Year 12 film studies, Kendal. Film categories

Battleship Potemkin 

Director; Sergei Eisenstein  

Genre; historically significant  

Date; December 21, 1925 

A bug’s life 

Director; John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton.  

Genre; mainstream  

Date; 1998 

The shape of water 

Director; Guillermo del toro 

Genre; art film  

Date; December 1, 2017 

Seven samurai 

Director; Akira Kurosawa 

Genre; historically significant  

Date; April 26, 1954 

The breakfast club 

Director; john Hughes  

Genre; mainstream 

Date; February 15, 1985 

The wizard of oz  

Director; victor Fleming 

Genre; historically significant   

Date; august 25, 1939 

The magnificent 7  

Director; john Sturges  

Genre; historically significant  

Date; October 23, 1960 

Love, Simon  

Director; Greg Berlanti  

Genre; mainstream 

Date; March 16, 2018 

Fitzcarraldo 

Director; Werner Herzog 

Genre; art film  

Date; October 10, 1982 

Alphaville 

Director; jean-Luc Goddard 

Genre; historically significant  

Date; November 1, 1965 

Historically significant films are very valued within society because they are talked about so many years later and have been watched by multiple generations. For example, the Wizard of Oz is a treasured musical that is still being adapted and watched by many people.

Mainstream: 

-Bugs life, 1998 – John Lasseter + Andrew Stanton – animated (Pixar children’s film) 

-Love Simon, 2018 – Greg Berlanti – romcom  

-The breakfast club, 1985 – John Hughes – teen comedy  

– The magnificent seven, 1960 – Paul Wendkos – western 

Historically significant: 

-Wizard of Oz, 1939 – Victor Fleming – fantasy musical (revolutionized the use of color in films) 

-Battleship Potemkin, 1925 – Sergei Eisenstein – war  

-Alphaville, 1965 – Jean-Luc Godard – noir  

Art film: 

-The Shape of Water, 2017 – Guillermo Del Toro – romantic horror fantasy (Guillermo del Toro is a very arty director) 

-The seven Samurai, 1954 – Akira Kurosawa – action  

-Fitzcarraldo, 1982 – Werner Herzog – Musical, Drama  

A Bug’s Life – I chose to put this in mainstream because it is a movie that is produced by Pixar, which is a mainstream company. Being a mainstream company means that all their movies will have a large audience as a given. As well as that, children’s movies are usually mainstream because children are a large demographic in the film industry. 

Wizard of Oz – I chose to put The Wizard of Oz in historically accurate because it was one of the movies to revolutionize the use of colour in movies. This movie would have been a lot of people’s introductions to the use of colour in film, which would make it very significant.

The Shape of Water – I chose to put this in Art film because i have seen a few Guillermo films and I think he has a very artsy style and by the few screen caps I’ve seen, I think this movie is following that pattern. The movie’s topic is also one that sounds like an art film, being about a more confusing relationship between the human and the amphibian creature.  

The Breakfast Club- I put this film into historically significant even though it is vastly different from the other ones in this category because I think it was a film that was one of a kind for the time (1985). The film greatly boosted the popularity of comedic, teen-centered films.  And although the film isn’t necessarily an extremely deep film, it still followed mature themes and is still taught in schools today; it is very inspirational. The movie also won an Excellence Award in 2005. 

The Bugs Life- I put this film in mainstream because it was produced by Pixar Animation Studios which is one of the biggest animation studios in the world, and it most likely expected to garner a lot of attention straight away. Additionally, it is a film made for families and this genre of movie usually can’t explore deep and important themes and they strive to keep everything light-hearted and comedic. It is also not the best animation film put out there.