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story of film part 2

who were Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton?

All three were known as the most influential film comedians of the silent film era.

Charlie Chaplin –

  • modern times
  • the gold rush
  • city lights
  • the kid
  • a dogs life

Harold Lloyd-

  • Girl shy
  • Safety last
  • movie crazy
  • grandmas boy
  • the milky way

Buster Keaton-

  • the general
  • steamboat bill
  • three ages
  • one week
  • the cameraman

Identify at least one another film (ext. 2 films) which appear to have been influenced by the visual style of classic Soviet Constructivist Cinema (ILLUSTRATE YOUR POST AND BRIEFLY EXPLAIN THE REASONS FOR YOUR CHOICE)

I would argue that Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001) could be said to be influenced by Soviet Constructivism Cinema; as it plays with themes of unidentified knowledge which is explored through characters and ideas with/of prior knowledge. Though it is heavily reliant on more gothic aspects of the Sci-Fi genre, it appears that there is a focus throughout the narrative on explanations grounded in science and human belief. Much like films of the original era, Donnie Darko allows its audience to understand the arc of the plot using modern ideas, and not philosophical or fantastical theories. Using mostly more objective editing, (though there are some scenes which bring into question the fabrication of reality) Kelly seems to imply that the eccentricity of the story is a product of human curiosity rather than the supernatural, and depends on what people ‘already know to be true’. Cooler overtones like blue and grey also suggest objective reality, as they are thematically more often associated with logic or lack of emotion.  

Try to find examples from film from at least 3 of the Methods of Montage mentioned above. (SOVIET Constructivism) REMEMBER TO ILLUSTRATE YOUR POST!

Shutter Island (Scorsese, 2010) – tonal montage to indicate protagonist’s false reality/subjective reality (use of blues/greys when audience is submerged in Teddy’s reality) 

Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960) – rhythmic montage to dramatize and emphasise the content of the scene (to associate this series of events with a musical climax for the audience) 

Inception (Nolan, 2010) – intellectual montage is used as a metaphor (aided by the context of the film itself) to indicate to the audience that there is still a question of dream vs reality, and introduces the idea that people are controlled by an unspoken force (whether fate or a higher power etc.) just as the fabrication of dreams is controlled by the presence of gravity.  

Create a blog post highlighting the key narrative and technical conventions of the French New Wave approach to film making. Talk about the difference between the Left and Right Bank approach.

According to a source (https://nofilmschool.com/what-is-the-french-new-wave#:~:text=Techniques%20included%20fragmented%2C%20discontinuous%20editing,French%20New%20Wave%20was%20born.) ‘Techniques included fragmented, discontinuous editing, and long takes that allowed actors to explore a scene. The combination of realism, subjectivity, and commentary allowed these movies to have ambiguous characters, motives, and even endings that were not so clear-cut’. 

‘The “right bank” group is constituted of the more famous and financially successful New Wave directors associated with Cahiers du cinéma (Claude Chabrol, François Truffaut, and Jean-Luc Godard). Unlike the Cahiers group, Left Bank directors were older and less movie-crazed. They tended to see cinema akin to other arts, such as literature. However, they were similar to the New Wave directors in that they practiced cinematic modernism. Their emergence also came in the 1950s and they also benefited from the youthful audience. The two groups, however, were not in opposition…… The filmmakers tended to collaborate with one another’. 

Source – (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_New_Wave#:~:text=to%20do%20essays.%22-,Left%20Bank,older%20and%20less%20movie%2Dcrazed.)