https://www.nfb.ca/film/very_nice_very_nice/
https://www.nfb.ca/film/big_snit/
https://www.nfb.ca/film/volcano/
https://www.nfb.ca/film/chairmen/
https://www.nfb.ca/film/begone_dull_care/
Here is a link which shows that in movies, the more things change, the more they remain the same.
The video montage below compares old silent movies ‘special effects’ with VFX (Visual Effects) found in today’s videos. By our modern standards, the old effects seem crude, but the ideas are the same as today’s. We could also do the same comparison with other types of digital technology used in movies now, like filming with digital video cameras and computer editing.
This proves that despite the so-called ‘digital’ revolution in films, the content of movies today or tomorrow will not automatically improve.
Did you ever notice that whenever we see photographs of film directors, we always see them frame a shot with their hands? Not sure if that is a tick, or maybe that’s what photographers think film directors do all day. In the past, the stereotype of a director (ironically, in movies) was of someone with a megaphone wearing riding boots, a cap, and breeches. That’s now gone. It’s been replaced with the image of the film director as a mime.
The importance of hands in filmmaking? There is none.