Modern Adaptation of a Silent Movie in the Thriller Genre

Possible Idea:

Modern Adaptation of a Silent Movie in the Thriller Genre

Basics:

My idea is to try and create a classic silent movie but with a few modern tweaks that change the way in which it is received by the audience. A silent movie consists of many things which makes it so unique. The most obvious feature of a silent movie is the silence, no talking and only the use of non-digetic sound and music allows the audience to use their own imagination and perceptive to understand the movie the way that they want to see it.

Very dramatic and inspired acting also plays a significant role in the making of a silent movie.

The actors tend to use very noticeable and exaggerated dramatic movements, gestures and emotions to almost tell the story without the need for any sound. These movements show the audience what is going on and make it more interesting as the plot of a movie is hard to discover without the use of people speaking.

Music:

Silent movies usually have very good, dramatic music that runs all the way through from the offset. This music is used to make the audience feel a certain way and sudden drumbeats or noises within the music shows that something key has happened. The pace of the music is also used to dictate the way in which the movie is presented. The use of fast music is stereotypically viewed as music that is possibly used within a chase or an action-packed scene whereas slow music is used in dramatic areas in the case of some sort of tragic occurence or a less important scene.

Music like this is used in silent films as it it quite catchy so it holds the interest of the audience and it also has different paces and noticeable moments where different instruments are used to fit what is happening in the movie. The music is instrumental on the making of a successful silent movie as if the music does not fit in with the setting or the plot then everything could go horribly wrong and the movie will not enthuse the audience as well, therefore making the movie a possible bore.








Obviously we are trying to fit the genre of a thriller film into a silent movie so music like this is very suitable due to the way in which it builds  tension and creates suspense therefore building up to a climax and making the audience wait in anticipation for an important scene or a sudden occurence that has the ability to make them jump.

Props:

Props have to be used in an effective way in a silent movie so as to show the audience clearly who is the villain and who is the hero. In traditional silent movies, the villain generally had a cane but nowadays the modern perception of a villain usually involves something like a gun, a knife or some sort of weapon or even a bodyguard that shows he is a person of importance and is not to be messed with. This means that a modern silent movie would have to involve new ways in which the villain and the hero can be identified as the villain and the hero as there is no speech which could tell you otherwise, only actions, props and costume.

Costume:

Costume is a very good way of helping the audience to determine what character they like and what characters they do not. Traditional silent movies had the villain dressed up in fairly posh clothing like a black cape and a top hat whereas the hero was usually dressed in fairly normal (upper class) clothing.

Plot:

The plot of a silent movie nearly always involves the idea of a villain capturing a victim and the hero saving this victim. A 'Damsel in Distress' is almost always used as the victim due to the fact that it was sterotypically viewed as the woman showing vulnerability and the power of the man over the woman made the audience uncomfortable. Also it made the audience hate the villain even more due to  the fact that it didn't make him a very likeable person when they are attacking an innocent woman because they have 'authority' over her.

My Idea:

Basically, my idea involves the use of 'makeshift' railway tracks. I know the owner of branch brothers and he has offered to lend me anything that we need in creation of this movie. So it may be possible that we could use some long pieces of wood to create railway tracks and go along with the idea of a villain capturing their victim and the hero coming to save them. Obviously the idea of someone being tied to a railway track while a train is coming has been used before but with the addition of the silence and the music that we use, it could make this unique and special to anyone watching it. We could go out and film some trains going past and stuff and incorporate the titles into a fast-moving train window perhaps? Or say we could start the film with someone being captured and taken through some trees and we could carve the woods 'Starring etc..' into the wood? We could use cross-cutting to switch between scenes of a moving train, the woman being tied to the tracks and the hero. I will leave it up to the rest of my group to decide what they think of this idea but I think it is a big risk.If though, we can get it right, it will be spectacular and nothing like the school media teachers will have seen before from their students.