FINAL REFLECTION

                              My reflection                             

Overall, I feel like the lesson was  meaningful it open up my eyes to the cinema worldwide. This is important because as a film maker we must constantly learn about the world cinema. 

I feel that world cinema is very interesting, and also leaning about the history of it makes me light up and learn about the world cinema scene.

As a film maker, I feel that before you even start to make movie you should know the world cinema scene first. Learn about it, embrace it. And also knowing the different style and background history will really help me out.

CINEMA OF.... OUR HOME

Cinema of Singapore! :)



So for this week, I will be talking about our local cinema scene! It is exciting and kind of scary at the same time and

3..
2..
1..

L-E-T-S -G-O

For Singapore, despite having a flourshing Chinese and Malay film industry during 1950s and 1960s, Singapore's flim industry suffered an decline after it's independence in 1965.

During the early 1990s, there were few films that came out however it all performed dismally at the box office. Films like, 1991's Medium Rare, and Bugis street.  However those 2 films were not directed by Singapore director.

The first film which came out by an Singaporean director was Mee Pok Man (1991) the first full-length film directed by Eric khoo.
The turning point was when Army Daze came out in 1996 that turned the high profits at the box office.
In 1997 another history was made by Eric Khoo's 12 storeys which was highly acclaimed and was the first ever film to be shown at the Cannes.

Follow by this, was the phenomenal success of Money No Enough in 1998.
This eventually catapulted  the nation's drive towards movie making.
In 1999, many productions companies came out and produced many good films of Singapore.

After a turn around took place during the 20th century,  there were more directors rising up.
One of it was Jack Neo who made many successful local films in the past decade that almost everyone in our nation knows. His film's include "I not stupid" (2002), Homerun (2003), Just follow law (2007) , Ah long pte ltd (2008) , Money no enough 2  (2008) and follow by the Ah boys to men (2012) and it's sequels.

Another one of the director is Royston Tan. He started off as a young tv commercial which he had received many awards for it. His first film was 15: The movie, in 2003. He goes on and made 4:30 (2005), 881 (2007) and 12 Lotus (2008).

Other than the 2 talented directors, through the years we have many talented directors and their notable works, like Kelvin tong's maid, Boo Jun fang's Sandcastle, Anthony Chen's Ilo Ilo.

Through the years, I'm extremely proud of our own country's work. I personally feel that we came a long way as now we are building up our cinema scene, I believe the new wave of talents along the way will help established our future local cinema's scene. 

Now I will talk about a film that I really like, which is Royston Tan's 2007 Singaporean musical =-comedy-drama film 881. 

The movie talk about the Getai scene in Singapore. 

This show really hit me right in the FEELS.

It is really local, and stay to the root movie. I find it very fresh as I have never seen any movie touch about the Getai's scene in Singapore before. 

The additional musical songs use like all the dialect or classic chinese songs used in the film was great. Other than that, it was funny and heart warming.

The part when Big papaya (Yeo Yan Yan), and small papaya (Mindee Ong ) timelapse's scene. When Big papaya suffers from cancer and her hair started dropping.

The scene really touched my heart, even so till now I still remember the scene. 

The film also received awards and receive many good reviews even before the movie was shown.

Thinking back the movie, really reminds me of many memories. Definitely one of the best Singapore's movie. 

Cinema of Taiwan :)

This week we are going to talk about the cinema of Taiwan! For Taiwan is deeply rooted in the island's unique history. Since it's introduction to Taiwan in 1901 under Japanese rule, cinema has developed in Taiwan through several distinct stages. It has also developed outside of the Hong Kong mainstream and censorship of  the People's Republic of China.

New wave cinema 1982-1990

The Taiwanese film industry was under serious challenges, such as the entry of Hong Kong films, well known for their entertainment quality, into the Taiwanese market.

Second new wave 1990-2010

The new wave gradually gave way to what could be informally called the second new wave, which are slightly less serious and more amenable to the populace, although just as committed to portraying the Taiwanese perspective.

Revival of Taiwanese films after Cape No. 7

In 2008, Cape no.7 directed by Wei Te Sheng was a huge box office success in Taiwanese film history. It ranked 530 million TWD domestically, setting all-time box office record for Taiwanese film.
It also has won 15 awards to date.
The record breaking achievement led to the revival of Taiwanese cinema!

My favourites:



Our times! I remember me looking at the poster and i'm like "neh" the poster looks kind of too cartoon-ish. Until when my friends told me how good the movie is!
A heartwarming coming to age film that I really love! This is one very popular movie that smashed box office records throughout Asia! It portray a love story between a normal nerdy high school girl and a gangster.
I really enjoy the film! It is one of my favourite movie from Taiwan to date! The film really reminds me of my secondary school days and bring back memories of my past! Although the last 10 minutes of the film is a little over exaggerating but over all is a A from me!

Another film that I love..

You are the apple of my eye! I really love this film! I remember watching this film when I was 16 back then! It is also an heartwarming coming to age movie that is really spot on for me!
The movie and the sound track are relatively good! The movie revolves around a love story of a prankster which is very mischievous student and a honor student who was very popular with boys.
The movie was well received by critics and set new box office records! Overall is also an A for me one of my favorites from Taiwan cinema.

Japanese cinema!

The cinema of Japan also known domestically as  邦画 hoga, has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and larges film industries in the world!
As of 2010, it was the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. In 2011 Japan produced 411 feature films that earned 54. Japanese works made up 8 out of 12 of the top with Tokyo Story (1953) on a Sight & sound list of the best produced film in Asia.

Japanese cinema always came out with unique films with a twist.  There are many good film that are also recognise by the world.
One of it that I will be touching on it today is :

Spirited away (2001)

Spirited away was a huge hit! This film was even caught the eye of Walt Disney productions.
It also became the most successful film in Japanese history. With a $289 million worldwide grossing and received a widespread critical acclaim. It also go ahead and won the Academy Award for best animated feature at the 75th academy awards.

This Japanese animated fantasy film was so intense, the film talks about many things in life that is worth while. Life of spirits ,greedy of people and the power of love. Although the cartoon drawn in the film doesn't looks very pleasing example when the main character, Chihto Ogino's parents became pig.

 The pigs.

The witch.

I like how this film doesn't filter things and only put the beautiful scene, and characters. 
This movie teaches me many life lesson. I feel that this movie reminds me of the book "The little prince" which also teaches me life lesson in it. 

The Brave Chihro Ogino inspires me in many ways. Even though she's scare, she still fights the fear and push forward. 
Her determination to find her parents really touched me. She ultimately did it and her patience pays off. 

When I was young, I find this film gross and doesn't want to watch it. As I grow up, I started to find out the true meaning and understanding of this film which became my favourite of all time. 

Cinema of annyeonghaseyo :)

This time we are at it again! Talking about the cinema of KOREA! Well i'm definitely very excited to talk about one of my favourite country KOREA!

SO
LETS
GET
RIGHT
INTO
IT



Korean cinema or "Cinema of Korea" is a term that encompasses the motion picture industries of both North and South Korea.
Only South Korean films have achieved wide international acclaim while North Korean films tend to portray their communist or revolutionary themes.

South Koreans films enjoyed the "Golden age" during the late 1950s, 1960s however by 1970s it had become generally low quality.
Nevertheless, by 2005 South Korea had become one of the few nations to watch more domestic than imported films in theaters.

From 1997 to present is considered golden age for Korean films, and now Korea is being considered an Asian film powerhouse, producing movies from various genres and not jut Korean market but also widely for the rest of the Asia.




I must say one of the films that I really love and I think is the best to represent Korea when you talk about Korea cinema is 2001 film"My sassy girl".
The movie stars Jun Ji hyun and Cha Tae Hyun , the plot revolves around a guy who is shamed into helping a girl  (unnamed) who he just met and falls for her. He develops reposibility for her that allows him to handle her abusive behaviour.

Another movie I  want to talk about is Train to Busan


This epic zombie film that was released this year! I must say this is my favourite movie this year! The story about humanity vs zombie well everyone may be thinking war world z but nope it's all about TRAIN TO BUSAN!
The plot, the cast and the shot in the movie was amazing! The story was well connected to the audience it actually touched my heart deeply! An awesome movie well played A++!

Cinema of China

Cinema of China history goes way back.. 

Cinema was introduced in China in 1896 and the first chinese film "The battle of Dingjunshan" was made in 1905. The film industry was being centered on Shanghai in the first decade back int the days.
The film industry was engulfed by the Japanese in 1941, till the end of the war in 1945 it was under their control.

After the end of war, the second golden age started. Production in Shanghai resuming, with many films one of it which is Spring in a small town (1984), named as the best Chinese language film at the 24th Hong Kong film awards.
After the communist revolution in 1949, previous and some of the foreign films were banned in 1951. And during the cultural revolution, the film industry were severely restricted, coming almost to a standstill from 1967-1972. However, following in the end of the Cultural Revolution ended the industry started to flourished.

Beginning in the mid-late 1980s, the rise of the "fifth generation" of Chinese filmmakers brought increased popularity of Chinese cinema aboard. 
The post 1990s period saw the rise of the sixth generation and post sixth generation, both making films outside the main Chinese film system and played mostly on the international film festival circuit. 

Following the international commercial success of films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and Hero (2002), the number of co-productions in Chinese-language cinema has increased and there has been movements of Chinese-language based cinema into a domain of large scale international influence. 

China now is the home of the largest film studio in the world, Hengdian World Studios, and in 2010 it had the third largest film industry by number of feature films produced annually. The country is predicted to have the largest market in the world by 2017 or 2018 and largest number of screens by 2017. China has also became a major hub of business for Hollywood studios.

Painted skin is a supernatural-fantasy film that is a produced by China, Hong Kong and Singapore. 

The film is set in China 2000 years ago, when General Wang captures XiaoWei, a women with unsurpassed beauty. Soon after, Wang brings he to his castle and she starts to attract people with her beauty, which makes Wang's wife suspicious. At the times many dead bodies were discovered around the castle with a missing heart. The plot is very interesting, the actor and actress did an awesome job portraying the characters. I like how the visual effects were used in this movie, it really caught my eye, Hence, for me painted skin is my pick from Cinema of China.

Hong Kong Cinema

Now we are back to Asia!

This week is.. Hong Kong Cinema!!

I will be touching on hong kong cinema scene and the re invent if wire-fu

:)

So.. let's start!

The Hong kong cinema is one of the big 2 in the history of chinese languages cinema together with the cinema of China and Taiwan. Hong kong cinema have greater degree of political power than China and Taiwan it allows the country to develop into a filmmaking hub for Chinese - speaking world.

For many years, Hong kong was rank number 3 in the largest motion pictures industry in the world and also it's the second largest exporter!

Hong kong cinema depends highly on corporate, commercial cinema, concentrating on crowd-pleasing genres, and relying highly on formulas, sequels and remakes. Hong kong cinema have a elements of a "thrill-a minute" philosophy and fast pacing and editing. 

During 1980s to early 1990s, was known as the boom years/Hong kong new wave. In this era, the triumph of Cantonese, the birth of new modern cinema. The new cinema added in elements of electric mixing, genres such as slapstick comedy, sex, the supernatural, and the ACTION!

This is where I will touch on the action cinema in Hong kong. 

Hong kong action cinema is the main source of the Hong kong film industry to global fame. 

It combines different elements using the chinese storytelling, aesthetic traditions and film making techinques. 

One of the interesting elements used is Wire-fu. which is the Hong kong style of action cinema used in fighting scenes. It is combination of two terms : wire- work and kung fu.

Wire- fu is used greatly in hong kong cinema. As actors or stuntmen's augmented with the used of wires and pulleys, as well as the other stage techniques. It is exemplified by the work of Tsui Hark, Yue woo-ping and Jet-Li. 

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) is a internationally co-produced material arts wuxia film. It is also a production by mutiple countries of China, Taiwan, United states and Hong Kong. The film was directed by Ang lee and stars famous actor Chow yun fat and actress Michelle Yeoh.

The film was a commercial sucess and won many awards.  

The story was set in the 19th century Qing Dynasty China, when a warrior gives his sword, to his lover to deliver to safe keeping however it was stolen and they have to chase to find it. The search leads to the house of Yu where the story take place to another different level.

What I like about this film was not only the action scene the acting by the talents and also the story and plot.  The production and directing was awesome! I like how the actor and actress have this chemistry that caught my eye. Love it!

Another element I would like touch on in hong kong cinema is Gun-fu.

So for me I personally like gun-fu alot. As it looks cool and it doesn't really happens in real life. 

So what is Gun-fu?

So Gun-fu is just like Wire-fu however this time instead of wire they use guns. 

Gun-fu, is a portmanteau of gun and kung-fu, is a fictional style of sophisticated close-quarters gunplay that resembles martial arts battles that played out by firearms instead of other traditional weapons. It is used through out many films and can be seen in Hong kong action cinema and by the Hollywood.  

So which do you think pull off Gun-fu best?

Hollywood vs Hong Kong

Equilibrium vs Internal affairs

WHICH ONE DO YOU LIKE THE BEST?

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.

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For me  I prefer Hong Kong's gun-fu as I feel it's more authentic, and more SHIOK (better) in many ways. And on top of that the gangster brotherhood theme always come in handle when you talk about Gun-fu. 

For this category, my favourite movie I would like to talk about is the Hong Kong crime-thriller film directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak , Infernal affairs (2002). 

The story about a police officer who infiltrates a triad, and a police officer secretly working for the same gang. The movie was a commercial sucess which the film was followed by 2 sequels. It stars the famous Andy Lau and Tony Leung.

This movie is one of my favourite from Hong kong, why so? Because this is like the perfect combo of actions and powerhouse performances. It's everything that I expect in a thriller. Not only the story flow was good the direction was so good. It keeps me tense, A grade! 

European art cinema

European art cinema was made popular during the 1960s, the idea of it was based on rejection of the tenets and techniques of classical Hollywood cinema. It gains it's popularity during the 60s era. At this time it was new to the broader filed of art cinema. The continuity editing system is not abandoned however it is not needed in this case. The cause and effect is more of narrative driven and goal orientated protagonist was not needed. Protagonist may wander  aimlessly in the entire movie with no real importance happening that is driven inside them.



One of the film I would like to talk about is the 1960 British thriller/horror film "Peeping Tom".
The movie is revolves around a young man who is a serial killer who murders women, while using a movie camera to film their dying their dying expressions of terror. 
For me I personally enjoyed thriller and horror films, and this one was one of the best as the plot really caught my attention. Although this movie was highly controversial and received harsh reception upon released back then, the movie is now widely known as a masterpiece.

H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D

H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D AND NOT B-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D



Well coming to a topic everyone's dying for and it's.... HOLLYWOOD CINEMA!
So before I start let me run through the different eras of Hollywood cinema:
1.The Silent Era – 1894 to 1929
2. Classical Hollywood – Late 1920s to early 1960s
3. New Hollywood – Late 1960s – late 70s
4.Contemporary Era

For this I will be taking about New Hollywood which falls under number 3!

New Hollywood era started in the late 1960s to the late 1970s it is also known as the post-classical Hollywood era or "American New wave".
A new generation of filmmakers came into prominence in The State during this time, influenced the type of the film produced. In New Hollywood films, the director took up the key authorial role rather than the studios. "New Hollywood" is an movement when in this era the films are stylistically characterized in their narrative often deviated from classical norms.




One of the film I love was "One from the heart", a 1982 romantic musical film by Francis Ford Coppola. The story is set in Las Vegas about a couple story on Fourth of July (which is US national day) and they broke up. Along the way they met new people their dream mate and the story show case relationship highs and lows.

Dogme 95

Dogme 95





1995 is an significant year to me as I was born in that year well also Dogme 95 happened that year! Dogme 95 was an avant-garde filmmaking movement started in 1995 by Danish directors Thomas Vinterberg and Lars von Tirer. Created "Vow of Chastity" and "Dogme 95 manidesto"
There are number of rules that you need to follows if you want to create a film based off Domge 95. 

1.The filming must be done on the spot on location.
2. The camera must be hand-held.
3.The sound in the film should not be produced apart from images..etc
4. The film should be in colour form and no special lighting.
5. No filters is allow.
6.The film should not contain addition superficial actions.
7.Genre movie are not allow.
8. Geographical and Temporal alienation is allow.
9. The final cut must be transfer to the Academy 35mm and not wide screen.
10. The director should not be credited.

The goal for Dogme is to purify filmmaking by not using expensive or spectacular effects and to focus on the actual story and the talent's performances.


One of my favourite film for it is "The idiots" by Lars Von Tirer himself. The movie is a comedy drama about a group of people gathering in Copenhagen suburb to break all limtations andd to bring out their "inner idiots". They do so by portaying themselves as development disable in the public. 

French new wave

WEEK 4-



French new wave is a term used to describe a group of trailblazing directors who exploded  into the film scene in the late 1950s and in the early 1960s. This is the explosion of vibrant, highly self-conscious and innovative films by this group of young directors that reshape cinema. The "new wave" was started by a group of young directors who initially wanted to challenge the existing film.

 French new wave is all about breaking the rules!
"New wave" is an example of European art cinema. Many had engaged in their work with social and political upheavals of the era, making their radical experiments with editing, narrative and visual style part of a general break with he conservative paradigm.





One of my favourites is Wong Kar Wai's 1994 film "Chungking Express".
The film stars Brigtte Lin, Tony Leung, Faye wong and Takeshi Kaneshiro.
The film comprises two different stories, the story was being told one after another.
Both stories involves an policeman. There is a brief moment when the first story ends and the next one begins. The two stories had no connection however, the three main characters in the second story made an cameo in the first.
The film really interests me, to me this film is one of the classic for french new wave.
 I like the colors in the film and how most of the time Faye wong's character is in her own world with music.
I like how the film was shot, the cinematography was on point the story was also interesting and most importantly Mr Wong Kar Wai did an great job directing this beautiful film.
Definitely my top pick for a film that represent french new wave!

Italian Neorealism

Week 3-

Italian neorealism is also known as the golden age of Italian cinema which is a movement a style of film that tells stories that are about the working class and poor class which started at the end of War World 2.

Most film are filmed on the spot and using un-professional actors. Most films under this category are based on daily conditions of post war sufferings the pain; poverty and the down full of economy. 

Italian Neorealism had made an impact for many script writers and directors and also had an impact on the French new wave and all over the world.

   

One of my favourite films from the Italian Neorealism in olden day cinema was "Bicycle Thieves" which talk about an "poor father searching post-World War II Rome for his stolen bicycle, without which he will lose the job which was to be the salvation of his young family."

I feel that this film is one of the classic when it comes to Italian Neorelism.

For the modern day cinema my pick is "The pursuit of happyness" which talks about " a struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional endeavor."

 I feel that this movie is one of the modern best pick for Italian Neorealism as it talks about the poverty and suffering, a classic story that touches my heart.

Soviet Montage vs German Expressionism vs French Impressionism

WEEK 2-

Soviet montage

Soviet montage also known as the montage theory . Soviet montage was originated from Russia in 1925. Soviet montage theory is an different approach in understanding and creating cinema that is heavily depend on editing. Ideas to be extracted from sequence and when it is strung together,  constitute the whole film's ideological and intellectual power.
 It is one of the important contribution of Soviet films. This theory not only bring influence in Soviet film, it also influence the world wide cinema scene.



Sergei Eisenstein (10 Jan 1898- 11 Feb 1948), the inventor of the Soviet montage theory. He was a Soviet Russia director, and a film theorist. He was one of the pioneer int he theory and practice of the montage.
He developed the "methods of montage" which includes:

1. Metric
2.Rhythmic
3.Tonal
4.Overtonal
5.Intellectual



One of his famous works the "Battleship Potemkin" a classic film with the usage of "soviet montage" in the film.  "Battleship Potemkin" is named as one of the greatest films of all time at the Brussels World's Fair in 1958.

One of my favourite films that uses this theory was the movie "Up" by Disney Pixar. The montage was use during the first 4 minutes of the opening of  the sequence which is one of the most powerful scene to me in the movie.

German expressionism 

German expressionism movement refers to the creative movement that began in Germany before WW1, it reached the peak during in Berlin during the 1920s.

These development was part of the expressionist movement. Germany themselves were part of a huge expressionist movement in the central and north European culture in various fields such as dance, painting, sculpture,architecture and also for cinema.

Expressionist films often reveal high rise buildings with sharp angles and crowded environment around. A couple number of artists works in the Berlin theater brought the expressionist visual style to the design of stage set. This result in an influence on films transact with horror and fantasy.    

One of the great example is Robert Wiene's film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari a 1920 film with very dream-like atmosphere. This film was universally well recognized as an early classic expressionist cinema film.

M favourite German expressionism film director is Tim Burton. Director Tim Burton was highly influence by German expressionism. As you can tell from many of films, Edward Scissorshands (1990), Charlie and the chocolate factory (2005), Corpse bride(2005) and Dark shadows (2012) were some of it.

For me my favourite was Dark shadows, I like how the colour play the horror yet fantasy dream set and style really caught my eye. The plot was very interesting too. One of my favourite.    

French Impressionism 

French impressionism refers to French impressionist cinema, started during 1918 and lasted approximately 10 years till 1929. French impressionst cinema are also known as the first avant-grade or narrative avant-grade.

 

There are various characteristics for French Impressionism films:

1.Camerawork

2.Mise-en-scene

3.Optical devices

4.Characteristic ediing patterns

French impressionist focus more on personal emotions and inner actions. Many flashblack scene was used to depict that. They also insisted to show the dreams and fantasies. One of the example, "The Smiling Mme. Beudat (1923) shows that.

For editing, French impressionst films uses POV (point of view) editing and rhythmic editing that depict the mental states. 

Tokyo Story by Yasujirō Ozu ( 12 December 1903 – 12 December 1963) was one of my top pick. The story really got me good. From the builds up of emotions till the shots in the film it was beautifully made. Tokyo story was widely regarded as Ozu's masterpiece and was voted as best film of all time in a poll by directors by sight & sound magazine in 2012.

Welcome to World Cinema!

WEEK 1-



Definition of World cinema?

World cinema, a term used in native English speaking countries inferring to the foreign language speaking countries' films and their film market/ industries. The term often used to imply it is foreign film.
Both world cinema and foreign film refers to films across nations, around the world in all forms of languages.


Earlier Days - film making contributions

Thomas Edison 



Thomas Edison known for his contribution of many inventions back in the earlier days.
Edison's inventions greatly impacted the life of people all around the nations and  around whole globe,
However many do not know Edison's contribution to the film making industry in the earlier days.
He invented the phonograph and a long lasting electrical light bulb, as we all know lighting is an very important element in film making.
He also had contribution in the invention of kinetograph and kinetoscope.


 
Edison owns a movie production studio, also known as "Edison's black maria" which is also America's first movie production studio.
His production studio made close to 1,200 films though majority was short.
Films includes Black smith scene (1893), Fred Ott's sneeze (1894) and The kiss (1896).

The Lumiere brothers



The Lumiere brothers were known as one of the first filmmakers in the entire history. With Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas (19 Oct 1862-10 April 1954) and Louis Jean (5Oct 1864-6 June 1948).
The Lumiere brothers held their very own first private screening in 1985 using project motion pictures.
The moving images had an immediate influences on popular culture with "Arrival of a train at a station and drawing out coke.




The cinematograph which also known as a motion picture camera that consist an 3 in 1 function which could record, develop and also project which is further developed by the Lumieres.




Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès ( 8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938), was a french illusionist and a film director. He was famous for leading to many technical an narrative developments in the early years of cinema. He was also known as prolific innovator in the use of special effects, and popularizing techniques such as time lapse photography, substitution splices, multiple exposures, dissolves, and hand painted colour. 
He is also known as the first filmmaker that uses storyboard.
One of my favourites from him was "A trip to the moon" (1902).