An exhibit titled "Music Video/Silent Film: Innovations in the Moving Image" opens Friday at the RISD Museum, claiming that music videos and early experimental, silent films have a lot in common.

Both art forms, for example, are adept at telling stories through sounds and images rather than through traditional spoken dialogue. And both use a wide array of visual and auditory tools — everything from stop-motion animation to carefully synchronized soundtracks — to get their points across.

Curator Maya Allison pairs well known silent-era films like those by Leger, Vertov and American artist Man Ray side by side with music videos of the White Stripes, the Beastie Boys, and The Chemical Brothers.  The side-by-side playback emphasizes the shared use of techniques included handheld campers, rapid jump-cuts, and montage sequences.

The RISD Museum is located at 224 Benefit Street, Providence; Music Video/Silent Film runs through Jan 15.