photo courtesy of Paul J. White
The Sound of Silents
making music for movies without any
PrintCall it “creating music of momentary significance,” “composition in performance,” or simply “live film accompaniment,” but both the act of playing music for silent films and silent films themselves are attempting to make a long-overdue comeback that will retrospectively solidify silent cinema’s status as an art form.
The past few years have seen a relative revival of public interest in silent cinema. Film preservation campaigns focused on saving silent-era films—from the beginning of cinema in the late 1800s into the 1930s when sound was popularized—have been a huge national undertaking. Overcoming dust, graininess, fading and decaying film stock to restore the films, arguably some of the best ever made, is an extensive and ongoing process.
Equally as important as preserving the films themselves is presenting them to the public in the right way. “The art of proper accompaniment has to be preserved and carried on, so that the films will continue to be appreciated and loved. Film exhibition is a big part of film preservation—if the films are saved but not shown, they’re just a roll of plastic on a shelf,” attests Ben Model, one of New York City’s premiere accompanists and founder of the Silent Clowns Film Series.
Traditionally a misunderstood precursor to modern film, “silent film is kind of a misnomer,” says Model. “It’s like calling the radio ‘blind television’ because it sounds like there is something wrong with it … It [silent film] is its own language.” Simply stated, even though sound wasn’t an option at the time that silent movies were being made, it would have been superfluous anyway. These films are able to transcend language barriers, relying on editing, visuals, and acting to fabricate a story. Viewers are challenged to understand visually rather than lazily relying on dialogue. Silent film is cinema in its purest form: a graphic art, where the image tells all.
Model insists that while watching silent film, “from the first frame your imagination is engaged, guessing everything: what the colors were, what the sound was, everything about it. You’re also processing the music, all at the same time. And you’re drawn in and up to the screen. Whereas with contemporary film you’re sort of sitting in back of your chair, and it’s a very passive experience.” Viewing silent cinema with accompaniment is, overall, “a much more satisfying cinema experience,” he contends.
At schools and universities nationwide, including Columbia, the importance of the silent era is being reinstated. Film departments are stripping away the labels of “boring” and “primitive” that once plagued silent cinema as students are discovering what these films have to offer. Model remembers why there was a disconnect between students and silent film at his alma mater, NYU: “They showed the films to film students but the prints didn’t have any sound to them; they didn’t have music tracks. Silent film without music is just deadly.”
Attempting to solve this dilemma, which so often condemns silent film in students’ eyes, was how Model got his start. “It bothered me that films were bombing on a regular basis in front of film students. I felt like I had to help the films,” Model says, clearly still inspired. He spends a large portion of his time reaching out to elementary, high school, and college-aged students alike, attempting to instill in them an appreciation for silent movies. He believes that “you only have to get someone into a silent film once to get them hooked.” By playing music alongside the films, the audience is able to get the full experience—just like spectators over 80 years ago. Rarely is a trip back in time so effortless and rewarding.
Model often takes on the role of teacher, educating patrons about silent cinema as he plays. As he says, “I think film students and filmmakers can learn a lot from watching silent films, just in terms of finding ways to find a visual solution and visual expression to any given dramatic moment.”
The accompanist, whose job involves much more than simply playing music, enhances the success of these onscreen dramatic moments. Model, who has been playing piano since he was five, has invested his time into improvisation groups, stand-up comedy, and even clown school—on top of his NYU film education—to become the accompanist he is today. As he insists, “Unlike most of my colleagues, who were musicians first, my interest is in showing film.”
Model never had any formal accompanist training. To this day he composes on the spot, oftentimes without ever having seen the films for which he’s playing. He can compose a score seamlessly as the film rolls, just by looking at visual cues and constantly anticipating the film’s course of action—exactly as his musical precursors did in the silent era.
The seemingly technical aspects of composition end up being purely creative when Model adheres to the improvisational philosophy of many of his predecessors. He believes in an understated style, not playing anything “corny” or any recognizable songs, even though historically that was what was done in the silent era. “For the audience of today, that style tells an audience ‘don’t take this seriously, this stuff is corny and old,’” he explains. As film audiences have adapted, so has film’s accompaniment.
There is also a social aspect to playing that an accompanist must be aware of while he is actively composing. While discussing the art of scoring a film, Model makes distinctions: “When it [the accompaniment] gets busy, it draws attention from the film … you want to draw the audience in and connect them with the heart of the characters … The idea is to create music that is pretty enough to listen to but not interesting enough to pay attention to.”
Silent films, because of their contribution to cinema as a whole, are great assets to any student’s film repertoire. Model has advice for students in the city who would like to get involved in the silent film revival: “Take advantage of the fact that you can see all this great film in a theatrical setting, whether it is silent film or not … You can get it on DVD or stream it illegally or otherwise, but if you can see it in a theater with Dolby surround sound and it isn’t going to cost you anything, absolutely take advantage of it.”
He also has an appeal for those who are already silent cinema believers: “If you’re already hooked on silent film and you’re going to go see one, take someone with you. Participate in film preservation by supporting exhibition.”
Model makes a strong case: Columbia students have access to the Museum of Modern Art, which has one of the world’s most extensive silent cinema collections. The museum also screens hundreds of films monthly for free. Audiences should, as Model puts it, take a leap into a more interactive and engaging genre of cinema and “mentally meet the film halfway.” If recent films like “Wall-E,” with its silent, 40-minute beginning, can be hits today, it makes sense to reevaluate their origins.
Silent cinema’s place in the modern world is growing exponentially as the public realizes how valuable it is. “Because we live in an era where anyone can make a movie with their phone, and everybody can make a movie, it’s very easy to point your camera or iPhone at somebody and let them talk,” says Model. “The problem with that is that you’re not doing any visual storytelling, and there’s no way for your work to translate. Silent film was the universal language.” It’s now the perfect time to appreciate this classic language in its original element.
29 October 2009
vol. 7, issue 7
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