Early+movie+notes

Early Film notes
 * Great Train Robbery (1903)
 * movie made with awareness of possibilities of parallel story lines
 * different than a stage play
 * the question was whether or not audiences could learn to follow two story lines
 * Then cameras became more mobile
 * they used dolly tracks
 * lifted cameras in the air
 * When sound showed up, cameras were stuck in boxes or booths
 * became harder to move around
 * First sound movie was The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson
 * almost entirely silent, with songs
 * Jolson is in blackface while he sings
 * Musicals – American art form
 * totally integrated book and songs with a dramatic theme
 * old saying: when the emotion becomes too strong, you sing: when it’s too strong for song, you dance
 * First musical was Showboat