Cinema as independent art form

1920s and 1930s

mise-en-scene

• creating the look and feel: since Georges Melies

1930s – the studio system

• The majors: MGM, 20th c. FOX, Columbia, Universal Studios, RKO, Warner Bros.

• “Film factories”• Actors and directors on

contract: several films a year.

• “Star system”

Focus on glitz and glamour

• Representations of glamorous lifestyles

• Artificial jobs – focus on leisure and consumption

• Warner Bros. - more realistic, representation of the working class people, more down-to-earth plot.

Sex and violence in the 1930s

• Freaks, Scarface• Condemnation and

calls for censorship• Hollywood

Production Code introduced after 1934

Cinema of the code

• Will H. Hays:• no skirt-lifting• no single bed for

unmarried characters.• crime – always punished.• no kissing or touching

etc.• no bathroom with toilet• Result?: • Creativity!

Citizen Kane

The Long Take and Deep Focus

Significance

• Masterpiece of American cinema.

• Greatly innovative – combines many techniques used separately before.

• Story told in a very characteristic way.

• Innovative use of cinematography as well as mise-en-scene.

Orson Welles

• Citizen Kane was directed and written by 26-year-old Orson Welles (1915-1987),

• He also stars as the title character.

• Welles came to the attention of Hollywood because of his infamous “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast

The other important figure

• Gregg Toland• cinematographer

Makeup

Low angle shots

high angle shot

Deep focus photography

deep focus

shallow focus

Story

• William Randolph Hearst

• Press magnate with political ambitions and colorful private life.

• Hearst practically blocked Well’s career in Hollywood.

Complex narrative structure

• Can be confusing:

– the film begins with the death of the main character

– the story of his life is told from multiple points of view

“News on the March”

• newsreel (a miniature version of the rest of the film) Followed by five narratives told as flashbacks

• Entries from the diary of Mr. Thatcher• (Kane’s legal guardian)

• Interview with Mr. Bernstein (Kane’s business partner)

• Interview with Jed Leland (Kane’s one-time closest friend)

• Interview with Susan Alexander (Kane’s second wife)

• Interview with Raymond, Kane’s butler.

the reporter

• The newspaper: always turned away from the camera or in shadows as he conducts his interviews

• He becomes a stand-in for the audience, often appearing only as a silhouetted head in the lower right corner of the frame.

Throughout the film we are limited to the knowledge that each narrator has about Kane, so the point of view changes with eachnew narrator.

Times of propaganda

• Sergei Eisenstein• Leni Riefenstahl "Triumph of

the Will”

• Wartime Hollywood• - many crude propaganda

films with crass stereotyping• - but also more nuanced

narratives• Casablanca

Casablanca

• The setting – atmosphere, refugees, war far away yet impact perceptible

• Characters:– Rick Blane (Humprey Bogart), Ilsa Lund

(Ingrid Bergman)

• Public good over private desire.

Post-war America

• Post-war optimism and economic boom in the USA, newly-found confidence. America: key player in international politics.

• “Tinsletown” – celebration of prosperity and triumph, also celebration of national values through the triumph of law and order.

Film noir

• Also the dark mirror – many of the pioneers came from Germany (escaped from Hitler),

• brought traditions of German impressionism.

• Peak of popularity 1940s and 1950s.

Film noir

• Atmosphere of desperation and paranoia.• No happy ending.• Authority questioned: corrupt policemen,

soldiers or politicians.• Beautiful seducers – femmes fatales.• Main characters: lonely types often criminals.• Urban setting

City spaces

• shot on location rather than sets build in the studio (previously dominant form).

• Use of authentic spaces.• Lighter, faster cameras.

Neorealism

• Italian movement – first significant development in the post-war European cinema.

• Movement of huge importance and impact:– Cesare Zavattini– Vittorio De Sica– Roberto Rosselini (Rome, Open City)– Luchino Visconti

Neorealism

• On location shooting.• Use of non-professional actors.• Working life characters and

communities.• Telling story through take rather

than cut.• Sense of defeat and exploitation –

social conscience.• sympathy for the common people

Bicycle Thieves

1950s the Hitchcock Era

• Alfred Hitchcock – one of the most famous directors ever.

• Master of Suspense• famous for meticulous

storyboarding.• The advent of colour• slow adaptation of the

new technology: coexistence/