Genres
Studios attracted a dwindling 50's audience with upscaled genre films. What were typical features of this type of film?
Bigger stars, opulent sets and costumes, color, widescreen
Who was Glauber Rocha and why was he significant?
Influential Brazil novo director, wrote about "aesthetics of hunger" (born of misery) and goes into self imposed exile and dies
What's the major technique that Bonnie and Clyde used to show extreme violence?
Fast cutting and slow motion
Breathless was notable for its use of this technique:
Jump cuts (an elliptical cut that interrupts a single shot)
What was the first US direct cinema film to have no voiceover narration?
"What's Happening? The Beatles in USA" in 1964
What is crisis structure, typical model of Hollywood films in the 50's and past?
a high stakes situation that has to be quickly resolved
What was "cahiers du cinema"
A French cinema journal from 1951, more apolitical, based around US films and celebrated Hollywood directors as auteurs.
Saul Bass and James Whitney used early computer animations for the opening credits to which Hollywood film from 1958?
Vertigo
What technique was prominent in Daisies?
Collage (artifice of film, assembling footage from wide sources)
"Tradition of Quality" around the 60's in French films. (hint: Truffat hated on these)
Oscar baity stuff, like literary adaptations with high production values, romanticism, and emphasis on the screenwriter as creator
What's the difference between cinema verite and direct cinema?
- In verite, the french one, filmmakers are not just observers but participants
- In direct, it's the goal for the filmmaker to be invisible
What four features defined Douglas Sirk's style?
Reflective surfaces, internal frames, low key lighting, color
What was The Miracle Decision in 1951?
Court case that established that films have first amendment protection
"A Report on the Party and the Guests" (Němec, Czechoslovakia, 1966)
A political allegory film that was banned alongside Daisies
What was notable about the 1963 film Cleopatra?
It went way overbudget, cost 44 million to make, then only made half that back and it nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox
In Czech cinema, what was some features of the realist tendency?
- HUMOR
- realism that opposed socialist realism
- use of direct cinema techniques
- non actors mixed with actors
- not positive heroes
- focus on young people outside work and politics
What was different about Brazil's cinema nǒvo?
It was politicized from the very beginning
What was the Prague Spring?
When reform happens in Czech communist party in January 1968, and steps towards decentralized economy, democratization and freedom of speech
"Moi, un noir (Treichville)", a 1958 film by Jean Rouch
Huge influence in French New Wave
An example of ethnofiction, an awareness that there's never direct cinema
What was the impact of Warsaw Pact invasion on Czech cinema?
Film system recentralized, people fired, return to socialist realism and films banned
Describe five features of Direct Cinema
(worth 20 points on real test)
- a mode of documentary, using smaller crews and portable equipment
- aims at directly capturing reality in all unpredictability and immediacy
- avoids voiceover narration or interviews, or non-diegetic music
- avoids preplanned structure
- filmmakers are OBSERVERS of events
- viewer must take active role in determining significance in what's said or done
Give three ways the business in Hollywood changed from 58-66. (9 points on test)
- TV becomes important market for film
- International distribution becomes more important
- Runaway productions (filming overseas reducing costs)
- Studios continue shift from production to finance and distribution
-Strategy of fewer films but with bigger budgets
What were five prominent technological innovations post WWII for filmmaking?
Wider use of 16mm film stock, more sensitive film stock, lighter cameras, portable magnetic tape recorders, and synchronization systems
After WWII, USA became leading force in experimental filmmaking. What four factors caused this?
- Emigration from Europe prior to war
- Availability of 16mm equipment
- New exhibition venues
- New distribution mechanisms (like Filmmakers cooperative in NY)
What were the four major reasons for the rise of new waves and youth cinemas?
- decline of cinema audiences
- Potential of large youth audience
- Cheaper modes of production
- International marketplace