Student Silent Film Projects

Khamphasong
Carly, Frances, Ben, Kayli
Nathan & Ethan
Imani, Imani, Jahni & Shayozinique
Thiery & Grace
Nikki & Gena

Narratology & Film Script Reading

Narratology: the study of narrative forms.

Stories are divided into genres. Each genre has rules and expectations that help define its formalistic elements: 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 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).

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 view to disorient its viewers.
4. Voice overs (this indicates we have a subjective narrator)

This may also include such narrative techniques as:

• Crosscutting
• Montage
• Multiple perspective

Classical style narrative plots generally follow the typical 3-act structure. They rise through a series of events (rising action) to a definitive climax, and usually resolve in some definitive way.

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

Important symbols or metaphors are usually explained; solutions are offered. These 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, and surprising special visual effects. Here are a few sample clips of this type of film:

• Le Ballet Mecanique (1924) 
• 2001, A Space Odyssey (1968)
• Eraserhead (1977) (review with clips)
• Destino (2003)
• The Fountain (2006)
• Synecdoche, New York (2008)
• The Fall (2008)

ASSIGNMENT: Read one (or more for extra credit) of the following scripts for Monday, March 31. As you read, examine the script for its narrative style. Choose your preference:

• Duck Soup (1933)
• The Wizard of Oz (1939)
• Casablanca (1942)

Be prepared to discuss how the film uses narratology as a device. Examine the genre, the plot structure, the character portrayal, the setting, POV, and intended audience. What elements of the film script are formalistic, which are classical or realistic, etc. How does the film script adhere to the rules of the genre (what are those rules?) and find examples of the narrative style.

HOMEWORK: Read the handout on "Sound in Film". Read your chosen script from those listed above (due Monday, March 31). Complete whatever you can of your film and upload it to Youtube for our class viewing Thursday.

The Invention of Sound in Film

Please take notes this morning on the following information:

Joseph P. Maxfield (AT&T’s Bell Laboratories) invented the first phonograph linked to film (licensed by Victor as the Orthophonic Victrola) which became the basis for the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system.

The Vitaphone allowed actors to lipsync their performance while the sound was recorded after; (This helped to popularize animation!)

The first sound film was Don Juan in 1926. The Jazz Singer (cantor);  The Jazz Singer (1927), directed by Alan Crosland, starring famous vaudeville actor, Al Jolson is popularly given this award. Really both films were songs or music in Don Juan's case, that were played along and synched with the film. The Jazz Singer gave birth to the Hollywood musical genre. You may watch the entire film here: Jazz Singer.

Warner Bros. and Fox Film began wiring their theatres for sound as early as 1926. By 1928, Western Electric developed a sound-on-film system, which later developed a new competitive major studio: Radio-Keith-Orpheum or RKO.

The conversion to sound created both positive and negative effects for film:

Positive:

A. Led to a revival of national film elsewhere in the world
B. Cinema owners did not have to hire musicians for an in-house orchestra
C. Silent films were easier to distribute across the world (no need to translate) which later creates the need for dubbing (1932 -- ex. Paramount studios); before this, multi-lingual films make stars like Marlene Dietrich, Maurice Chevalier, Bela Lugosi, Ingrid Bergman, Greta Garbo, and Peter Lore more important--since they can speak different languages (and therefore sync their voices to film).
D. Film became a single media event
E. Films came to the theatres as final products, whole and complete
F. The immersive qualities of film and the viewer become inseparable
G. Dialogue became a necessity to tell the plot of a film

Negative:

A. Produced panic and confusion in Hollywood
B. Many musicians lost their jobs
C. Early sound films from America were boycotted by certain countries; films were not as widely distributed, more costly to translate.
D. Silent film culture was destroyed
E. Films did not require additional music, some ambiance was lost -- sound film was seen as the killer of “film as the seventh art form”
F. Film was no longer a “theatrical” or “artistic” event
G. Dialogue became a necessity to tell the plot of a film

Last Day of the Marking Period: All Late Work Due!

Please turn in any late homework/assignments or extra credit you have not turned in yet.

I am extending the deadline for your silent films until next class. We started working on these projects around Feb. 13.  Most of our marking period was taken up with this project, and so it is important that your grades reflect the work you've done on you film. For those of you who are finished, please upload your film to Youtube and send me the link in the comment section of this post. I would like to screen films next Thursday, if possible.

This morning, please complete the following task:

--Reflect on making a movie. I would like you to think about the movie-making process and explain what you have learned about film, creative writing, or about yourself and others from it. This reflection will count as part of your project grade for this marking period. It is due by the end of class today.

When you have completed your reflection, please continue working on your film. If you are done, and you want to boost your test score, you may begin completing the test correction worksheet for the Origins of Film.

TEST CORRECTIONS: Please read the article by Tim Dirks and answer questions on the handout. Please be aware there are 5 pages to this article. Turn in by Tuesday (March 25, by 1st period--corrections will not be collected after the beginning of class, PLEASE NOTE) to increase your exam score.

HOMEWORK: None. Unless you haven't completed your film project(s), or are working on test corrections.

Film Exam: Origins to 1930

Please take the first 5 minutes of class today to study for your exam.

When you complete the test, please return to the lab and work on your film projects.

HOMEWORK: Film projects (first deadline) is Friday.

Review for Film Exam (Origins to 1930)

Your unit test will cover the following material. All material mentioned was either referenced and discussed below in the blog (check and review blog entries), the handouts from Turning Points in Film,  or from Tim Dirks website (Film History). Please refer to your notes and study. This test covers a lot, please study. Please. No. Really. Study.

• Styles of film: realism, classicism, formalism
• Film Treatment (how to write one) & definition of a film pitch
• Early film invention: Magic Lantern, Daguerreotype, Celluloid, Kinetoscope, Mutoscope, Praxinoscope, Thaumatrope, etc.
• Edweard Muybridge, photography, & the Zoopraxinoscope
• The Lumiere Brothers & their films (The Sprinkler Sprinkled, Arrival of a Train, etc.)
• Pathe Frere Manufacturing Company (Charles Pathe)
• Pathe Films: Aladin and the Wonderful Lamp; Onesime the Clock Maker; Slippery Jim; The Policeman's Little Run
• Thomas Edison and the Edison Manufacturing Company: various films (Sandow the Strongman, Serpentine Dances, Frankenstein, The Wizard of Oz (1910), Uncle Josh films, Life of an American Fireman, etc.
• The Black Maria
• Augustin Le Prince
• W.K.L. Dickson
• Hepworth Manufacturing Company (Cecil B. Hepworth)
• Hepworth's films:Rescued by Rover ; How It Feels to be Run Over; Explosion of a Motor Car; That Fatal Sneeze; Alice in Wonderland
• George Melies & A Trip to the Moon
• Persistence of Vision
• Etinnene-Jules Marey
• George Eastman
• Edwin S. Porter & his films: The Great Train Robbery ; Dream of a Rarebit Fiend
• Actualities & Blue Movies
• D.W. Griffith and his contribution to film (also his Intolerance, Way Down East, and Birth of a Nation)
• Billy Bitzer
• Lillian Gish
• Early film comedy and comedians (particularly The Keystone Kops, Mack Sennett, Mabel Normand, Harold Lloyd, etc.)
• Slapstick comedy & comedic technique
• Charlie Chaplin (various films; we watched the Rink in class, but others were mentioned)
• Buster Keaton (The Paleface, One Week, Sherlock Jr., The Haunted House, The General, various films)
• Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle & his scandal (Hays Code chapter)
• Hollywood (the origin and development of)
• Eisenstein & Montage & Battleship Potemkin (Odessa Step sequence)
• Types of Shots (close up, medium shot, full shot, deep focus shot, long shot, extreme close up and long shots, panning, dolly/tracking shot, etc.)
• Types of Angles (high, low, bird's eye, oblique, etc.) 
• Advice about Camera shots and editing
• 180 degree rule & various editing techniques
• Early independent film studios/the Hollywood Studio System
• Early major film studios (1920-1930)
• Blockbooking
• Sid Grauman
• MPPC, MPPDA & AMPAS
• The Hays Code
• German Expressionism
• F. W. Murnau & Nosferatu
• Robert Weine & The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
• Birt Acres
• R.W. Paul
• Alice Guy-Blache
• Mack Sennett
• Oscar Micheaux
• Minorities in film 
• Other important film stars: Douglas Fairbanks sr., Rudolph Valentino, Mary Pickford, Janet Gaynor & Charles Farrell, Clara Bow, W.C. Fields, Greta Garbo, Conrad Viedt, Lois Weber, etc.
• Auteur, Story, Plot, Order, Narration, Narrative Form
• Narratology
• Diegesis
• Scene, Sequence, Frequency, Ellipsis
• Motif
• Space, Viewing Time, Duration

HOMEWORK: Please study for your exam, please study for your exam, please study for your exam.

Minorities in Film; Alice Guy Blache & Oscar Micheux

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, watch a few of their film clips and take notes on 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?

Oscar Michaeux was 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. Sadly, in American film, it is not until 1991 that the first African-American female director appears (Julie Dash). 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 Pit and the Pendulum (1913)
You can see Taylor & Mariah's film documentary on Alice in the post below.

Various films by the early filmmaker Alice Guy.

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). The film was directed by Alice Guy Blache. 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)

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. It stars Conrad Viedt (see below). 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.)

Latino silent film information can be found here. There is little on line to watch (sorry about that). 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. 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 (Russian and German Expression films).

But for now...

Early Film Stars from Hollywood:
From your notes you should also know the following blockbuster film stars of the early screen. Please watch their clips. Various famous Hollywood actors:

Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in the Thief of Baghdad (1924), The Mark of Zorro (1920); the full version of The Thief of Baghdad can be found here. It's really a good film, all told. Douglas Fairbanks was known for doing his own stunts.
Rudolph Valentino's The Son of the Shiek (1926) & the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), Blood and Sand (1924)
Mary Pickford (1917) The Poor Little Rich Girl
America's Lovebirds or America's Sweethearts:Janet Gaynor & Charles Farrell
Clara Bow in It (1927)
Conrad Viedt
The Man of a Thousand Faces, Lon Chaney, The Phantom of the Opera (complete silent film, 1924), The Unmasking Scene from Phantom, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)