Prior to the 20’s, film had slowly expanded from an experimental technology to a widespread form of entertainment. Thomas Edison’s assistant William K.L. Dickson was the inventor of a motorized camera that could record motion. Once he tested it and finalized it in 1892, Edison began setting up parlors where interested viewers could pay to watch 20-30 second videos, mostly of dancing groups and battle scenes. Inspired by this, the European film industry began with Auguste and Louis Lumiere. The two brothers created a portable projector that they brought all around Europe, charging per viewer. In both Europe and the United States, other inventors saw the opportunity to pioneer in a developing industry; companies with new technology started appearing
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One of the original movies of this genre to start this trend was “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,” directed by Robert Wiene. The film is a mystery horror film about a man named Dr. Caligari who comes to town along with his partner Cesare; it is full of unexpected plot twists like the main character Francis’ friend Alan being murdered and Cesare being a patient in a mental hospital at the end (Doll, “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”). The inclusion of such abrupt twists in the story creates an atmosphere of suspense in the movie, since it is difficult to predict what will happen next. When a surprise breaks this tension, an emotional and physical response is involuntarily experienced by the viewer, which was likely memorable for those who saw it in 1920. Another groundbreaking technology used by Wiene creatively in the film was the set design. Instead of using props and flat walls like in previous movies, pictures of objects are painted onto walls with jagged edges and corners, like those found in the asylum, similar to the set of a play (Fischer, “American Cinema of the 1920s: Themes and Variations” 129). The use of these irregularly shaped borders which hide what is physically approaching is comparable to the plot which keeps the approaching events a secret, aiding in the anticipation felt by the audience and the emotional release after the suspense is
One of the original movies of this genre to start this trend was “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,” directed by Robert Wiene. The film is a mystery horror film about a man named Dr. Caligari who comes to town along with his partner Cesare; it is full of unexpected plot twists like the main character Francis’ friend Alan being murdered and Cesare being a patient in a mental hospital at the end (Doll, “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”). The inclusion of such abrupt twists in the story creates an atmosphere of suspense in the movie, since it is difficult to predict what will happen next. When a surprise breaks this tension, an emotional and physical response is involuntarily experienced by the viewer, which was likely memorable for those who saw it in 1920. Another groundbreaking technology used by Wiene creatively in the film was the set design. Instead of using props and flat walls like in previous movies, pictures of objects are painted onto walls with jagged edges and corners, like those found in the asylum, similar to the set of a play (Fischer, “American Cinema of the 1920s: Themes and Variations” 129). The use of these irregularly shaped borders which hide what is physically approaching is comparable to the plot which keeps the approaching events a secret, aiding in the anticipation felt by the audience and the emotional release after the suspense is