Silent Movie (Unit 3)

Silent Movie 
Unit 3

(Lock-down)

Research 

During the lesson period, we looked at 2 different genres of silent movies, comedy and a horror. The horror silent movie we looked at was called NOSFERATU: A Symphony Of Horror. And the comedy silent movie was called The Cure.  

The Cure is a comedy silent movie, which was released in 1917 starring Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Henry Bergman, Charlie Chaplin and was directed by Charlie Chaplin himself. This movie was considered as a short comedy because it had a duration of 31 minutes. The movie was loved by the audience. In fact, it was loved so much that the Chaplin Mutual Project restored in 2013 by the help of The George Lucas Family Foundation, The Film Foundation and The Material World Charitable Foundation

Nosferatu: A Symphony Of Horror  is an unofficial adaption of the 1897 novel Dracula, which was authorized by Bram Stoker. Nosferatu was released in 1922 starring Max Schreck, Gustav Von Wangenheim, Greta Schoder, Alexander Granach, Ruth Landshoff, Wolfgang Heinz and was directed by F.W Murnau. Nosferatu was criticized by some, but overall, it received immense love from the audience. In fact in 2010, it was ranked 21st in the Empire magazine as "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema".  Nosferatu was mainly praised because of its visuals and performances, mainly Max Shreck, for his genuine and terrifying portrayal of the Dracula. The film was banned in Sweden, however, the ban was raised after 20 years. The film was remade in 1979 which was directed by Werner Herzog which starred Klaus Kinski as the Dracula. It was re-titled as Nosferatu: The Vampyr. Director David Lee Fisher planned a remake after being funded by "Kickstarter" on 3 December 2014. Doug Jones was casted to play  Count Orlock. Lastly in 2015, another remake was announced by Robert Eggers. It was produced by Jay Van Hoy.  
                

  The Origin And History Of Silent Movies

The first silent movie ever made was a film called The Great Train Robbery, released in 1903 and was directed, written and produced by Edwin S. Porter. It starred Alfred C. Abadie, Broncho Billy Anderson, Justus D. Barnes and Walter Cameron. The attempt of making the first silent movie was well appreciated by the public. In fact, the films success inspired many films such as The Bold Bank Robber, The Hold-Up Of The Rocky Mountain Express and The Little Train Robbery (which starred children instead of adults). The Great Train Robbery was inspired by Scott Marble's stage play which was performed on 1896. One thing about all Silent movies is that the actions have to be exaggerated. This is what differentiates silent movies to other movies, other than the fact that its a silent movie. The exaggerated actions include physical movements and facial expressions. Someone who's known as the king of silent movies

is Charlie Chaplin. Even though Charlie Chaplin didn't start it off, he indeed created something that will make him unforgettable. I personally take Charlie Chaplin as an inspiration. From his perfect comic timing to his priceless expressions, it's gold. I also take Buster Keaton as another inspiration. He is another legend that left his legacy behind. It's hard to pick between Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton as they both do similar things. They both are talented in their own way. Either way, both of the comedians made us laugh in a variety of ways.

What do you think is going well?

I think the things that are going well is the choice of props that we chose, although we had to drop some of them out. The reason why I think this is going well is because everyone was satisfied with them. Some of us were meant to wear a plain white shirt and plain black trousers as a school uniform, but we had to scrap that idea as we had an issue on the day we were filming our scenes. Before all of this, we had done activities and played games with Rob and Shenagh, which included projection, exaggeration, improvisation and group works. This was really beneficial for us as it gave us a boost to be prepared.We didn't film in chronological as we had scenes which included make up.

Props included:

• Fake blood
• Cat mask 
• Plastic sword
• Newspaper
• Text books
• Plastic gun
• A mattress
• A tea cup
• Plate. 

Another thing that went well was the interaction and dedication the group had showed. Everyone in the group was synchronized and focused. There was an incident where some of us forgot to bring our costumes in for filming, but instead of venting out anger on each other and blaming one another, we just came up with a solution, which was to wear the clothing we were currently wearing. However, that did make it quite difficult for us. The reason for this is because of the fact we weren't able to film our movie in one day, we had to remember what we were wearing that day. If we wore different clothes on the day of filming, it wouldn't have matched with our previous shots.

                                                
Filming/Storyboard

Creating the story board wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, in fact, it was rather fun creating it. I thought it was going to be hard because clashes with ideas. But everyone was connecting with each other in a very profession manner, which not only did it make it easy for us as a group but made it more fun. We all started pitching our own ideas to each other and eventually came up with a storyboard, which we were all satisfied with.

It took about 3-4 weeks to film to whole movie. the reason for this is because we filmed last. But that's not the only reason it look long to film. During the filming of the other groups, it was hard to stay in character as there were scenes where it could make you giggle, which is exactly what happened. There were numerous amounts of retakes as some people in their group would start smiling or start bursting out in laughter, which is something that we all enjoyed. This however delayed not only our group but the other group.

                            Silent Film

                                                    Actors:                                                        

                                            Henok as Simon

                                             Alana as Marie

                                       Albiona as Miss Diane

                                             Adina Kathleen

                                           Shadhut as Kiran

                                     Scene 1 (The Nightmare)

                                (Camera Angle: Close-up shot)

Kiran is sleeping in his bed when suddenly he gets a starts feeling uneasy. He then realises that he’s having a nightmare. Kathleen starts to ascend from the darkness and starts to strangle Kiran. He then wakes up in shock breathing heavily. He looks at the time and starts to get ready for school.

Scene 2 (Bus Stop Scene)

(There are rumours spreading around the that there is a killer roaming around town. There are no descriptions of the killer nor is there any evidence towards anyone.) 

(Camera angle: Long shot)

Simon and Marie are at the bus stop waiting for Kiran. Kiran starts walking towards the bus stop while reading a newspaper. It stated “Killer who escaped from jail on the loose!  So stay alert and please report if you see anything suspicious” Kiran shows the newspaper to Marie and Simon, but they start laughing at him and brush him off. The bus arrives and Kiran puts the newspaper in his bag and enters the bus.

Scene 3 (Classroom)

(Camera angle: Medium shot, Pan shot-sideways)

Simon, Marie and Kiran enter the classroom together along with Miss Diane, the teacher. Kathleen then enters with a cup of tea and hands it to Miss Diane. She then takes a seat at the back of the classroom. Miss Diane then starts observing the students. She goes from Marie to Simon, when she reaches Kiran, she realises that he’s sleeping so she walks towards him and claps her hands to wake her up. He then wakes up in shock while dropping his pen, so starts looking for it. Miss Diane then exits from the classroom and goes to her office to enjoy her tea. Sirens start to occur making everyone panic. So everyone hides behind chairs.

Scene 4 (Murder in classroom)

Kathleen then appears behind Marie and kills her. Simon and Kiran shriek and run away from Kathleen. Simon runs to the office to tell Miss Diane about what happened, but she doesn’t believe what he says and just carries on sipping her tea. Kathleen then appears behind Simon killing him with a knife. Kathleen then heads towards Miss Diane with the knife (scene blacks out).

Scene 5 (Fight against zombies)   

Kiran is running away from the Kathleen and suddenly bumps into Marie, Simon and Miss Diane, but they have turned into zombies. He starts backing away from them eventually bumping into Kathleen. Kiran notices the knife on Kathleen’s hands and goes to snatch it off her. They both fight for the sword, but Kiran eventually takes it away from her barging her onto the floor.

Scene 6 (Executing the 3)   

Kiran switches his focus to Marie, Simon and Miss Diane, he lifts the sword and charges towards them. He kills Marie first, then executes Miss Diane, then goes to behead Simon but he blocks it with his hand. Kiran throws the knife to his other hand and stabs Simon in the stomach killing him.

Scene 7 (Final showdown)

Kathleen gets up from the floor and notices that her troop has been eliminated. She quickly gets up and makes eye contact with Kiran. They both stare at each other and charge. Kathleen goes to punch Kiran, but he dodges the attack and finishes Kathleen off.

Scene 8 (It’s all over...Or is it?)

Kiran starts breathing heavily and looks around. He darts his eyes all over the place realising that everything has finally come to an end. He smiles towards the camera and gives a thumbs up. All of a sudden, Marie, Miss Diane, Simon and Kathleen start rising from the dead. Kiran starts to sense that something isn’t right, so tilts his head slowly and starts to scream. (everything blacks out.)