I need to write a silent short

A

ASchear

Well-known member
I'm in a class at college that I need to write and shoot a silent film on a Bolex 16mm camera. We're not really supposed to use sync sound at all for this project in terms of dialogue.

I'm having huge problems thinking of anything. This is a big challenge for me because, in the past, the scripts I've written or what I shoot is largely based on dialogue and characters interacting with words.

Is there any form of advice someone can give me on how to go about a project like this?
 
ASchear said:
I'm in a class at college that I need to write and shoot a silent film on a Bolex 16mm camera. We're not really supposed to use sync sound at all for this project in terms of dialogue.

I'm having huge problems thinking of anything. This is a big challenge for me because, in the past, the scripts I've written or what I shoot is largely based on dialogue and characters interacting with words.

Is there any form of advice someone can give me on how to go about a project like this?
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For a modern example of 'silent film', watch the first 20 minutes of "There Will Be Blood"(2007). There is Foley, and sound Effects, but the 'story', "man against nature", I think is pretty clear without the 'realism' that the sound brings.

You can also watch "Rear View"(1956), where much of the action in the 'other' apartments that the central character views, are 'silent', again with just little bits of Foley and effects. But one can see 'stories' happen without the sound...

And of course, until 1927, almost all film presentations where 'silent' with perhaps come organ/piano, or a few effects. The exceptions were demo/shorts, which pointed to the future, but really couldn't be sustained.

It sounds like this exercise is to demonstrate 'showing', rather than 'telling'.
 
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If I had to do a silent film... (I've thought about this for less then a minute now, while reading your post)... I'd consider doing something that is motivated by silence.

Do a story (real or acted) that stars a deaf person. Here's a little synopsis...

Shot opens like eyes opening... looking at an alarm clock... it clicks from 6:29a to 6:30a and the lights in the room come on... a clap of the hands (in front of the cam... still POV) turns the lights back off... and we cut from that black... to a person getting ready for their day in front of a bathroom mirror... show things that we all know the sound of... closer shots then normal... like a faucet running water... a toilet handle being pushed to flush... a shower turning on... the water hitting at [his] feet.

After this person leaves their house... they encounter various people who sign to him. You could take just a little extra effort and actually FIND people who can sign... (or better still, have your star ACTUALLY BE deaf)...

You could move the story forward in big jumps by having drawn pictures for your lead character to show to people... pictures that tell the story that's going to unfold... or say something like a job application? Something to unfold and show to the other person that tells the audience "this is where this story is going"...

If you need to shorten your story then you could have something dramatic happen to your lead character... let's say you want to cut away to a car chase? Gun shots? Anything that is NORMALLY full of sound (that the audience would recognize as missing)... would be a good choice... and this gives you a point of interception in the story... perhaps your character gets hit crossing the street? or something like that... a good bit of drama... where you can convey the drama through the sound that's missing... like screams from a friend... which is only seen as a screaming mouth and face of anguish... in the silence.

There's a million ways you could take a silent film and losing nothing from a story... or take it in a direction like the above... where the lack of sound actually builds empathy, and the ability to relate to the lead character.

EDIT:

Here's another thought that just hit me. Can deaf people play music? (I just checked and google says YES... big time.) As odd as that may initially sound... blind people climb mountains and music IS vibration... so I don't think it would be that crazy for deaf people to play (or WANT to play) music.

Look into that... I imagine a silent film about deaf people playing music could be profoundly touching.

The way I would do this is to start on something like piano strings vibrating... show various angles of the strings and hammers in a piano... all moving, vibrating, playing a song... then show the music sheet... hand turning pages... then fingers on the keys... smiling audience... confident (or struggling... either one) person playing the music... basically hash out a whole song... showing all the VISUAL elements of the instrument making the music (piano pedals, etc.) the PERSON making the music... the audience ENJOYING the effort... and end it with somebody SIGNING to the person who was playing the music... so that the silence of the film is a "reveal" at the end... where it's an easter-egg of sorts... for the audience to realize that the silence was the artist's perspective the whole time anyway...

I think that seeing music created... and not hearing it... would be oddly engaging... then the "reveal" that the guy playing could never hear it... is the sucker punch at the end to make the whole thing rewarding on another level. Don't tell the audience that the guy playing can't hear... until the end... let the audience feel the missing element of sound, and only at the end, reveal the truth.
 
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Thanks for the quick responses, guys. I'll definitely take a look at There Will be Blood. I've seen a lot of films pre-sound era, as I've taken a course on them. I really love the comedy involved in these films.

As for the deaf idea - I think there's a possibility of me actually running with that one a little bit. I really like the concept, and I feel that I can utilize a strong premise, such as something about how similar deaf people are to everyone else. I walk around a pretty busy campus and wouldn't know it if I passed a deaf person on the sidewalk. They would just seem like another guy.

I'll keep the discussion open and won't pick any topic yet, but I do really like this one.
 
A drama set in a noisy nightclub or concert or factory, where people simply can't hear each other?

Or a variation on the 'deaf' idea - someone walking around wearing headphones and listening to their iPod, blissfully unaware of the unheard dialog all around them?

Watch the first act of Wall-E - almost no dialog (depending on your definition of dialog) but great story telling.
 
The most successful productions TYPICALLY utilize the resources one has available... if you're at a school then see what circumstances there rely heavily on sound... but can still be conveyed without sound... and if you want to elevate the project... give your audience a "character" to invest in.

I'm just re-explaining what I already said... but if you don't lock onto my way of thinking... take a more abstract approach... The most powerful silent movie you could make would be one where the silence is a key component unto itself.

I'd be surprised if anybody else in your class thinks of it this way... having action and words to explain the action... will be the easy way out... going with something like the opening of Wall-E where a subject's body language tells the story would be good... if you can make that work with the resources you have available... but that won't be so original... as it's simply a silent ballet... as has been done a million times. Wall-E was simply doing Charlie Chaplain.

Another smart approach would be to do the opposite of what I suggested... where instead of a deaf person performing in a hearing world... you could show a situation where silence is already the point... like hunting... or a mime... or some situation where the intention is silence from the start.

What I'm suggesting is that you consider using silence as a powerful element... rather then an obstacle... as early movies had to do. Those old movies didn't have images and words because they were choosing an artistic approach... they did that as a technological limitation... so if you embrace silence as a CHOICE that SERVES A STORY... I think you'll stand out.
 
ASchear said:
I walk around a pretty busy campus and wouldn't know it if I passed a deaf person on the sidewalk. They would just seem like another guy.
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Yes, until they did respond to say, sirens, loud noises, etc. or you observed them in situations where they have to interact with others.

Then you may notice a number of behavior patterns, such as clerks/servers getting exasperated, or when 'explaining', looking all over the place, other than at the deaf person, because in all likelihood the deaf person is reading lips...

In class rooms, the lecturer is facing the chalkboard, rambling on... most are taking notes head bowed... except the deaf person... if they have a note taker the deaf person is watching the professor at the board.

Don't know where you would go with that, but those are some ideas on 'silent life'...
 
Not to discredit any of the ideas given here (because they could actually be incorporated in what I'm about to say), but I would shy away from looking at this assignment by trying to find a hook such as making it be about a deaf person or take place in a loud environment. The point of this project sounds like it's not to justify the lack of sound, but to explore visual storytelling.

Great visual storytelling - establishing a character's wants, inner state etc. from shot design (not merely an actor's expression) is a hard skill to learn, and one that many filmmakers skirt by using overly expository dialogue. If you learn to tell a story very effectively visually, it reduces the amount of explaining your dialogue needs to do and opens up a lot more doors for you to use your dialogue to compliment the visuals.

Wall-E, for example, is not simply a silent ballet or Charlie Chaplin (though this is obviously an influence). It's some of the most effective yet simple visual storytelling I've seen in a long time, but this isn't because of body language and expressions (or at least because of that alone). Look at the shot design, how Wall-E's relationships are established, how his actions are depicted, what emotions are being conveyed - a lot of this is because of very effective shot design. In film school, they once made us do an assignment where we had to tell a story and convey an emotion using a series of still photographs and an actor - the hitch was the actor had to have a neutral expression in every shot. You had to do this all via your choice of shots. It was a hard assignment, but the lesson was clear. Film is a visual medium, and in addition to being able to tell a story through your words and dialogue, you must be able to tell your story through the visuals as well.

I think this could be an easy assignment to overthink. Going back to basics might be a good idea - give a character a simple but clear want, an obstacle, and try to affect emotion without relying on the usual crutches we have (dialogue, score etc.). Remember, almost any story can be told effectively without sound (and without title cards) if it is done right.
 
Also, the first 15 minutes or so of The Mechanic with Charles Bronson. (a great movie by the way, even though it is from the 70s).

j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
For a modern example of 'silent film', watch the first 20 minutes of "There Will Be Blood"(2007). There is Foley, and sound Effects, but the 'story', "man against nature", I think is pretty clear without the 'realism' that the sound brings.
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Lt_Col_Wade said:
Not to discredit any of the ideas given here (because they could actually be incorporated in what I'm about to say), but I would shy away from looking at this assignment by trying to find a hook such as making it be about a deaf person or take place in a loud environment. The point of this project sounds like it's not to justify the lack of sound, but to explore visual storytelling.
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I really like the concepts you're suggesting here - emphasizing visual storytelling. Although that's not the point of the assignment (this is an intro course that I think they don't want to deal with teaching sound for), I think it could be a great exercise for myself because of all the experience I already have making films over all the seniors who are just taking the course as an elective.

I'm thinking about how to display some strong emotions with imagery rather than acting, and possibly how to put all these great ideas together into one excellent one.

Thanks everyone so far for the input.
 
ASchear, you might want to check out Lumiere et Compagniere. About 40 directors (Lynch, Lee, Boorman) were given an 100 y.o. camera and asked to make a 90 second film. I have a vhs tape around somewhere of it. I think many of the films are silent. Might give a little inspiration.
 
Hey guys,

I wanted to thank everyone for their input because I am feeling very thanky today. Today we shot my project, which I developed from the ideas posted here.

It turned out to be about a guy who was recently made deaf as the result of an accident, and is learning to cope with his new lifestyle, while still longing to be his former self.

I think that the story is pretty powerful because I was truly able to show his frustrations with the images and (when I edit it), some sound effects. I'll be sending the film to the lab tomorrow, hopefully I'll have it back in a weeks time to see how it all came out. Thanks again to everyone for the input, I'm really satisfied with how this project came out.

-Andrew
 
Sounds like you had a good one there. Congrats!

Sorry to join the convo too late to contribute, but for future possibilities.....maybe a film that has no people at all. Its stars could be inanimate objects or animals. Or plants, for that matter. (Technically plants are animate.)
 
Yeah, some people in my class did that, and they used stop-animation on the bolex to roll 1 frame at a time and animate it. They said it took an entire weekend to finish it. But the characters not being able to move would be another great restriction, because it'd force one to use more uninflected images to tell the story, since you literally can't follow anything.

And I wouldn't have to worry about actors dropping off the project.
 
Hey ASchear, glad you found a subject. Too bad I didn't come in earlier. I'm a TA for a film 1 intro class where we use bolex cameras, and I had to have 2 years with no dialogue. It wasn't so much about the fact that teaching sound is a beast of its own (which it is), it's because the bolex usually doesn't have synch sound (unless you attach an expensive motor to it).

Even though it's not mentioned, usually the bolex is a great practice camera. You may think it's because of technical things, but trust me, an underlying motive is to teach you the visual language. IF the teacher didn't intend this, then the teacher doesn't know what he's doing and you should get out of this course fast!

Film is about visuals, not dialogue. If you rely on dialogue then you should stop what you're doing. As Alfred Hitchcock used to say, he first writes the film, then adds the dialogue later. Film is a visual language first, and dialogue second (or third, fourth, 52nd).

Now, even though I can do synch sound, I try and avoid the use of dialogue unless it's needed to drive the story forward. Even then I shave it down considerably. Use this as an example for future works made by Zak (one of our mods). I think it uses maybe 2-3 lines of dialogue, and very short ones at that, yet so much comes across:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5TKKbR6hzw
 
I really think it probably IS about teaching you to convey as much information as you can visually. That's really the key to great movies.

In fact, I'd like to see a Fest done this way -- SilentFest. I mean TOTALLY silent. No dialogue, no Foley, no sounds at all, not even music. And nothing to convey dialogue -- no subtitles, captions, cue cards, written notes, or anything else. Tell a whole story visually in total silence. That would be a challenge.

In fact, take a couple of minutes and watch my short 'Barry's Birthday'. But keep your speakers turned off. See if you can follow the story without dialogue or music. Let me know what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45rdp8bi9fA
 
Hey Chapel, I watched your film Barry's Birthday. The first time, I saw it without my speakers on, as you advised. I thought it was excellent. The second time, I was showing my roomate, so I turned the sound on. I don't intend to be mean by saying this, but the sound completely ruined the film in my opinion. Rather than leaving it a complete surprise, I thought you really tried to set a distinct mood with the music from the start, and then the VO gave away the ending before it actually came. It tried to catch itself, but it failed I thought because at the end, I wondered - if he had recovered, why was the ending the way it was?

But without the music, the ending really smacked me in the face. In my own head, I was actually playing some happy music while she was making the card and cake.

Anyway - I think this is a great example of a film where it would be so much better without the sound. Thank you for showing me! I thought it was a very well done short.

Jon, I took a look at Model | Photographer as well. I thought it was excellent, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what I liked so much about it. Maybe it was the lack of sound, maybe the lack of dialogue, maybe the lighting, or the cinematography. But I just thought it was so good. I kind of got a Lost in Translation feeling from it, I think.
 
ASchear said:
Hey Chapel, I watched your film Barry's Birthday. The first time, I saw it without my speakers on, as you advised. I thought it was excellent. The second time, I was showing my roomate, so I turned the sound on. I don't intend to be mean by saying this, but the sound completely ruined the film in my opinion. Rather than leaving it a complete surprise, I thought you really tried to set a distinct mood with the music from the start, and then the VO gave away the ending before it actually came. It tried to catch itself, but it failed I thought because at the end, I wondered - if he had recovered, why was the ending the way it was?

But without the music, the ending really smacked me in the face. In my own head, I was actually playing some happy music while she was making the card and cake.

Anyway - I think this is a great example of a film where it would be so much better without the sound. Thank you for showing me! I thought it was a very well done short.
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Thanks so much. I've thought before that the music was perhaps giving too much of a clue to the audience. What was it about the dialogue that tipped you off?

Fact is, this is a true story. Barry did recover from the accident, in the sense that he lived with his family for quite a few years afterwards. But he eventually did succumb to complications connected to his injuries. His family does visit his grave on his birthday every year and release balloons.
 
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