French Impressionism and Surrealism

French impressionism talks about the inward and inner drama through narrative form film. French films are also known for their links with art. Many believe that France is the birthplace of cinema because it is where film was invented.  In this topic psychological moods and exploration serves as the basis of the film makers. It also experimented with rhythmic editing to suggest the experience as a character feels it through his or her feelings. Generally, the comparison about the film or cinema is to encourage the impressionists to explore the rhythmic editing through subjective shooting and editing patterns to reinforce the narrative treatment of psychological means.

This French impressionism style never really had any sort of theory to it. Most of the directors of this type of film believe that it is unattainable and all you can do is theorize about theories, reach for but never actually reach. This type of film was about the directors trying to explore how people perceive reality more than the actual reality. Which simply meant that a film cannot be created by just the director, camera, or whoever is working the camera. It takes everyone to effectively produce a film but the poetry of the film.

While Surrealism talks about the exclusive of the film and not all to the viewers or public. Because they are trying to achieve the total liberation of the mind and of all that resembles it through innovative and varied ideas. Surrealism deeply influenced the world in the era between the two world wars and played a big role in the diffusion and adoption of psychology.

The New Hollywood and Independent Film Making

 

A new generation of young filmmakers came to prominence in American cinema. Their work was awesome, formally innovative, and ambiguous. The New Hollywood and their films were mostly financed by the major studios, but they introduced subject matter and styles that set them apart from studio tradition. They re-worked and re-imagined some of Hollywood’s classic genres such as the crime film, the war film and the western and by so doing, presented a more critical view of Hollywood past and present.

Together with the great the directors like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Francis Coppola, Brian De Palma, and John Millus, that is posted and discussed on my previous post about film school generation they came a brilliant generation of actors and actresses, often trained in New York, who brought to the screen a new level of intensity and contemporary relevance. While the new generation’s ambition to overturn the system and create something better in its place ultimately failed, they did succeed in producing a body of work now considered a Golden Age in American cinema.

I think Independent film making is open to some interpretation.  It is an independent whose production was financed outside of the studio system. This certainly allows for wide inclusion, as many films with extraordinary budgets would fit this description.

By our way of thinking, much more than budget is contemplated in just what makes for an independent film. Allowing the viewers into a world to experience emotions and reactions to the content that into a pure entertainment value, but more as a comment and observation on the human experience. They are not viewed as simple escape, but to engender value through growth of the spirit, long after the lights come up and we move back into the world of now.

German Expressionsim

Based on my own understanding, German Expressionism films came out and they formed part of a larger expressionist movement that dominated north and central European culture through cinema. It would greatly influence in film noir and the early horror films of the 30’s and 40’s. Not only would it influence American directors, cinematographers and set designers, many of the German directors, cinematographers and set designers would flood into Hollywood, and their forever changing the face of cinema at this time. It also talks about the non-realistic, and early expressionist films lacked budgets and time, so the filmmakers were forced to play around with lighting, shadows and minimalist sets. The plots often dealt with madness, and the darker aspects of humanity.

German expressionism techniques:

– Abstract from realistic details

– bring out the essence of a situation

– Mystery

– Emotional

– Horror Films

– Unrealistic Sets

Here are some films that influenced current genres are Metropolis, Nosferatu, and The Cabinet of Dr.Caligari. These films influenced current genres like film noir, horror and modern cinema.

These films not only influenced the current genres but also defined what the realms of the genres are. Many modern films still today demonstrates the influence in particular horror films of German expressionism. The reason that the german expressionism movement had an effect on these genres is because it had to do with tragic, scary, and harmful events.

1917 – The nationally subsidized film and UFA was founded by government.  This move combined the German production companies.

1920 – The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was released and the German Expressionist film movement began.

 

Film Noir

On my own understanding, I think Film Noir is good at making  people to expect to see the dark side from things you would definitely not think to see them from other film. And it shows the influence by the use of camera angles and film quality. The black and white contrast definitely adds the film noir feel to all three films. And it highly stylized, with imagery often drawn from an earlier era of German expressionist cinema 🙂

Un Chien Andalou by Luis Buñuel

After watching the Film during our class last August 28, I was shocked about what I have watched about this movie. Most Specially the Slicing of the eye scene, I used to ask myself, what do you think the meaning of slicing the eye? The scenes like the ants appear crawling out of a hand of a man, a woman’s mouth disappears, a man’s mouth is covered in hair, and books change into guns. Buñuel always wanted to shock the audience in watching the movie. I think in every scene there is a logical sequence of cause and effect.

I think the film talks about the desire to increase our comprehension and ability to access the film through interpretation. As the film is made by a surrealist, psychoanalysis comes to an interpretative method. Yet interpretation is ultimately pointless. The most effective manner in which to appreciate the film is to allow the images to seduce, to watch with your eyes and emotions and not to seek an explanation. Buñuel used symbolism to create deeper meanings. They used symbols that are to express the deep truths, natural truths, of the unconscious.

Honestly, I cannot watch the movie that really serious because of the Rat inside our classroom that’s why I cannot watch the movie that good because my attention is on the Rat, and let me look at back from time to time 🙂

WATCH THE MOVIE NOW! AND ENJOY THE SLICING OF THE EYES 😀

Trainspotting

A great movie from Danny Boyle, I think the movie has a strong enough performance from McGregor.

The story is narrated by Ewan McGregor and a group of heroin addicts. These group of friends sleep anywhere in bars, in squats, in the beds of girls they meet at dance clubs. They have assorted girlfriends, and there is even a baby in the movie, but they are not settled in any way, and no place like home. No doubt about it, drugs do make them feel good. It’s just that they make them feel bad all the rest of the time.

Empathy is perhaps the most sophisticated and important emotion that a human can feel and for a film that truly have that makes the film the knowledge, that the drug of choice is more important than the business at hand, such as friends, family, jobs, play and sex.

Because no one can really understand it as well through desperation and understanding among users. The movie has been attacked as pro-drug and defended as anti-drug. It shows that addiction leads to an unmanageable, exhausting, intensely uncomfortable daily routine, and it knows that this things make it bearable a supply of the drug of choice, and the understanding of fellow addicts just like in our country.

The point about this. Drug use is not linear but circular. You never get anywhere unless you keep returning to the starting point. But you make fierce friends along the way.

Film School Generation

Our professor gives us time to watch a Documentary Film about the Film School Generation during our class and talks about the how these great filmmakers or directors that taking over the early 70s and how they got their break and some of their bigger pictures.

Box office directors like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Francis Coppola, Brian De Palma,  and John Millus they tried to revolutionize the way American films were made and appreciated by the audiences. This can explores their financial and cultural forces that made their success possible in making films directing a film for money? Or for the public? The influence of this great classic Hollywood films makers.

The training grounds of Box office directors: UCLA, USC, NYU

Steven Spielberg probably gets the most attention as he talks about getting to work at Universal on TV projects and then of course his film Jaws.

George Lucas talks about feeling that he only had one shot in Hollywood and discusses how the studios just didn’t think his films were going to connect with an audience.

Martin Scorsese he discusses what he thought was going to be a disastrous preview at Warner. Another running theme deals with the foreign influence that all of these filmmakers had.

Francis Coppola created a group of filmmakers known as the “New Hollywood” that emerged in the early 1970s with ideas that challenged conventional film-making and the Director and Producers of the films Patton, The Godfather and The Apocalypse Now.

I think the fans of these great directors are certainly going to enjoy this look back at their careers but it’s also just fun seeing how they got started and what Hollywood was like from that time until this time.

 

Guys! Here are the links if you want to watch the FILM SCHOOL GENERATION DOCUMENTARY from part 1 to part 6 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX47EFoCTIk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE5W4oe8UO8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VR-a_8x3C9g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zUikfrM-Bg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP3Bk16SRlU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjlQVrR_y60

CREDITS to the user who uploaded in youtube.com enjoy! 🙂

The Classic Hollywood Style

🙂 The Classic Hollywood Style ( Reaction Paper ) 🙂

During our cinema class, our Professor helps us to analyze about the The Classic Hollywood Style. How it works and How Americans Create a Box Office Films

Based on my own understanding, Classical Hollywood is a tradition of methods and structures of cinema. Its tradition lives on a mainstream Hollywood to this day. Hollywood movies, as opposed to international films, have defined as having unique and distinct characteristics. These films are described as an art form and a great deal of skill in order to be created. So, what makes a Hollywood movie a Hollywood movie?

The most effective tool in Hollywood style is telling a story and most important and most influential element of classical Hollywood Style is the continuity editing. In that time they created 100 films a year and they used different techniques that are efficient and visible to the audience in making their own styles. In storytelling it introduce issues of representation of a story and the structure especially in love story because in love story they were in obstacles in the end of the story like broken, tragic, sadness or a happy ending.

In order to highlight the classical Hollywood Style a particular configuration of normalized options for representing the story and manipulating composition, style and emotional ideas. In the same way they use of cinematic style is generally motivated by a narrative story.

In editing both space and time are constructed in Hollywood Style. In the classical Hollywood Style space and time are continuous and linear. They appear as a unified to whole to match in audience perception of time and space in reality. In camera techniques they used movements like long shot to short shot this is usually used in love story.

The naturalism of their style is in the case of some film or some directors are not the same as sweeping away the role of the style. Quite simply, there are a variety of styles and they have various roles or characters that can substitute stories.