“Let’s continue our discussion of the unique opportunities that silent film presents and also hope, at the same time, for a resurgence in its popularity. Could happen, you know. What’s old is often new, especially when we decide to look at it from a different perspective. Well, silence offers us an opportunity to focus. It narrows our attention spans, making us often more laser-like in our affectation. Lost we become in our eyes with the ‘word’ removed from the equation. Word, while powerful when combined with sight, is replaced in silent film with the phenomenon of music, a clearer and more definitive representation of vibration. The spoken word can divert sometimes, add complication ~ ambiguity, if you will, while the combination of a visual with music takes the viewer to a special place, dare I say to a context where the experience is heightened and therefore ingested, digested and excreted into something new, all within the speed of the eye of a gnat.” ~ Rudolph Valentino
