Post One

Through the manipulation of music and lighting, this classic scene from Friedrich Wilhem Murnau’s 1922 film ‘Nosferatu – A Symphony of Horror’, still has a haunting effect even today. The menace of Orlok’s shadow plays upon the notion of not being able to see an assailant but being aware of a presence. At 00.59, there is a neat jump cut from the woman in her bed suddenly being gripped and falling asleep to a doctor being grabbed and shook awake. At 1.43, as Orlok turns after hearing a cock crow, the ambient noise of birds chirping breaks the domination of the musical score and juxtaposes the natural with the unnatural.

Paid homage to in “The Untouchables”, the iconic image of a pram tumbling down the steps in a city by itself from “Battleship Potemkin” (1925, Sergei Eisenstein) is still an enduring image to this day. Watched in the context of the scene, the heart-breaking notion of a mother being unable to hold on to her baby and not being able to prevent it hurtling down stairs into “death” is still poignant today. The quick cuts from 1.43 – 1.50 starkly contrast the innocence babies signify with the brutality adults are capable of, with the message of the scene being to care for the future and not let it descend into chaos.

A completely silent clip from “The Phantom of the Opera” (1925, Rupert Julian), but one in which the tension and then the reveal of the Phantom’s true face is executed to near perfection. The actresses’ facial expressions and general composure tell the audience how she is feeling at the start; calm and composed to then intrigued yet cautionary, before the mask is removed and the Phantom is seen in his true state. We as the audience are the first to see the Phantom’s face at 0.44 thus the audience takes the brunt of the shock before the character of ‘Christine Daae’ reacts.

Only 6 seconds long, the final shot from “The Great Train Robbery” (1903, Edwin S Porter) has stood the test of time for well over a century. The film itself is just over ten minutes in length, but the iconic image of the robber firing his gun straight at the camera, and in effect, at the audience is the most memorable part. It was one of, if not the first example of an actor breaking the ‘fourth-wall’ between the audience and what was happening on the screen, with the shock of it allegedly causing some cinema patrons to pass out in shock.

 

George Méliès’ 1902 film “La Voyage Dans La Lune” is still a remarkably unique film, which can also boast to be the first ever science-fiction film. Shot when film-making was in its infancy, it still managed to combine both live-action with partial animation; the rocket falling into the sea at 11.18 – 11.22. It also made use of characteristically theatrical sets by being able to move them in real time when the travelers see the Earth rise up once they have landed on the moon; 06.40 – 06.53. Despite only appearing for several seconds, the image of the Moon with a rocket in its eye is well recognised to this day.