1895-1918

The first film made by the Lumiere Brother was ‘La Sortie des ouvriers de l’usine Lumière‘ [Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory] in June 1895.

The ‘Phantom Ride’ is an early genre of film where a vehicle moves forward whilst the camera is attached to the front, creating a ghostly tracking shot

The film ‘The sick Kitten’ used the very first close up shot as the camera came closer to the kitten as it ate, allowing all the details of the kitten to be seen by the audience.

The film ‘Life of an American Fireman’ used continuity editing, cutting between locations in order show the audience what was happening both inside and outside of the building, aka continuous editing is used

The first ‘film star’ in Hollywood was Florence Lawrence as she was the first actor whose name was used in order to promote films

1903-1918

Films began to be produced in Hollywood rather than the East Coast of America as Thomas Edison had an infringement which cost a lot of money so film production was moved in order to escape this. Along with that, warm and sunny weather which was useful for film backdrops.

The Scandinavian film industry was described as ‘the best in the world’ in the 1910’s, specifically Sweden and Denmark.

‘The Birth Of A Nation, D.W. Griffith [1915]‘ was a 3 hour long silent film that’s considered controversial due to it’s incredibly racist views and positive portrayal of the KKK, having been referred to as “the most reprehensibly racist film in Hollywood history”. Despite this, several critics still consider the film a masterpiece as it’s got good editing and technical quality and as it was the longest film ever made at that time.

Influential Actors

Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd were all film makers and actors that specialized in comedic films. They all had specific trademarks:

• Keaton used a deadpan face, using no reaction as a reaction. Some of his films include ‘The Cameraman’ [1928], ‘Steamboat Jr.’ [1928] and ‘Our Hospitality’ [1923]
• Chaplin used slapstick comedy and was well known for his moustache, hat and cane. Some of his films include ‘The tramp’ [1915], ‘The Great Dictator‘ [1940] and ‘The Kid’ [1921]
• Lloyd was well known for his geeky look with his trademark round glasses. Some of his films include ‘Girl Shy’ [1924], ‘The Freshmen’ [1925] and ‘Speedy’ [1928]

They inspired a lot of people in their time such as Italian actor Toto and they’re still referenced today through gags, especially in animated films such as Mr Bean and Wallace & Grommet.

Auteur: An auteur is a word used to describe a director that has a lot of control over the whole film, sometimes filing in other roles too such as writing, editing and even acting. The word ‘auteur’ is a French word that when translated to English means ‘author’, something fitting as the directors are the ones who bring the film together, adding their own distinct style to each film similar to how an author writes books.

In order to be an auteur, film critic Andrew Sarris believes they must fall into 3 main criteria and created a comprehensive definition:

• Technical competence: Auteurs must be at the top of their craft in terms of technical filmmaking abilities. Auteurs always have a hand in multiple components of filmmaking and should be operating at a high level across the board.

• Distinguishable personality: What separates auteurs from other technically gifted directors is their unmistakable personality and style. When looking at an auteur’s collected works, you can generally see shared filming techniques and consistent themes being explored. One of the primary tenets of auteur theory is that auteurs make movies that are unmistakably theirs. This is in sharp contrast with the standard studio directors of the era who were simply translating script to screen with little interrogation of the source material or editorial input.

• Interior meaning: Auteurs make films that have layers of meaning and have more to say about the human condition. Films made by auteurs go beyond the pure entertainment-oriented spectacles produced by large studios, to instead reveal the filmmakers unique perspectives and ruminations on life.

Criteria source: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/film-101-what-is-an-auteur#the-3-components-of-auteur-theory

During the 1930’s-60’s there were 4 cinemas on Jersey: The Odeon, New Era, Forum and Wests. However, as the years went on and the ‘Golden Age’ of cinema passed, the number of cinemas declined, only one existing in our modern day; Cineworld which contains 10 screens.

The number of cinema’s decreased due to the invention of televisions as audiences could now be entertained from the comfort of their own home rather which lowered the need and demand for cinemas.

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Role 2:

Editors look through all the raw film footage and use the best clips in order to create one coherent film through the use of well placed cuts and transitions, making sure it aligns with the directors vision. They often manipulate the footage through the use of CGI and colour grading to make the visuals match the story and theme of the film. I’ll be taking inspiration from Paul Machliss, an Australian editor who’s edited ‘Scott Pilgrim vs The World’, ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and many more, often working on films with director Edgar Wright. Machliss has a choppy style which leads to fast paced scenes, and quick transitions which give the films comedic value due to the amount of cuts/transitions he adds. He often adds jump cuts where most wouldn’t deem it necessary, like pouring coffee into a cup, which give his style a unique flare as he doesn’t follow the usual linear pattern that most editors do.

“We didn’t want it to feel like a musical where everything is heavily choreographed. When someone puts a bottle down on the chair, it may happen to be on the beat, but we didn’t want you to think we were waiting for that moment” – Machliss on ‘Baby driver’ [2017]

Role 1:

Cinematographers are in charge of the camera as they film each scene, making sure the lighting isn’t too bright/dark, everything is in focus when necessary and that everything is in frame when it needs to be. They use a variety of camera angles and movements in order to make the directors vision become a reality. A cinematographer that I’ll be taking inspiration from is Linus Sandgren who worked on ‘La La Land’ with director Damien Chazelle. He mostly used naturalistic lighting with a boosted colour palette in order to keep the film looking as real as possible, however, in order to manipulate how each scene feels he used some artificial lighting, using contrasting colours in order to enhance what was happening on screen whilst still keeping the scene somewhat dark, allowing the lights to enhance the scene rather than take over.

“If you don’t have a contrasting colour, you can get a little too muddy with smaller lights or practical’s” – Sandgen

“Practicals are more there to give set decoration and a little more glow to a scene, and then from there you work in a little more lighting, but I don’t like too much light” – Sandgen

Cinematography:

Linus Sandgren is a Swedish cinematographer who has worked on many films such as ‘La La Land’ and ‘No Time To Die’. He’s best known for his work with director Damien Chazelle, having won a handful of Grammy’s due to his incredible work on ‘La La Land’.

Sandgren’s work on ‘La La Land’ uses a variety of different lights, often using contrasting colours in order to enhance what’s happening on screen. “If you don’t have a contrasting colour, you can get a little too muddy with smaller lights or practical’s. Cyan’s kind of nice to counter with some reds, for instance”. He did research into what the director wanted before choosing a camera to help achieve the saturation and old Hollywood style that the director wanted. Sandgren also made sure to make everything as realistic as possible, filming most of the film in real locations rather than using a green screen,

La La Land Linus Sandgren

I’ll demonstrate inquiry for my portfolio by researching about a variety of roles within the film industry that link to what I’m going to do within my own work. This includes learning about people who are inspiring to me and finding out how they’re successful and what they do to create a successful piece of work in order to understand what type of skills are needed.

For example: For sound design, I’ll watch films of different genres in order to hear how sounds, such as breathing, can differ from depending on who’s the sound designer and the tone of the film.

Cinematographer

Editor

Sound Designer