Film Studies and Film History Machines which Created the Illusion of Movement Phenakistoscopes Thaumatropes Zoetropes Praxinoscopes All versions of spinning motion toys Edward Muybridge Large scale photographic panorama of San Francisco 1878 ID: 183244
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Slide1
Introduction
Film Studies and Film HistorySlide2
Machines which Created the Illusion of Movement
Phenakistoscopes
Thaumatropes
Zoetropes
Praxinoscopes
All versions of spinning motion toysSlide3
Edward Muybridge
Large scale photographic panorama of San Francisco 1878
Sequence of 13 photographs taken at different moments
360 degree view of city
Created an illusion of continuity Slide4
Famous analysis of trotting horses (1878)
Led to cinema’s creation
Leland Stanford wanted to know if all four hooves were off the ground
The horses tripped the camera’s shutters (quick)
The unfolding motions of time and space Slide5
Celluloid
1889, George Eastman
Crude Flexible Film Base
Long strips of frames became possible
Celluloid is an early plastic
that melts when it gets hot Slide6
Persistence of vision
Persistent
after images
Cinema arises from an interface
Continuously moving still images
A process of perception on the part of the human spectator which readies him or her to receive continuity as motion itself Slide7
Elements of Motion Picture Film
Flexible, Transparent Film Base (Eastman)
Fast exposure time (Etienne-Jules
Marey
) 12 images on Film Glass
Mechanism to pull the film through the camera
Intermittent device to stop the film
A shutter to block off lightSlide8
Thomas
edison
Kinetograph
(recorded images)
Kinetoscope
Peep Shows
Black Maria Studio (New Jersey)Horses Jumping, Niagra Falls, Trains, Dancing Girls etc..Slide9
Lumiere Brothers
A Step further than Edison
Ensured that the film advanced at a uniform rate
Mobile Cameras
Projections (larger than life)
First 35 mm camera that also served as a projector:
Lumiere
1895, First public viewing of films at The Grand Café in Paris Slide10
Style of early Films
Single shot framing action
Long-shot distance
Black Maria showed vaudeville entertainers, famous sports figures and celebrities performing for the camera
The
Lumieres
took the cameras out to parks, gardens beaches and other public placesSlide11
Georges Méliès
1896, Purchased a film projector and built a camera based on the same mechanism
First films showed shots of every day activities
Magician
, discovered the possibility of every day effects
He built his own studio like Black Maria
Glass sided like a greenhouse Slide12Slide13
Georges Méliès
films
progressed
to
being
longer
narratives with scenes shot in tableauxEach scene consisted of one shot except
when
c
ertain
transformations
took
place
Cuts
were
designed
to
be
imperceptible on
screen
Slide14
Late 19th
& Early 20
th
century
Films circulated widely until World War I (1914)
Limited Resources
From 1904 on, narrative form became the most prominent form of film communication
French, Italian and American films dominated world markets
The Great Train Robbery, Edwin Porter 1903Slide15
Classical Hollywood Cinema
Edison attempted to monopolize the early film industry
Tried to force competing filmmakers out of business (patent violations)
American
Mutoscope
and
Biograph
survived because of differing technology In 1908 Edison teamed up with Biograph forming Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC) Eventually they were the only stockholders and patent holders licensing other members to make, distribute and exhibit films MPPC never succeeded in eliminating its competition (Filmmakers like DW Griffith would break out and create their own companies) Slide16
DW Griffith
1908 (Made 100’s of “one and two
reelers
” in a 5 year period)
Complex narratives in short spans
Didn’t event the devices that he used, he gave many techniques like cross-cutting or parallel editing a strong narrative motivation
By the time he made his features he was creating lengthy complex scenes across multiple locations Slide17
The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916)
Directed actors in a different way
Medium close-ups and close ups to get subtle nuances in performance –a technique still used today
Quick cuts at the end of
Intolerance
were influential on Soviet Filmmakers like Eisenstein:
Battleship
Potempkin (1925)He viewed film as an expressive medium capable of bringing about social change Slide18
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
About the American Civil War
Strong visual aesthetic, Birth of Hollywood Aesthetic
Distortion of history
Testament to the deep racism at the time
Many thought it contributed to the rise of the
Klu
Klux KlanSlide19
Ebert on “Birth”
Griffith has a sure hand in the way he cuts from epic shots of enormous scope to small human vignettes. He was the first director to understand instinctively how a movie could mimic the human ability to scan an event quickly, noting details in the midst of the larger picture. Many silent films moved slowly, as if afraid to get ahead of their audiences; Griffith springs forward eagerly, and the impact on his audiences was unprecedented; they were learning for the first time what a movie was capable of. Slide20
Ebert on “Birth”
"
The Birth of a Nation" is Griffith's sin, for which he tried to atone all the rest of his life. So instinctive were the prejudices he was raised with as a 19th century Southerner that the offenses in his film actually had to be explained to him. To his credit, his next film, "Intolerance," was an attempt at apology. He also once edited a version of the film that cut out all of the Klan material, but that is not the answer. If we are to see this film, we must see it all, and deal with it all.Slide21
Ebert on “Birth”
The long third act of the film is where the most offensive racism resides. There is no denying the effectiveness of the first two acts. The first establishes a bucolic, idealistic view of America before the Civil War, with the implication that the North should have left well enough alone. The second involves unparalleled scenes of the war itself, which seem informed by the photographs of Matthew Brady and have an powerful realism and conviction. Slide22
Sarris on “Birth”
On the other hand, the equally distinguished critic Andrew Sarris wrote about Griffith's masterpiece: "Classic or not, 'Birth of a Nation' has long been one of the embarrassments of film scholarship. It can't be ignored...and yet it was regarded as outrageously racist even at a time when racism was hardly a household word."Slide23
Influence of Griffith
Use of medium close ups and close ups
Subtle changes in facial expressions
Rapid editing at the end of
Intolerance (Soviet Montage)
Using parallel editing for highly dramatic purposes Slide24
Cecil B Demille
The Cheat
(1915) Chiaroscuro/Rembrandt Lighting
Influence on French Impressionist filmmakers
Bright sources of light and no fill light
Linear pattern of narrative
Precursor to the formal complexity of Hollywood Narrative1914 (first film)--1956 (Last Film)Slide25
Continuity System
Coherent spatial and temporal relations within narratives
Match on action
Less reliance on single frontal shots
Eyeline
matches
180 degree rule Slide26
Standardization of Hollywood Style
Carefully motivated narrative elements
Straightforward causal development
Same production system
Similar division of labor
Little independent production
Most alternative films were made in Europe Slide27
Charlie Chaplin
Successful British Vaudevillian
Extremely famous for comic films during the silent film era (pre WW1)
Wrote, Directed and starred in films
He also continued to make silent films after the “talkies” were introduced
Was identified with leftist views during the McCarthy era and moved back to Europe Slide28
Continued
1913: Keystone
“IS THERE A MAN NAMED CHAFFIN IN YOUR COMPANY OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT STOP IF SO WILL HE COMMUNICATE WITH KESSEL AND BAUMANN 24 LONGACRE BUILDING BROADWAY.” (1
)
They had lost Ford Sterling and needed to replace him
By 1916, just two years after appearing in his first motion picture, Charles Chaplin had become the most famous entertainer in the
worldThe Mutual Film Corporation created a subsidiary called The Lone Star Corporation solely to make the Chaplin films. Lone Star paid Chaplin $10,000 a week plus a $150,000 signing bonus for the twelve two-reel comedies. Slide29
Continued:
Viewed stereoscope images of the 1896 Klondike
Donner Party Disaster of 1846/Horrors of the time are used for comic purposes
Believed that tragedy and comedy are never far apart
Elaborate year & ½ production
Partially due to his personal life with
Lita
GreySlide30
The Gold Rush
The
Gold Rush out of the most unlikely sources for comedy. The first idea came to him when he was viewing some stereoscope pictures of the 1896 Klondike gold rush, and was particularly struck by the image of an endless line of prospectors snaking up the Chilkoot Pass, the gateway to the gold fields. At the same time he happened to read a book about the Donner Party Disaster of 1846Slide31
The Gold Rush
Chaplin - proving his belief that tragedy and ridicule are never far apart - set out to transform these tales of privation and horror into a comedy. He decided that his familiar tramp figure should become a gold prospector, joining the mass of brave optimists to face all the hazards of cold, starvation, solitude, and the occasional incursion of a grizzly bear.