The expressionist art movement was made up by work produced by workers, painters, printmakers and photographers to portray real socio-political issues and conditions that the working class were affected by. Known as social realism.
Jules starves while the people rise up and uphold their commune in the streets of Paris. His father joins the revolutionaries, taking his son, whose enthusiasm and pipe are quickly noticed by both his comrades and his enemies, which leads to an appalling ending.
Battleship Potemkin brought Eisenstein’s theories of cinema art to the world in a powerful showcase; his emphasis on montage, his stress of intellectual contact, and his treatment of the mass
Battleship Potemkin is a silent film about the time of the war with Russia. Many sailors on the Battleship Potemkin are outraged when they come to find out that maggots are in the food that they are being served. The sailors start to form a riot in the hopes of getting control so they can be treated better.
A Man with a Movie Camera is more of an experience to than just a regular movie. A casual movie goer could consider it dull or boring, but this film is visually impressive and still holds up to today. It holds many secrets on having and attaining visually appealing shots.
Part documentary and part cinematic art, this film follows a city in the 1920s Soviet Union throughout the day, from morning to night.
All these films are soviet constructivism films as they all have a deeper meaning that the directors have conveyed.
Constructivist art aimed to reflect modern industrial society and urban space. The movement rejected decorative stylization in favour of the industrial assemblage of materials. Constructivists were in favour of art for propaganda, and were associated with Soviet socialism, the Bolsheviks.
1. The social disruptions and economic shortages of the Weimar Republic gave rise to new techniques and styles in German film-making dubbed Expressionism.
2. Unable to afford large casts or sets, directors looked for different cinematic and production techniques to render style, character and emotion.
3. Expressionist film-makers like F. W. Murnau and Fritz Lang were also concerned with darker storylines and themes, including horror and crime.
4. Expressionist directors developed innovative techniques, such as new uses for light, contrast, camera angles and movement.
5. These directors and their innovations came to influence the wealthier and more prolific film studios in Hollywood.
Source: https://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/weimar-cinema/#:~:text=1.,render%20style%2C%20character%20and%20emotion.
The Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography was also known as the Moscow film school of cinematography.
From 1934 to 1991 the Moscow film school (the oldest film school in the world) operated as an All-Union State Institute of Cinematography. The institute became a university in 2008 and has continued to be a university since.
Now as the school is a university there are many different faculties which have relation to the film industry.
The Russian revolution of 1917. The radical leftist revolutionaries overthrew the centuries-old Czar Nicholas II ending the Romanov rule. The Bolsheviks established a socialist state in the empire once called the Russian empire. A long and bloody civil war followed.
During WW1 Russia suffered from poor and underdeveloped infrastructure. She was reliant on foreign exchange and due Russia’s struggling economy during the period they were incapable of competing with the German’s powerhouse economy. During the three years of war Russia showed serious strain on their economy and led to famine and a depression within the country.
Between WW1 and The Russian revolution, the film industry within Russia had deteriorated to the point of being unusable. Additionally the government did not have the funds to support the production of Russian films.
‘Describe some of the stylistic conventions associated with the expressionist art movement. Post some additional examples of Constructivist art.’
Constructivist art tends to use sharp, geometric shapes that have been arranged/layered in a specific manner in order to express the experience of modern life and individuality, creating a dramatic piece of work. It often discards bright colours and uses a small colour pallet, usually sticking to red, black and white.
‘Identify at least one other film which appears to have been influenced by the visual style of classic German Expressionist Cinema + illustrate and explain reasons briefly’
A film that has been influenced by the visual style of classic German expressionism is Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice. Throughout the film, Burton uses a set with jagged edges, slanted architecture and a variety of vivid colours which make the set reminiscent of classic German expressionist films. Along with that, the makeup and costume design is also reminiscent of German expressionism due to the dramatic makeup and gothic looks.
