George Méliès, Voyage To The Moon (1902), was a film that was
loosely based around two different novels:
Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon (1865) and H.
G. Wells' The
First Men in the Moon (1901).
Although the film
is in black and white and one of the fist silent films to be created; Méliès was able to create a short film based entirely on
facial expressions and actions that helped to portray the storyline of this
very early sci-fi, fantasy film that showed an area that had yet to be properly
discovered and ventured, the moon.
Considering
Voyage To The Moon was filmed at 16 frames per second and there was a limit to
the effects that could be included into films, they relied much more on set
design and lighting to help emphasise the focus and depth of each of the scenes
and to show the scale of objects being used within the film.
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| Fig 1 |
‘Laughably
the "astronauts" are all dressed in street clothes on the moon,
waving and then simultaneously drawing blankets over themselves as human faced
stars of the Big Dipper look at them.’ (Nesbit, 2006)
The image above
is a good example of the portrayal of the moon or space back in 1902. Due to
the lack of scientific discoveries by this point; space was being represented
by giant foliage that was bigger than humans to emphasise the strange world
outside of Planet Earth, this also helped to give the set and scene more depth
as the mushroom on the right hand side shows how small the characters are in
comparison. John Nesbit also helps to prove the point that there was very
little knowledge on space or the moon at the time, as the actors ascend to the
moon in everyday clothing and wander about as though the moon has the same
gravity as Earth; however, this all adds to the comedic side of the film that
was probably never intended when it was created.
'For Méliès, a theatre man, the camera simply replaced the
audience. He positioned it far to one end of his studio, while the rest of the
space was devoted to the floor-level stage and its various props’ (Edwards, 2009)
 |
| Fig 2 |
The
image and the quote from Chris Edwards, both indicate at the use of set design to help with
the space that Méliès could use. Méliès decided to leave the camera
still instead of moving it around, which meant the set designs and the
environment and space that the actors could work in had to help portray the
scenes and give enough depth and scale to make everything used in the scene
look the correct size. This was done by using background and foreground sets as
shown in figure 2, with the taller houses behind the actors and the smaller
houses at the forefront of the scene; this was done to help scale and size the
actors and also the rocket, to help show the size of that prop against the actors
and the rest of the set.
‘The primitive silent landmark has more charm and
originality than many modern CGI-cluttered epics.’ (Hall, 2004)
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| Fig 3 |
Méliès managed to create an iconic film in the space of 14 minutes, using
props and sets and a standalone camera. This film has had a bigger impact on
films then most films made in the last 10 years have, which proves it’s not the
technology that makes a film great and that’s not what will make it an iconic
film that will be remembered a century later.
The image
above is the most iconic image from the film, when the space rocket collides
with the moon and gets wedged into the moons eye; this image is the one that
most people will recognise, even if they haven’t even seen the film. Méliès managed to create a classic film in 14 minutes, using only 16 frames
per second and no change of camera, just sets, natural day light and actors.
Review Bibliography
Quotes:
Images:
Film Still (Fig 2)
Film Still
(Fig 3)
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