Week 1: The Birth of Film Through 1920 in America

1895 1920 Photography was created before the Civil War. (1860s)

1914: Start of World War I Social progression.

1897-1907 Record of History. Recreates events on film. Became picture postcards of history. Depiction of ordinary events. Beginning of fictional stories.

1907-1915 World War I

1915-1920 World War I

Platos Myth of the Cave Shadows on the wall.

o Behind the scenes person.

Early Technologies: Projection: The magic Lantern Movement: o Persistence of Vision and the Phi Phenomenon o Thaumatropes, and Zoetropes o Muybridge Eastman creates a medium to hold the series of images: celluloid filmstock. o Edisons laboratory (Dickson), make the Mutoscopte, then the The Lumiere Brothers get the picture out of the box.

Early Cinematic Experience: 1899 George Melies makes film an art form. Pathe makes film a business. Dickson create Biograph Company Stories Take Form o The Like of and American Fireman

o The Great Train Robbery Porter uses narrative editing, creates suspense. He cuts where the mind would cut. 1905 The First Nickelodeon Opens Nickelodeon parlors o Film becomes a mass medium. o It is favored by immigrants and working class. Stories Take Form: D.W. Griffith o Film is spontaneously real but patterned, malleable, fictional. o Birth of a Nation Psychology, scope, editing, conflict, American History, filmmaker ideological POV. Big Complex Narrative with Repulsive Content.

1908 D.W. Goes to Work for Biograph 1909 First Biographed Short. 1914 Birth of a Nation (D.W. Griffith) 1916 Intolerance

1919 Broken Blossoms

The Move West Hollywood o By 1915, 60% of films are shot in California, and over 15,000 people are employed by the film industry. o Climate, geography, cheap labor. Chaplin o Writes and directs his own films. o Becomes a worldwide phenomenon. o 1921 The Kid

Christian Cinema Churches show films. Churches encourage film going. Christian media starts making films. The Methodist Centenary is a movie.

Next Week Movie Zars.

Ben Hur/1920s-1939

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Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ publish 1880s Written by Gen. Lee Wallace. o a cast for Christs divinity. o And like the hero of his tale, Wallace had become a believer. Religious theme to be treated with respect. o On stage, Christ is a shaft of white light. Everyone saw the 1925 Ben Hur. Stars Mary Pickford o Americas Sweetheart Chaplin 1919: Forms United Artists with Griffith, Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks. Silent Comedy Starts o Laurel and Hardy o Harry Langdon o Harold Lloyd o o o o o o o Buster Keaton Douglas Fairbanks John Barrymore Rudolph Valentino Greta Garbo Clara Bow Lon Cheney

Self-Censorship Hollywood Scandal MPPDA formed in 1922 (Later the MPAA) o William H. Hays hired as a president. 1927 Integration of sound. Because of the Jazz Singer. Problems: o Studios borrow money o Camera stops moving New Performers

 New Writers New Phenomenon 1931 Charlie Chaplin makes City Lights Studios: Paramount o Adolf Zukor: owner Biggest studio of the 20s 3 classes of picture MGM o Owned by Louis B. Mayer, run by Irving Thalberg More Stars than there are in the Heavens o The Movie Palaces: The Roxy Era th 20 Century Fox Warner Brothers RKO Radio Pictures Universal Columbia

Historical Context
Historical Context Theories of Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud World War 1 o Treaties and royals and Bougeois o Europe in Shambles Jazz Age and Depression Revolution, Fascism, and World War II 1919 Treaty Frace:

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Empire State Antagonist with Germany

Russia: Boushwa German Expressionism Fritz Lang The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari 1920 o Psychological interiors o Expression of representational/psychological reality. F.W. Murnau Nasferatu, and Symphony of Horror 1922 o Gothic o Special effects used expressionistically Kammerspielfilm: o Intimate portrayal of the lower classes. The last Laugh Metropolis 1927 Berlin: Symphony of the Great City 1927 Leni Reifenstahl o Triumph of the Will 1934 o Olympa 1936 Marlene Deitrich o The Blue Angel 1930 o A Foreign Affair 1948

French Surrealism To provoke a visceral, emotional response. To make the viewer ask questions and to give them no answers. Man Ray The Return to Reason 1923 The Passion of the Joan of Arc 1927 Carl Dryer o The face is a landscape o Narrative about emotion, not reason. Un Chien Andalou 1929 Luis Bunel and Salvador Dali o The Blood of a poet 1937 Jean Renior Narrative theme war is futile Soviet Montage Kuleshovs Workshop: Lack of raw filmstock, preoccupation with editing. Theories and Filmakers For the Masses by the workers Agitprop Eisenstein Battleship Putemkin 1925 Montage theory A x B = c o Conflict o In the Frame o In the type of shot o In time o In the cut o In the sequence Vsevolod Pudovkin Mother 1926 o Actor, screenwriter o Contemporary editing theorist of Eisenstein Dziga Mertow Man With a Movie Camera 1929 o Kino eye: machine eye o Film should be a propaganda agent o The workers happy at their machines

Adventures of Prince Achmed

The Story What o o o o o o o o is this Heros Journey? Sorcerer Takes off on Magical Horse Meets Chick Takes off with Chick Reconciles with Chick Meets Sorcerer Meets Witch Meets Aladdin

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Would have introduced the witch earlier. Interesting that the witch defeated the sorcerer Is there are difference between folktale and fairytale? What is it? o Folktale limited to a community, mythical, or important to a culture, more dynamic, change easier for generations, rooted story. o Fairytale magical entertainment, source material. How are ethnicities portrayed? o What do you think this says about the time period it was made? Racism is okay. The Film: o What is your response to this film being made by a German with liberal politics? o Why is animation meant for children? o Is this an important work? In what way?

Hollywood Studio Years Revisited 1930-1945 WWII Timeline o October 1941 Gen Tojo becomes PM, December 7, 1941 Japan attacks Pearl harbor December 8, 1941 US declares war on Japan. December 11, Germany and Italy declare war on US. o Januarary 1942 announces production goals. o February 1942 Japanese Americans sent to internment camps.

o 1943 65 million Americans are in the military or working military support. o 1945 Soviet and US negotiations concerning Japan become increased. o May 8, 1945 Germany surrenders. VE Day. o August6, 1945 First atomic bomb dropped in Hiroshima, Japan. o September 2, 1945 Japan formally surrenders. VJ Day. The Production Code o Breen Office is a department of Hays Office (the MPAA) o Production Code was written in 193 by Fr. Daniel Lord Correct entertainment raises the whole standard of a nation. Wrong entertainment lowers the whole living condition and moral ideals of a race. Donts and be carefuls o Self Censorship of Moral Regulation? The War Effort: Casablanca o The Right Studio: Warner Brothers Studio Most socially conscious Most ready to help the war effort Most Pro-FDR o The Right Script Play Everybody Comes to Ricks Hal Wallis and Jack Warner support it fully Michael Curtiz directs. o The Right Stars Bogey is hot with The Maltese Falcon Bergman sells European The extras are all almost completely immigrants, many of them are refugees o The Right Story Selfless sacrifice for the good of many: We should join the war! o Physical Limitations Rationing of production goo

Cutting down on celluloid o Psychological Limitations Show the armed forces as heroic and glamorous Dont show the real locations of war plants Dont show destruction Show the Germans and Japs as evil Show African Americans as one of the gang Presenting a rosy picture of America might change the reality. Generes o Westerns Frontier Landscape Verile Heroes The Advancement of Civilization o Gangsters Urban Crime dramas Bad guys and even worse guys o Epics and Action Adventures Period pieces Pirates, Knights, Adventurers Lots of production value o Comedies Screwballs Romance Fun Wit Precursor to the Situation Comedy o Musicals Production numbers o Film Broadway talent Singing and dancing Popular tunes Noir Grows out of Gangster pics And serial novels Dark, moody, expressionistic Femme Fatales, Men with ennui

o War Films Combat and brotherhood Action! o Melodrama Womens Pictures Tearjerkers o Other Dramas Social Dramas Family Dramas Notable Directors o o o o o o o o o Frank Capra Howard Hawkes John Ford Orson Welles Michael Curtiz William Wyler Billy Wilder George Stevens George Cukor

o John Huston o Alfred Hitchcock Other Studio Workers o DPs: Greg Toland, George Stevens, James Wong Howe, Charles Lang o Writers: Juilius and Philip Epstien, Robert Riskin, Dalton Trumbo, Billy Wilder, John Huston o Costumers: Edith Head, Adrian, Orry-Kelly o Art Directors: Edwin Willis, Van Nest Polglase o Composers: Bernard Herrmann, Max Steiner, Erich Korngold, Carl Stalling The Star Machine o The Find o The Makeover o The Assessment o The Sell o The Life of a Star

9/11/2012 4:23:00 PM Post War Europe Devastation of the War The Cold War The Marshall Plan Italian Neorealism Rossellini and Rome, Open City (1945) Neorealist Manifesto o To show things as they are not as they seem. o To write stories about the human side of social economic, o o o o o o political conditions. To shoot on location whenever possible. To use untrained actors. To capture and reflect reality with little or no compromise. To depict common people rather than overdressed heroes and fantasy role models. To reveal the everyday than the exceptional. To show a persons relationship to the real social environment rather than his/her romantic dreams.

Vittorio DeCica and The Bicycle Thief (1948)

Italian Post-Neorealism Frederica Fellini and La Dolce Vita (1960) French Nouvelle Vague Three groups of French filmmakers: o Cahiers group (or East Bank) o Left Bank o Classical filmmakers Movie clubs, movie critic magazines, and movie making are serious national pastimes. Cahiers du Cinema is the most influential, and is still published.

French Nouvelle Vague Cahiers Jean Luc Godard Breathless (1960) o Wollens Godard and Counter Cinema: VendEst

Narrative Transivity vs. Intransivity Identification vs. Estrangement Transparency vs. Foreground Single diegesis vs. multiple diegesis Closure vs. Aperture Pleasure vs. Unpleasure. Fiction vs. Reality French Nouvelle Vague Left Bank o Agnes Varda Cleo from 5 to 7 (1961) o Alain Resnais Hiroshima Mon Amour Night in Fog

Classical French Cinema Jean Cocteau Max Ophus Robert Bresson Jaques Tati American Art Cinema Maya Deren and the Bolex camera

American Film Criticism Andrew Sarris Notes on the Auteur Theory Laura Mulvey Peter Wollen Molly Haskell Andy Warhol

9/11/2012 4:23:00 PM Postwar America Anti-Communism The Modern Age Idea America Life After War Its a Wonderful Life The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) o Happy endings, but hard truths o Psychology Studio Problems US v. Paramount 1948 1947 House Un-American Activities Hearings Are you now or have you ever been a member of the communist party? Hollywood Ten HUAC Hearings 1951 and 1952 o Plead the 5th Amendment, or name names The Salt of the Earth 1953 TV First live broadcast 1951 o Manufacture of peacetime goods resumes o Equipment and infrastructure move west o More discretionary income o More discretionary time o Suburban America Hollywood Competes Gimmick o Color o Anamorphic Widescreen Genre o Musicals o Epics More Gimmicks: o Cinerama, 3D, Smellovision. Hollywood Capitulates

Tv Plays o The Catered Affair (1956), vs. Father of the Bride (1950) Hollywood Changes Stars become free agents Aliens and Horror Social Commentary o Kazan, Sirk, and Stevens

Week 7 Post War International Cinema

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Historical Context Europe: Iron Curtain, Marshall Plan Asia: Communism, the end of Colonialism, and national identity. What is necessary for a film industry? Infrastructure: technology, personnel, facilities. Support: a way to make money, either through exhibition or underwriting. Sweden Theatrical Tradition Public and Private Funds Ingmar Bergman