expressionism is art in which the image of reality is distorted in order to express the artists inner feelings. As a result, artworks were profoundly emotive, unrestrained and shocking, as they attempted to convey ideas over the type of reality that was being experienced.
combining jagged brush marks, incongruous colours, and simplistic shapes, the style created went against what was considered traditional art.
since foreign films were banned in Germany during the first world war there was a high demand for films to be produced due to hyperinflation as people could now afford to go to the the theaters as it was very cheap and easy entertainment for everyone. improvements in technology allowed films to be made and released quicker and these films often showed darker themes such as crime, power and human behavior in a cheaper way giving it its own style and aesthetic. This basically creating Gothic horror and the noir genre in film.
who were buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd and why were they so influential? all known for their silent films, buster Keaton was a comedian and filmmaker know for physical comedy and deadpan expressions that got him the nickname “the great stone face”, Charlie Chaplin became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry, Harold Lloyd is best known for his “Glasses Character”, a resourceful, success-seeking go-getter who was perfectly in tune with 1920s era America and was known as “the king of daredevil comedy” from his physical feats.
give examples of some of the films they made and mention some other of the other notable film makers that they influenced. buster Keaton’s the general (1926) about an engineer facing off against union soldiers during the civil war, Charlie Chaplin’s the great dictator (1940) a satire about Adolf Hitler, Harold Lloyds safety last (1923) where he dangles desperately from a clock tower
how many cinema screens were there on jersey during the “golden age” of cinema? new era, the Odeon, wests, royal hall
how many screens are there now? 10
what independent cinema spaces currently exist on jersey? the art centre, hotels
explain why thee number of cinema screens have declined over the years and what you think the implications are for the film industry in general. the number of screens has declined due to how accessible films are becoming, you can now watch them in your home or basically anywhere for cheaper then it would be to watch at the cinema
editor:
Their job is to take scenes in non-story order and edit them bit-by-bit into a whole as films tend not to be shot in the order in which the story unfolds, so editors might be working on scenes from the end of the film before the beginning. During post-production, the editor and director will work closely to refine the assembly edit into a director’s cut, after that, the music and sound are added to the mix, a process that editors will oversee. Once filming starts, they look at the rushes each day, checking technical standards and the emerging sense of story and performance and editing it into a series of scenes. By the time the film wraps editors will have spent hours reworking scenes and cutting them together to create a rough assembly.
some needed editor skills:
the cinematographer for spencer(Larrain, 2021), Claire Mathon, Shoot on warm 16 mm that allowed her to amplify Diana’s haunted quality. “It evokes ghostliness on the level of image,” Mathon said, noting the grain and timelessness of film. The ghostliness was compounded by the light Mathon used. Though the movie takes place in December, Mathon kept warm lights on in the home and had fireplaces burning in as many scenes as possible.
Mathon and Larraín also reviewed sequences from films by Stanley Kubrick as much for the style of the camera movement, the rhythm of the shots and the use of short focal length lenses, as for the plasticity of the filmed image, especially on faces, “We then started experimenting and testing to define our own palette and the texture of our images,” Mathon says. “For aesthetic reasons, but also for its lightness and the ergonomics of the camera equipment, we chose to go with Super 16mm for most of the production. The economic advantages of shooting Super 16mm were, of course, also part of the discussions.
“However, there were times when we didn’t want to show too much grain in the image, so we chose to shoot the more fragile, darker night scenes, which took place in low light, on 35mm film. For those scenes, the 35mm allowed us to retain softness and detail in the dark areas, while keeping fairly fine granulation in the overall image.”
“Although the story takes place in 1991, we wanted a certain timelessness and looked to depict more of the iconic side in this portrait of a woman. We talked about softness and the colour that is ever-present in Diana’s world.” https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/10/spencer-princess-diana-claire-mathon-cinematography
A flow of flashbacks and reveries, Ramsay’s hyper-fragmented film isn’t an adaptation of the book in the usual sense, more an impressionistic remix. The story’s horrific climax isn’t quite omitted but is treated so telegraphically that it seems to be happening backstage. It’s as if Ramsay is thinking between the lines of the book, rather than filming those lines themselves.
Joe Bini, editor of We need to talk about Kevin (Ramsay, 2011) made commercials and several independent and experimental films, among them Somber Accommodations with which he won the Special Jury Prize at the 1991 San Francisco International Film Festival. Was awarded Prix Vulcain De L’Artuste-Technicien, Special Distinction at Cannes Film Festival 2011 for his work on We Need to Talk About Kevin.
At the Sundance Institute he stated in his speech, “The single most important guiding principle that I have learned is that you can only be successful making films by being truthful—truthful about the process, about what you do and do not know, about what is and is not functioning, and to not delude yourself with fabulous montages, crafting the great acting performance or cultivating rock star dreams. Our job is to speak the truth, whether people want to hear it or not, and the truth is none of us know anything. We have to reinvent the wheel with each new film. Continue to strive towards making better films. The best way to do that is to continually educate yourselves about filmmaking.” https://www.sundance.org/blogs/program-spotlight/joe-bini-talks-the-art-of-editing-and-offers-a-cautionary-tale-for-editors-everywhere/
for editing I will look into specific editors work that I enjoy and their editing style to see how they achieved it in production to gain inspiration from them to use in my own work