tone: in bonnie and Clyde the tone is mostly light hearted and comical. this is until the final 20 minutes of the film where the police start to close in on the barrow gang and end up killing bonnie and Clyde at the end. the final scene uses quick cuts back and fourth between bonne and Clyde as they know they are finished. the tone changes from light and funny to suspenseful and gory

realism: the films realism comes through the ending of the film where bonnie and Clyde get shot by the firing squad. the use off blood bags make the film more realistic as it makes the audience think they the people getting shot were real people. it also helps the film was based on a true story

visual style: they use of tracking shots and large panning shot fits the French new wave style

an example of some German expressionist films would be

metropolis directed by fritz Lang

warming shadows directed by Arthur Robinson

an example of some Russian expressionist films would be

battleship Potemkin directed by Sergei einetenstein

Kino-eye directed by dzigia bertov

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

Birth of a Nation is a historical drama about the American Civil War and the rise of Ku Klux Klan. It depicts the tragedies of the Civil War beyond the battlefield. However, it’s effects on race relations were devastating, and reverberations are still felt to this day. The Birth of a Nation is three hours of racist propaganda – starting with the Civil War and ending with the Ku Klux Klan riding in to save the South from black rule during the Reconstruction era. The three-hour silent film The Birth of a Nation did “incalculable harm” to Black Americans by creating a justification for prejudice, racism, and discrimination for decades to follow.

German expressionism + Russian constructivism –

name directors and films connected with each movement:

German expressionism

• The cabinet of Dr Caligari, directed by Robert Weine and released in 1920.

• Nosferatu, directed by F.W. Murnau and released in 1922

• ‘M’, directed by Fritz Lang and released in 1931

Russian constructivism

• Battleship Potemkin, directed by Sergei Eisenstein and released in 1925.

• Man with movie camera, directed by Dziga Vertov and released in 1929.

German expressionism: Directors and films

• Erich Pommer – Director of Destiny (1920)

• Fritz Lang – Director of M (1931)

Russian constructivism: Directors and films:

• Lev Kuleshov – Director of The death Ray (1925) this was one of the earliest full length films at 2 hours and 5 minutes

• Dziga Vertov – director of Kino eye (1924) was Vertov’s means of capturing what he believed to be “inaccessible to the human eye”

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

Buster Keaton – Barry had a very static facial expression. His deadpan style in the silent-film era combined with his kinetic energy have inspired some of todays most acclaimed stars like Oscar Isaac. Some of his films are, ‘The Cameraman’, ‘Steamboat Bill, Jr. and ‘Our Hospitality’.

Charlie Chaplin – He all about laughs, he was very generous to the people he worked with, and inspired others with his actions and words. His Little Tramp even today is an international icon because of the familiarity with the character, that he us one of us. His performances brought sanity to modern society and humanised the hardships of daily life in this technologically advanced world. He influenced many people from Gene Wilder to young Walt Disney. Some of his films are ‘The Kid’, ‘City Lights’ and ‘The Great Dictator’.

Harold Lloyd – “The King of Daredevil Comedy,” Harold Lloyd is best remembered today as the young man dangling desperately from a clock tower in the 1923 classic Safety Last. At the height of his career, Lloyd was one of the most popular and highest-paid stars of his time. He influenced stars like Bob Clampett.

1. a) Directors such as Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, Otto Preminger, Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Carol Reed and Michael Curtiz introduced the Expressionist style to crime dramas of the 1930s and 1940s, expanding Expressionism’s influence on modern film making.

b) The establishers of Soviet cinema were Lev Kuleshov and Dziga Vertov. They showed an interest in both the theory of cinema and practice. They incorporated Constructivism in Soviet cinema in the form of montage. Montage became the most important structural element, along with the lack of pristine film.

Films include

a)

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Nosferatu (1922)

Metropolis (1927)

The Golem: How He Came into the World 1920

b)

Dura Lex (1926) 

Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

Battleship Potemkin (1925)

Zvenigora (1928)

2. The German Expressionists were artists, writers, and thinkers who were of age in Germany prior to World War II, and lived during Wilhelm II’s reign. German Expressionism developed as a result of the younger generation’s reaction against the bourgeois culture of Germany during this time period.

With its aesthetic roots fixed firmly in the Suprematism movement, Constructivism came fully to the fore as the art of a young Soviet Union after the revolution of 1917. The movement was conceived of out of a need for a new aesthetic language; one benefitting of a progressive new era in Soviet socialist history.

One director for German Expressionism era is Fritz Lang who directed the 1921 film Destiny.

Another German director is Arthur Robinson who directed Warning Shadows in 1923.

A Russian Constructivism director is Sergei Einstein who made the famous movie Battleship Potemkin.

Another Russian constructivism director is Lev Kuleshov who produced Dura Lex.

two directors of the German Expressionism movement include Fritz Lang and Robert Wiene. two film from this movement include Metropolis and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

some directors from the Russian constructivism include Lev Kuleshov and Dziga Vertov with two films from this movement being The death ray and man with a movie camera

German Expressionism and Russian Constructivism

Name at least two directors and two films connected with each movement –

German Expressionism: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (directed by Robert Wiene in 1920) and Nosferatu (directed by F. W. Murnau in 1922)

Russian Constructivism: The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bollsheviks (directed by Lev Kuleshov in 1924) and Battleship Potemkin (directed by Sergei Eisenstein in 1925)