French Film Blog 2

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-miracles-of-grand-illusion


By the time, Grand Illusion was shot, the landscape of film had changed drastically since its humble beginnings. The biggest change that had taken place was the introduction of sound. The advent of sound shook up the industry so much that many silent-era stars, like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, were completely sidelined. The two biggest effects of sound were that the movie could now be longer, as the audience was more likely to sit through a one hour film with sound and dialogue than one without, and secondly, it allowed storytellers to add nuance and depth to both their stories and characters. Another film technique that was now employed in Grand Illusions was camera movement. The camera zoomed in and out to draw the audience's attention to a specific subject and it was also able to do tracking shots. Cameras also now needed less light and so many scenes in the Grand Illusion are shot outside an even at night.