1895-1918: The World Discovers A New Art form or Birth of the Cinema

What was the name if the first film made by the Lumiere Brother and when was this?

 Employees leaving the Lumiere Factory (1895)

What is the “Phantom Ride”?

A “Phantom Ride” is a tracking shot from front of a moving train. This technique is still used to this day.

What was ground-breaking about the silent films “The Sick Kitten” and “Life of an American Fireman”?

The use of cutting and editing introducing the idea of continuity.

Fragmented shots were used in “Life of an American Fireman” in order to emphasising movement.

The close up was introduced in the film “The Sick Kitten”.

What was the name of the first “film star” in Hollywood?

 Florence Lawrence

1903-1918: The Thrill Becomes Story or The Hollywood Dream

According to Cousin’s, why did the hub if film production in the USA move from the East Coast of America to Hollywood?

Hollywood was an ideal place to produce movies since filmmakers couldn’t be sued there for infringing on motion picture film patents held by Thomas Edison and his Motion Picture Patents Company. It was also very cheap land so they could buy big buildings for filming.

Which nation’s film industry does Cousin’s describe as “the best in the world” in the 1910’s and why?

The Danish film industry was described as best in the world due to its morphing of film into an art of light.

Give an example of two films and two directors from this place and time cited by Cousin’s as remarkable.

 Carl Theodor Dreyer – The Passion of Joan of Arc

Benjamin Christensen – Häxan

Who directed Birth of a Nation (1915) and why is the film continue to divide opinions among film critics, practitioners and theorists?

D.W. Griffith’s – Racism and a negative portrayal of Black characters (white men in black face, politically unacceptable in modern standards) makes the film controversial, but the opinion is divided by critics due to it’s use of cuts.

1918-1928

Who were Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd and why were they so influential?

Greatest comic film maker audiences had seen. Keaton helped define cinema and he understood editing, visuals and illusions.

Charlie and Keaton once shared the screen. Charlie was far more interested in the body movement, he thought as a dancer before film and costume.

Chaplin co founded a company and made it into cinema blood.

Chaplin got kicked out of cinema in the 50s because he was a leftist.

Harold Lloyd (a comedian) was influenced by Chaplin.

What films did they make?

Keaton – One Week, Three Ages, The General

Chaplin – The Kid, City Lights, Bad Timing, Toto in Colour, Some Like it Hot

Harold – Safety Last!

Who did they influence?

Keaton inspired Soleman

Chaplin inspired Nicholas Roeg, Jaquee and the movie Sunset Blvd

Harold – Inspired movie I flunked out! from Harold’s shocking comedy.

How many screens were there in Jersey during the “Golden Age” of cinema? (1930s to 1960s)

Roughly 15

How many cinema screens are there now?

10

What independent cinema spaces currently exist in Jersey?

The Arts Centre, Howard Davis, The Grand Hotel

Explain why the number of cinema spaces have declined over the years and what you think the implications are for the film industry in general.

As there are more streaming services like Netflix there is no need for people to leave their comfortable homes. Also since the cinema age of creation was quite recent and cinemas were an invention just made it was a lot more of a gift to go. Lastly, because of COVID many cinemas have been forced to shut down.

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Christopher Nolan

Role 1

Cinematographer: I love working with cameras and enjoy using techniques to improve the genre.

Job Description: While working on cinematography the main jobs that I will be focusing on consists of framing, angles, lighting and shot types that fit with the genre of the short film I am making.

Inspiration: One movie that heavily inspired me to do cinematography was ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’. The symmetry, depth of field and camera movements were so fascinating and really immersed me into the film. This movie will be referred back to into my final pieces.

Role 2

Editor: Editing is very therapeutic to me and I would like to study different techniques to improve my editing.

Job Description: While working on editing I will focus on the pacing, colourisation, shot timelines and sound. This will change depending on the genre. For example, in horror will edit a darker colour grade and will have an increased pace of shots to create tension.

Inspiration: One film that uses amazing editing is Baby Driver. The sound integration with the use of dietetic and non-diegetic work very well together. The pacing is also very impressive as they make it very quick without disorientating the viewers. They also use very good text editing during the opening credit scene as they included the text during the shots not just a blank screen.

Role 3

Screen Writer: I am a English Lit student and have a lot of inspiration from movies that I would like to integrate into my own work.

Job Description: As a screenwriter I will be focussing on writing the script, creating the characters and their traits as well as communicating to the director with the vision that I have.

Inspiration: Harry Potter is an inspiration for me as it is incredible how someone was able to come up with such an amazing storyline that completely changed the world that we’re in today.

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Final Rating: 8/10

Memorable scene: I think that the most memorable scene was the final scene. The voice over on top of the montage was very inspirational showing all the hardship, deaths and locations that the men had to survive and then showing them finally home. The music and shots worked well together to create a clear and happy ending.

One film that uses narration in order to move the story line is Fight Club. I believe that the director decided to use narration because it makes the aduience connect on a deeper level with the protagonist as we can hear his thoughts which is something very personal. The audeinces gets a better understanding to how and why he does what he does.

I think that it also used narration because the story was initially a book so by using narration it gives the audience a sense of nastagia of reading the book again.

Lastly his character uses voice-over narration throughout to convey the journey of his involvement with Tyler Durden, leader of the Fight Club.

One film that heavily uses Leitmotif to enhance meaning for the audience is Harry Potter. The song ‘Prologue’ is used continuously in every single one of the films which gives a sense of nostalgia and safety in knowing that you are going to watch something familiar and gives you a sense of home connecting to the characters in the film going back home to Hogwarts.