Story of Film – Episode 1 – Birth of The Cinema

Canonet with gordy's camera strap
“Canonet with gordy’s camera strap” by FXTC is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Notes

The following material is from Wikipedia.

Episode 1 – Birth of the Cinema

Introduction

  • Saving Private Ryan (1998) dir. Steven Spielberg
    • Sound (effects) cut in and out with the movement of the first primary camera,
    • These sound effects are unique and varying – there are many.
    • The color scheme is strictly dull; blues, grays, browns, greens, a few whites.
  • Three Colors: Blue (1993) dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski
    • Whistling flute in background
    • The woman “feeling the warmth on her face” – is perhaps thought to be dreaming.
    • White bursts of light as transitions.
  • Casablanca (1942) dir. Michael Curtiz
    • Black and white
    • Eyes of the characters are drawn out
    • The first “vibe” drawn out by the piano-man is cut off.
    • Romantics are emphasized.
  • The Record of a Tenement Gentleman (1947) dir. Yasujirō Ozu
    • Black and white
    • “The real classical movies.”
    • Many still images, some movement , but very little.
    • Camera shots filled with squares/rectangular images.
    • “Emotionally restrained.”
    • The first focus is places on inanimate objects, then shifted to the humans who seem secondary.
  • Odd Man Out (1947) dir. Carol Reed
    • Black and white.
    • Bubbles into ideas. This movie Odd Man Out will be the source of bubble-action seen in later movies.
  • Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1967) dir. Jean-Luc Godard
    • Focus on moving bubbles.
  • Taxi Driver (1976) dir. Martin Scorsese
    • Muted, fizzy bubbles.
    • Bubbles portrayed here as part of the infinite cosmos – are bubbles offering solace and ideas here?
  • The French Connection (1971) dir. William Friedkin
  • Incredibly quick filming in the first shot.
  • Lots of action, of first-hand excitement and stress.
  • The setting: Daakar, Senegal – as exciting as “Los Angeles in the 70’s.”

1895-1918: The World Discovers a New Art Form or Birth of the Cinema

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

  • Life of an American Fireman (1903) dir. Edwin S. Porter
    • Music is lovely
    • Shaky pan/filming, impressive storyline for that time.
    • Sets precedence for Cuts (editing equivalent of the literary word “then”).
  • Sherlock Jr. (1924) dir. Buster Keaton
    • Fascinating storyline, fascinating cuts
    • Would’ve been astronomically magical back then – I imagine.
  • The Horse that Bolted (1907) dir. Charles Pathé
    • Again, cuts used with the purpose of providing multiple stories.
    • “Parallel editing.” – to mean “meanwhile.”
  • The Assassination of the Duke of Guise (a.k.a. The Assassination of the Duc de Guise) (1908) dir. Charles le Bargy and André Calmettes
    • So much drastic movement
    • Fast-paces
  • Vivre sa vie (1962) dir. Jean-Luc Godard
    • Lovely clarity
    • More curiosity than absence of.
  • Those Awful Hats (1909) dir. D. W. Griffith
    • Trembling set
  • The Mended Lute (1909) dir. D. W. Griffith
    • Bright whites
    • Tone of anxiety
  • The Abyss (1910) dir. Urban Gad
    • “Less Censorship.”
  • Stage Struck (1925) dir. Allan Dwan
    • Luxury, outrage, “sublime”
  • The Mysterious X (1914) dir. Benjamin Christensen
    • Blaring white light
    • Strange drawings of a dream – “Daring debut”
  • Häxan (1922) dir. Benjamin Christensen
    • Terrifying
    • Color scheme induces further terror
  • Ingeborg Holm (1913) dir. Victor Sjöström
    • Tone quickly changes: from “naturalism” to worry
  • The Phantom Carriage (1921) dir. Victor Sjöström
    • Interesting blue light/tone
    • Fascinating shadows
    • Effects used well
  • Shanghai Express (1932) dir. Josef von Sternberg
    • Intriguing shadowing, lots of crossing/lattices
  • The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) dir. Charles Tait
    • Horses and riders facing camera, though looking distracted with one another
  • The Squaw Man (1914) dir. Oscar Apfel and Cecil B. DeMille
    • Lovely setting, lovely wardrobe
    • Eyes matching across the cut creates connection between the two involved characters.
    • In a later part, the “rule” with the 180 degree line was broken and created a disconnected section of film.
  • The Empire Strikes Back (1980) dir. Irvin Kershner
    • Shiny-ness is striking (of Vader’s helmet)
  • Falling Leaves (1912) dir. Alice Guy-Blaché
    • One of the first arced stories (directed by a woman)
    • tragic underlying meaning/story
    • Innocent character/child
  • Suspense (1913) dir. Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber
    • Amazing patterns in background
    • Sideways point of view shot “remarkable”
    • Interesting triangle split screen
    • Suspense created could’ve been heightened with a more realistic approach, but is still well brought forward.
    • Of course the intruder is a brown man omg.
  • The Wind (1928) dir. Victor Sjöström
    • Different, terrifying
    • Expressive, pointed storyline
  • Rescued from an Eagle’s Nest (1908) dir. J. Searle Dawley
    • Lovely painted skyline – gorgeous clouds; overall a magical setting
  • The House with Closed Shutters (1910) dir. D. W. Griffith
    • As Cousins says, “Stagey.”
    • Interesting acting
  • Way Down East (1920) dir. D. W. Griffith
    • Pretty, soft close-up: “delicacy.”
    • “Roland Barthes, said that some images have unplanned, natural details in them, that move us. Bart called this -Punctum. The thing that pricks our feelings.”
    • Dramatic drifting ice scene.
  • Orphans of the Storm (1921) dir. D. W. Griffith
    • “Visual softness and backlighting” – gave a halo to the actors’ hair, helped objects to stand out.
    • Browns, and whites
  • The Birth of a Nation (1915) dir. D. W. Griffith
    • Dramatic, almost rushed.
    • Smoke smoke smoke.
    • Pretty setting, though filmed near LA
    • I didn’t even notice the man’s mother that he was embracing – she completely dissolved into him.
    • The racism proved dangerous as represented in film.
  • Rebirth of a Nation (2007) dir. DJ Spooky
    • “Played with the toxic scenes of Birth of a Nation – almost as if he was scribbling on them.”
    • Strange shapes/geometry on screen
  • Cabiria (1914) dir. Giovanni Pastrone
    • Spooky (director of previous movie) was stunned, particularly by the moving Dolly shots.
    • “Using elephants to express scale.”
  • Intolerance (1916) dir. D. W. Griffith
    • So many moving characters/aspects
    • Brown and blue hues – “violent scenes tinted blue.”
    • Intercuts: “He [Griffith] took storyline so far, then jumped to storyline B, advanced [it], then went back again to A, and picked up where he’d left off.”
    • These cuts between time periods was not saying “then”, or “meanwhile.” It was saying; “look, these very different events from different eras all show the same human trait; Intolerance, or the failure of love.”
    • These cuts place a deeper meaning on the sequence of the cuts.
    • The film was filmed with a dolly on a crane for some shots, even with a balloon to get high enough – up into the wind. Impressive, for film had only been 20 years old.
  • Souls on the Road (a.k.a. Rojo No Reikan) (1921) dir. Minoru Murata
    • Two storylines uniting – parallel editing
    • “The first great Japanese film.”

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