The Silent Voyage

When I got to watch “A Trip to the Moon,” my first impressions were boring, unprofessional, bland, and unrealistic. For instance, the setting on the moon obviously looked like that of a theater’s, decorated just so it could look like the surface of the moon. Also, the camera didn’t focus on one person instead it focused on the whole landscape of the situation where everyone seemed to be doing something crazy. Because of this, it’s hard to understand what is happening. Of course, with the technology we have today, a silent sci-fi movie such as this would be child’s play. True enough, without a great understanding of early film, it’s hard to really appreciate the techniques and trickery used in the film. But if I were living in the 18^th century and it would be my first time watching something like “A Trip to the Moon,” I would probably see it so differently.

Considering the lack of technology, the effects would have been quite magical. I would have found the sets amazing where the painted backdrops would blend well with the constructed portions and props, making locations and worlds that seem too surreal to exist. The techniques and illusions would have also satisfied me, such as the smoke pouring out of the Parisian factories, the spacecraft landing straight at the moon’s eyeball, and the astronomers fending off the moonmen with umbrellas and disappearing into a cloud of smoke. Imagine the kind of fascination a film like this would have stirred in 1902. I could imagine myself witnessing tricks like these and trying to figure out how they did it. I also would have appreciated the still camera. I wouldn’t have found the simultaneous and teeming activities disturbing, but instead, I would have thought that every scene didn’t waste a moment to show something productive. I would have found the people entertaining and silly; competing to show that whatever they were doing, however small, would be the best thing to show. I also wouldn't have cared on simple mediocre effects, like the depiction of how the spacecraft was built ‘above the rooftops of the city.’ It was done literally, where the actors stood on a row of painted rooftops too small to be believable. I also would have found the costumes of the scientist amusing because they were wearing long robes and pointed hats like those of a magician’s. It is as if they were saying that scientists can actually make magic.

I realized that I should appreciate this film since it is one of cinema’s first great artworks, filmed before cinema had any masters on effects and technology. If we ponder on it, how could the film produce so much from so little technology before? Considering this, the film isn’t so bad afterall. The creation of this film shows that with enough talent and passion, something so simple can be so magnificent. 

by Nicole Tesoro

2013-68145