MovieChat Forums > Babylon (2022) Discussion > Why was there live music being played...

Why was there live music being played...


... while shooting scenes for silent movies? Does anyone know?

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They often had live music played off-camera to help the actors get in the mood. It's mentioned in just about every history and memoir about silent movies.

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I thought the exact same thing. The orchestra made no sense.
Another thing that bothered me is that the footage of what they shot is in modern 24fps. It should look sped up.

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Back then the footage wasn't sped up, it was shot at around 16fps and projected at the same speed. Only when they started to convert old silent films to be shown on modern projectors and TVs, they increased the speed.

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They would do that to help enhance the mood. They would also order some props in expensive materials like gold and ivory since they thought it helped the actors to act better.

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Yes, why not just use record player? It's been invented by the time.

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