Film Language. In search of a definition. A linguistical approach.

Since the beginning of film history, film-makers and film-theoreticians have tried to compare "film" with verbal language in a serious attempt to justify the film medium. The debate over a special "film language" is in itself problematic. The main difficulty lies in the use of the term "language" to describe words and images. It is very surprising that the concept of "film language" has been around since the time of the earliest films. Even though …

…was completely exhausted upon coming out. 'So how did you like it?' asked my friend. 'Very much! It was tremendously interesting. But ... what actually happened in this film?' He had not understood the film. The plot, which the children had so effortlessly followed, he could not comprehend. Then it had been a new language which a ll the city dwellers were familiar with, but which he, the so-called intellectual, had not yet understood.