Organ accompaniment in silent films, part 1 – the process of cinematic art creation

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (14) ◽  
pp. 59-72
Author(s):  
Filip Presseisen
Keyword(s):  
Initial Phase ◽  
Data Flow ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Silent Cinema ◽  
Pipe Organ ◽  
Silent Films ◽  
Doctoral Thesis ◽  
Place Of Origin ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Lumiere Brothers

The idea to write music for silent films, both in a form of written-down scores and composed live has experienced its renaissance for more than ten years. Thanks to a quite decent number of preserved theatre instruments and also due to the globalisation and wide data flow options connected with it, the knowledge and interest in Anglo-Saxon tradition of organ accompaniment in cinema were able to spread away from its place of origin. The article is the first part of four attempts to present the phenomenon of combination of the art of organ improvisation with cinematography and it was based on the fragments of the doctoral thesis entitled “Current methods of organ improvisation as performance means in the accompaniment for silent films based on the selected musical and visual work”. The dissertation was written under the supervision of prof. dr hab. Elżbieta Karolak and was defended at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań in 2020. The article touches on the initial phase of the development of silent cinema from 1895 to 1909. Having differentiated the terms of typical organ improvisation and the art of improvisation for silent films, the article describes the development of cinema art. From the praxinoscope invented by Émile Reynaud, through the cinematograph and the Kinetoscope (Dickson), Vitascope (Jenkins and Armat) and Bioscop (Skladanowsky brothers), it finally discusses the process how the Lumière brothers invented the cinematograph. It its further part, it presents the development of cinematography based on the improvements in theatre introduced by Méliès. The whole text serves as a basis for more parts of the article touching on the issues of the sound added to silent films and the creation of the theatre type of the pipe organ.

Organ accompaniment to silent films, part 2

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (15) ◽  
pp. 57-66
Author(s):  
Filip Presseisen
Keyword(s):  
Data Flow ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Silent Films ◽  
Doctoral Thesis ◽  
Place Of Origin

The idea to write music for silent films, both in a form of written-down scores and composed live has experienced its renaissance for more than ten years. Thanks to a quite decent number of preserved theatre instruments and also due to the globalisation and wide data flow options connected with it, the knowledge and interest in Anglo-Saxon tradition of organ accompaniment in cinema were able to spread away from its place of origin. The article is the second part of four attempts to present the phenomenon of combination of the art of organ improvisation with cinematography and it was based on the fragments of the doctoral thesis entitled “Current methods of organ improvisation as performance means in the accompaniment for silent films based on the selected musical and visual work”. The dissertation was written under the supervision of prof. dr hab. Elżbieta Karolak and was defended at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań in 2020. The article touches on the process of adding sound to silent films, creating publications containing the so-called genre music (i.e., music for specific tyles of scenes), as well as cue-sheets which appeared since 1909 and which were particularly useful for improvising pianists and organists. It also describes the practice of orchestra accompaniment and different sizes of lineups connected with it.

Organ accompaniment to silent films, part 3 – the activity of Robert Hope-Jones and its importance

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (16) ◽  
pp. 87-100
Author(s):  
Filip Presseisen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Silent Films ◽  
Final Shape ◽  
Doctoral Thesis ◽  
The Third ◽  
Organ Type ◽  
Place Of Origin

The idea to write music for silent films, both in a form of written-down scores and composed live has experienced its renaissance for more than ten years. Thanks to a quite decent number of preserved theatre instruments and also due to the globalisation and wide data flow options connected with it, the knowledge and interest in Anglo-Saxon tradition of organ accompaniment in cinema were able to spread away from its place of origin. The article is the third part of four attempts to present the phenomenon of combination of the art of organ improvisation with cinematography and it was based on the fragments of the doctoral thesis entitled “Current methods of organ improvisation as performance means in the accompaniment for silent films based on the selected musical and visual work”. The dissertation was written under the supervision of prof. dr hab. Elżbieta Karolak and was defended at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań in 2020. The article focuses on the profile of Robert Hope-Jones, an eccentric creator of cinema organ. It describes the period preceding the time when typical theatre instruments called “Mighty Wurlitzer” acquired their final shape, i.e., from the introduction of first electromagnetic tracture innovations in England, to the establishment of Hope Jones’s collaboration with the Wurlitzer company in the United States of America and the creation of instruments of the Unit Organ type.

scholarly journals Napisy na ekranach kin II Rzeczypospolitej

2020 ◽  
pp. 214-253
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Plewa
Keyword(s):  
Initial Phase ◽  
Archival Research ◽  
Silent Cinema ◽  
Silent Films ◽  
Technical Aspects ◽  
Archival Study

Polish Subtitling in the 1930s This article presents the results of an archival study on Polish subtitling of pre-WWII films (until 1939). The main focus will be on the technical aspects of subtitling in Poland in the 1930s, such as the number of lines, number of characters per line, and subtitle display times. We will show the development of Polish film translation in its initial phase. In our article, we will present previously unpublished pictures of early film subtitles, which come from original archival research. Contrary to some previous claims, film translation did not start with the introduction of sound in films – which occurred in Poland in the 1929/30 cinema season. Prior to that, in the silent cinema period, intertitles were a tested way of delivering content to the viewer. And these silent movies’ intertitles were translated. Copies of various foreign films have even been preserved with Polish intertitle translation rather than the original intertitles. Imitating intertitles in silent films, subtitles began to appear in films with sound and dialogue. These were “inserted subtitles” – between scene edits. Only later were subtitles burnt into the image, which began modern film subtitling.

scholarly journals Polskie tłumaczenie napisowe w 1930 roku

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (44) ◽  
pp. 59-72
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Plewa
Keyword(s):  
Initial Phase ◽  
Archival Research ◽  
Silent Cinema ◽  
Silent Films

Polish Subtitling in 1930 Film subtitle translation, contrary to frequently quoted opinions, did not start with the introduction of sound in films, which occurred in Poland in the 1929/30 cinema season. Prior to that, in the silent cinema period, captions were a tried and tested way of delivering content to the viewer. And these silent movie captions were translated. Copies of various foreign films with Polish subtitles have even been preserved instead of the ones with the original wording. Imitating subtitles for silent films, another form of film translation began to appear in films with sound and dialogue. These were the so-called intertitles. The next way of presenting foreign content was a subtitle, which began modern film subtitling. This article concerns film subtitle translation typical of films in Poland in 1930. It endeavours to show the development of Polish film subtitle translation in its initial phase. The article contains previously unpublished pictures of film subtitles from the discussed period, which come from original archival research.

Cristóbal Balenciaga. Explorations in Traditional Spanish Aesthetics

Costume ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-185
Author(s):  
Ana Balda Arana
Keyword(s):  
Creative Process ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Country Of Origin ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Doctoral Thesis ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Religious Iconography

This article investigates how the traditional attire and religious iconography of Cristóbal Balenciaga's (1895–1972) country of origin inspired his designs. The arguments presented here build on what has already been established on the subject, provide new data regarding the cultural context that informed the couturier's creative process (with which the Anglo-Saxon world is less familiar) and conclude by investigating the reasons and timing of his exploration of these fields. They suggest why this Spanish influence is present in his innovations in the 1950s and 1960s and go beyond clichéd interpretations of the ruffles of flamenco dress and bullfighters’ jackets. The findings derive from research for the author's doctoral thesis and her curatorial contribution to the exhibition Coal and Velvet. Balenciaga and Ortiz Echagüe. Views on the Popular Costume (Balenciaga Museum, Getaria, Spain, 7 October 2016–7 May 2017).

A Note on a Note

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-52
Author(s):  
Yoshio Saitô
Keyword(s):  
Close Relationship ◽  
Place Of Origin ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Relationship Of

Abstract The so-called ‘Leiden Manuscript’, the collection of Turkic and Mongolic glossaries titled Kitāb Majmūʿ Turjumān Turkī wa-ʿAjamī wa-Muğalī wa-Fārsī, has a yet undeciphered inscription on f. 75b. In this article, the author identifies the script of the inscription as a type of Coptic cursive numerals called ḥurūf al-zimām, which was primarily in use in Egypt for accounting purposes. The consecutive numbers and multiples of 10 and 100 in the inscription may indicate that they were written for practicing numerical letters by someone who had nothing to do with the creation or the copying of the manuscript. The use of zimām numerals in the inscription indicates that the manuscript may have existed in Egypt, and this strengthens the theory advanced by M.Th. Houtsma that the manuscript was created there. Yemen is another possible place of origin of the manuscript due to the close relationship of the Rasūlid dynasty with the Mamlūk sultanate and the fact that some documents with zimām numerals have been found there.

The Translation of Films, 1900-1950

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Language Transfer ◽  
Silent Cinema ◽  
Silent Films ◽  
International History ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
International Distribution ◽  
History Of ◽  
Audiovisual Translation ◽  
Transition To Sound

This rich collection of essays by film historians, translation scholars, archivists, and curators presents film translation history as an exciting and timely area of research. It builds on the last 20 years of research into the history of dubbing and subtitling, but goes further, by showing how subtitling, dubbing, and other forms of audiovisual translation developed over the first 50 years of the 20th century. This is the first book-length study, in any language, of the international history of audiovisual translation to include silent cinema. Its scope covers national contexts both within Europe and beyond. It shows how audiovisual translation practices were closely tied to their commercial, technological, and industrial contexts. The Translation of Films, 1900–1950 draws extensively on archival sources and expertise, and revisits and challenges some of the established narratives around film languages and the coming of sound. For instance, the volume shows how silent films, far from being straightforward to translate, went through a complex process of editing for international distribution. It also closely tracks the ferment of experiments in film translation during the transition to sound from 1927 to 1934 and later, as markets adjusted to the demands of synchronised film. The Translation of Films, 1900–1950 argues for a broader understanding of film translation: far from being limited to language transfer, it encompasses editing, localisation, censorship, paratextual framing, and other factors. It advocates for film translation to be considered as a crucial contribution not only to the worldwide circulation of films, but also to the art of cinema.

An integrated re-examination of the dating of Oxford, Bodleian Library, Junius 11

2002 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 141-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie Lockett
Keyword(s):  
Bodleian Library ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Work Of Art ◽  
Manuscript Production ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Changing Practices ◽  
Junius 11

Students of late Anglo-Saxon manuscripts are fortunate to have recourse to a number of fundamental studies which chronicle changes in the various arts of manuscript production during the tenth and early eleventh centuries. These studies provide a background against which to assess the work of individual craftsmen (scribes, initiallers, illustrators) who produced English manuscripts of this period. In the attempt to date a manuscript, each of these studies provides a spectrum of changing practices against which one can measure the most probable date of execution for any aspect of the manuscript. Additionally, if we use these studies as a group rather than one by one, they have much to tell us about the chronological circumstances of the creation of an entire codex as a composite work of art produced by a team of craftsmen.

‘Oh What a Lovely War’: the Texts and Their Context

1990 ◽  
Vol 6 (23) ◽  
pp. 244-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Paget
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Thesis ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Source Materials

This year marks no less than the twenty-seventh anniversary of the first performance, on 19 March 1963, of Oh What a Lovely War by the Theatre Workshop company at Stratford East – a production which has been alternatively mythologized as the apogee of the company's achievement under Joan Littlewood, and, by fewer but influential critics (notably the late Ewan MacColl), as its nadir. Even those who saw the show after its transfer to Wyndham's Theatre on 20 June 1963 may, as Derek Paget here illustrates, have seen a production which differed significantly from the original: while those who did not see either version (even if they can be persuaded that the subsequent film bears little relation to either) have to rely on the text as published by Methuen. But this, as Paget demonstrates, provides only one. albeit the most accessible, of the several sources of textual documentation: and in this article, derived from the author's doctoral thesis for Manchester University, he draws on the recollections of actors and other theatre workers as well as on printed, manuscript, and source materials, to illuminate the creation and, arguably, the subsequent dilution of this collectively created indictment of war.

scholarly journals Voiceless Screams: Pictorialism as Narrative Strategy in Horror Silent Cinema

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-76
Author(s):  
Delia Enyedi
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Short Length ◽  
Silent Cinema ◽  
Silent Films ◽  
Narrative Strategy ◽  
Fictional Narratives ◽  
Visual Pleasure ◽  
The Witch ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Transitional Era

Abstract As a complementary condition to narrative, the notion of pictorialism in film is rooted in the first decades of the medium. In their quest to demonstrate the capturing and restoring of images with various devices, early filmmakers selected views with pictorial qualities in the long-standing tradition of painting, transferring them on film in the form of non-narrative shots. The evolution of fictional narratives in silent cinema displaced the source of inspiration in theatre, assimilating its nineteenth-century tradition of pictorialism. Thus, the film audiences’ appeal for visual pleasure was elevated with balanced elements of composition, framing and acting that resulted in pictorially represented moments actively engaged in the narrative system. The paper explores the notion of “pictorial spirit” (Valkola 2016) in relation to that of “monstration” (Gaudreault 2009) aiming to describe the narrative mechanism of provoking fear by means of pictorially constructed cinematic images in a selection of short-length horror silent films belonging to the transitional era, consisting in The Haunted House/The Witch House (La Maison ensorcelée/La casa encantada, Segundo de Chomón, 1908), Frankenstein (J. Searle Dawley, 1910) and the surviving fragments of The Portrait (Портрет, Vladislav Starevich, 1915).1

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document