Brown, and based on the novel The Undying Past by Hermann Sudermann.

The legendary theater organist Gaylord Carter continued to perform and record his original silent film scores until shortly before his death in 2000; some of those scores are available on DVD reissues.

Gaylord Carter (August 3, 1905 – November 20, 2000) was an American organist and the composer of many film scores that were added to silent movies released on video tape or disks.

Once full features became commonplace, however, music was compiled from photoplay music by the pianist, organist, orchestra conductor or the movie studio itself, which included a cue sheet with the film.

Photoplay music is incidental music, soundtrack music, and themes written specifically for the accompaniment of silent films.

Films in this category include Griffith's Lady of the Pavements with Lupe Vélez, Edwin Carewe's Evangeline with Dolores del Rio, and Rupert Julian's The Phantom of the Opera with Mary Philbin and Virginia Pearson.

By the end of the decade, in the last years of American silent films, she had progressed to leading roles in numerous movies like The Gaucho (1927), Lady of the Pavements (1928), and Wolf Song (1929), among others.

Among the contemporary ensembles in this category are Un Drame Musical Instantané, Alloy Orchestra, Club Foot Orchestra, Silent Orchestra, Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, Minima and the Caspervek Trio, RPM Orchestra.

Silent Orchestra was formed in 1998 to bring live music and sound design to classic and contemporary silent films.

Films in this category include Griffith's Lady of the Pavements with Lupe Vélez, Edwin Carewe's Evangeline with Dolores del Rio, and Rupert Julian's The Phantom of the Opera with Mary Philbin and Virginia Pearson.

The Phantom of the Opera is a 1925 American silent horror film adaptation of Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, directed by Rupert Julian and starring Lon Chaney in the title role of the deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House, causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star.

Films in this category include Griffith's Lady of the Pavements with Lupe Vélez, Edwin Carewe's Evangeline with Dolores del Rio, and Rupert Julian's The Phantom of the Opera with Mary Philbin and Virginia Pearson.

Lady of the Pavements (UK title: Lady of the Night) is a 1929 American silent romantic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lupe Vélez, William Boyd, and Jetta Goudal.

Films in this category include Griffith's Lady of the Pavements with Lupe Vélez, Edwin Carewe's Evangeline with Dolores del Rio, and Rupert Julian's The Phantom of the Opera with Mary Philbin and Virginia Pearson.

Mary Loretta Philbin (July 16, 1902 – May 7, 1993) was an American film actress of the silent film era, who is best known for playing the roles of Christine Daaé in the 1925 film The Phantom of the Opera opposite Lon Chaney, and as Dea in The Man Who Laughs.