I saw this a few days ago and it was a bit creepy. Something about early film, how dull and drab it looks, is a bit unsettling. Also, it's weird to think that everyone in this film and their kids are long dead. It's not the same as reading an old book or looking at old pictures; when you actually see an old film it makes you realize how long ago it was and how far the world has progressed. Comments?
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I also think that this film is pretty creepy. This is the first film ever invented (that we know about). If this wasn't invented, then the world would be a much different place. Movies would have been invented, eventually. But it would be as far in digital effects as it is now. Also, we get to see (sorta) what people were like in the 1800's. We have books and pictures from back then, but seeing is a lot more helpful.
shareThis one is even creepier!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swXz5ZkmLCQ&NR=1
To think that all of those people are still walking amongst us as vampires or cannibals which suck people's life force out, or at least ghosts! Scary stuff.
(Seriously though, the grating sound and strange images are unsettling. But I don't find higher quality movies from the 40s or 50s, even if all the actors are dead, unsettling at all. But the dehumanizing effect of the loss of quality compounds the dehumanizing thought that they are all dead, or vampires.)
That was creepy!
Here's the first gay movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE_X3-EZz7Y&feature=related
Ha hah, this is why I love the Internet. A never-ending archive. Greetings from year 2012. I hope you're all doing just fine.
shareI find reading the original post creepy. It's like it's so long ago in internet years (2006!) that I'm not supposed to see it. It's very dreamy and ghostly, like looking into an era long gone. Did they even have facebook then? If they did, it must have been very old and creepy-like.
shareWell, if you think that's scary, wait till you see Snapchat!
See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve.
Really early film is VERY creepy-looking. Something about the graininess, the choppiness of the movements, the various scratches and blotches that accumulate over the years ... it all creates a very otherworldly effect. Like you're looking at life on a different planet.
shareI so agree with you. So creepy.
shareMost silent films have the inexplicable dreamish quality to them. There is really no way to explain it.
shareWell that look of the film only comes with age, it may look like HD in the hands of someone back then.
i agree there's something about old films from the last decade of the 19th century and the first two of the 20th that kinda creep me out too
i guess it's mainly to do with the fact that they're all long dead and the graininess as well. just looks weird
Yes, and it's a lot like when I first heared Free As A Bird by the Beatles. John Lennon was in it, yet hes been dead for so long. It was weird to be hearing him in a song long after he's been dead, kind of like seeing these people even though they're long dead.
shareI totally agree w/ you guys! I find old movies creepy too. I didn't know why I thought that way until I took a class on Gothic literature, and in it we talked about magic lanterns, which were these machines that projected images of "ghosts" in darkened rooms. And that apparently was the father of cinema: ghost machines, lol. So basically the first movies were horror movies.
shareI wouldn't know about it though....where do you guys find these films? I would actually like to see it, and the Traffic Leeds Bridge...also Great train robbery and that other one that is actually credited as one of the first films...which I think was something about a sneeze...
shareI just saw the video clip IMDB has for it, but it is a tad creepyish...dunno what it is, but if you notice it looks like the older lady is walking backwards!
shareAnd on top of all of that, these people don't know how famous they are!
Yeah, old films are creepy. We're catching a glimpse of the past, an era long gone.
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I too find it a bit creepy.
Its like they are stuck in time, forever, but they dont know it.
The "Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat" is creepy too, but not as much.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dgLEDdFddk
oh yes there hecka creepy especially at night.........=O
-E$
Yeah...I've always been fascinated by oldest films and photos for this reason. I thought i was a freak...then I found IMDB....and THIS thread! Never saw this clip until today....marvellous.
Darren Skuja
"Film Is The Ultimate Artform"
It's creepy because they're all stranded there a hundred years ago, walking around some garden in circles for no reason at all forever.
share" . . . because they're all stranded there a hundred years ago, walking around some garden in circles for no reason at all forever."
Yes, that is their contribution to our world, and everyone who has ever enjoyed a movie owes them some measure of gratitude.
It's creepy because they're all stranded there a hundred years ago, walking around some garden in circles for no reason at all forever.
It really makes you wonder if when the director was filming this, did he even think that 120 years later people would be sitting here watching it like this?
You're right, this piece of film is all that's left of these people, narrowly snatching them from the jaws of oblivion. One day, the same thing will happen to us and the only evidence we have for us individuals existing would be surviving remnants of the internet if they can be recovered. Without it, we too will disappear into history. Seeing this film really makes me understand that.
Sorry to get all philosophical there, its quite late and I've not had my coffee :)
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You're right. I feel kind of suicidal admitting it, but you're right.
Someday, the records of the internet will be the only record of our meaningless existence. It makes me nervous thinking about it.
You should become a serial killer or a dictator and kill lots of people, THEN you'll be remembered!
If you have children then your genes will continue on into the future. My family came to America in the 1850s, everyone who knew them is long dead, but they're not forgotten and their lives are not meaningless because they lead to mine ;)
Also it might seem trite if you're an atheist, and it's by definition not logically justifiable, but there's always religion.