Month: December 2021

Read one of the film theories in this article: Research Film Theory

Cue	Notes
Film theory: What is it?	Abrams: Great works reflect environment or illuminate hidden parts Ten major lenses to analyze film
New historicism Knowledge and power Victors write history	Arose in 70’s and 80’s Just watching a film not enough. What is the historical context/events that led to it? Films are preservations of ideologies of certain eras Movement guided by Michael Foucault Knowledge is bound to language, therefore so is power Power: Ability to shape world around you History determines narrative Birth of a Nation shows how perspective affects interpretation
Applications:The Dark Knight	Joker’s perspective of Batman’s “help” is New Historicism Intentions do not change results

Summary

Episode 1 – Birth of the Cinema[edit]

Introduction

• Saving Private Ryan (1998) dir. Steven Spielberg
  • Used a peaceful beach, but made it feel chaotic
• Three Colors: Blue (1993) dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski
  • using two different narratives to target viewer’s empathy
• Casablanca (1942) dir. Michael Curtiz
  • Yearning, story, and stardom. all on studio set
• The Record of a Tenement Gentleman (1947) dir. Yasujirō Ozu
  • The real classical movie. Not rushed.
  • Shapes break up screen
• Odd Man Out (1947) dir. Carol Reed
  • Using bubbles to reflect character’s troubled face
• Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1967) dir. Jean-Luc Godard
  • Also bubbles as reflection. show conflict
• Taxi Driver (1976) dir. Martin Scorsese
  • mimics idea of character looking into bubbles
• The French Connection (1971) dir. William Friedkin

1895-1918: The World Discovers a New Art Form or Birth of the Cinema

• Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge (1888) dir. Louis Le Prince
• The Kiss (1896 film) (a.k.a. May Irwin Kiss) (1896) dir. William Heise
  • made by Edison. Roof opened to follow the sun
• Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory (1895) dir. Louis Lumière
  • Shot on lumiere camera
  • documentary
• Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1896) dir. Louis Lumière
  • One of first films that had a showing. unnerved audiences
• Annabelle Serpentine Dance (1894-1896 ?) dir. William Kennedy Dickson or William Heise
• Sandow (1894) dir. William Kennedy Dickson
• What Happened on Twenty-third Street, New York City (1901) dir. George S. Fleming and Edwin S. Porter
• Cendrillon (1899) dir. Georges Méliès
  • stop and start filming. Do magic
• Le voyage dans la lune (1902) dir. Georges Méliès
  • Stop and start instead of special effects
• La lune à un mètre (1898) dir. Georges Méliès
  • same special effects
• The Kiss in the Tunnel (1899) dir. George Albert Smith
• Shoah (1985) dir. Claude Lanzmann
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) dir. Stanley Kubrick
• The Sick Kitten (1903) dir. George Albert Smith
• October: Ten Days That Shook the World (1928) dir. Sergei Eisenstein
• Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) dir. Sergio Leone
• The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight (1897) dir. Enoch J. Rector

1903-1918: The Thrill Becomes Story or The Hollywood Dream

• Life of an American Fireman (1903) dir. Edwin S. Porter
  • Cuts to follow rescue story
• Sherlock Jr. (1924) dir. Buster Keaton
  • Used double projection.
• The Horse that Bolted (1907) dir. Charles Pathé
  • Cut between two actions that did not change.
  • Parallel editing, “meanwhile”.
• The Assassination of the Duke of Guise (a.k.a. The Assassination of the Duc de Guise) (1908) dir. Charles le Bargy and André Calmettes
  • Reverse angle shot
• Vivre sa vie (1962) dir. Jean-Luc Godard
  • refused to turn camera to show actress’ face
• Those Awful Hats (1909) dir. D. W. Griffith
  • Unknown actress
• The Mended Lute (1909) dir. D. W. Griffith
  • Faked previsouly unknown actress’ death
  • first actress to set pattern for stardom
• The Abyss (1910) dir. Urban Gad
  • Europe had less censorship
• Stage Struck (1925) dir. Allan Dwan
• The Mysterious X (1914) dir. Benjamin Christensen
  • Innovative use of light
  • Good photography, cross cutting, drawing on screen. Very daring
• Häxan (1922) dir. Benjamin Christensen
  • Many light sources, complex effects
• Ingeborg Holm (1913) dir. Victor Sjöström
  • Naturalism and grace
• The Phantom Carriage (1921) dir. Victor Sjöström
  • Multilayered
  • stories within stories
  • Re-exposes film to make ghost effects
• Shanghai Express (1932) dir. Josef von Sternberg
  • Take exaggerated characters, make look real
• The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) dir. Charles Tait
  • in australia
  • First smoething
• The Squaw Man (1914) dir. Oscar Apfel and Cecil B. DeMille
  • Character is conflicted, makes eye contact
  • uses sightlines to match their eyes
  • Cliff switches sides
• The Empire Strikes Back (1980) dir. Irvin Kershner
  • Also uses sightlines and continuity
  • 180 degree rule
• Falling Leaves (1912) dir. Alice Guy-Blaché
  • one of the first female and overall directors
  • makes stories instead of events
• Suspense (1913) dir. Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber
  • Starred in by director
  • Sidways POV shot
  • three part split screen
  • Uses mirror to show police behind
  • Uses creative camera angles to build suspense
• The Wind (1928) dir. Victor Sjöström
  • Cut like thriller, filmed like dream
• Rescued from an Eagle’s Nest (1908) dir. J. Searle Dawley
  • “cinema needs to show wind in trees”
• The House with Closed Shutters (1910) dir. D. W. Griffith
  • Very stagey, airless
• Way Down East (1920) dir. D. W. Griffith
  • Delicate, visual softness
  • Visual realness
• Orphans of the Storm (1921) dir. D. W. Griffith
  • Backlighting, give halos, actor stands out
• The Birth of a Nation (1915) dir. D. W. Griffith
  • Edges fade out at edges
  • Showed dangers of film, racist
  • black audience members were attacked
• Rebirth of a Nation (2007) dir. DJ Spooky
  • Reexamined birth of a nation
• Cabiria (1914) dir. Giovanni Pastrone
  • Dolly shots
• Intolerance (1916) dir. D. W. Griffith
  • 3 1/2 hours long
  • tinted colors of scenes
  • jump around with storylines
  • show different events in different times have same emotion
• Souls on the Road (a.k.a. Rojo No Reikan) (1921) dir. Minoru Murata
  • two storylines come together
  • parallel editing, hope vs hopeless