The Evolution of Film Language

Every decade there emerges a collection of new technologies that changes the industry, or what Bazin would call “the art,” of cinema. These technologies alter the way we think of watching a film and how we as an audience experience the film. However, I believe that the entertainment and possibility for analysis when watching films has remained unchanged. People went to the movies and film critics analyzed them in the past and they do the same today. I considered the timelessness of films when reading the article “The evolution of film language,” which discusses the transition from silent to talking films and the impact it had on the art of cinema. The answer I found from reading this article is that it produced little rupture despite the major technological advancement it encompassed. It did transform the way we watch movies, but there were similarities between the filmmakers before and after the change. What I did find as a major difference was the way the filmmakers constructed the films in a way that would grab the attention of the audience: in silent films editing and montage were key. The use of close up gave directors the ability to show importance to an object or action. When talking films emerged, the visual expressionism and symbolic relationships between images were eliminated. They were able to create meaning through sound that as a result enhanced the realism of film.