Silent Movies

On Monday, we were exposed to three silent films: Child of the Big City, The 1002nd Ruse, and The Dying Swan. I have to admit, it was an adjustment going from what my generation is used to, all the technological advances in special effects and camera shots to back when cinema was first progressing. I found it to be a challenge. With no sound, I had to keep constant eye contact and used my imagination in what the dialogue could have been. My attention spand is not the best and noticed my eyes would move from what the camera was directed towards to the environment. I would try to figure out what was in the scenery to decipher what kind of person the character was representing. The lack of dialogue also was a huge change for me. It creeped me out in a way in that I was relieved to have music to guide me through the scenes.

Today, we viewed Battleship Potemkin, a jump to another silent but very different movie. I found this film to be "blah" in that I don't have an affinity for war orientated stories. On that matter, it had no plot, no main characters, it just screamed revolution, a message. Throughout Battleship Potemkin, I honestly was just anticipating the fight scene and was disappointed when it was revealed there was no such thing.
However disappointing the end was, I did enjoy the shorter scenes, varying camera shots, and settings. I found the change of scenery to be refreshing in that the film was shot in different areas, ships, ocean, and land.