The evolution of storytelling has come a long way ever since films like The Kleptomaniac (1905), A Corner in Wheat (1909), and Sherlock, Jr. (1924) came out. Movies today are all about playing with the viewers mind. As Hugo Munsterberg states in The Photoplay: A Psychological Study (1916) "our esthetic interest turns to the means by which the photoplay influences the mind of the spectator" (p.186). The movies or shows that interest us are those that capture our minds.
The three films that we viewed in class were all without sound. All we saw were moving images; as Professor Ewen stated we were listening to the "sound of silence". In these types of films, the audience becomes the storyteller. I found interesting and very true how Munsterberg states on (p.201) "It is evident that with the exception of the words, no means for drawing attention .is lost in the photoplay". Watching these films I found myself paying even closer attention to what was going on because there was no sound to back up the story. "The absence of the words brings the movements which we see to still greater prominence in our mind" (p.201).
In Sherlock, Jr. we follow a character that has a passion to be a detective but in reality really stinks at it. He later on finds himself in a movie fantasy world where he's daydreaming about being the best detective and getting the pretty girl in the end. In A Corner in Wheat we see economic inequality going on when the rich owner of the wheat industry raise bread prices high enough that the poor can't afford to buy a loaf of bread. In this film we also see the development of "montage" - seeing different settings at one time. For example A Corner in Wheat shows us a farm setting, bakery setting and the rich wheat owners" lifestyle all at one time. This film uses the "juxtaposition" of imagery to make a story; this is what we call the language of the film. The audience is placed in a position where we see three different places at once.
