Movies have been around for over a hundred years. From silent films to multi-million dollar blockbusters, film technology has come a long way over the past century. Most people would agree that being able to hear the actors speaking on screen as well as the sound effects from their environment more thoroughly immerses the viewer into the plot. Silent Films did not have this luxury. Silent film makers had to convey dialogue and other key sound effects visually. This was no easy task.

Silent film makers used several techniques to convey aural information to the audience. Most of the times actors would use exagerated gestures and pantomimes in place of speech. Other times title cards were include to set the seen prior to showing the actors. Silent films leave much to the imagination. It is up to the audience to pay closer attention to infer what dialogue is taking place between the characters. With silent films, each member of the audience has a unique idea in their mind of what each character sounds like. No two viewers’ experiences of the film will be identical. The viewer is also left to imagine their own environmental sound effects in silent films. Producers might give visual cues that would cause the viewer to associate certain sounds with certain scenes. For example if the film showed a scene with several trees on a sunny day, one would almost subconsciously imagine the sound of birds cheerfully chirping in the distance or a gentle breeze.

The fact that silent films do not have audio only adds to their entertainment value. Having to actively imagine sound effects makes for a definitively less passive viewing experience. While not up to today’s technological standards, silent films are responsible for leading us to where we are today in the world of film technology.Take a look here to learn more: maudit: “This shot is the most expensive shot in silent film…