Movies
This short 1894 film produced by Thomas Edison is often considered one of the earliest motion pictures ever made.
What is Fred Ott’s Sneeze?
This device allowed audiences to watch moving images through a peephole, one person at a time.
What is the Kinetoscope?
This filmmaker and actor became famous for his silent film comedies and his character known as “The Tramp.”
Who is Charlie Chaplin?
The Silent Era began in the late part of this decade.
What are the 1890s?
These text screens were used in silent films to show dialogue or explain the story.
What are title cards?
This 1903 film is famous for its use of storytelling and editing, including a train robbery scene.
What is The Great Train Robbery?
This optical sound-on-film process recorded sound directly onto the film strip.
What is the Tri-Ergon Process?
This physical comedian was known for dangerous stunts, deadpan expression, and films like Steamboat Bill, Jr.
Who is Buster Keaton?
This decade marks the end of the Silent Era and the rise of sound films.
What are the 1920s?
This tool told musicians what type of music to play during different scenes of a silent film.
What is a cue sheet?
This 1902 silent film by Georges Méliès features early special effects and a rocket landing on the moon.
What is A Trip to the Moon?
This electronic invention made it possible to amplify sound so large audiences could hear it.
What is the Audion Tube?
These brothers invented the cinematographe and helped bring motion pictures to large audiences.
Who are the Lumière Brothers?
This world event in 1900 helped showcase new film technologies to large audiences.
What is the Paris World Fair?
Despite their name, silent films were not truly silent because theaters often included this.
What is live music?
This Charlie Chaplin silent comedy focuses on life inside a circus and was one of his later silent films.
What is The Circus?
This invention by the Lumière Brothers could both record and project moving images for an audience.
What is the Cinematographe?
This inventor worked on early sound and film technology and helped pioneer motion pictures in the United States.
Who is Thomas Edison?
This year saw the release of The Jazz Singer, helping usher in the era of sound films.
What is 1927?
These large theaters replaced small nickelodeons and often featured full orchestras.
What are movie palaces?
This 1927 film is famous for helping usher in the era of sound movies with synchronized dialogue and singing.
What is The Jazz Singer?
This sound system stored audio on discs played alongside the film and was used in The Jazz Singer.
What is Vitaphone?
This inventor worked closely with Thomas Edison and conducted early experiments combining sound and moving images.
Who is William Kennedy Laurie Dickson?
This sound-on-film process was developed in this year, helping solve synchronization problems.
What is 1919?
This was one major reason music was essential in silent films.
What is helping tell the story / showing emotion / setting mood / pacing action?
This was the primary way silent films communicated emotion and story to audiences before recorded dialogue existed.
What is music?