Journal Paper Due!; The Academy Awards; Jaws, Day 2

Lab: (Until 8:00):

Please complete, proofread, correct and submit your journal paper today during our brief lab time.

If you finish early (before 8:00), please work on your upcoming reading assignment. Choose one film script to read from this website. As you read, examine the script for its narrative style (due March 9). See our previous post for details about narratology and film narrative styles.

Feel free to complete your homework during class if you have completed everything else.

Period 1/2: (8:00)

We will continue watching Jaws. We will finish the film on Monday after our lab.

HOMEWORK: Read chapter 12 on the Academy Awards (handout).

Extra credit: Watch the Oscars this Sunday. Complete the Oscar Ballot (handout) and see how many of your predictions come true. Post a comment on my blog Monday about how well you guessed the outcome of the award winners this year.

1st Journal Paper Draft Due Thursday, March 1!

You will be expected to write at least 2 journal/film essays during marking period 3. The first paper will be due March 1, 2018, and the second will be due April 2. These are ongoing assignments for the marking period. No late work will be accepted for the film papers. Make note of the dates they are due. You are welcome to turn in your work before the due date if you'd like. Extra credit can be gained by completing a 3rd or 4th or 5th paper. No more than 5 papers will be accepted (2 required; up to 3 for extra credit).

Each paper should be researched, well written, and answer the prompt question thoroughly. Papers should be about 750 to 1,000 words in length (about 3-5 pages--although that is just a ballpark figure--some papers require more, some a little less). Each paper must use MLA format, which means you should include a works cited page (films you watch are primary sources! Sources/websites/articles/reviews are secondary sources!) and a title. Format for MLA will count as part of your grade. For more information on MLA format, check here. Remember to use grammarly to help proofread your work!

Reminders about this project will occur in class, but make a note of the dates and requirements now in your journal. Paper #1 (due March 1). Paper #2 (due April 2). 

Here are the assignments you can choose from for your papers:

1. View a film--any film--of your choice. Then, single out a particular scene. A scene is one setting or location, usually shot for no more than one minute. Make a detailed list of the particular labors required to produce this scene. You may wish to divide your list into the following categories: Set design, costume, special effects, lighting, acting, camera, sound, etc. Of course, you ought to notice labors needed to produce the images and sounds that viewers actually experience, but dig deeper. What sorts of invisible laborers were required before the scene could be realized? For example: who put the props on the set and who was responsible for buying or making the props in the first place? Did caterers make sure that people on the set were fed? And who called the caterers? Once the scene was shot, what sorts of labors made it possible for you to witness what was filmed? You may wish to view the end credits of the film as well to help you get an idea who was involved. From your list, make an observation in 1-2 pages (double-spaced) about the amount of work (and who may be involved) in the short scene that you studied. Write an essay in which you discuss your list and what you came to understand about the particular scene shot. What observations did you make and how has this changed (or not changed) your appreciation of the film?

2. View a film of your choice and write a short essay in which you speculate on possible answers to this question: Who is conceivably the author of this film? Who deserves the title? The screenwriter, the director, the actors, the cinematographer, the editor? Again, speculate. How does film--like other electronic media (like, say, a CD or a video game)--reveal authorship to be an “outdated” concept--and a concept that has, in our age of electronics, become problematic? How does this change or alter the way in which you view film authorship? What does it mean to you as a potential writer of a film? Using the film you chose to analyze, explore this topic and defend your position.

3. To show us exposition or to describe a character, the camera often shows us a room or personal belongings of a character in a movie as a way of communicating to the audience. For example, in the film Ferris Beuller’s Day Off, to give us information about the film's main character, even before we see him, the camera pans and tracks, showing us Ferris' bedroom. We see all kinds of stuff, and this stuff is arranged in telling ways. There's a similar shot in Silence of the Lambs, when Clarice Starling (Jody Foster) inspects items in the bedroom of a murdered girl.

The point: We notice character (or a character’s personality) is constructed through elements of the mise en scene: in this case, out of the collage or mix of stuff that the set designer arranged for the camera. As viewers, we project a personality onto the screen based on what we see (and also by what we do not see). If you call this process of generalization "stereotyping," you are right. The fact is, without culturally shared stereotypes, films probably wouldn't make sense to us. Such stereotyping is a lot more subtle than assuming that if a cowboy is wearing a white hat, he must be the good guy. There are students in school who can and do size up people in seconds based on a person’s hairstyle or by the style of clothes the person wears.

Part A. Examine a film character and watch them in their opening scene or a scene which “develops” them in a film of your choosing. What information about the character is given through mise-en-scene? What foreshadowing or clues does the camera provide for us as viewers? Finally, do we stereotype correctly – or is the director manipulating us by putting us in that position? In your paper, explain how the scene helps characterize the character.

Part B. In this next part of the assignment, as a way to experiment with mise en scene, create a character, any character. He or she can be "real" or "invented." S/he could be a student (of any age), a business person (any job), a criminal (any sort), an alien (any nationality or species), etc. And then, I want you to try out the role of set designer. Your task is to create a very detailed description of this character's bedroom. You can do this in the form of a list, an inventory of the stuff you'd bring onto the set and arrange for the camera. But your goal is simple. We in the film crew have to be able to shoot this room using your instructions, your list. And we have to be certain that the film audience will have a certain sense of the inhabitant's personality. In effect, it's your job to construct a personality for the film's character through staging. 

In your paper, give readers a complete inventory or an in-depth description of a bedroom--list or paragraphs, your choice. Do not tell us anything about the character that inhabits this room! For example, don't say, "This is the room of a kindergarten student, a girl, living in a town somewhere in central Pennsylvania. Her mother is a real estate agent; her father is a civil engineer." I would like for your classmates to guess the character you've invented based on what you give us. In other words, I want you to approach the work of your classmates inductively--like detectives, scientists, and FBI agents. Show us the character and his/her personality through a description of the character’s room. Write your description as if it were a film script.

4. View a documentary film of any sort. In a paragraph or two summarize the documentary – what is the main focus or theme of the film? Next, describe the structure of this film. Is the movie told in a straightforward narrative? Is it a series of interviews, or short clips which slowly reveal the main point? Finally, can you tell what the director/writer want to make the audience feel about the subject? How has the director/writer presented the documentary according to his/her own point of view? How does the documentary artist choose particular parts of the story to present his or her interpretation? How may the artist be biased and how is this bias shown to us through the parts of the film the director chooses to show us? Do you think the film is mostly subjective or objective? Are you being manipulated by the director/writer? How can you tell? Explain.

5. Read an article from a newspaper or from a magazine of your choosing (you may also choose to use a short story). Imagine writing a screenplay on the news story or article. Briefly summarize the article or attach the clipping to your paper. Then, answer any of the following questions in your paper:
--Whose story would you tell? Around whose basic point-of-view would you build the screenplay? Why would you choose this “character”?
--How about depth? Are you going to stick to a primary objective (just the facts, no opinion) approach? Will you grant viewers access to the subjective (personal opinion) states of any of the film's characters?
--Who do you plan to make this film for? Who is your audience? How might you change the real story to better affect your audience?
--Stories are created in the minds of viewers; they're our response to plot cues. This is especially evident in films that are told out of chronological order--where viewers have to straighten out scenes and mentally order them--in effect, completing or assembling stories. Are you going to tell your version of the story in a straightforward fashion or use a flashback or other unusual narrative techniques to get the story across?

Please include a copy of the original article with your analysis/answer.

6. Watch a narrative film. Create a chart that illustrates the conflicting goals of the characters and values of the director/writer/audience that drive a narrative film of your choice. How does one conflict lead to another? How do these conflicts build upon one another in the film (usually leading to a climax)? How does this film resolve the conflicts that it sets in motion? Finally, does the film keep your interest and if so, is this largely because of the conflict of the main character(s)?

Please include a copy of your chart with your explanation/paper.

7. Choose a film and watch the main protagonist of the film closely. How does the director portray this character in a positive way so that the audience identifies with him/her? Use specific examples from the film. What effect is the director having on you as an audience member in showing or depicting the protagonist in this way? Is the director successful or unsuccessful and why? Alternatively, you may choose the main antagonist or villain and answer the same question.

8. View an animated movie or short of your choice. What qualities of the film work better as animation as opposed to the representation of live characters or actors? Why do you think the film was made as animation instead of being filmed live? What is added or removed in making the film an animated feature? Using your speculative hypothesis (your answer), what evidence in the film is there of the director choosing to make this film an animated one?

9. Watch a film you absolutely hated the first time viewing it. Try to describe what it is about the film that you do not like (this can be technical (how the film was put together physically) or creative (how the film was written as a story), but do not simply state that you didn’t like the film because you didn’t like the film. Try to identify the flaws in the film: if technical, did the director’s choice of film techniques fail? If creative, is the main character not interesting or is there not enough conflict in the story, etc.? Finally, recast and redesign the film to fit your own tastes. Explain what changes would you make if you were the director?

10. Choose a foreign film and watch it. How is watching a foreign film challenging apart from the language barrier and the use of subtitles? In other words, what other challenges or problems might you face as an audience member of a different culture than the one the film was originally intended for? Next, analyze the director’s style. How is the director’s style different from mainstream Hollywood films with your own culture in mind? Finally, is there anything new you learned about a different culture or country by watching this film?

11. Watch three films from the same time period in the same genre. (For example 1970's horror films). What similarities and differences do you detect as you watch the film? Take note of special effects, use of screenshots, theme, acting or camera style. Write a paper on how these movies reflect a). The director b). The culture of the time period c). The tradition of film history

12. Go to the Dryden theatre and watch a film there. Then compare this experience with a viewing at a standard first-run theatre (Regal, Tinseltown, etc.) and a viewing at a second-run theatre or independent art cinema (The Cinema, The Little Theatre). How does your experience differ from cinema to cinema? How might a specific kind of audience affect your enjoyment of a film? What is unique about each film audience “culture”? Write a reflection or “memoir” of your experience in each cinema. If you can, express an epiphany about film experience. (Note: this prompt requires you to visit 3 theaters: one first-run theater, one second-run or art theater, and the Dryden Theater at the George Eastman House. 

Jaws: Day 1; Narrative Style & Assignment

We will screen the blockbuster Jaws (1975) today in class. Before we watch, though, let's talk a little bit about narrative technique when writing a film script. This is, after all, our job as writers.

Narratology: the study of narrative forms. 

Narratologists (people who study narrative structure) are interested in the rhetoric of storytelling. That is, the narrative forms that "message senders" use to communicate with "message receivers."

In cinema, the problem with this communications model is determining who the sender is because while the implied author is the filmmaker, multiple authorship of scripts is common, especially in the United States. Should we credit the director, writer, editor, actor, or cinematographer as the author whose vision controls the project? Or perhaps we should credit the viewer who is responsible for following the film story?

Is Jaws, therefore, Peter Benchley's creation, or the collaboration between Benchley and Carl Gottlieb? Is the film's true auteur the director Steven Spielberg? Perhaps it is the interpretation of the actors Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, or Richard Dreyfus? Maybe it is the cinematographer Bill Butler, or the editor Verna Fields? In film, who gets the final credit for its success as a story?

Narration also differs according to a movie’s style. In classical films, boring gaps in the narrative are edited out by a discrete storyteller, who keeps a low profile, yet maintains to keep the action on track, moving toward a specific ending—the resolution of the story’s central conflict.

The story can be defined as the general subject matter, the raw materials of a dramatic action in chronological order.

In the classical narrative style, the established conflict builds to its maximum tension in the climax. Films are often written in 3-Acts, each with a beginning, middle, and end of an established or introduced conflict. We have studied plot extensively in playwriting. Yes, you should note inciting incidents, major decisions, complications, conflicts, crisis or turning points, dark moments and enlightenments, etc.

As we watch Jaws, look for these moments and try to identify where (or if) they occur. You should be able at this point to note where these things occur in your own stories (and what might be missing...!)

Also, stories are divided into genres. Each genre has rules and expectations (tropes) that help define its narrative elements: story, structure, character, plot, setting, etc.

For example, in a science fiction film, we assume that spaceflight is easily possible, or that alien life is probable. These are tropes of the genre. Absurd situations, for example, are expected in comedies, but not usually appreciated in dramas. A genre sets forth the rules of what is possible in a film (or novel or short story as well).

In film there are three super genres (broad genres that encompass the whole): they are STYLES of film:

A. Realistic: (qualities: objective, 3rd person POV)
B. Classical: (qualities: objective/subjective, 3rd person, often limited 3rd person)
C. Formalistic: (qualities: subjective, 1st person or unreliable narrator)

When narratives fail to act according to convention or what we have come to expect from tradition or from the genre, we, as viewers, have to figure out what is meant from the deviation of the structure and style of the genre.

Good writers are able to push the boundaries of what a story can allow within its chosen genre. When watching a movie, or reading a script or novel, you should be aware of the genre rules and assumptions you are likely to be presented with. In the romance genre, for example, we must assume that people fall in love almost immediately (and that this love is real, as opposed to just a physical attraction). That's part of the genre. When we criticize a movie, we should first check our understanding of what the writer and director were attempting to present to us.

Some classical and formalistic narrative techniques we recognize:

1. The flashback
2. The dream sequence
3. The distorted view (as if the subject or character is drunk, insane, troubled, drugged, etc.) Commonly uses an oblique angle or birds eye angle or view to disorient its viewers.
4. Voice overs (this indicates we have a subjective narrator) 
5.  The use of intertitles reminds us that we are watching a story--like reading a book. While outdated today, some films still use this technique to great effect, as in Star Wars (1977, George Lucas) or Inglorious Basterds (2009, Quentin Tarantino)  

Other narrative techniques include:

• Crosscutting
• Montage (more on this soon)
• Multiple perspective--the camera usually favors a particular character--as if we can see what this character sees. The camera, therefore, (what we see) can stand in for a character's POV

As we watch Jaws, look for some of these narrative techniques.

Classical style narrative plots generally follow the typical 3-act structure. Plots rise through a series of events (rising action) to a definitive climax, and usually resolve in some definitive way at the end of the film. This is based on Aristotelean structure.

These plots are generally linear: telling a story in sequence of time and ordered events or chronological time.

Important symbols or metaphors are usually explained; solutions are offered. These classical films, more than formalistic or realistic films, are directed to a general [genre specific] audience.

Most films fall into this category, but at the far end of the spectrum are the avant garde films that use formalistic narration. Formalistic films rely heavily on metaphor, implied meaning, subjective POV, unreliable narrators, and surprising special visual effects. Here are a few sample clips of this type of film (view these on your own time):

• Le Ballet Mecanique (1924) 
• 2001, A Space Odyssey (1968) Stanley Kubrick
• Destino (1945/2003) 
• The Fountain (2006)
• Synecdoche, New York (2008)     

Finally, before we begin watching the film, let's read a little bit from the final Jaws script. I'll point out some tips to consider when writing your future film scripts. Then we'll begin screening Jaws. See the handout for additional details about the significance of the film.

READING ASSIGNMENT #1 & Essay Test: Choose one film script to read from this website. As you read, examine the script for its narrative style (due March 9).

HOMEWORK: Your first journal paper is due Thursday. Please make sure you have it ready. See the post above for final details. We will complete Jaws next class as well.  

Catch-up; Black Lives Matter

Period 1: Lab

If you are in the lab today, please complete the viewing of any films you may have missed. Note the extra credit options in the post below. Feb. break is a good time to watch a couple of films. Also, the deadline for your first journal paper is due March 1. Please attend to that.

Period 2: Black Lives Matter Event

HOMEWORK: None. We will screen Jaws when we return from break. Work on your film journal paper. See post in late Jan./early Feb. for details.

Also, prepare your work for upcoming contests! Geva's deadline is the end of the week we get back from break (March 1) and is also when your journal paper is due!

Have a nice break!

Extra Credit Silent Films

There are so many movies, it would take years to cover all of them thoroughly (hence the reason to major in film studies...) In an attempt to encourage the viewing of some of these important early films, any of these films may be watched for extra credit.

How to do it:
1. Choose a film & watch it.
2. Summarize the film in a paragraph (or two). Aim for just the important events that happen in the film.
3. Evaluate the film in a paragraph (or two). What did you think of the film? What did you learn about the artistry of film making by watching the film (apply the practical information of this course to the film)? What did you learn about the time period or narrative stories by watching the film? Etc.
4. Turn in your film review by the end of the marking period.
5. Repeat as needed.

Oscar Micheaux:

• Within Our Gates (1919, with Evelyn Preer)
• Body and Soul (1925, with Paul Robeson)
• The Symbol of the Unconquered (1920)
• Swing (1938, a talkie!)

Robert Flaherty:

• Nanook of the North (1922)

Vitagraph (Sidney Drew):

• A Florida Enchantment (1914)

Lois Weber:

• Where Are My Children (1916)

Robert Wiene:

• The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919, with Conrad Veidt)
• Genuine: A Tale of a Vampire (1920)
• The Hands of Orlac (1924, with Conrad Veidt)

Sergei Eisenstein:

• Battleship Potemkin (1925)
• October (1928)
• Alexander Nevsky (1938)

F.W. Murnau:

• Nosferatu (1922)
• Phantom (1922)
• Faust (1926)
• Sunrise (1927, with Janet Gaynor)
• Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931) (compare to Nanook of the North)

Cecil B. DeMille:

• The King of Kings (1927, in 2-strip Technicolor)
• Male & Female (1919, with Gloria Swanson)

Paul Leni:

• The Cat and the Canary (1927)

Harry Hoyt:

• The Lost World (1925)

Paul Wegener: 

• The Golem (1920)

MGM's:

• Ben Hur (1925, with Raymond Navarro)
• Sherlock Holmes (1922, with John Barrymore, from the George Eastman collection)

Adolph Zukor:

• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920, with John Barrymore)

Other silent films (actors):

• The Mark of Zorro (1920, with Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.)
• The Thief of Bagdad (1924, with Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.)
• The Black Pirate (1926, in 2 strip Technicolor, with Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.)
• The Sheik (1921, with Rudolph Valentino)
• The Son of the Sheik (1926, with Rudolph Valentino)
• Seventh Heaven (1927, with Janet Gaynor & Charles Farrell)
• It (1927, with Clara Bow)

Carl Laemmle:

• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923, with Lon Chaney)
• The Phantom of the Opera (1925, with Lon Chaney)

Blockbusters & Minority Voices in Film

Because of our Black Lives Matter program Friday, we will move ahead and delay the screening of Jaws until after our Feb. break.

Period 1 (lab): The Modern Blockbuster

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 gave 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). After the Blockbuster phenomenon, film gained much attention (and money).

Writers like Michael Crichton and Stephen King became quite wealthy as popular authors since so many people went to see the movies based on their books. Now, bestsellers almost always get made into films as a way to capitalize on profits (J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter, for example). Stan Lee is also doing nicely as every year or so another Marvel superhero movie leads the summer blockbuster scene. Here are a few of Spielberg's films:

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

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 (1981) 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) (same author as Jurassic Park: Michael Crichton)
The Black Hole (1979)
Star Trek (1979) (VO by Orson Welles)

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

Now, the goal of Hollywood remains to produce a blockbuster film. These are traditionally action-packed epics chock-ful of CGI and special effects. Many films also are mass produced so that even if the film fails at the box office, the production company can make back a loss by selling the music tracks, toys, or DVD's.

Recent blockbusters include:
Blockbusters 2017: 15 Blockbusters
Star Wars: Rogue One (2016) ($1 billion and counting...)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) (over $2 billion; film grossed $1 billion in 12 days...)
Jurassic World (2015) 652.3 Million
Avatar (2009) $2,782,275,172 Billion
Titanic (1997) $2,185,246,990 Billion
The Avengers (2012) $552.7 Million (and counting)
The Dark Knight (2008) $533 Million
Spider Man (2002) $403.7 Million
E.T. (1982) $359.2 Million (see clip above)
Jurassic Park (1993) $357.1 Million
Forrest Gump (1994) $329.7 Million

Top 100 Box Office Blockbusters of All Time It pays to be a producer!

And for perspective, some top films that flopped:
Tomorrowland (2015) loss of $200 Million
47 Ronin (2013) loss of $151 Million
Cutthroat Island (1995) loss of $147 Million
The Alamo (2004)  loss of $146 Million (we lost the battle as well)
The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002) loss of $145 Million
Pan (2015) loss of $130-150 Million

Now it's your turn. Using the worksheet, create a short treatise for a film and pitch it in the COMMENT section of this blog. If you had as much money as you needed, what film idea would you pitch and how might it appeal to all audiences (all classes, regions, races, genders, and ages)? Give your pitch a title and describe what the film would be about.

Period 2: Classroom

Minority Voices in Film History:

While most of the pioneers of early film were male Caucasians, the lack of minority voices in film was filled by two very important filmmakers: Alice Guy Blache and Oscar Micheux. While we will focus on these two primarily, they are far from the only minority voices around. Gay & Lesbian, Asian, Latino, and other influential filmmakers begin working in this time period.

Today, we will watch a few of their film clips and take notes of important details. By the end of the lesson you should begin to ask yourself the question: why is minority cinema important? What is the future of minority cinema? How does knowing a little history help minority artists?

Bert Williams' films: Fish (1916) and A Natural Born Gambler (1916) predate Oscar Michaeux as the first African American comedic actor to also write, direct, and star in his own films. Learn more about him here at this link.

Oscar Michaeux is credited as the first black film director. Within Our Gates (1919) (music underscore added recently) and his film in its entirety for those interested Within Our Gates (full film). Evelyn Preer was one of the early black actresses. She was also a popular singer. Here's one of her songs: It Takes a Good Woman to Keep a Good Man at Home. You can hear the rhythms of the jazz age (late 1920's). Think of the book Ragtime.

Zora Neale Hurston, writer and folklorist, made several film documentaries in the 1920's. Here's an example of some of her fieldwork (1928).

Sadly, in American film, the early work of female directors/writers is hard to find (or no longer exists). You can read about African American women's contribution to the film industry here. There's just not much to view. It is, also sadly, not until 1991 that the first African-American female director (Julie Dash) is allowed to make the first studio produced and widely distributed film Daughters of the Dust. However, since then, more black female directors have joined the ranks.

The first female director is:
Alice Guy Blache
The Cabbage Fairy (1896)
The Life of Christ (1906) (our first religious epic depicted in film, predating Cecil B. DeMille)
The Consequences of Feminism (1906)
Falling Leaves (1912)
Algie The Miner (1912)

Lois Weber, an American female, was also a silent film actress and then director. She invented the first use of the split screen technique in her film Suspense (1913).
Other films include the Blot (1921) and Hypocrites (the first full frontal nudity depicted in film outside of "art film" like Edweard Muybridge's work.) She, too, is important.

As for gay and lesbian films of the early silent film era, there are a few. Apart from two men dancing in the film by Edison, the first depiction of one of the sissy stereotype characters is Algie the Miner (1912, sound track added). The first butch male-to-male kissing scene is the fall of Babylon sequence in D.W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916). It also features a pretty kick-ass heroine: mountain girl.

A little gender bending: Vitagraph's A Florida Enchantment (1914); Here's Sidney Drew's full film: A Florida Enchantment (1914).

German film was one of the first to tackle gay subjects head-on. Here's the film Anders als die Andern (Different from the Others, 1919) by Richard Oswald. Here's a little about the significance of the film. It stars Conrad Viedt (more on him soon).

The lesbian film Madchen in Uniform was made in 1931 (and is a talky, so we won't but mention it here). If you're interested in this film, you may also like the 1933 film Anna und Elisabeth. (This is only a clip, sound is not original, of course.)

Recently, Barry Jenkins' film Moonlight (2016) just won best picture and best adapted screenplay.

Latino silent film information can be found here. There is little on line to watch (sorry about that). Bronco Billy and the Greaser (1914), directed by Gilbert Anderson (Bronco Billy). By far one of the most famous Latin actors was Antonio Moreno,  a Spanish-born actor/director, who often played the now stereotypical "Latin lover" role. Ramon Navarro (gay Mexican-American actor) was also popular during the 1920's was rumored to be Rudolph Valentino's secret lover. He ended up tragically murdered in 1968. Here's a link to a short amateur biography of the actor. He starred as Ben Hur in MGM's 1925 historical epic.

And Asian film star Sessue Hayakawa starred in such films as The Typhoon (1914) and The Dragon Painter (1919). He signed on with Paramount Pictures (Famous Players Lasky) where he worked with Cecil B. DeMille in such movies as The Cheat (1915). The first Japanese feature film was made in 1912, the Life Story of Tasuke Shiobara. Here is the Japanese film Jiraiya the Hero (20 min) in 1921.

Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North (Robert Flaherty, 1922) is one of the most important early documentary films ever filmed. It follows the life and times of the Inuit hunter Nanook and his family. It is considered the first feature-length ethnographic documentary. Flaherty shot over 50k feet of film to make the film--which he shot on location in the cold north of Hudson Bay, Canada over the period of 55 days, traveling with the Inuit over 600 miles.

The director Dadasaheb Phalke is considered the father of Indian film, although Asian film begins in the late 1890's. It is interesting to note that the first optical toy (a primitive zoetrope) was invented by Ting Huan in 180 AD in China. By the end of the silent film era, most countries have begun to make films. Of particular note are the directors we will look at next class: Sergei Eisenstein & Robert Wiene and F.W. Murnau (German Expression films).

HOMEWORK: None. Your first journal paper is due March 1. Your February break is a good time to work on completing it. Go watch a film or two!

Pathe Freres Company; D.W. Griffith & the Blockbuster Film

Classroom: Screening:

Pathe Freres Company

Charles Pathé (1863-1957), French motion-picture magnate, who, in the early 20th century, was the first to create a system for mass-producing motion pictures. It is thanks to The Pathe Frere Co. that films were shared and distributed around the world. Now, a film made in New York could be seen as far away as Japan. This is the start of a world-wide cinema (and a lucrative business venture...) Check out information about Pathe and some of his company's films:

Aladdin & the Magic Lamp (1907)
The Policeman's Little Run (1907) directed by Ferdinand Zecca
Slippery Jim (1910) directed by Ferdinand Zecca
Onesime Horloger (Onesime, Clock-Maker) (1912)

• Pathé began his career as an importer and merchant of the phonograph in France.

• He extended the business to include projectors and films, creating the company Pathé Frères in 1896.

• By 1901 he concentrated on film production, together with French director and producer Ferdinand Zecca.

• Pathé made films rapidly and reinvested the profits back into the business to improve the technical quality of his films.

• By 1905 the company was employing numerous production teams of scriptwriters, set builders, cameramen, directors, and actors, making short films in an assembly-line process.

• Pathe Company opened in New York in 1904 as a subsidiary of Pathe Freres (Bros.) in France and boasted a catalogue of 12,000 titles.

• In 1909, Pathe was asked to join Edison in forming the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC) to try to shut out smaller studios.

• In 1911, Pathe Weekly was issued. This is the first newsreel.

• WWI took its toll on the company. Pathe ceased production in the US in 1914.

• In 1915, the Pathe Freres temporarily moved its headquarters to New York and changed its name to Pathe Exchange, Inc.

• In 1923, Pathe Exchange sold for 26 million Francs and came under the control of Merrill Lynch.

• In 1926, Joe Kennedy (father of John F. Kennedy) becomes president of the company, and a director.

• In 1930, Pathe Exchange merges with PDC, K-A-O and DeMille to become RKO

D.W. Griffith & the Blockbuster Film

The modern blockbuster is not a new idea. In fact, as early as 1915, the Hollywood Blockbuster became a big deal and influenced many directors, writers, actors, and their audiences.

D.W. Griffith was called the "Father of film technique" & "the man who invented Hollywood"

Birth of a Nation trailer.

With cinematographer G.W. Bitzer, he created and perfected the film devices:

• the iris shot
• the flashback
• crosscutting

He directed the very controversial The Birth of a Nation (1915) Based on Thomas Dixon's stage play "The Clansman." Over 3 hours long, the racist epic included a cast of hundreds. The film contained many new film innovations:

• Special use of subtitles
• Its own musical score with orchestra
• Introduction of night photography
• Used a "still shot"
• Used an "Iris shot"
• Used parallel action
• Used panning and tracking shots
• Used close-ups to reveal intimate expressions of actors
• Used fade outs and cameo-profiles
• Used high-angles and panoramic (extreme) long shots
• Used cross cutting between two scenes to create excitement and suspense

Birth of a Nation (1915), cinematography by William "Billy" Bitzer.

After making the blockbuster American epic The Birth of a Nation (1915), shocked by the fact that people seemed to misunderstand the intent of that film, Griffith went on to make his true masterpiece:  Intolerance (1916). Here are a few clips from the film.

Trailer for the restored version of Intolerance (trailer)

Babylon Long Shot/Crane Sequence (tinted)

The Fall of Babylon from Intolerance

Entire Film: Intolerance.

In 1919 Griffith established the film company United Artists with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and William S. Hart.

Overall, Griffith directed over 500 films. He retired in 1931 and died in Los Angeles in 1948. In 1975 his picture was on a postage stamp and all the world loved him. But by 1999, The Director's Guild of America's National Board renamed the prestigious D.W. Griffith Award (first given in 1953 to such directors as Woody Allen, Stanley Kubrick, John Huston, Alfred Hitchcock, Ingmar Bergman, John Ford, Akira Kurosawa, and Cecil B. DeMille to name but a few) because of Griffith's racism.

"We do not fear censorship, for we have no wish to offend with improprieties or obscenities, but we do demand, as a right, the liberty to show the dark side of wrong, that we may illuminate the bright side of virtue - the same liberty that is conceded to the art of the written word - that art to which we owe the Bible and the works of Shakespeare."
--D.W. Griffith (1915)

"If in this work we have conveyed to the mind the ravages of war to the end that war may be held in abhorrence, this effort will not have been in vain." - D. W. Griffith (1915)

To summarize, Crash Course Film Studies: #6 - The Feature

Please take a look at these clips and films starring one of his leading actresses: Lilian Gish.

Judith of Bethulia (1914) (part of the film with Lilian Gish; one of the first Biblical epics)

Broken Blossoms (1919) Entire film (with Lilian Gish)

True Heart Susie (1919) Entire film (Lilian Gish)

Way Down East (1920) (scene with Lilian Gish) One of the most amazing stunts ever pulled in cinema history. Please realize that these actors really were doing their own stunts in most cases. That water is cold and, yes, those are ice floes. Way Down East (1920, full film)

Orphans of the Storm (1921) (Entire film, with sister Dorothy Gish)

The Scarlet Letter (1926)  (scene with Lilian Gish)

HOMEWORK: Reading: Complete the handout with the chapters on "The Edison Trust Monopoly" &  "The Creation of Hollywood" in the D.W. Griffith packet. Then please read the chapter: A Shark, A Jedi, and the Modern Blockbuster (handout), and the attached information and script of Jaws (We will be screening Jaws (1975) next class).

EXTRA CREDIT: Watch any of the following FULL films starring Lilian Gish: Intolerance (1916) or Birth of a Nation (1915, see above), Judith of Bethulia, Broken Blossoms, True Heart Susie, Way Down East, or Orphans of the Storm. Write a short paragraph or two summary of the film, and a paragraph or two evaluation. What did you think of the film? Extra credit options can be turned in any time before the end of the marking period. 

Arranged Scene/Storyboard Due! Cecil B. Hepworth; Pathe Frere Co.

Period 1: Lab

Please turn in your cornell notes (see last class' homework for details!)

Make sure you have clicked on and watched/noted these films:

EARLY FILMS & INVENTION:

Hollywood has never been that original compared to early filmmakers. Here's a few films that keep getting made over and over again. Other films of the early 20th century:

• Joan D'Arc (1900) George Melies
• Frankenstein (Edison) (1910)
• A Trip to Mars (Edison) (1910)
• Wizard of Oz (1910)
• James Searle Dawley: Rescued From an Eagle's Nest (1907, Frodo & Sam were not the first little guys to get rescued!)
• Milano Films: Odissea (Italian cinema, 1911)
• Milano Films: Dante's Inferno (Italian cinema, 1911--the oldest surviving feature length epic)
• Oldest surviving color film 
  (1902)

Blue Films: 

After the Ball (Melies; 1897)

Lillian's Corset (1905)

The arranged scene & Storyboarding:

George Melies outlined a narrative story by numbering scenes he would need for a film. See the chapter you read on Melies (handout) for examples. This arrangement served as a creative outline for most early filmmakers. Much of the plot, acting, and filming was completely improv, but directors had a general idea of the film they wanted to make. Now it's your turn.

1. Create your own pre-arranged scene break-down for a "film" of your own. You may wish, like Melies, to choose a favorite story or fairy tale, or create your own sci-fi or fantasy story or like Porter base your story on an event taken from News headlines, or from your own imagination.

2. Create a short film with between 6 - 12 distinct scenes. You should give a very short description of each scene that includes the following information:

A. Where does the action/filming take place? (setting)
B. What is the central action or event in the scene? (action/conflict)
C. What characters are involved in the action? (characters)
D. How does one action lead to a reaction (cause and effect, or i.e., PLOT) and/or resolution? And... 

E. What type of shot would you use for the scene: Close-up, Medium shot, Long Shot, Tracking Shot, Pan, (extreme close up or long shot?)

3. Use the Storyboard templates to plan your story. A. Draw a sketch/picture of the scene you describe in part B.

B. Create a slugline for each scene in the space under the picture that includes: a) setting, b). names of characters involved and a short 1-sentence summary of the scene (Cinderella meets her fairy godmother, or Snow White chokes on an apple, etc.) Number each scene (#1-#12), and indicate what kind of shot you would use: XCU, CU, MS, Full, LS, or XLS. You can add the angle if you know it (PAN, TILT, TRACK, LOW, HIGH, or BIRD'S EYE).

*Make sure your shots and angles, characters/setting/action correctly adhere to your drawing. This project is due at the end of our lab.

If you finish early, view films above or begin reading/taking notes on D.W. Griffith (handout chapter)

Period 2: Film viewing:

Cecil Hepworth

Cecil Hepworth (1874 –1953):

How it Feels to Be Run Over (1900)
Explosion of a Motor Car (1900)
Alice in Wonderland (1903) by Cecil Hepworth
Rescued by Rover (1905), Cecil B. Hepworth; a sequel: The Dog Outwits the Kidnapper (1908)
That Fatal Sneeze (1907), Cecil B. Hepworth 

• Hepworth was an English film director, producer and screenwriter, he was among the founders of the British film industry and continued making films into the 1920s.
• His father was a famous magic lantern showman.
• He became involved in the early stages of British filmmaking, working for both Birt Acres and Charles Urban, and wrote the first British book on the subject in 1897.
• With his cousin Monty Wicks he set up the production company Hepworth and Co. — later renamed the Hepworth Manufacturing Company, then Hepworth Picture Plays.
• In 1899 they built a small film studio in Walton-on-Thames. The company produced about three films a week, sometimes with Hepworth directing.
• Rescued by Rover (1905) was a huge success at the box office, starring a collie in the title role. The film is now regarded as an important development in film grammar, with shots being effectively combined to emphasise the action. Hepworth was also one of the first to recognize the potential of film stars, both animal and human, with several recurring characters appearing in his films.
• The company continued making popular films into the 1920s.
• The company went public to fund a large studio development but lost money and closed.
• Tragically, all of Hepworth's original film negatives were melted down.

Pathe Freres Company

Charles Pathé (1863-1957), French motion-picture magnate, who, in the early 20th century, was the first to create a system for mass-producing motion pictures. It is thanks to The Pathe Frere Co. that films were shared and distributed around the world. Now, a film made in New York could be seen as far away as Japan. This is the start of a world-wide cinema (and a lucrative business venture...) Check out information about Pathe and some of his company's films:

Aladdin & the Magic Lamp (1907)
The Policeman's Little Run (1907) directed by Ferdinand Zecca
Slippery Jim (1910) directed by Ferdinand Zecca
Onesime Horloger (Onesime, Clock-Maker) (1912)

• Pathé began his career as an importer and merchant of the phonograph in France.
• He extended the business to include projectors and films, creating the company Pathé Frères in 1896.
• By 1901 he concentrated on film production, together with French director and producer Ferdinand Zecca.
• Pathé made films rapidly and reinvested the profits back into the business to improve the technical quality of his films.
• By 1905 the company was employing numerous production teams of scriptwriters, set builders, cameramen, directors, and actors, making short films in an assembly-line process.
• Pathe Company opened in New York in 1904 as a subsidiary of Pathe Freres (Bros.) in France and boasted a catalogue of 12,000 titles.
• In 1909, Pathe was asked to join Edison in forming the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC) to try to shut out smaller studios.
• In 1911, Pathe Weekly was issued. This is the first newsreel.
• WWI took its toll on the company. Pathe ceased production in the US in 1914.
• In 1915, the Pathe Freres temporarily moved its headquarters to New York and changed its name to Pathe Exchange, Inc.
• In 1923, Pathe Exchange sold for 26 million Francs and came under the control of Merrill Lynch.
• In 1926, Joe Kennedy (father of John F. Kennedy) becomes president of the company, and a director.
• In 1930, Pathe Exchange merges with PDC, K-A-O and DeMille to become RKO

HOMEWORK: Complete any notes/viewing of material not covered in class today. Please read the article on D.W. Griffith. Complete the graphic organizer for Monday, Feb. 12.

Styles of Film; The Arranged Scene; Storyboarding; Edwin S. Porter, Birt Acres & R.W. Paul

Period 1: Lab

Please turn in your cornell notes (see last class' homework for details!)

Before we go too much further, make sure you have clicked on and watched these films:

• Crash Course Film #2.: Edison & early film invention
• Crash Course Film #3: The Lumiere Brothers.
• Crash Course Film History #4: Melies
• Crash Course Film History #5: Edwin S. Porter
• Lumiere Brothers: Le Squelette Joyeux (the happy skeleton) (1895) 
• Lumiere Brothers: Various actualities (documentaries)
• Edison: Carmencita (1894)
• Edison: Statue of Liberty (1898)
• Edison: The inauguration of President McKinley (1901)
• Edison: Scenes in New York City (1903) (sound added)
• Edison: Skyscrapers of New York (1906) (Mutoscope)
• Edison: Moscow Clad in Snow (1906)
• Edwin S. Porter: Uncle Tom's Cabin (Edwin S. Porter, 1903, with real live negroes!--the first African Americans in a feature film, albeit, main characters are still in black face!) What is black face? Here's a bit of history (see link!)

READ and TAKE NOTES on:

Styles of Film:

If we were to reduce all films to a continuum, we would have realism on one end of the continuum and formalism on the other. The Lumiere Brothers, and many of Edison's films, are considered actualities and are little more than moving snapshots of real life in real settings shot on location in real places. Early audiences were fascinated by these films partly because they had never seen a picture move, but also because the events the films captured were spontaneous and true. It don't get more real  than this! The most real films are often considered to be documentaries--documents of real people, places, or events.

On the other side of the continuum is formalism. Formalist films are often avant-garde or metaphorical. Melies' films are perfect examples of this kind of film. Melies used trick photography, whimsical and fantastic subject matter that went beyond reality, and arranged his scenes deliberately for effect. While the camera stays at a safe viewing distance (long shot), the entire film is manipulated to create an effect on the viewer. When a director does these things (tricks like dissolves or stop motion or careful editing) he is beginning to lose the spontaneity of capturing real life, as all is "staged" and "un-real".

Today most films are considered the mid-range between realism and formalism. This mid-range is called classicism and most fiction films fall into this category.

The arranged scene & Storyboarding:

George Melies outlined a narrative story by numbering scenes he would need for a film. See the chapter you read on Melies (handout) for examples. This arrangement served as a creative outline for most early filmmakers. Much of the plot, acting, and filming was completely improv, but directors had a general idea of the film they wanted to make. Now it's your turn.

1. Create your own pre-arranged scene break-down for a "film" of your own. You may wish, like Melies, to choose a favorite story or fairy tale, or create your own sci-fi or fantasy story or like Porter base your story on an event taken from News headlines, or from your own imagination.

2. Create a short film with between 6 - 12 distinct scenes. You should give a very short description of each scene that includes the following information:

A. Where does the action/filming take place? (setting)
B. What is the central action or event in the scene? (action/conflict)
C. What characters are involved in the action? (characters)
D. How does one action lead to a reaction (cause and effect, or i.e., PLOT) and/or resolution? And... 

E. What type of shot would you use for the scene: Close-up, Medium shot, Long Shot, Tracking Shot, Pan, (extreme close up or long shot?)

3. Use the Storyboard templates to plan your story. A. Draw a sketch/picture of the scene you describe in part B.

B. Create a slugline for each scene in the space under the picture that includes: a) setting, b). names of characters involved and a short 1-sentence summary of the scene (Cinderella meets her fairy godmother, or Snow White chokes on an apple, etc.) Number each scene (#1-#12), and indicate what kind of shot you would use: XCU, CU, MS, Full, LS, or XLS. You can add the angle if you know it (PAN, TILT, TRACK, LOW, HIGH, or BIRD'S EYE).

*Make sure your shots and angles, characters/setting/action correctly adhere to your drawing. This project will be due at the end of next class's lab.

Period 2: Film viewing:

As we watch these films, please record the title, name of director, and a 1-3 sentence description.

• THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (1903), Directed by Edwin S. Porter
• The Life of an American Fireman (Edwin S. Porter, 1903)

Birt Acres & R.W. Paul

Birt Acres was born in the USA in 1854, orphaned at the age of fourteen during the American civil war and was taken in by his aunt. Around 1872 Acres was sent to Paris to complete his education at the Sorbonne. Acres returned to the United States four years later to lead the life of a Frontiersman and it during a period of eight or nine years became quite wealthy. Around 1885 he moved to England. He set up a studio in the seaside resort of Devon for the production of painted portraits and photography. In 1894 Acres was introduced to electrical engineer, Robert W. Paul. At this time Paul was in the process of manufacturing copies of Edison’s Kinetoscope and was anxious to construct a camera with which to produce films to show on his machines.

The pair worked together and Acres used the camera to make the first successful film in Britain - Incident at Clovelly Cottage in 1895. It was at this point where the two entered into partnership with a ten year business agreement. This agreement lasted only six weeks before splitting. During their brief partnership, the two shot films. It is widely believed that Paul was angry because Acres had patented his own Kinetic camera in his own name - almost identical to the one they had developed together. The resulting projector became known as the Kinetic Lantern, Kineopticon and the Cinematoscope. 

As for Paul, he invented the Theatrograph projector and shot the first "news" films. Paul also made various “Actuality” films,  and a short comedy - “The Soldier’s Courtship.” He is, also, curiously, responsible for the first Scrooge film. In 1898 Paul began construction on Britain’s first film studios in Muswell Hill, North London and during that summer produced over eighty short dramatic films.

Paul’s production company peaked during 1900 and 1905 but he gradually became disenchanted with the business. He returned to his previous occupation, concentrating on electrical engineering.

Meanwhile, Acres gave the first public performance of his projector at the Royal Photographic Society in 1896 - five weeks before the screening of Lumière’s Cinématographe and Paul’s Theatograph. Acres formed his own company - the Northern Photographic Works which specialized in coating, perforating and processing film. In 1898 he unveiled the Birtac - the first 'sub-standard gauge' cine camera and projector, instead of normal 35mm film the camera used narrower width film - typically 17.5 mm. Unfortunately for Acres, within weeks, a rival 17.5 mm camera/projector was announced - the Biokam by the Warwick Trading Company. The Biokam benefitted from its heavy backing and cheapness - half the price of the Birtac. Regardless of this, Birt Acres invented the first amateur cine camera and remained in the film business until his death in 1918.

R.W. Paul: Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee (1897)

Upside Down (1899) (watch camera tricks)

 Scrooge, or Marley's Ghost (1901) (the first Scrooge film).

The Magic Sword (1901)

The Delhi Durbar (1903)

Birt Acres: Rough Sea at Dover (1895)

Crude Set Drama (1896)

Rip Van Winkle (1895)

EARLY FILMS & INVENTION:

Hollywood has never been that original compared to early filmmakers. Here's a few films that keep getting made over and over again. Other films of the early 20th century:

• Joan D'Arc (1900) George Melies
• Frankenstein (Edison) (1910)
• A Trip to Mars (Edison) (1910)
• Wizard of Oz (1910)
• James Searle Dawley: Rescued From an Eagle's Nest (1907, Frodo & Sam were not the first little guys to get rescued!)
• Milano Films: Odissea (Italian cinema, 1911)
• Milano Films: Dante's Inferno (Italian cinema, 1911--the oldest surviving feature length epic)
• Oldest surviving color film 
  (1902)

HOMEWORK: None. If you missed some of these links or films, please view what we didn't complete during class. Otherwise, there's no work to do as homework. 

Film History Before 1920: Day 2; Melies & Porter; Styles of Film

Period 1:

Please watch the following crash course film (#3) on The Lumiere Brothers. After viewing, please complete the questions on Film History Before 1920. Turn in your notes by the end of period 1.

While you are reading/answering your questions, complete this next project as well:

Actuality Project:

Get into groups of 3-4. Using the cameras or your own cell phones (if you have the capability) roam the school in less than 5 minutes (per group) and take a single shot "actuality" of something. Your film should be no longer than 30 seconds and be only one shot. Return within 5 minutes and hand off your camera to the next group.

Then, once everyone has had a chance to make a short, short "actuality", upload your actualities into Windows Movie Maker and create a title slide for your film with your names. If you'd like, add a music track. Upload to Youtube and send me the URL by the end of period 1 today.  We'll screen them next class. There will be no ned to cut or edit your film. Just point the camera at a subject, hit record, record, then stop.

Here are a few examples:
Student #1
Student #2

Period 2: Styles of Film:

If we were to reduce all films to a continuum, we would have realism on one end of the continuum and formalism on the other. The Lumiere Brothers, and many of Edison's films, are considered actualities and are little more than moving snapshots of real life in real settings shot on location in real places. Early audiences were fascinated by these films partly because they had never seen a picture move, but also because the events the films captured were spontaneous and true. It don't get more real  than this! The most real films are often considered to be documentaries--documents of real people, places, or events.

On the other side of the continuum is formalism. Formalist films are often avant-garde or metaphorical. Melies' films are perfect examples of this kind of film. Melies used trick photography, whimsical and fantastic subject matter that went beyond reality, and arranged his scenes deliberately for effect. While the camera stays at a safe viewing distance (long shot), the entire film is manipulated to create an effect on the viewer. When a director does these things (tricks like dissolves or stop motion or careful editing) he is beginning to lose the spontaneity of capturing real life, as all is "staged" and "un-real".

Today most films are considered the mid-range between realism and formalism. This mid-range is called classicism and most fiction films fall into this category.

George Melies and Edwin S. Porter both found a way to edit and arrange film to create a narrative story. With these two film directors we begin to expand the novelty and artistic quality of the medium.

George Melies outlined a narrative story by numbering scenes he would need for a film. 

As we watch these films, please record the title, name of director, and a 1-3 sentence description.

• A TRIP TO THE MOON (1902), Directed by George Melies (The Astronomer's Dream - 1898); (The Impossible Voyage, 1904); and (The Conquest of the Pole, 1912)
• THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (1903), Directed by Edwin S. Porter
• The Life of an American Fireman (Edwin S. Porter, 1903)
• Uncle Tom's Cabin (Edwin S. Porter, 1903, with real live negroes!--the first African Americans in a feature film, albeit, main characters are still in black face!) What is black face? Here's a bit of history (see link!)
• Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (Edwin S. Porter, 1906)

Crash Course Film History #4 & Crash Course Film History #5 Edwin S. Porter

HOMEWORK: Please read the chapter on Edwin S. Porter and George Melies. Take Cornell notes on both chapters to turn in for participation credit on Tuesday, Feb. 6. Refer as well to the linked crash course films for additional information.