Score restorations from 1980 to the present[edit]

Few film scores survive intact from the silent period, and musicologists are still confronted by questions when they
attempt to precisely reconstruct those that remain. Scores used in current reissues or screenings of silent films may be:
A) complete reconstructions of composed scores, B) scores newly composed for the occasion, C) scores assembled
from already existing music libraries, or D) scores improvised on the spot in the manner of the silent era theater pianist
or organist.
Interest in the scoring of silent films fell somewhat out of fashion during the 1960s and 1970s. There was a belief in
many college film programs and repertory cinemas that audiences should experience silent film as a pure visual
medium, undistracted by music. This belief may have been encouraged by the poor quality of the music tracks found on
many silent film reprints of the time. Since around 1980, there has been a revival of interest in presenting silent films
with quality musical scores, either reworkings of period scores or cue sheets, or composition of appropriate original
scores. An early effort in this context was Kevin Brownlow's 1980 restoration of Abel Gance's Napolon (1927),
featuring a score by Carl Davis. A slightly re-edited and sped-up version of Brownlow's restoration was later distributed
in America by Francis Ford Coppola, with a live orchestral score composed by his father Carmine Coppola.
In 1984, an edited restoration of Metropolis (1927) was released to cinemas with a new rock music score by producercomposer Giorgio Moroder. Although the contemporary score, which included pop songs by Freddie Mercury
of Queen, Pat Benatar, and Jon Anderson of Yes was controversial, the door had been opened for a new approach to
presentation of classic silent films.
Currently, a large number of soloists, music ensembles, and orchestras perform traditional and contemporary scores for
silent films internationally.[15] The legendary theater organist Gaylord Carter continued to perform and record his original
silent film scores until shortly before his death in 2000; some of those scores are available on DVD reissues. Other
purveyors of the traditional approach include organists such as Dennis James and pianists such as Neil Brand, Gnter
Buchwald, Philip C. Carli, Ben Model, and William P. Perry. Other contemporary pianists, such as Stephen Horne and
Gabriel Thibaudeau, have often taken a more modern approach to scoring.
Orchestral conductors such as Carl Davis and Robert Israel have written and compiled scores for numerous silent films;
many of these have been featured in showings on Turner Classic Movies or have been released on DVD. Davis has
composed new scores for classic silent dramas such as The Big Parade (1925) and Flesh and the Devil (1927). Israel
has worked mainly in silent comedy, scoring films of Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, Charley Chase and others. Timothy
Brock has restored many of Charlie Chaplin's scores, in addition to composing new scores.
Contemporary music ensembles are helping to introduce classic silent films to a wider audience through a broad range
of musical styles and approaches. Some performers create new compositions using traditional musical instruments
while others add electronic sounds, modern harmonies, rhythms, improvisation and sound design elements to enhance
the viewing experience. Among the contemporary ensembles in this category are Un Drame Musical Instantan, Alloy
Orchestra, Club Foot Orchestra, Silent Orchestra, Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, Minima and the Caspervek Trio.
Donald Sosin and his wife Joanna Seaton specialize in adding vocals to silent films, particularly where there is onscreen
singing that benefits from hearing the actual song being performed. Films in this category include Griffith's Lady of the
Pavements with Lupe Velez, Edwin Carewe's Evangeline with Dolores del Rio, and Rupert Julian's The Phantom of the
Opera with Mary Philbin and Virginia Pearson.[citation needed]
The Silent Film Sound and Music Archive digitizes music and cue sheets written for silent film and makes it available for
use by performers, scholars, and enthusiasts.

Acting techniques[edit]