Hong Kong
Who was Tsui Hark?
Who was John Woo and what was the "hero film"?
John Woo's the GOAT. Hero films are all about stylized gunplay and romanticized characters with strong code of ethics
Who are Fifth Generation Filmmakers in the PRC and what was the focus of their films?
First grads of Beijing Film Academy following revolution. Focus on local cultures/landscapes, and influenced by European art cinema
What were main melody films?
Propaganda films that pay tribute to the Chinese nation and the party
What is the current market share for US films in China? (Bonus: what was its peak)
5%... down from a peak of 30%
Giant movietown studio, pioneered color and widescreen production. Also revitalized wuxia pian (martial arts)
How did Chungking Express (Wong Kar-wai, 1994) film time differently?
It was shot at 8-12 FPS, then stretched to 24 to make a blurring effect
Who was Jiang Qing?
What is the highest grossing foreign language film in US history?
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000)
What were main melody blockbusters?
High budget main melody films made by Hong Kong directors
What was King Hu's revision of the martial arts film?
Designing fight scenes as dances. Also, researched costumes/settings, used storyboards (ew), rapid editing and strong female characters
How did Hong Kong action scenes establish clear, expressive action?
Had a pause-burst-pause rhythm (swift attack, brief rest)
What was the only type of film produced in the PRC betwixt 1970-72?
The "revolutionary model performance film"
What was special about the film Yellow Earth (Chen Kaige, 1984)?
Favored nuance and ambiguity over propaganda.
TEXTBOOK: Describe the synthetic approach to documentary.
Combines archival footage, interviews, staged reconstructions and voiceover
How does Hong Kong's industry compare/contrast with Hollywood's studio era?
Contrast: Not as concerned about emotional restraint, realism or plausibility, more grotesque/vulgar
What percentage of the rural population of China betwixt 1949-1996 had mobile projection units?
80%
What was special about the film Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy (1970)?
One of the most viewed films of all time, a modernized Peking opera
What was special about Hero (Zhang Yimou, 2002)?
Proved that domestically produced genre pictures could compete with Hollywood
TEXTBOOK: Who was Frederick Wiseman and describe his mosaic structure...
Rather than individual characters facing crisis, does slices of day to day life in a business or government agency, short encounters with a struggle or expressing emotional state
In four detailed sentences, explain the four reasons for the boom in American independent filmmaking in the 1980s and 1990s. (12 points)
New labor policies, theater construction boom, new venues for independent work, financing from "ancillary" (non-theatrical) markets
List 5 of the 10 rules of the Vow of Chastity from the Dogme 95 manifesto. (10 points)
Must be shot on location, no sound produced apart from images, camera handheld, must be color (no special lighting), no optical work/filters, no superficial action, no temporal or geographical alienation, no genre movies, must be academy 35mm, director can't be credited
In four detailed sentences, describe four of the contributing factors for the emergence of the Taiwan New Cinema in the 1980s. (12 points)
emergence of an educated, affluent audience. an economically struggling film industry. government support. political reform.
What was Sixth-Generation Chinese Cinema? Who made them?
Independent filmmakers who DIDN'T go to academy, often made unofficial or illegal films. Focus on contemporary youth and urban life.
Drawing on both the book and the last day’s lecture, describe 6 different ways (2 detailed sentence each) that digital technology has changed the pre-production, production, post-production, distribution, OR exhibition of cinema. (18 points)
Revisualization, color manipulation, CGI, green/blue screen and motion capture, video assist, low light shooting, smaller/lighter cameras, and longer takes