Once upon a time, 20-somethings made movie-making history
The importance of encouraging young people to earn their wings
Wings (1927) was the first Best Picture winner (originally “Best Production”) and only (silent-era) silent film to ever win the accolade. The striking visual stunts unexpectedly wet my taste buds for silent film, though the two and half hour runtime definitely challenged my patience. I suppose that in a world without captured audio, the pure focus on photography might have upped the stakes for visual storytelling.
That’s not to say silent films didn’t take audio into account at all; apparently Wings made history for synced audio effects of elements such as machine gun fire, and was originally projected accompanied by live organ music. The score available today surely misses out on some of the charm of the intended viewing experience. Furthermore, Wings was produced during the emergence of “Talkies” — remaining (in most part, and at least stylistically) silent may have been a conscious a decision. Either way, the film remains stunningly dynamic with its creative use of camera movement and subtle, but effective, post-production.
Cinematographer Harry Perry was born on May 2nd, 1988 — making him just 29 years old at the release of Wings (and, coincidentally, my birthday twin). We’re talking about a multi-million dollar film (when the average production budget was something like 200,000$), packed with aerial photography stunts and innovative camera moves like the overhead rail system. As a 20-something in the industry today, I find this incredibly inspirational.
As much as I respect the knowledge and hard-won experience of my colleagues, I think the strict “pay your dues” mentality might be holding us back. With the advent of digital cinema, there’s a clear divide between the old salts and the young bloods in industry today. But the old salts would be remiss to ignore the fact that film itself is a fresh, innovative, and bold new medium compared to true stalwarts such as painting, literature, and music. What do we stand to gain by encouraging young people to earn their wings?
