Summer!

Have a nice and relaxing summer break! See you in the fall!

End of Year/Course

Today as we end our year examining a CGI Animated film: Open Season.

Please hand in your homework (see below) and your film project if you have not completed this project yet.

Please feel free to post a comment about what you liked and didn't like in this course.

Have a good finals week!

Film Test, Blockbusters, and the 1970's

After your film test, please read the article on "The Home Video Invasion", "Blockbusters", and "CGI" to complete this course of study in film. After reading these short chapters, please post a comment and question to this post.

Sony unveiled their VTR (video tape recorder) in 1967, but it wasn't until the 1970's that it took the world by storm. The early versions cost a prohibitive $1,000 to $4,000! That's about 8-10 I-phones and at least as many TiVos. Watching movies in your home again threatened the movie industry, but under the Betamax VCR (1975) viewers could watch pornography without feeling guilty about it (the internet had not yet established itself). As fall-out, the porn and "X" film production grew and later would help release a whole host of B-films which would not receive a wide release in cinemas.

Steven Spielberg (American New Wave director/Auteur) filmed his blockbuster Jaws in 1975. The success of the book and the film began to show the possibility of mass-produced entertainment and give film a legitimacy through popular culture. There were few film programs in colleges and schools at this time. You may recall Spielberg's other work (mostly blockbusters, like Jaws).

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
E.T. (1982)
Jurassic Park

George Lucas on the other hand created the single most influential film in the 1970's with his space opera (part IV) of the seminal Star Wars (1978). Both Jaws and Star Wars became the first two films to make more than $100 million, rocketing both directors into fame!

Star Wars (1977)
Raiders of the Lost Ark and the famous "melting face scene just for fun - SPOILER."

In 1982 the film Tron (1982) effectively used CGI for its special effects. Since then CGI has been married to the Hollywood Blockbuster.

Westworld (1973)
The Black Hole (1979)
Star Trek (1979)

As you might note, CGI greatly improved the sci-fi genre.

Final Exam Review

Directors of the 1950's/1960's:
Alfred Hitchcock
Mike Nicols
Steven Spielberg
Ed Wood
Stanley Kubrick
George Lucas
John Ford
George Pal
John Frankenheimer
Arthur Penn
Brian De Palma
Sam Peckinpah
Martin Scorsese
Woody Allen
John Cassavetes
Francis Ford Coppola
William Friedkin
Dennis Hopper

Producers of the 1950's/1960's:
Samuel Z. Arkoff & AIP
William Castle
Roger Corman
Ed Wood
Walt Disney

Actors/Actresses of the 1950's/1960's:
Sidney Poitier
Jayne Mansfield
James Dean
James (Jimmy) Stewart
Vincent Price
Natalie Wood
Elizabeth Taylor
Cary Grant
Marlon Brando
Elvis Presley
Marilyn Monroe

Films/Film Clips:
Rebel Without a Cause
Bonnie & Clyde
Easy Rider
The Manchurian Candidate
Psycho, The Birds, Torn Curtain, Rear Window

1950's/1960's Film history:
3D films
The Cold War & Sci-Fi films
IMAX
the Multiplex
The Invention of Television
The beginning of the Vietnam War
Cinemascope
Drive-In theatres
American New Wave
British Film Invasion
MPAA and the Film Rating System
B-Films
Epic Films
Angry Young Man films
Beatles' Films
Rock & Roll's influence on film

Film Project Due! Review for Final Exam

Please turn in your responses (if you have not posted them) and read the article on the MPAA and American New Wave Directors.

Your final exam covering the 1950's and 1960's film material will occur on Wednesday (next class). A review will be posted above for your assistance.

Please continue and complete your fiction film projects. These are due today! Please drop MP4 files into the workshop folder when you have completed your editing.

June 3rd Agenda

Please continue to edit and work on your films. Do read and complete the instructions below (Tuesday's post).

Important 1960s Films

The coffeehouse readings have been moved to Friday at 7:00 in the Ensemble Theater. Sorry for the confusion.

Take a look at these clips. Choose one category and respond in writing to this question:
After viewing the sample clips here, choose a contemporary film that reminds you of what you watched. Explain the connection and answer: do you think the connection is on purpose or by accident? Why? This comment/response will be due next class (June 7).

1960's Epic/Costume Drama Films:
Spartacus (1960) Tony Curtis, Laurence Olivier, Charleton Heston
El Cid (1961) Charleton Heston
Cleopatra (1963) Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton
Becket (1964) Richard Burton & Peter O'Toole
The Sound of Music (1965) Julie Andrews & Christopher Plumber
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
The Lion in Winter (1968) Peter O'Toole & Katherine Hepburn

Angry Young Man Films:
Look Back in Anger (1959)
The Loneliness of the Longdistance Runner (1962)
The Caretaker (1963)
The Leather Boys (1963)
If (1969)
Easy Rider (1969)

Beatles' Films
A Hard Day's Night (1964)
Help! (1965)
Yellow Submarine (1968)

Famous/Influential Directors:
Stanley Kubrick: Lolita (1962), Dr. Strangelove (1964)
John Ford: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
George Pal: The Time Machine (1960), Jason & the Argonauts (1963), One Million Years BC (1966)
John Frankenheimer: The Young Savages (1961), The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Arthur Penn: The Miracle Worker (1962), Bonny & Clyde (1967), Alice's Restaurant (1969)
Alfred Hitchcock: Psycho (1960), The Birds (1963), Marnie (1964), Torn Curtain (1966)
James Bond Films: Dr. No (1962), Goldfinger (1964)

African American Films:
Sidney Poitier: A Raisin in the Sun (1961), Lilies of the Field (1963), To Sir With Love (1967), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

1960's Film/Film Project

Continue to work on your film project. Please complete the film questions for Thursday. You should read and take notes from AMC's Filmsite (Tim Dirks): under the film history by decade section.

The last Coffeehouse of the year is tomorrow: 7:00 in the Ensemble Theatre. All are welcome!