1. First film made by the lumiere brothers?

The exit from the lumiere factory/Sortie des usines lumiere a lyon (1895)

2. What is the phantom ride?

Camera shot from the front of a train so called this because it looks as though there is a ghost floating along the track

3. What was ground breaking about the sick kitten and the life of an American fireman

The sick kitten used a close up of the kitten to show it in more detail to the audience.

4. Which nations film industry did does cousins say was his favourite?

Denmark

German expressionism came about after WW1 and during the rise of Hitler, Germany was eager to be the best when it came to intellectual and artistic production. They were always competing with America. Hollywood was beginning to use technological advancements in their movies which the German film industry couldn’t compete with. So, they developed a new movement which was full of symbolism’s and this was the birth of expressionism.

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Robert Wiene) was released in 1920 is a German silent horror film, which tells the story of Dr Caligari and his silent Cesare,  Caligari stores Cesare in a  cabinet and shows it off at the Holstenwall Carnival. Based upon an unsolved murder of a girl at a carnival, the film sees Caligari ordering Cesare to murder various individuals during the night.

The film is greatly influenced by German Expressionism, the set design in particular reflecting this through unusual and twisted backgrounds, painted in very contrasting colours. The Mise en scene is incredible in this film for the 1920’s, as you can see there are lots of angular shadows and shapes in this particular scene. the use of light and dark in this scene gives the audience an idea of a much larger scale than the set itself.

Another example of light in this film is In the scene where Cesare was going to kidnap Jane, he is shown as a total black shadow on the wall. That scene really disclosures Cesare’s sinister feelings and intentions and the use of light or lack of light allows this feeling. 

French New Wave is a film movement which emerged in the 1950’s and 1960’s. It is a form of European art cinema, and is often referred to as one of the most influential movements in the history of cinema.

French new wave began due to a lack of studio funding and need for change by the directors, because of the low funding it forced directors such as Jean-Luc Godard to use more DIY techniques, for example, the car scenes weren’t on a sound stages but actually driving on a real road. It was the sense of effortlessness that gave French new wave its title, The chosen scenery was relatable to the audience as a lot of the films were shot in cities, the plots were realistic and more importantly believable. Also the characters In the films were cool, chilled and detached which turned them into icons for the audience, The characters were also considered fashion statements because of how they dressed and looked, we can see this in ‘Breathless” because Patricia had short hair and wore weightless striped shirts not to mention her ‘New York times’ shirt she wore when selling papers in the streets.

People argued that french cinema was similar to the literature, which expresses the same ideas that are shown in novels and paintings. The artists at that time used movies to voice their thoughts. Some of the leading film producers wanted to change it and this is the birth of the movement in the history of French cinema (French new wave). The movement wasn’t purely about cinema, it was about all art forms including art and music, cinema is an art form and it changed along side these other art forms.

“Cinema is not a craft it is an art” said Jean-Luc Godard

A few examples of french new wave films are:

 Lola (Jacques Demy) released in 1961

 Les Bonnes Femmes (Claude Chabrol) 1960

 Shoot the piano player (François Truffaut) 1960

Editing and cinematography in breathless

Jean-Luc Godard  used loads of jump cuts in a new and exciting way that provided the film with a lot of movement. “I remember very clearly — how I invented this famous way of cutting, that is now used in commercials: we took all the shots and systematically cut out whatever could be cut, while trying to maintain some rhythm.”

This photo shows how throughout the film Michel glanced over towards the camera almost breaking the fourth wall, But Godard played with the rules of traditional cinema to see what was possible, This glance gives the scene a more relaxed feel and allows the audience to empathise with the character more as though he were really speaking to us.

How French new wave influenced cinema

I often see similarities with French new wave when watching modern films but I see it mostly in the characters mannerisms and how they are presented to the audience. In 1962 James bonds ‘Dr. No’ was released and the character of James Bond is much like that of Michel because of his style and flare.

In 1981 Raiders of the lost ark (Steven Spielberg) was released and Indiana jones had the same sense of suave as Michel and James Bond.

We can also see just from this image how jones also glares into the camera just like Michel in ‘Breathless’.

Strike montage

Strike is a political drama about the factory workers in Russia, set just before the 1905 Bolshevik Revolution, When a worker is accused of stealing some machinery from the factory he works in, he then later commits suicide and the other people he works with  revolt against the Czarist regime who are controlling the factory and the workers. The strike carries on and the Czarist regime becomes more and more impatient so they stop the Strike using force. 

Eisenstein was one of the first to study at USSR which was the first film school and it was known as the Moscow film academy. At the USSR academy students weren’t able to make there own film because it was too expensive to import into Russia so they used old films and cut them into different orders to practice editing and this is how Eisenstein learnt how to edit film and how Strike was such a well made film.

Eisenstein uses Montage to show different events in the strike which are happening at the same time in the village. This technique has a staccato effect which isn’t aesthetically pleasing for the viewer therefor creating tension. Sergie said that his montage theory of collision suggesting individual shots are used as fragments of a whole scene rather than in collision with each other. He used two very different shots which were unrelated individually but when put side by side meant something very different and gave them a sense of meaning. For example in the slaughter scene of “Strike” there are shots of the factory workers running down a hill to get away from the Czarist regime and then there is a shot of a man slaughtering a cow, although this shot is irrelevant on its own, when put next to the shot of the workers it symbolizes; death, destruction, murder and much, much more.

Soviet montage went on to be extremely influential in cinema, for example here are some films that soviet montage is used in

 (Rocky training montage)

The training montage in rocky shows rocky training compared with Drago and how opposite there training techniques are. The montage emphasizes how different the two boxers are, the audience are shown this because the shots of Drago and rocky are side by side showing their differences.

 (Carl and Ellie’s relationship montage)

The montage in “Up” shows the audience how Carl and Ellie grow up together and shows there relationship at its happiest like their marriage and at its saddest like when Ellie has a miscarriage and then later dies and that’s when the montage comes to an end. The montage is used to sum up Carl’s life without taking up too much time of the film but adding some context.

the intra- diegetic gaze is where a person is shown as looking at another person or object, One character looking at another.

The extra-diegetic gaze is where the fourth wall is broken and the character looks directly at the camera as if he/she is looking right at the viewer.

A Sound Editor creates the soundtrack by cutting and synchronizing to the picture, sound elements, such as wild tracks, dialogue tracks, library material and analog. The editor then presents these to the sound mixer for final sound balance.

A sound mixer oversees the audio recording as filming progresses, managing a crew of boom operators and other technicians. It’s up to him or her to select the best equipment for each scene – from what kind of mics to use and where to place them, to directing where the boom operator should position the boom mic.

Task 3: Greatest film ?

Citizen Kane has been voted many times as being “the best film ever made” It has come at the top of the AFI’s (American Film Institute’s) Top 100 Movie’s list in both 1998 and 2007 but I personally disagree. I understand this an unpopular opinion but the film just didn’t appeal to me and I didn’t enjoy the whole plot of the film, I believe this is because I grew up  loving 21’st century blockbusters and more action packed films. Although I was brought up loving these films I have recently learned to love and appreciate older films such as; The godfather, The usual suspects, Se7en, The zodiac and Shawshank redemption. These films are not exactly classed as being “old” or “classic” but they are considered some of the greatest movies ever made in modern cinema and I wholly agree.

I can appreciate why Citizen Kane is considered to be a great film but I think that it’s way before my time and I can’t empathize with any of the characters or the world that they are living in and that is why I didn’t find it very appealing. Citizen Kane is a tragedy, i think this is another reason why i didn’t enjoy this film. My preferred film genres are action or thrillers.

On the other hand i think that the film was very well shot and i have already analysed one of my favorite scenes which is where young Kane is being sent away and his parents must sign the papers. The cinematography in this scene is genius how they used the splitting table.

I also have a lot of respect for Orson Welles because this was his directorial debut and how he had so many roles in making the film and staring as the main character on top of all that. especially considering he didn’t come from much and then went on to direct one of the “greatest films of all time”.

Task 2: favorite scene

My favorite scene in Citizen Kane is the one where Kane is being sent away by his mother and father. He is playing in the snow whilst Mr Thatcher is discussing the terms of taking little Charles away.

Charles doesn’t seem keen to leave and we can see this when he pushes Mr Thatcher over. Although he doesn’t want to leave we can see it is for his benefit because after he pushes Mr Thatcher over his father says “he needs a good beating” this shows the audience that Charles is actually being saved even though he doesn’t see it that way. This is why i like this scene because it shows that he came from a rough upbringing and he deserves to go and live somewhere nice with Mr Thatcher.

In this scene there is a shot of Charles playing in the snow and his mother watching from the window, the camera then moves backwards into the room as Mrs Kane walks away from the window towards the dining table to sign her son off to Mr Thatcher. This shot is very significant because it shows Mrs Banks’ love for her son even though she is sending him away, She knows its for his own good. When recording this shot the camera was on a track and the table in the scene splits in half to allow the camera to move through it, although we don’t see this or probably notice, it was a genius because it allowed for a wider view of the room without cutting to another shot.