A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound.
silent films convey narrative and emotion visually
various plot elements (such as a setting era) or key lines of dialogue can be conveyed by the use of “title cards” or “intertitles”. It is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the movie that appear on-screen but are not part of a scene
intertitles can be: expository dialogue
Sound
Almost all silent films had some sort of sound accompaniment In Japan, till 1930s, silent films were the dominant form of cinema
sometimes the projections had a narrator who related the actions or who was in charge of describing the situations with voice-over
there was speech, music First was the piano. On big occasions, orchestras and choirs would play.
After WWI, decisive steps were taken to synchronised sound film
1926 → Don Juan by Warner Bros. was released; first movie to have synchronized sound 1927 → The Jazz Singer - first talkie
acting style
melodramatic acting style emphasis on body language and expressions overdramatic theatrical instead of cinematic were Vaudevillian
icons
Charlie Chaplin Greta Garbo Theda Bara