Cinema of Attractions and it relation to the perceived audience of early cinema. Early film makers used the new technology of cinema to display a variety of attractions to audiences in a style coined by Tom Gunning as cinema of attractions.
Cinema of Attractions and its relation to the perceived audience of early cinema New technologies invented during the industrial era inspired the experimentation with moving images that eventually lead to the birth of cinema. (Cavendish 2008, pp. 001-1008) Early film makers used the new technology of cinema to display a variety of attractions to audiences in a style coined by Tom Gunning as 'cinema of attractions'. (Gunning 1993) Cinema of attractions was a style used to address and appeal to the audiences of the time, who were accustomed to a theatricalism, display, and exhibitionist style in popular culture. (Lewis 2007, pp. 7-12) Ostentatious media and advertising (Tungate 2007, pp. 25-29) along with extravaganza-style live performances (Lewis 2007, p. 3) helped build the culture for which the style of cinema of attractions was appropriate. According to Gunning, cinema of attractions refers to a style of cinema that interacted directly with the audience, luring them in and inviting them to partake and immerse themselves in a show of exhibitionist images. (Gunning 1993) Jennifer Bean describes "hysteria, or shock, or astonishment" as the key aesthetic of this early cinema. (Bean 2004, p. 23) While the term 'silent film' is often used to describe the films of this period, Andre Gaudreault explains they were in fact fundamentally audio-visual,
Example of Film Analysis using Mise-en-scene
Example of Film Analysis using Mise-en-scene The opening scenes of The Godfather Part Three, (Coppola, 1991), we see the family compound in ruins on a grey wintry day. The lighting is dark and depressing and depicts the nature of what has passed and what might be to come. Something sad has occurred. You need not have seen the previous two films to have some idea of the weight and brevity of the narrative. If the film makers had chosen to shoot that opening scene of the flooded and derelict family home on a bright sunny day how would the audience have known that some form of change has occurred? A family home bathed in sunlight implies happiness and family togetherness. The darkness and brooding cold of the shot tells us that the extension of the narrative that will make up this new film comes from a time of depression and of obscurity for the Corleone family. The opening scenes of The Godfather Part Three also highlight the importance of setting as a way to drive and develop the narrative. The family home is in ruins. It is a grand and once luxurious compound that has fallen into decay and abandonment. The audience is aware from the start that the family, the central premise of the whole trilogy, has fallen and broken. Love and togetherness, the strength of the family unit to support and unify the goals of the individual members has been left to ruination and rot. The
Conflicts exist between different ideas and theories of realism. Describe and explain these conflicts.
Conflicts exist between different ideas and theories of realism. Describe and explain these conflicts. 'Realism' permeates the very deepest level of philosophical thought. From the wildest cosmogonical fantasies to the ways in which people deal with every conscious moment, 'realism' is impossible to ignore. Everything is either a precept to, or a contingency of, our views on realism. The debates surrounding all these ideas lie far beyond the remit of this essay. This essay seeks to debate the arguments of the pre-eminent thinkers associated with realism in terms of film. Then to provide a philosophical basis for their opinions, by which their arguments shall be weighted. It is necessary therefore, to establish this basis - this 'value system' - by which the arguments shall be judged. David Hume's theories of epistemology shall form the basis of this 'value system'. Every aspect of our knowledge is gained by experience: Specifically by sensual experience of the physical world. In this respect, reality is not ontological, it is the sum of our sensual and rational experiences. It is not a precept, it is an existential conclusion of the world in which we live, and the way we experience it; and the sum of this we call reality. It is purely descriptive; a conclusion of perception. The electromagnetic radiation to which our retina is sensitive, the variations in
Compare The Way In Which 'Double Indemnity' And 'Blade Runner' Use Film Noir Conventions.
Sam Rawson E7 Started on: Sunday 26th January 2003 Completed on: Sunday 9th February 2003 Compare The Way In Which 'Double Indemnity' And 'Blade Runner' Use Film Noir Conventions Introduction In 1944, shortly after the Second World War, a flood of American films could be found in France. The critics noticed many recurrent images throughout these B-movies, which were smaller films shown before the main feature. The films became known as a genre: film noir. Film noir is French for 'black films'. We tend to relate the colour black to death and pessimistic thoughts. This ties in with the negative theme of the films and the outlook of the characters. The physical symbols that make up the genre of these films include mirrors, staircases, Venetian blinds, fire escapes, telephones and bright neon lights. The camera shots are often dramatic and very angular, and among the scenes used are rain-lashed streets, fog-bound train stations and empty echoing buildings. The use of lighting is a very important feature of these films and contains very sharp contrasts of light and darkness. This is known as chiaroscuro lighting. The empty echoing building shows how alone the people in this world feel Plot Summaries Summary of 'Double Indemnity' The story converges around top insurance salesman Walter Neff. The narrative is told by the use of male voice over (MVO) and flashback.
Metropolis film Analysis
Metropolis Analysis Metropolis is arguably the first and most important science fiction film ever produced and is sets the standard as the archetype film of this genre or of films with similar generic conventions. The most significant quality of this film is that the special effects used in this sci-fi epic were groundbreaking at the time of the release and still have the power to amaze audiences. The silent film is based upon the futuristic city of metropolis set in 2026 or there about and it is based around various themes such as the struggle between the rulers and the working class, the ignorance of the individuals at the summit of the "Metropolis", human oppression and enslaved working conditions which the workers had to put up with. The themes are important as it gives us an idea of what the social and political issues were during the making of the film and as we already know Germany and most of the world was going through a stage of fascism and communism. The main fear of the ruling governments were rebellion and uprisings against many factions and from this came the fear of what was in store in the future as is are revealed in Metropolis. As I have already indicated Metropolis was the first science fiction film so in turn it set the benchmarks for the generic conventions and iconography, which we see amongst us in present day cinematography. The portrayal of these
Look at how Saving Private Ryan portrays war - analyse the first few scenes, look at the way the lights are set and how the cameras are placed and used - see the way the actors act and try and say why.
Saving private Ryan In this course work I am going to look at how Saving Private Ryan portrays war. I m going to analyse the first few scenes. I will look at the way the lights are set and how the cameras are placed and used. I will see the way the actors act and try and say why. In the opening scene we first begin with a mid-shot of an old man and his family. Where the family is walking is quite important. We can see that they are all walking behind him as if to show that this is his moment but they are still there to support him. There is a member of the family that is taking photos of the graveyard so that they can remember this special time. As we continue u we have two Long shots of the American and French flags. This shows us that the graveyard is for American soldiers and is in France. We continue to see many long shots of gravestones and this brings out many emotions in the viewer about how we feel for the soldiers who died here. Eventually after several shots between him and the graveyard, he comes to a specific grave it is quite important that we do not see the name. When he arrives there he falls to the floor and holds his face. We have a very close up shot of this so that we can catch all the emotion in his face. This entire scene has been quite quiet and tranquil with very vibrant colours. The only sound we predominantly have is that of some very patriotic music
The Woman In White - plot and characters.
WILKIE COLLINS. PLOT AND CHARACTERS IN THE WOMAN IN WHITE A/ THE PLOT OF THE NOVEL a) A central intrigue of great simplicity By the middle of the Nineteenth Century, works of fiction tended to fulfil the taste of the British novel reader who liked to be amused or surprised. Collins, like Dickens, wrote for the common man and not for the literary critic. He wanted to gain the largest number of readers by writing a story of his own times. With this in mind, The Woman in White was written to fulfil the Mid-Victorian passion for crime and mystery. The preamble sets the genre of the novel. Witnesses are to present the truth in a case as it is generally done in a Court of Justice, "in its most direct and most intelligible aspect" (33). The crime of substituting one person for another, drawn from a French Lawsuit report, provided the basic threads from which the chief characters of the novel will be gradually revealed, that is a clever devil, Count Fosco; two innocent women, a man in debt, Sir Percival; a disinherited woman who seeks revenge, Mrs Fosco. A marked resemblance between Anne and Laura inspires the stratagem of substitution. To thwart this conspiracy, the pursuit and trapping of the culprits are carried through thanks to two characters: Laura's half-sister, Marian, personally affected by this act of villainy; and Walter Hartright, Laura's and Marian's drawing-master.
2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey Since the beginning of time, man has been fascinated with the stars and sky. In our time, this fascination has lead to many great movies. Among the many science fiction movies, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey stands out as the pinnacle of the genre. This movie covered various themes which include, but are not limited to: space, evolution, technology, religion, artificial intelligence, death, knowledge, resurrection, and violence. This film is loosely based on Arthur Clarke's short story, "The Sentinel." The objective of this paper is to explain the differences and similarities between 2001: A Space Odyssey and "The Sentinel," the use of technology and its forms, and to present my interpretation of 2001's finale, Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite. There are several similarities and differences between 2001: A Space Odyssey and "The Sentinel." The first major similarity is the monolith and crystal pyramid. The origins of the two objects are both unknown, but their purpose is exactly identical: the monolith and pyramid act as sentinels, which warn their creators that man has achieved space travel. Another similarity was that both Clarke and Kubrick implied that man were merely infants. The narrator in "The Sentinel" referred to the earth as "our cradle," (241) while in 2001, the main character eats his food through a straw much like an infant does
Unpicking the monstrous: A Psychoanalytic and Marxist analysis of Alien.
Contents Title Page: Page 2 Analysis: Pages 3-12 Conclusion: Pages 12-13 Bibliography: Page 14 Name: Liam Stott English and Film & Media Studies Level Two Unit Title: FS299 - Critical Approaches to Media Research Unit Tutor: Marc O' Day Course Leaders: Marc O' Day/Melanie Selfe Assignment 2: Negotiated Essay 'Unpicking the monstrous: A Psychoanalytic and Marxist analysis of Alien.' Barbara Creed states that the convergence of psychoanalysis and cinema studies initiated at the end of the nineteenth century. Since the 1900s, psychoanalysis has endured a complicated history because of its elusive concepts and theoretical influences, particularly in post-1970s psychoanalytic film theory. Throughout the 1970s, psychoanalysis informed and contributed to other cinematic critical approaches such as post-colonial theory, queer theory, feminist film theory and body theory (Creed in Hill and Gibson, 2000: 75-77). Alien (dir. Ridley Scott, 1979) is a significantly psychoanalytic film, symbolically underpinned by a range of psychoanalytic notions such as sexuality, the unconscious, phallicised, primal phantasies (Lebeau, 2001: 7), the woman as an actively sadistic monster and the cinematic voyeuristic male gaze at the expense of female sexual objectification (Taylor in Jancovich and Hollows, 1995: 151). However, Alien cannot only be interpreted through the critical approach
Still Frame Analysis : American Gangster. The dominant in this frame is Denzel Washington. The eye is attracted to his character first as he is centered on the screen and is in sharper focus
Still Frame Analysis: . Dominant: The dominant in this frame is Denzel Washington. The eye is attracted to his character first as he is centered on the screen and is in sharper focus than the other characters and objects on screen. Lighting also makes Washington the dominant as a shaft of light highlights him while causing the other characters in the shot to be darkened by shadow. 2. Lighting Key: Low key lighting. There is detail within the shadows. 3. Shot and camera proxemics: Medium Shot. The camera is close to the nearest characters within the shot, but the focus of the shot is on Washington, who is further away. 4. Angle: Eye-level shot. The subjects are all seated, and the camera is placed as though the audience was seated in the same room, eyes at the same level as the characters. It is not highly dramatic from an Angle sense. From the angle alone, no power relationship is being suggested. 5. Color values: The scene is set in a lounge of some sort. Color is not really used for symbolism here. All four characters are Black Americans. The two males closest to the camera are not illuminated enough to see the color of their outfits. Washington is dressed in dull colours (black, brown, grey). The set is also very dull. The female character has red hair, and red and purple clothing, which, is the the only colour contrast. Perhaps this is just to symbolize her
