Film/Cinema History Slides PDF

FILM / CINEMA HISTORY Cinema in the past: reels of films travelled physically from place to place. A projectionist was in charge of screening. In The Spirit of the Beehive, the villagers wonder what the film will be when it arrives by truck. The film is screened in a makeshift theatre and people bri...

FILM / CINEMA HISTORY Cinema in the past: reels of films travelled physically from place to place. A projectionist was in charge of screening. In The Spirit of the Beehive, the villagers wonder what the film will be when it arrives by truck. The film is screened in a makeshift theatre and people bring their own chairs. Ana’s bright-eyed excitement symbolizes the wonder that films bring to people’s lives. https://psychodrivein.com/popcorn-cinema-the-spirit-of-the-beehive- 1973/ Film and cinema have a history film has a history, back to the development of early photography & the invention of movies in the early 1890s; cinema goes back to exhibition and distribution; includes aesthetic, technological, social, and economic changes and developments that have shaped film & cinema to this moment film also creates history; film doesn’t just record and reflect history (whether fictional or fact) but shapes the way people see and understand history; much of what we know of the past is shaped by representations and images, including moving images film shapes history; has been used deliberately to influence people (e.g. propaganda and censorship); as part of popular culture, commercial film influences audiences through ideology and hegemony (Antonio Gramsci) influencing people’s thinking and manufacturing consent (Noam Chomsky) to power hierarchies through ideological cultural means) 2 Film history as partial A major concern for all historians is the question of evidence; particularly pressing for film historians because many early films have not survived or survive in a fragile state. The issue of evidence also bears on the partiality of film history, which has tended to focus on Western cinemas, in part because film histories can only be written for countries and regions where films and film-related materials have been preserved. Four Main Approaches to Film History: 1.cinema as art; 2. technology; 3. economic institution; 4. social practice –all have changed over time 1. Aesthetic Approach cinema as an art form, including a focus on the lives of key inventors, filmmakers, and producers; and on identifying, describing, and interpreting ‘masterpieces’ of film art; broader approach to aesthetic film history focuses on film style, genre, and film movements. 2. Technological Approach considers the origins, development, innovation, and adoption of technologies such as film stock, cameras, lenses, film projector, and 3-D. 4 Four Main Approaches to Film History (cont’d): 3. Economic Approach considers cinema in relation to histories of film production, distribution, and exhibition; includes a look at the film industry, multinational distribution companies, the Studio System, Hollywood, independent film production, funding, salaries, cross-marketing, collaborations 4. Social History Approach considers how cinema has interacted with its social, political, and cultural contexts: a film or group of films may be read as embodying social values and attitudes…or as expressing government policy; or as in some sense reflecting the sensibilities of the time (e.g. American military propaganda in films such as Black Hawk Down, 2001, dir. Ridley Scott; e.g. critique of class hierarchies in Snowpiercer, 2013, dir. Bong Joon-ho) 5 other approaches to Film history: periodization according to key moments (e.g. silent films): inventions, technologies, decades (e.g. films of the 1960s), events, filmmakers (e.g. directors); industries National cinemas; affected by globalization; no national cinema is isolated; filmmakers have learned from multiple sources, creators, and places; a constant traffic in sharing, borrowing, and adapting techniques and ideas -“a stream of repetition and innovation” (Villarejo 58) Pre-cinema history: camera obscura Many earlier inventions were crucial in leading to motion picture technologies Camera obscura (Latin for “dark chamber”) – - invented in 11c BCE by Al-Hasan Ibn al-Haytham (anglicized to Alhazen), born in Basra, (in what is now called) Iraq - a technique for reproducing images by projecting a scene through a tiny hole that is inverted and reversed on the opposite wall or surface (think pinhole camera) https://kid-museum.org/this-weekend/camera-obscura-2/ 7  Pre-cinema history: photography The invention of film and moving images involved many people and processes over a period of time 1820s, photography was born; French inventors Nicephore Niepce and Louis Daguerre capture[d] an image through a chemical process known as photoetching; 1837, Daguerre perfected the technique of fixing an image on a photographic plate through a chemical reaction of silver, iodine and mercury. He called it daguerreotype 1880, Zoopraxiscope an early projector for the magic lantern (basic concept of animation) First daguerreotype to show people, 1838, by Daguerre; a shoe shiner and customer; a street in Paris https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/52299/8-important-daguerreotype- photos Pre-cinema history: series photography First series photography of continuous motion: Galloping Horse (1877) Eadweard Muybridge, nature photographer, created series photography, a first step toward motion pictures 9 First Movies and Cinema late 1800s-early 1900s Cinématographe camera (1895), an early motion picture camera and projector; invented by Auguste and Louis Lumière (Lumière Brothers) French motion-picture camera inventor Louis Le Prince (worked in UK & US), credited as the ‘Father of Cinematography,’ made movies in 1888; he disappeared in 1890 Lumière Brothers and their camera operators filmed short films known as Institut Lumière - CINEMATOGRAPHE Camera. actualities, earliest form of documentary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institut_Lumi%C3%A8re  Lumière Brothers went to The First Movies, 1890s, and cinema parks, gardens, beaches and outdoor public places to film Still from Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory. their films also toured (1895). Auguste and Louis Lumière, directors. internationally This film was one of ten short films (about 1 min. they sent camera operators to each) screened for a paying audience. Belgium, England, Canada, US, India, Brazil, Palestine, to spread an interest and passion for film Dec. 1895, Lumière Brothers were the first to project motion pictures on a screen in Paris (and charge admission); simultaneously, in the US, Woodville Latham with some former employees of Thomas Edison developed 11 The First Movies – 1890s Kinetograph and Kinetoscope, invented by W. K. L. Dickson (US) in 1891; credited with making the first American film – very brief - known as Dickson’s Monkeyshines #1; see his second film here); Dickson was an employee of Thomas Edison Black Maria. 1893. Thomas Edison. the first motion-picture “studio” One of the first films they produced was a 5 second “scene” of a man sneezing vaudeville performers, sports figures, actors were filmed A kinetoscope was needed to see a film, but it allowed only one viewer at a time 12 The First Movies – 1890s Interior of Edison’s Black Maria, named after the term for a paddy wagon, the vehicle police used to pick up people (paddy was a slur for poor Irish people). The Kinetoscope within the Black Maria Edison owned the patent for capturing and projecting motion pictures; to make a movie in the 1900s or 1910s, you had to pay Edison; he dissolved his Motion Picture Patents Company in 13  The First Movies 1897, French director Georges Méliès built his own glass-sided studio produced hundreds of films that combined elaborate sets, fanciful stage craft, optical illusions, and wild storylines that anticipated much of what was to come in the next century of cinema first master of mise-en-scene: dazzling special effects, costumes innovator in editing: stopping the camera, adjusting elements in the scene, resuming his most famous film: Trip to the Moon, early sci-fi, an international success, much pirated; included Long Distance Wireless Photography. (1908) Georges Méliès, animation of the moon through director. (France) SFX 14  Women and some firsts first fictional film in cinema history, The Cabbage Fairy (1896), director Alice Guy-Blaché (French, moved to the US); she was also the first woman director Lois Weber, first American woman to direct a feature film, The Merchant of Venice (1914), auteur, directed 135+ films; screenwriter; created the split screen technique; one of the first directors to experiment with sound; directed many profitable films; at one point she was Universal’s highest paid director Dorothy Arzner, auteur; most films by a woman director within the studio system; created multiple gazes among women characters; usually wore a suit and tie; first woman in the Director’s Guild Nell Shipman, Something New (1920); first Canadian woman to make a feature film (in the US): "The film was financed by the Maxwell-Briscoe Motor Company and, as such, has been dismissed by some critics as merely an extended and somewhat melodramatic commercial for the off-road capacities of the Maxwell automobile. But Shipman's collaboration with the automaker represents less a capitulation of art to commerce than a strategic alliance enabling her independence from the equally commercial and increasingly patriarchal studio system.“ -- Jennifer Parchesky (source) Women and some firsts, cont’d Tressie Souders, first African American woman to direct a feature film, A Woman’s Error, 1922 From 1920s to 1960, there were more female directors in the Soviet Union than there were in the West; first woman director in the Soviet film industry, Olga Preobrazhenskaya, co-directed The Squire’s Daughter, 1916 Tazuko Sakani, first women director in Japan, New Clothing ( 初姿 ) (1936); after WWII, she was banned from directing; there were no more films made by women in Japan until after WWII(University of Oslo) Annemarie Jacir, first Palestinian woman director of a feature film, Salt of this Sea, 2007 (Mai Masri, first Palestinian woman documentary director) See the series Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema, on Kanopy for more on the history of women in filmmaking  First pro-gay film: Different from the Others (Germany) first explicitly pro-gay/queer film: Different from the Others (Anders als die Andern) (1919), German film; dir. Richard Oswald (Austrian); co-written by Magnus Hirschfeld gay protagonist played by Conrad Veidt (Cesare in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) Exists in a reconstructed form (plot gaps, missing characters); Hirschfeld, a sexologist doctor, saved 50m. of it for medical screenings Initially well-received in public screenings; protested and banned in 1920; could only be seen in private screenings and by doctors; The Nazis burned copies of the film https://www.openculture.com/2014/10/different-from-the-others-1919- the-first-gay-rights-movie-in-history.html http://www.cinemaqueer.com/review%20pages%203/different.html  Early films Before 1905, films were brief; a few minutes or less; depicted unusual events, cute animals, brief attractions (These films look forward to those on YouTube) As films became longer, narrative form became the prominent type of filmmaking Early film included what today is called pornography Early film included representations and stereotypes of Indigenous, Black, Arab, and Asian peoples, and colonized and formerly colonized people colonial gaze / Western ways of imagining the Other was evident at the beginning of film (see the next slide) Orientalism was popular in early American films (e.g., silent films The Sheik 1921; The Son of the Sheik, 1926, starred Rudolph Valentino, an American actor of Fr/Ital descent ) Globally, people avidly took up new film technologies, but they had difficulties because of politics, economy, colonialism; imperialism; fascism, WWI, WWII, wars  Product placement began in early film Wings, 1927, the very first movie to win a Best Picture Oscar, featured product placement. It showed a scene where a chocolate bar was eaten, followed by a long, lingering close-up of the Hershey's logo. Fashions worn in movies had a big effect, women began asking retailers for the clothes they saw stars wearing on the big screen. People started asking for the furniture they saw in living room sequences, and the appliances used in kitchen scenes. American cars used in films shown internationally sparked a demand in Europe, which infuriated European car makers to the point where they asked film exhibitors to obscure automotive brand names. Britain's Tea Bureau increased U.S. tea consumption by 17 million pounds per year by getting tea scenes in over 80 movies in just 24 months. It also persuaded Warner Bros to change the title of its 1950 musical "No! No! Nanette" to "Tea For Two" by promising to spend $2 million dollars cross-promoting the movie. Reese's Pieces was embedded into the storyline as the device that begins the relationship between a lonely boy and his new extra-terrestrial friend… sales of Reese's Pieces jumped 70% in one month after E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial opened. After Wayfarers [sunglasses] were placed in Risky Business [1983, w Tom Cruise], sales that year jumped to 360,000 pairs, and by 1989, four million pairs were sold…Ray-Ban began placing their sunglasses in about 160 films a year. (Terry O’Reilly, “Show me the money,” citing the work of Kerry Segrave, Product Placement in Hollywood Films: A History, 2004)  product placement + imperial values + hegemonic masculinity = cool Did the product placement of Smirnoff Vodka in the 1962 James Bond film Dr. No (and in most of the Bond franchise films that followed) set off a demand for medium-dry vodka martinis as they signified cool, debonair class status and white masculinity embodied as desirable? The first film in the James Bond franchise was Dr. No, https://www.jamesbondlifestyle.com/product/smirnoff-vodka 1962, dir. Terence Young, with Sean Connery playing  History: early European and American film and colonialism --Ella Shohat & Robert Stam “The Imperial Imaginary” Parallel histories of cinema and psychoanalysis, cinema and nationalism, cinema and consumerism, and cinema and the imperial project The most prolific (silent) film-producing countries (Britain, France, US, and Germany), were also the leading imperialist or colonialist countries Cinema was entertainment for the working class, diverting attention; weakened class struggle and solidary, which was transformed into national and racial solidarity With the invention of the motion camera, Europeans set off traveling to explore new geographies; Divisions created between the subject doing the looking and the object being looked at; POV: the spectator was put behind the eyes of the European master-subject History: early European and American film and colonialism --Ella Shohat & Robert Stam “The Imperial Imaginary” (cont’d) Colonial representations included Lumiere Brothers’ mocking portrayals of African Muslims 1902, early 20th c US film portrayals of Native Americans as savages (Fighting Blood, 1911; The Last of the Mohicans (1920) Colonial powers tried to stop the development of rival ‘native’ cinemas While imperial adventure films conveyed the pleasures and benefits of empire, the Western moved this to the American frontier. 25% of all Hollywood feature films from 1926-1967 were Westerns (a national obsession); the man-against-nature/wild west was a narrative that promoted settler and colonial ideologies Myth of the frontier, traces its origins to the colonial period 1908–1927: Origins of Classical Hollywood Style The movie director was a central development Set the classical Hollywood style and stature Development of movie genres Feature-length films began to replace short films D. W. Griffith helped pioneer the full-length feature film and is credited in film history as having invented many of the narrative conventions, camera moves and editing techniques still in use today Walt Disney made his first cartoon in 1922 Shot from Making an American Citizen (1912). Alice Guy Blache, director. Guy Blache founded her own studio and made dozens of narrative films. This film is also important because of its feminist message. Guy Blache is recognized as one of the earliest filmmakers to include narrative. She had worked for the Lumiere Brothers before emigrating to the US. 23 1908–1927: Origins of Classical Hollywood Style The Birth of a Nation (1915). D. W. Griffith, director. Known both for its racist content and Griffith’s innovative technical achievements [camera placement, editing, close-ups] “brilliant and repugnant” (Tom Brook) A vicious propaganda film, encoded with white supremacy; glamorized the Old South; the son of a white plantation owner is forced to form the KKK to protect from power-hungry freed slaves Use of parallel editing encouraged the viewer to root for the KKK (Tim Corrigan & Patricia White) white people in blackface played Black characters was screened throughout American towns and cities to help mobilize and recruit for the KKK; lynchings often occurred after screenings By 1922, it had been watched by 5 m. people First film ever to be screened at the White House Screened across Canada with a traveling orchestra; screenings were very popular and highly attended 24  Early Black director: George Micheaux, made films from 1919-48 (notes from Susan Hayward, Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts) The first African American to make a feature film, The Homesteader 1919 An independent filmmaker; wasn’t allowed to work in Hollywood; hence, some of his films suffered from low production values Prolific; made 44 feature films, many were based on novels he had written (find some of them online) depicted hard realities of rape, lynching, gambling, violence against women (among other subjects) created complex black characters, some who were shown to collaborate with white supremacists two environments: the urban and the Western frontier, which was seen as a site of possibility and hope his films were a political enterprise to bring awareness of social and moral difficulties, had assertive characters cultural critic bell hooks writes that Michaux interrogated internalized racism through the trope of “passing” black heterosexual pleasure emerges within the compulsion of dominant white ways women were agents in his film, with self-defining desires, as much as men https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/books/review/Lop were ate-t.html 1919–1931: German Expressionism German government backed the German film industry after WWI, which caused its growth Distorted and exaggerated settings; compositions of unnatural spaces Use of oblique angles and nonparallel lines; highly stylized acting; unnatural costumes, hairstyles, and makeup The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920). Robert Wiene, director. German expressionism reflected the general atmosphere of cynicism, alienation, and disillusionment. 26 1919–1931: German Expressionism, cont’d The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920). Robert Wiene, director. The intertitles in German expressionist films speak through the use of exaggerated letters, echoing the bold, jagged graphics of the movie’s painted sets. 27 1919–1931: German Expressionism, cont’d German expressionism gave birth to the horror-film genre. influenced many American filmmakers Frankenstein (1931), Dracula (1931), Th e Mummy (1932) (Universal films), inspired by the surreal production design of German Expressionist films Count Orlok (Nosferatu), on the left, is a vampire Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror (1922). F. W. Murnau, director. 28 1920s–1930s: Soviet Montage Movement Directors: Dziga Vertov, Lev Kuleshov (taught at the state film school), Sergei Eisenstein and Vsevolod Pudovkin (students of Kuleshov); the 4 filmmakers advanced theories of montage editing The 1917 Russian Revolution sparked artists, including filmmakers, to create avant-garde concepts and theory and experiment with innovative methods and techniques The Soviet Montage Movement represents a high point of cinematic experimentation and innovation. Montage – to fragment and reassemble footage so as to manipulate the viewer’s perception and understanding; Eisenstein’s theory of “intellectual montage” The Man with the Movie Camera (1929). Dziga Vertov, director; his brother Mikhail Kaufman, cinematographer; his wife Elizaveta Svilova, editor. Includes a self-reflexive sequence of film being edited (metafilm) 29 1920s–1930s: Soviet Montage Movement, cont’d Alexander Nevsky (1938). Sergei Eisenstein, director. The movie’s “Battle of the Ice” sequence has influenced many other movies, including Star Wars. Battleship Potemkin (1925). Sergei Eisenstein, director; One of the fundamental landmarks of cinema; was an international and critical success; known for its brilliant editing the creates dynamic energy and tension. Based on an historical event; mistreated sailors revolt; group as protagonist Eisenstein’s films center on “intellectual montage”: montage editing that through juxtaposition and collision of shots, maximizes meanings in the viewer’s mind (e.g. a shot of maggot-infested meat that a doctor had fed to the sailors is inserted out of temporal sequence when the doctor is thrown overboard; the shot acts as narrative justification for the doctor’s treatment (Corrigan and White) 30 1927–late 1940s: Hollywood’s Golden Age covers the period in Hollywood production from the adoption of synchronized sound in 1927 to the anti- trust case that dismantled studio monopolies in 1948 and rise of television in the 1950s. Transition from silent to sound production (1927); Conversion to sound completed in 1930 Consolidation of the studio system (see next slide) Exploitation of familiar genres (musicals, horror, Western, screwball comedy, gangster film, etc.) Motion Picture Production Code (Hays Code) Flashbacks and voiceovers developed; both emphasize mental states, dreams, altered states Economic success of feature-length narrative films Movies became inextricably linked with ideologies The Jazz Singer 1927; one of the first films to experiment with synchronized sound [critique: its useofofAmerican culture, society, and capitalism 31 blackface]  Hollywood’s Golden Age, 1930-late 1940s dominated by eight powerful studios (RKO Pictures, Paramount, MGM, Fox, Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures and United Artists) and defined by four crucial business decisions Emphasis on vertical integration; By owning and controlling every aspect of the business, production, distribution and exhibition, the companies could minimize risk and maximize profit by 1. monopolizing the screens in local theaters through practices such as block booking and blind bidding. …the studios would force theaters to buy a block of several films to screen (block booking), sometimes without even knowing what they were paying for (blind bidding). One or two might be prestige films with well-known actors and higher production values, but the rest would be low-budget westerns or thrillers that theaters would be forced to exhibit. 2. centralizing the production process; filmmakers – writers, directors, actors – did not control the creative process, one or two producers did; At Warner Bros. it was Jack Warner and Darryl Zanuck. At RKO it was David. O. Selznick. And at MGM it was Louis B. Mayer and 28-year-old Irving Thalberg. 3. keeping the “talent” – writers, directors and actors – on low-cost, iron-clad, multi-year contracts.  Hollywood’s Golden Age & The Production Code (Hays Code) rise of the nickelodeon and increasing popularity of cinema, as well as a tendency for some producers and exhibitors to screen controversial and salacious content, subjected the film industry to repeated calls for censorship pressure from the Catholic Legion of Decency and other religious lobbyists and from the Motion Picture Research Council (a group of http://www.tainiothiki.gr/en/programs/restored-beautiful/59-movies/ influential social scientists who believed that 647-outrage cinema was corrupting children), and threat Outrage (1950). Ida Lupino, director. Lupino was silenced in mentioning rape as Ann of federal involvement in the film industry pledging to establish a set of moral (protagonist) was silenced from mentioning her rape. Lupino’s film had to pass the Production standards for films, Hays Office 1930 Code; hence, the rape couldn’t be mentioned nor adopted the Motion Picture Production shown. Lupino used sound, mise-en-scene, Code, a formal set of rules on un/acceptable editing and cinematic techniques to suggest the subject matter; enforced in 1934 rape, leading to it through representing the concession stand man as sinister, someone who 33 watches Ann, unknown to her. He then stalks her The Production Code (Hays Code) (cont’d) images, words, and meanings were removed a film’s plot should create a desired kind of moral universe, with evil acts punished and good deeds rewarded forbade nudity, adultery, homosexuality, gratuitous or unpunished violence, religious blasphemy stated that art can influence the morality of viewers rigidly controlled until 1954 replaced in 1968 by a rating system Hollywood’s Golden Age Gone with the Wind (1939). Victor Fleming, director. Symbol of the Golden Age of Hollywood; some say it’s the first blockbuster (high production values, spectacle, profitable, marketed, huge audience). has been criticized for its role in glamourizing white supremacy, in whitewashing slavery, and representing Black people as happy to be subservient and receive white kindness; contributed to the racist Mammy stereotype of Black women 35 on watching Gone with the Wind in contemporary times ‘when we consider the role that streaming plays in the contemporary media landscape, perhaps it is time for a ratings system when it comes to older movies such as Gone With the Wind? What if a movie like this granted an “O” rating – “O” for offensive – when the film in question is steeped in the kind of racism that Gone With the Wind projects? “O” seems appropriate only because the “R” that could signify “racist” is already taken. This way no one could say that the film had been banned, but anyone who chose to watch it would at least potentially have to contemplate what it means to consume such inherently racist material.’ (Todd Boyd, Gone With the Wind and the Damaging Effect of Hollywo od Racism Hollywood’s Golden Age: Citizen Kane 1941 Orson Welles’ razzle-dazzle style A radical film for Hollywood; revolutionized the medium 46 years after the invention of motion pictures Seven narrators, including the camera Strong anti-fascist message Heavily influenced by German Expressionism Achieved the highest degree of cinematic realism (through cinematography) Moving camera, voyeuristic role Techniques to show passage of time Sound design – overlapping sound, louder than other films, music, dialogue Rehearsed in private first, then cast rehearsed for one month so they could handle long passages of 37 dialogue in long takes End of the Golden Age in 1948, the U.S. government filed an anti-trust case against the major studios - vertical integration constituted an unfair monopoly over the entertainment industry. Supreme Court …ordered that all of the major studios sell off their theater chains and outlawed the practices of block booking and blind bidding. It was a financial disaster for the big studios. No longer able to shovel content to their own theater chains, studios had to actually consider what independent theaters wanted to screen and what paying audiences wanted to see. The result was a dramatic contraction in output as studios made fewer and fewer movies with increasingly expensive, freelance talent hoping to hit the moving target of audience interest. Also, the rise of television entertainment as the television set was quickly becoming a common household item; people stayed home to watch TV rather than go out to see movies 1942–1951: Italian Neorealism A reaction to Italian cinema under Mussolini Shot on location; nonprofessional actors; documentary visual style Long takes, spare dialogue, ambiguous endings placed value on the lives of ordinary working people Goal was revealing social conditions (see the slide on mise-en-scene. Ossessione (1943) Luchino Visconti, director. A transition between Italian eras, the film uses older Italian cinematic traditions but foreshadows neorealism in its depiction of the daily routines of ordinary people. 39 mid-1950s – mid-1960s: Origins: 1930s poetic realism; Sartre’s philosophy French New Wave Cinéma vérité style – (word pays homage to Vertov’s kino- pravda) lightweight filmmaking devices (see below) André Bazin – film theorist, “father” of the New Wave Agnès Varda – photographer, “mother” of the New Wave Self-reflexive films; sense of humour; director as auteur; anarchic politics; broad range of intertextual references; restless choppy editing style; rejection of classical methods La Pointe Courte (1954) Agnès Varda, director (the only woman director in the French New Wave) The 400 Blows (1959.) Francois Truffaut, director other directors: Claude Chabrol; Louis Malle; Alain Resnais; Jacques Rivette; Éric Rohmer Rapid action, handheld cameras, unusual camera angles, frequent long takes, direct address to the camera, emphasis on sound, Breathless (1960). Jean-Luc especially words; cinema experimentation; mix Godard, director Symbolizes the French of fiction and documentary; borderline 40  See the short montage film The Sounds of Agnes Varda for examples of the attention to sound in French New Wave films https://www.janusfilms.com/ Japanese cinema: Postwar Japan Movies popular in 1896; Owed much to Japanese literacy and theatrical traditions Strongly influenced by John Ford, Howard Hawks, and Orson Welles Akira Kurosawa is the most recognizable (and Western-style) director, followed by Kenji Mizoguchi and Yasujiro Ozu (top) Ran (1985) Akira Kurosawa, director. An adaption of Shakespeare’s King Lear, Kurosawa’s film is full of blood, violence, suffering, and death, qualities depicted in 12th- and 13th-century Japan. (bottom) Sansho the Bailiff (1954) Kenji Mizoguchi, director. In sharp contrast to Kurosawa’s Ran, this film’s calm painterly compositions demonstrate Mizoguchi’s interest in issues of freedom and women’s place in society. 42 Japanese cinema 1950s, commercial success and notable contributions to science-fiction, horror, and crime films (yakuza) Gojira (Godzilla, King of the Monsters), dir. Ishirō Honda, 1954; at the time US sci-fi was in decline; US version gendered the monster male, added scenes and removed reference to it being spawned from Gojira (Godzilla, King of the Monsters), dir. nuclear radiation; first in a Ishirō Honda, 1954; an influential classic; franchise series of 31 films; nuclear holocaust film screenshot from YouTube clip most recent: award-winning 2016 Shin Godzilla, dir. Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi;  Japan’s Nubero Bagu (New Wave) (1950s–1970s) Hiroshi Teshigahara, Yasuzo Masumura, Nagisa Oshima influenced by the French New Wave Emphasis on upsetting cinematic and social conventions, nihilism, brutality Sex films, known as pinku eiga, trod an increasingly fine line between pornography and art cinema, as in Nagisa Oshima’s censor-baiting …In the Realm of the Senses (1976). Oshima had been among a generation of directors leading a 1960s anti-Establishment ‘new wave’ of socially-concerned films which developed innovations in film narration, often producing a ‘quality’ take on commercial genres. (Kuhn & Westwell) In the Realm of the Senses (1976). Nagisa 44 Oshima, director. Banned or cut in many places.  Scene from Kwaidan, 1965 https://journal.rikumo.com/journal/paaff/a-brief-history-of-japanese-horror Japanese horror genre; forerunners of 1990s J-Horror Onibaba, 1964, dir. Kaneto Shindo, the first in the Japanese horror genre Kwaidan, 1965, dir. Masaki Kobayashi “In Kobayashi’s approach to horror, fear manifests as a constant sense of dread that builds to a climax throughout the course of the film. Compared to his American counterparts… Kobayashi’s horror is far more psychological; fear coming from what isn’t shown onscreen and for that reason leaves you thinking about the story long after the film has ended.” Rob Buscher, “  Contemporary Japanese film The yakuza, and especially the work of Takeshi Kitano, subsequently evolved into an ultra- violent, hybrid, postmodern genre blending conventions of commercial and art cinemas and attracting worldwide attention (for example Hana-Bi/Fireworks, Takeshi Kitano, 1997). Currently producing upwards of 500 films a year, Japan is among the world’s most prolific filmmaking nations (Kuhn and Westwell) 1990s J-Horror: classic: Hideo Nakata’s Ringu,1998; American remake: The Ring, 2002; horror comedy, satirical splatter subgenres, campy tokusatsu (special effects) aesthetics with over-the- top gore; remakes, adaptations, sequels; independents (see Buscher “ A Brief History of Japanese Horror”) See BFI’s (British Film Institute) 10 great Japanese films of the 21st century Top grossing Japanese film in Japan in 2020: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train (Japanese: 劇場版 「鬼滅の刃」 無限列車編 , Hepburn: Gekijō-ban "Kimetsu no Yaiba" Mugen Ressha- hen), also known as Demon Slayer: Mugen Train or Demon Slayer: Infinity Train, is a 2020 Japanese animated dark fantasy action film…based on the shōnen manga series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba by Koyoharu Gotouge. The film, which is a direct sequel to the first season of the anime series, was directed by Haruo Sotozaki and written by Ufotable staff members. (Wikipedia)  China and Filmmaking: People’s Republic of China Early cinema in China was dominated by foreign imports, especially from the US The period from 1932 is widely regarded as a first golden age of Chinese cinema, with a robust film industry producing popular and political fare During the Cultural Revolution (1966–76), many filmmakers imprisoned or exiled; 1967-69 film production ground to a halt Shifting ideological climate Greater freedoms since 1980s Zhang Yimou- Asian epic cinema, Zhang Yuan, Wang Xiaoshuai, and Wu Wenguang, underground, critically Farewell, My Concubine (1993). Chen Kaige, acclaimed films (Kuhn and Westwell) director. Sex and politics. 47  China is the second largest film industry globally Second only to Hollywood The first four months of 2024…the Chinese mainland film market…surpassed the 20 billion yuan ($2.83 billion) mark in total box-office revenue. A key factor behind this success is the continual improvement in the quality of domestic productions; Increased investment in film development and production; of the top 10, nine were domestic productions (Chen Xi) As of October 1, the top-grossing films of 2024 in the Chinese market were YOLO, dir. Jia Ling followed by Pegasus 2, dir. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Han Han (both comedy-sports-dramas) and Successor, dir. Wolf_Warrior_2 Damo Peng & Fei Yan Wolf Warrior 2, 2017 Wu Jing: director, producer, Micro dramas, short-format videos also popular ($5 b. year script writer and film industry) protagonist. Highest grossing film in mainland China and 2nd highest grossing non- China and Postwar Filmmaking: Hong Kong 1920s–1970s – two styles of martial-arts movies: wuxia and kung fu Melodramatic plot; philosophical codes of honor Spectacular violence; brilliantly choreographed fight sequences Conflicts between cops and gangsters; lavish production values Spectacular studio settings and natural locations Saturated colors; moody lighting Constant motion; disjointed editing techniques Extensive computer manipulation of images and motion 50 Hong Kong New Wave (late 1970s–early 1980s) cinematic and storytelling innovations influenced the rest of the world Encouraged the movement of directors between TV and mainstream cinema Introduced new genres and tackled formerly taboo subjects A Better Tomorrow (1986). John Woo, director. Classic Hong Kong cinema: violent action depicted in brilliantly choreographed scenes. 51 China and Postwar Filmmaking: Taiwan Developed independently of Hong Kong and the People’s Republic Concerned with realistic depictions of ordinary people Ang Lee, Hsiao-hsien Hou, Edward Yang Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). Ang Lee, director. The films of the Taiwan-born director Ang Lee are known for their diversity and acclaim. 52  are prominent in the global film scene have been influenced by such events and forces as government censorship, the Japanese occupation of Korea, the Korean War, globalization, the social and judicial context, class divides See the article by Korean Canadian student Eleanor Yuneun “The Precarity of South Korea ’s Film Industry,” 2023 List of “10 great modern South Korean films” according to British Film Industry (Jan. 2019) A renaissance, late 1990s – current Acclaimed directors include Park Chan-wook. Oldboy, 2003 (part of Vengeance trilogy); The Handmaiden, 2019 Bong Joon-ho. The Host, 2006; Parasite, 2019 Yeon Sang-ho. Train to Bustan, 2016 Okja, dir. Bong Joon-ho. 2017. Korean-American action- adventure; visually arresting, saturated with colour; Lee Chang-dong. Green Fish, 1997; Burning, black humour; social and political context; See Bong’s 2018 filmography on Imdb South Korea Indian film industry & Bollywood (sobriquet, B for Bombay, now called Mumbai One of the largest film industries in the world; 1,200 features plus many more documentaries each year; Bollywood is only one cinema among India’s many film industries: multiple cinemas, multiple languages (Tamil, Bengali, Telugu, Punjabi, plus others) Bollywood: characteristically set in a highly non- naturalistic world; and its narrative, though linear, is almost always interrupted by song-and-dance sequences at arbitrary locations with no geographical connection to the story; most Bollywood films in Hindi; have huge popular appeal throughout India and globally; incorporate masala, a mix of genres; influential; Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge (2001) inspired by Bollywood style Panther Panchali (1955) Satyajit Ray, director. Satyajit Ray is the dominant figure in Indian cinema Ray is known for his attention to details in the mystery thrillers to rom-coms 54 lives of ordinary people Nollywood – (sobriquet for) Nigerian film industry 1000+ films a year On the rise 5% of Nigeria’s GDP Golden age 1960 –80s (1960 Nigeria’s independence); more movie theaters 1990s – DIY directors; lack of $; commercial video cameras; original stories but low production values mid-2000s to present - New Nigerian Cinema DVDs, media streaming; YouTube channels The Wedding Party, 2017. dir. Niyi Akinmolayan. Rom-com Highest grossing Nigerian film Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Egypt - 1927 first full length feature; 1940s-60s the golden age, dominated filmmaking in MENA; in the 1950s, it was the third largest cinema industry, globally; decline, then a resurgence in late 1990s; films of the Egyptian golden age still watched and enjoyed Hind Rostom, 80 films, Egyptian “Marilyn Monroe”  MENA Palestine – many Palestinians directors live in exile; the Palestine Film Unit (PFU), later the Palestinian Cinema Institute, 1968-1982, created by the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization), a revolutionary step in filmmaking; cinema of resistance. Signaled a shift from depictions of Palestinians as victims to that of Palestinians resisting Israel’s state violence (active rather than passive); Palestinians in control of their own images, developed a cinematic language of their own camera as a tool against erasure film as a strategy against disappearance; disrupts Nakba denial source 11-year-old Tarek's sweet yet stubborn POV guides the story of When I Saw You, 2012, dir. Annemarie Jacir. MENA Iran - Critically acclaimed films, win many festival prizes globally; considered one of the world’s more important national cinemas artistically; Characterized by “spare pictorial beauty, often of landscapes or scenes of everyday life on the margins, and an elliptical storytelling mode that developed in part as a response to state regulation” (Corrigan and White 377). Female filmmakers play a prominent role making feature films unlike in Western cinema where historically white male directors gain access and support source Still from At Five in the Afternoon. 2003. Samira Makhmalbaf. The female protagonist, Noqreh, asks a NATO soldier questions, but he doesn't have answers for them. Her blue umbrella and white shoes, and a horse, are key motifs  Latin American Cinema includes Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, Haiti, Paraguay, Peru Mexico: 1930s – early 60s (its golden age); the center of Latin American cinema; high quality, economically successful films; film noir, horror, comedy; brought to global attention when Russian dir. Sergei Eisenstein arrived in 1931 to make Que Viva Mexico, an epic film about Mexico’s history; the unfinished film left a strong Marxist influence on Mexican cinema waned in the 1960s – 70s New Mexican Cinema, 1990s, government funded and supported; now the center of film and television production in Latin American The success of this movement seen in films by Guillermo del Toro (The Devil’s Backbone, 2001) as well as Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman, 2014; The Revenant, 2015); Alfonso Cuarón, Roma 2018  1965–1975: The New Hollywood Cinema Inspired by French New Wave directors and films bold, unpredictable, and transgressive films emphasized the authority of the director and star over the material, Bonnie and Clyde (1967); The Graduate (1967); Easy Rider (1969); The Godfather (1972); The Exorcist (1973); Breaking norms of cinematography, sound design, narrative structure, editing, performance and distribution models. adapted cinematic conventions to a younger audience Predominance of sex and violence in content and protagonists (male/female) more films were shot on location new generation of cinematographers 60 https://emanuellevy.com/review/bonnie-and-clyde- 1967-8/  Blockbusters reinforced the power of the Hollywood studio industry Blockbusters signalled the end of New Hollywood Cinema A film with an extremely high production and marketing budget that attains considerable commercial success marketing strategists attempt to make the film’s release into a special event with maximum media anticipation and coverage through saturation advertising JAWS (1975) Steven Spielberg simple genre movie with clear heroes and just enough eye- popping special effects to wow the audience. no need for an expensive, star-studded cast or a well- known, temperamental director. The concept (e.g. shark as dangerous) was the star. It was a formula the studios understood and knew they could replicate. High-grossing films; increasing interest from investors and large multi-national corporations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaws_(film)  BLOCKBUSTERS, cont’d After the success of Star Wars, 1977, dir. George Lucas, came The Empire Strikes Back, 1980, dir. Irvin Kershner; Return of the Jedi, 1983, Richard Marquand the beginnings of a cultural phenomenon and capitalist success story Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981, Steven Spielberg E.T. the Extraterrestrial, 1982, Steven Spielberg Star Wars,1977 was the beginning of franchise merchandise marketing that led to collecting, especially toys, action figures; before Star Wars, films did not have toy lines, video games, cross-promotions Shot from the 1977 Kenner toy company’s Star Wars action f igure commercial that started an explosion in consumer merchandise based on films.  Big media and global entertainment in 1983, 90% of all American media was controlled by more than 50 distinct companies. By 2012, that same percentage was controlled by just 5. By 2019, it was down to 4: Comcast, Disney, AT&T and National Amusements. Beholden to shareholders and the corporate bottom-line, Hollywood studios must be more efficient than ever, producing fewer and fewer movies at higher and higher budgets to attract more and more eyeballs. they’ve looked abroad to a new and growing global audience to ensure profitability. Before 2008, international sales made up less than 20% of box office dollars. By 2008 it was 50%. By 2013 it had grown to more than 70% of Hollywood’s bottom line Content tailored for a global audience. Film franchises built around globally recognizable characters and brands. (e.g. Marvel and DC comics) fewer original movies and more entertainment spectacles that in turn cost more money to make.  Global cinema Looking forward Independent films Mediastreaming / series Films by cultural workers from marginalized groups, e.g. Black, Indigenous, Asian, women, 2SLGBQT+, and more Pariah, 2011, dir. Dee Rees Going home after a night of partying, Alike/Lee gets ready to perform normative femininity to please