French Film Blog 1

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/georges-melies-filmmaker-silent-cinema-moon-rocket-paris-vr-google-doodle-a8333896.html


George Melies was a pioneer doing the age of silent films. Even almost 100 years later, many of the techniques that he invented are still being used, such as the use of editing to join cut together. However, Melies was still confined by the constraints of his time. His movies had no sound and so his films could neither belong (Journey to the Moon was about 12 minutes) nor could they capture nuance. Silence films’ main way to convey action was through over-emphasized gestures and the music that in-theater bands would play. Melies also wasn’t able to zoom in and out or pan, so watching his films was simple to watch a play in that they were all shoot from one wide-shot perspective. Another one of Melies revolutionary ideas was to shoot a film with multiple scenes and sets. In his glass studio in Paris, he creates a spectacular set. During filming, he would show the changing of one set to another by showing the character literally move from the sets. This was one of the first types of transitions that came before fades and screen wipes. Yet despite all of these innovations, his biggest contribution to filmmaking was treating it like art, not just a technical science. Melies was one of the first to realize that auditions didn’t just want to watch videos of trains and daily life, but that they wanted stories.