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.