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.