Summary Of German Expressionism

Summary Of German Expressionism

Expressionism is the movement in the fine arts that emphasized the expression of one’s inner self and their angst rather than solely being realistic and fanboyish about the world and life. Expressionism was a reaction to impressionism which projected stark and absolute realities. Expressionists sought to reverse this trend in the arts and wished to portray allegorical worlds which were in themselves metaphors for what people were experiencing at the time. Originally starting out as a movement in painting and sculpture it quickly spread to the fledgling movie industry in Europe where Expressionism had started. The majority of film expressionists came from the nation of Germany, hence why the term German Expressionism is so popular when describing this movement in film.

German Expressionism

German Expressionism

Among the first Expressionist films, The Student of Prague (1913), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), The Golem: How He Came Into the World (1920), Destiny (1921), Nosferatu (1922), Phantom (1922), Schatten (1923), and The Last Laugh (1924), were highly symbolic and stylized.

The German Expressionist movement was largely confined to Germany due to the isolation the country experienced during World War I. In 1916, the government had banned more foreign films in the nation. The demand from theaters to generate films led film production to rise from 25 films (1914) to 130 films (1918). With inflation on the rise, Germans were attending films more freely because they knew that their money's worth was constantly diminishing.

Besides the films' popularity within Germany, by 1922 the international audience had begun to appreciate German cinema, in part due to a decreasing anti-German sentiment following the end of World War I. By the time the 1916 ban on imports was lifted, Germany had become a part of the international film industry.

Various European cultures of the 1920s embraced an ethic of change, and a willingness to look to the future by experimenting with bold, new ideas and artistic styles. The first Expressionist films made up for a lack of lavish budgets by using set designs with wildly non-realistic, geometrically absurd sets, along with designs painted on walls and floors to represent lights, shadows, and objects. The plots and stories of the Expressionist films often dealt with madness, insanity, betrayal, and other "intellectual" topics (as opposed to standard action-adventure and romantic films). Later films often categorized as part of the brief history of German Expressionism include Metropolis (1927) and M (1931), both directed by Fritz Lang. This trend was a direct reaction against realism. Its practitioners used extreme distortions in expression to show an inner emotional reality rather than what is on the surface.

The extreme realism of Expressionism was short-lived, fading away after only a few years. However, the themes of Expressionism were integrated into later films of the 1920s and 1930s, resulting in an artistic control over the placement of scenery, light, etc. to enhance the mood of a film. This dark, moody school of film making was brought to the United States when the Nazis gained power and a number of German filmmakers emigrated to Hollywood. These German directors found U.S. movie studios willing to embrace them, and several German directors and cameramen flourished there, producing a repertoire of Hollywood films that had a profound effect on film as a whole.

Early Motion Picture 1878-1915

Early Motion Picture 1878-1915

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still images on a strip of plastic which, when run through a projector and shown on a screen, creates the illusion of moving images. A film is created by photographing actual scenes with a motion picture camera; by photographing drawings or miniature models using traditional animation techniques; by means of computer animation; or by a combination of some or all of these techniques and other visual effects. The process of filmmaking is both an art and an industry.

Films usually include an soundtrack, which is a graphic recording of the spoken words, music and other sounds that are to accompany the images. It runs along a portion of the film exclusively reserved for it and is not projected.

The individual images that make up a film are called frames. During projection, a rotating shutter causes intervals of darkness as each frame in turn is moved into position to be projected, but the viewer does not notice the interruptions because of an effect known as persistence of vision, whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been removed. The perception of motion is due to a psychological effect called beta movement.

 

The History of the Motion Picture

In early June of 1878, Muybridge made his first successful serial photographs of fast motion at Stanford's California stock farm. The photographs were of a horse running and another horse trotting; they were developed on the spot so as not to be accused of doctoring the images. Muybridge began traveling, giving lectures and demonstrations of his work around the world. In August of 1883, the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia decided to sponsor Muybridge's further experiments. This setting was quite suitable to him. Philadelphians Fairman Rogers (scientist and then head of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts) and Thomas Eakins (painter, sportsman, and student of anatomy) were both members of a university commission formed in 1884 to supervise Muybridge's work.

Up until 1886, Muybridge took thousands of photographs and redid more than 500 of them. He worked at the Zoological Garden, and also photographed many human models. Animal Locomotion was finally published in November of 1887, and contained 781 plates. Muybridge had created an encyclopedic anatomy of motion, depicting humans and animals in various stages of work, play, and rest. The photographs shown here are just a sample of the many Muybridges that The Franklin Institute has in its collections. Fortunately, "the photographer had nothing to do but try." Muybridge's work, equally valuable to artists, scientists, and photographers, is considered the birth of early motion pictures.

Photos

French Impressionism

French Impressionism

1.      

·         Impressionist painting characteristics:

-          relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes,

-          open composition,

-          emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities,

-           and unusual visual angles.

This picture is made by one of the most important French impressionist painters Camille Pisarro. The painting is called “Boulevard Montmartre” and it was published in 1897.  

This amazing art piece was painted by the painter Edgar Degas, the piece is called “The Dance Lesson c.” and it was published in 1879.

1.       The decrease of the economic activity after World War 1 made artist create/come up with new ideas and techniques in order to make cinematography more popular.

2.       Camera: the distance from the camera to the main object/person  is a close-up, the camera angle is mostly high or low and the camera movement  was mostly independent of the subject, of graphic effects,  points of view.

Lighting: the lighting was normally very low and shadows were used, they created sense of mystery.

Optical devices: transitions, magical effects, paying attention to significant details, pictoral decoration, conveyors of abstract meanings, and as indicators of objectivity. 

3.       -      Abel Gance (La Dixième symphonie (1918), J’Accuse (1919), La Roue (1922), and above all, Napoléon (1927)). He was interested in sound films when they came out, in telling a story.

-          Germaine Dulac (The Smiling Madame Beudet (1922)). He liked the music, mostly operas.

Mise-en-scene in "The Cave of the yellow dog"

Mise en Scene has a number of different definitions. This can be confusing because film making is an art rather than an exact science. It's also something that's much younger than still photography, which means there are many new terms used to explain it which aren't in most people's common vocabularies. In this scene we can see that is a long shot centre with the temple and the path way. This scene transmit a calm in this shot but tension because you don´t know what is going on. The shot is very persuasive because of all the different things that have like lots of people in the scene and the different colours that present. 

First Project Film´s Studies

First Project Film´s Studies

In my first project of film´s studies we had to get in groups of four, i was with malena pardo, delfina carrascal and iara martinangeli. every person of the group had differents jobs my job was to be the sound designer responsible for providing any required sounds to accompany screen action. We do a short flm of one day in our school so we don´t need many sounds effects but the music that we need have to be persuasive and intresting so y convine with the editor dis time so the music can conect with the diferents parts of the film.