Debra Dean: Workshop

Today is the workshop with Debra Dean. From 8:30-9:45 we will be working in the Ensemble Theater. Please bring a journal and a pencil or pen.

1930's film presentations and the silent film project (uploading of film, i.e., have your film shot and ready to upload) are due Monday.

1930's Style Trends

Some trends in 1930's film:

• Due to the Great Depression, more films dealt with positive and uplifting themes (generally). Even monster movies or film noir ended on a positive note, with the survivors or gumshoe getting the girl.
• You may notice that the 1930's films generally use longer cuts. Scenes tend to be a little longer, partly due to dialogue.
• The "talkies" often edited to match the rhythm of the actor's speech. 
• Many critics saw the new sound films as a return to the theatre of the turn of the century (1900's)—precisely the type of cinema that the modernist and avant-garde film movements of the 1920s had tried to remove. Many films sound like staged plays. This forces a certain amount of "realism" to "formalist" cinema style.
• Staging was often done in a studio, as opposed to outside on location. Broad sweeping epics (like those of D.W. Griffith) for the moment are a thing of the past. 
• For the first time, radio became both a rival to film and a way to integrate both mediums into one.

Presentations

Today we will deliver our presentations on 1930's film. As you listen to the presentations, please take notes on the handout. I will be collecting these at the end of our class.

• A key question concerning what we're learning is: What trends and styles do 1930's films illustrate? By contrast how do these films differ from earlier films, particularly those in the 1920's? As you listen to the presentations, consider this question.

If there is time remaining in the period, please continue to upload and work on your film project. By Thursday, you should have your silent movie SHOT.

1930's Presentations & Silent Film Project

Today, please take 20 minutes to upload video for your silent film project (if you have any), allow directors to schedule your film project, aiming for the completion of the film project by next week. Remember that editing takes time!

Also during these 20 minutes, please complete any touches on your presentation you wish to make. I'll be coming around the room and asking for volunteers to present first. If no one volunteers, I will select randomly.

Finally, if you are all caught up on your presentation and your film is nearing completion (or you don't have access to it today), please check out these 1930's clips. If you don't get to view these today, please watch them over the weekend and take notes.

Hell's Angels (1930) Premiere clip (not the film, but the hubbub about the film)
Hell's Angels (1930) clip with Jean Harlow

Anna Christie (1930) With Greta Garbo
Tarzan, The Ape Man (1932) Johnny Weissmuller

Morocco (1930) with Marlene Dietrich

Grand Hotel (1932) with Joan Crawford & John Barrymore

King Kong (1933) starring a large gorilla, Robert Armstrong and Fay Wray
King Kong (2nd clip)

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) Clark Gable & Charles Laughton

It Happened One Night (1934) Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert

Captain Blood (1935) with Errol Flynn & Basil Rathbone (documentary clip)

PRESENTATIONS:

As you watch the presentations, please fill out the 1930's note sheet with appropriate details about what you learn from your peers. Turn these in at the end of class for participation credit.

Any presentations we did not get to today will be delivered on Tuesday, next week.

Sound, 1930's Films & Projects

Sound in film can either be diegetic (sound that belongs in the 'world of the film'; for example sound effects)
or
Non diegetic (sound that is added outside the world of the film; i.e, a soundtrack or theme music that sets tone). Any time you use non diegetic sound, you are moving down the continuum from realism towards formalism.

A person who designs and records sound is called a foley artist. Take a look at this website for details about the career of a foley artist and tips on how to effectively use sound in film.

Task: Using your homework (the notes you took in your film journal/notebook on the documentary concerning sound), take 10 minutes this morning and complete the following task (to be turned in as participation credit).

1. Find five different people in the class and "interview" them as to deliver ONE piece of information from their notes about what they learned from the documentary that they thought was essential, interesting, unbelievable, or important.
2. For each of your "interviews" write down the person who gave you the information and the information.

At the end of the exercise (10 minutes) turn in as much information as you have.

The rest of class, please continue working on your research projects on the 1930's (due Friday) and your silent film project.

HOMEWORK: Silent film project & 1930's Topic Presentation.

The Invention of Sound

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 (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.

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

HOMEWORK: (For Wednesday) Please watch the following documentary on the history of sound and take notes in your film journal. In particular, please note what you found to be interesting, unbelievable, or parts of the documentary that seem to be essential or important information. Here is the film documentary. It runs about half an hour. The Birth of Sound  and The Birth of Sound (part two)

The Golden Age of Film & Silent Film Project

The 1930's is considered the Golden Age of Film. Please select and sign up for one of the following groupings and prepare a short Powerpoint, brochure, or Prezi presentation for your topics. Research each topic and provide basic information including: who is this person or what is this? and what films or significant impact did this person/genre have on the film industry? NOTE: please cover only the 1930's (particularly with some actors or directors whose careers span several decades...we are currently only interested in the 1930's).

Your presentations will be shared with the class beginning Friday, but also stretching into next week. When you are not working on your presentations, please continue working on your silent film project.

Topics include (actors, genres, & directors/producers):

• Greta Garbo & Marlene Dietrich
• Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, and Johnny Weissmuller
• Joan Crawford & Bette Davis
• Shirley Temple & Mickey Rooney
• Spenser Tracy & Katherine Hepburn
• Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers
• The Marx Brothers & The Three Stooges
• Popeye the Sailor & Walt Disney Studios.
• Laurel & Hardy & The Little Rascals

• 1930's Prison Films & 1930's Gangster Films
• 1930's Westerns & 1930's Film Noir
• 1930's Musicals & 1930's Comedies (Screwball)
• 1930's Literary Epics (movies based on books)
• 1930's Horror films & 1930's Adventure films

• David Selznick & Samuel Goldwyn
• Irving Thalberg & Erich Von Stroheim
• Joseph Von Sternberg & Fritz Lang
• Frank Capra & George Cukor
• Jack Conway & King Vidor
• Sam Wood & Victor Fleming

Please use today's lab time to continue making progress on your silent film project.
HOMEWORK: Shoot your film. Bring in your film for editing.