Acting techniques[edit]

Lillian Gish, the "First Lady of the American Cinema", was a leading star in the silent era with one of the longest careers, working from
1912 to 1987

Silent film actors emphasized body language and facial expression so that the audience could better understand what
an actor was feeling and portraying on screen. Much silent film acting is apt to strike modern-day audiences as
simplistic or campy. The melodramatic acting style was in some cases a habit actors transferred from their former stage
experience. Vaudeville was an especially popular origin for many American silent film actors.[2] The pervading presence
of stage actors in film was the cause of this outburst from director Marshall Neilan in 1917: "The sooner the stage
people who have come into pictures get out, the better for the pictures." In other cases, directors such as John Griffith
Wray required their actors to deliver larger-than-life expressions for emphasis. As early as 1914, American viewers had
begun to make known their preference for greater naturalness on screen.[16]
Silent films became less vaudevillian in the mid 1910s, as the differences between stage and screen became apparent.
Due to the work of directors such as D W Griffith, cinematography became less stage-like, and the thenrevolutionary close up allowed subtle and naturalistic acting. Lillian Gish has been called film's "first true actress" for her
work in the period, as she pioneered new film performing techniques, recognizing the crucial differences between stage
and screen acting. Directors such as Albert Capellani and Maurice Tourneur began to insist on naturalism in their films.
By the mid-1920s many American silent films had adopted a more naturalistic acting style, though not all actors and
directors accepted naturalistic, low-key acting straight away; as late as 1927, films featuring expressionistic acting
styles, such as Metropolis, were still being released. [17] Greta Garbo, who made her debut in 1926, would become
known for her naturalistic acting.
According to Anton Kaes, a silent film scholar from the University of Wisconsin, American silent cinema began to see a
shift in acting techniques between 1913 and 1921, influenced by techniques found in German silent film. This is mainly
attributed to the influx of emigrants from the Weimar Republic, "including film directors, producers, cameramen, lighting
and stage technicians, as well as actors and actresses.[18]"

Projection speed[edit]

Cinmatographe Lumire at the Institut Lumire, France. Such cameras had no audio recording devices built into the cameras.

Until the standardization of the projection speed of 24 frames per second (fps) for sound films between 1926 and 1930,
silent films were shot at variable speeds (or "frame rates") anywhere from 12 to 40 fps, depending on the year and
studio.[19] "Standard silent film speed" is often said to be 16 fps as a result of the Lumire brothers' Cinmatographe, but
industry practice varied considerably; there was no actual standard. William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, an Edison
employee, settled on the astonishingly fast 40 frames per second.[2] Additionally, cameramen of the era insisted that
their cranking technique was exactly 16 fps, but modern examination of the films shows this to be in error, that they
often cranked faster. Unless carefully shown at their intended speeds silent films can appear unnaturally fast or slow.
However, some scenes were intentionally undercranked during shooting to accelerate the actionparticularly for
comedies and action films.[19]
Slow projection of a cellulose nitrate base film carried a risk of fire, as each frame was exposed for a longer time to the
intense heat of the projection lamp; but there were other reasons to project a film at a greater pace. Often projectionists
received general instructions from the distributors on the musical director's cue sheet as to how fast particular reels or
scenes should be projected.[19] In rare instances, usually for larger productions, cue sheets produced specifically for the
projectionist provided a detailed guide to presenting the film. Theaters alsoto maximize profitsometimes varied
projection speeds depending on the time of day or popularity of a film,[20] or to fit a film into a prescribed time slot.[19]
All motion-picture film projectors require a moving shutter to block the light whilst the film is moving, otherwise the image
is smeared in the direction of the movement. However this shutter causes the image to flicker, and images with low
rates of flicker are very unpleasant to watch. Early studies by Thomas Edison for his Kinetoscope machine determined
that any rate below 46 images per second "will strain the eye."[19] and this holds true for projected images under normal
cinema conditions also. The solution adopted for the Kinetoscope was to run the film at over 40 frames/sec, but this was
expensive for film. However, by using projectors with dual- and triple-blade shutters the flicker rate is multiplied two or
three times higher than the number of film frames each frame being flashed two or three times on screen. A threeblade shutter projecting a 16 fps film will slightly surpass Edison's figure, giving the audience 48 images per second.
During the silent era projectors were commonly fitted with 3-bladed shutters. Since the introduction of sound with its 24
frame/sec standard speed 2-bladed shutters have become the norm for 35 mm cinema projectors, though three-bladed
shutters have remained standard on 16 mm and 8 mm projectors which are frequently used to project amateur footage
shot at 16 or 18 frames/sec. A 35 mm film frame rate of 24 fps translates to a film speed of 456 millimetres (18.0 in) per
second.[21] One 1,000-foot (300 m) reel requires 11 minutes and 7 seconds to be projected at 24 fps, while a 16 fps
projection of the same reel would take 16 minutes and 40 seconds, or 304 millimetres (12.0 in) per second.[19]
In the 1950s, many telecine conversions of silent films at grossly incorrect frame rates for broadcast television may have
alienated viewers.[22] Film speed is often a vexed issue among scholars and film buffs in the presentation of silents
today, especially when it comes to DVD releases of restored films; the 2002 restoration of Metropolis (Germany, 1927)
may be the most fiercely debated example.[citation needed]

Tinting[edit]
Main