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South korean new wave

Film is South Korea has always been a form of counterculture and deeply political in nature. ​

While the western world saw the rise of film as an art form and commercial product throughout the early twentieth century. Japanese occupation, the korean war and authoritarian goverments meant that Korean filmmakers were subject to rigerous government censorship and forign film imports became incresingly rare. ​

The Korean film industry had a brief resurgence and growth under liberal polices introduced in the mid-50s and but strict censorship laws returned under the military dictatorship of Park Chung-Hee in 1962.​

Few films were made during the 60s and 70s as polices introduced by the government made it nearly impossible for films outside of the Korean national studio and propaganda films to be produced but the 80’s saw a new generation of independent producers and directors, influenced by activism and rapid social change. Once censorship laws were lifted in 1984 these directors would start a new wave of Korean cinema with a focus on the working-class, political Youth and the struggles of the average Korean.​

The pioneers of the Korean new wave used they’re platforms to create cinema that went totally against the propaganda of decades previous. Directors like Jang Sun-woo and Park Kwang-su made films exploring the conflicts between the left and right wing, sensitive social issues and income inequality. Kwang-su’s films “Black republic” (1990) and “To the Starry Island​” (1993) are two of the most notable films of the time. Black republic tells the story of an activist rural, coal-mining Korea and “To the Starry Island” focuses on the political conflict’s created by the Vietnam and Korean wars and they’re influence on contemporary Korea. While Sun-Woo told the stories of the radical revolutionary youth in 1997’s “Bad Movie”

Book dissects 'Generation 586,' warns of their experiment to redirect South  Korea

However, it was not only politically motivated content that revitalised Korean cinema. During the early 1990’s large businesses began to provide money to produce big-budget films that would appeal to a large audience. The first of these films produced by the Chaebol was Samsung’s 1992 romantic “Marriage story” which became one of the highest grossing films ever produced in the country. This would inspire a trend of expensive genre films released throughout the late 90’s and early 2000’s. These films were so successful that in the case of 2003’s “Silmido” were seen by 10 million people in theatres, one quarter of the entire population. ​

As the film industry grew with the releasee of major blockbusters many directors within the country wanted to change the landscape with a return to the political themes of the late 80’s and 90’s but with the budgets and distributers that could sell them to an international market. ​

The first film to reach this milestone of international critical acclaim wad Park Chan-wook’s “oldboy” which won the Grand Prix at the 2003 Cannes film festival and garnered praise from many in the western film community. These films are often characterised by their focus on social and political issues and they’re brutality. ​

The most famous and successful director to emerge from the movement is Bong Joon-ho who not only saw massive commercial and critical success with his films “The Host” (2006) and “Snow Piercer” (2013) but became the first Korean to win at Cannes as well as winning 4 academy awards for his 2019 film “Parasite”.

Metz’s model of genre development: Biblical epics

The biblical epic has been a critics and audiences favorite since the very start of film as a commercial medium at the start . The sprawling narratives that attempt, sometimes effectively to spread messages about the nature, power and eventually the flaws in the christian faith.

-The experimental phase-

One of the most popular and influential films in the genre came in 1923, with the original, silent picture “The ten commandments”

Image result for ten commandments film (1923)
Poster for the film.

The film depicts the story of Exodus, as Moses leads the Israelite’s out of Egyptian slavery and into the holy land. The film attempts to broadcast religion to a generation who grew more secular until witnessing the horrors of war. To this end the film features and extended sequence of a contemporary family discussing Theology.

The clear goal of the film was to usurer in a new generation of Christians but its legacy still remains the expansive awe inspiring sets of ancient Egypt, the powerful direction of large crowds, and one of the great scenes in early cinema with the parting of the red sea.

Image result for ten commandments film (1923) red sea

-The Classic phase-

-The Parody Phase-

As modern life continued and process like urbanization and the catholic church began to loose its influence and thus power. This lead to more and more people began to turn to atheism and viewing the idea of religion to be absurd and even comical.

Auteur THEORY- Alfred Hitchcock

Hitchcock's Movie, The Birds | BirdNote

Alfred Hitchcock is considered by many the greatest director of all time. His title of “The master of suspense” defines his film making as his cinematography, soundtracks and themes are all deliberately and masterfully used to put the audience on edge.

Narrative themes

Hitchcock’s films often explore the existential theme of being thrust into a situation outside of your control. This is often defined in Hitchcock’s protagonists. For example, Guy Haines the protagonist of “Strangers on a train is inadvertently

Cinematography

Early soviet constructivism

This painting, Space-Force Construction, 1921 by Lyubov Popova is an excellent example of the SOVIET CONSTRUCTIVISM movement Te themes of geometry and shape comming together to create a piece emblematic of the workers of Russia coming together to create one cohesive society.

German expressionism

Context

Germany was experiencing economic and social turmoil following the first world war. Political violence and intolerance was high in the interwar period know as the Wiemar republic. Filmmakers, particularly in private, independent studios (outside of the government owned UFA) used their lower budgets to capture the emotions of the German public through non naturalistic sets and use of lighting that would go on to inspire film noir.

Expressionist Art Movement

The German expressionist movement in film takes its name and inspiration from the expressionist movement in art. The movement focused on non-naturalistic, abstract paintings that didn’t seek to portray reality but instead emotions of the artist or the wider culture. Features of these painting often include distortion and exaggeration of people and places.

Vincent van Gogh: The Starry Night
Vincent van Gogh: The Starry Night

UFA

UFA was established in 1927 as a government owned studio created as conglomerate of many different studios from across Germany. It was created as a tool of the state to used for propaganda but after the end of the war and the end of the German monarchy UFA would create state of the art films that were seen a round the world using their large budget.

By the late 1920’s UFA was struggling financially and was sold to Alfred Hugenberg, future Nazi minister for the economy and the studio was forced to make properganda films for Adolf Hitler’s regime. After the liberation of Berlin, UFA’s main studio Babelsberg was co-opted by the soviet regime and was used again as instrument of propaganda for the communist party. Following the fall of the Berlin wall the studio has been consistently used as a hub for both American and German films and television due to the lower costs of production by up to 20 percent.

Classic German expressionist films

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The man who laughs (1928) Directed by Paul Leni
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The hands of Orlac (1924) Directed by Robert Wiene
FAUST (1926) Full Movie - YouTube
Faust (1926) Directed by F. W. Murnau

Production roles

Production Role 1Production Role 2Production Role 3 – Complete Film
ROLE ​​Actor​Director​Writer
GENRE (SUBGENRE)​A​B​A​B​
MOVEMENT INFLUENCE(S)​A​B​A​B​
PRACTITIONER ​INFLUENCE (S)​A​B​A​B​
TARGET AUDIENCE​A​B​A​B​
PRODUCTION SCALE​A​B​A​B​
KEY THEMES/ISSUES​A​B​A​B​
FilmPreferenceMemorable SceneFilm Element focus
Whiplash (2014)10/10First studio band scene. aka. Fletcher verbally assaults that one dude. Editing