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).