Trip to the BFI

On Wednesday, I went on a school trip to the BFI to attend a talk on silent film, followed by a screening of 'Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans' (1927). In the talk, the speaker, Matthew Daintrey-Hall, discussed the silent film movements; Realism, Expressionism, Constructivism and Modernism and analysed clips from films within those catagories, such as 'Nosferatu,' 'The Cabinet of Dr Caligari,' 'Man with a Movie Camera' and 'The General.' After lunch, we watched the focus film: 'Sunrise' with a live piano accompaniment by John Sweeney. I thoroughly enjoyed the film, with its hints of German Expressionism and expected Hollywood approach. Experiencing the film as it most likely would have been seen in the 1920's was a very unique and interesting experience, and we were lucky to then hear a Q and A with the pianist afterwards. He explained his process of improvising over the films to enhance the viewing, but also how much power the score has in changing audience perception of certain scenes.