A film movement consists of two elements:
Films that are produced within a particular period
and/or nation and that share significant traits of style and form.
Filmmakers who were operate within a common
production structure and who share certain assumptions about filmmaking. Since a film movement consists of not only films
but also the activities of specific filmmakers.
For each period and nation relevant factors that affect the cinema. These
factors include the state of the film industry, artistic theories held by the
film‑ elements. These factors
necessarily help explain how a particular movement began, what shaped its
development, and what affected its decline.
Early Experimental Cinema U.S., France, England
(1893-1903)
For centuries, humans had experimented with what would become the two
key elements of cinema: the projection of images using light and the illusion of motion created by
exploiting the optical phenomenon called "persistence of vision" .
The
"birth" of the movies was actually a gradual process of evolution. It
involved a number of individuals in Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United
States.W.K. Laurie Dickson, a researcher at the Edison Laboratories, is
credited with the invention of a practicable form of celluloid strip containing
a sequence of images, the basis of a method of photographing and projecting
moving images. In 1894, Thomas Edison introduced to the public the Kinetograph,
the first practical moving picture camera, and the Kinetoscope.
A film
could be under a minute long and would usually present a single scene,
authentic or staged, of everyday life, a public event, a sporting event or
slapstick. There was little to no cinematic technique: no editing and usually
no camera movement, and flat, stagey compositions. But the novelty of
realistically moving photographs was enough for a motion picture industry to
mushroom before the end of the century, in countries around the world.
Classical Hollywood Silent Cinema U.S.
(1908-1927)
Classic Hollywood Silent Cinema (1908-1927) a term
used in film history, designates both a visual and
sound style for making motion pictures and a mode of production that arose in
the American film industry of the 1910s and
1920s.
The mode of production came to be known as the Hollywood
studio system and the star system, which standardized the way movies
were produced. All film workers (actors, directors, etc.) were employees of a
particular film studio. This resulted in a certain
uniformity to film style: directors were encouraged to think of themselves as
employees rather than artists, and hence auteurs (
- a film director who influences their films so much that they rank as their author.)
The end of Hollywood classicism came with the
collapse of the studio system, the growing popularity of auteurism among
directors, and the increasing influence of foreign films and independent
filmmaking.
French Impressionism France (1918-1930)
French
Impressionism was dominated by
intimated deep psychological narratives, French Impressionism was made up of a
young group of directors in Post World War I France. Impressionist films
manipulate plot time and subjectivity and the registering of characters mental
states, dreams, fantasies, etc.
Who were its pioneers...
Like German Expressionism, French Impressionism has its roots, albeit tenuous, in its national painting. In fact, Jean Renoir, one of the filmmakers associated with the movement, was the son of renowned Impressionist painter Auguste Renoir. Other key figures affiliated with Impressionism are Abel Gance, Marcel L'Herbier, Germaine Dulac and Jean Epstein.
The Soviet Montage movement began in 1924/25 and ended at 1930. During the Montage movement's existence, perhaps fewer than thirty films were made in the style. The central aspect of Soviet Montage style was the area of editing. Cuts should stimulate the spectator
German Expressionism Germany (1919-1926)
German
Expressionism (1919-1926) also referred to as Expressionism in filmmaking,
developed in Germany (especially Berlin) during the 1920s. During the period of
recovery following World War I, the German film industry was booming, but
because of the hard economic times filmmakers found it difficult to create
movies . The filmmakers of the German UFA studio developed their own style, by
using symbolism and mise en scène to insert mood and deeper meaning into a
movie.
The first
Expressionist films, notably The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), The Golem
(1915), and Nosferatu (1922) were highly symbolic and deliberately surrealistic
portrayals of filmed stories. 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
Surrealism France, Spain/Europe (1924-1930)
The truest
aspects of Surrealism in film are often found in passing frames of a larger
film; the sudden emergence of the uncanny into the "normal" which may
or may not be further explored in the rest of the film. The original group
spent hours going from film to film, often not finishing one before seeking
another, partly in hopes of catching just such ephemeral moments, and partly
with the idea of "stitching together" a film in their own minds out
of the disparate parts.
Surrealism gives us the ability to share our ideas in as raw and uninhibited of a way as possible.
Surrealism is an art movement that was founded by Andre Breton in 1924, and outlined in his book The Surrealist Manifesto. Over the years, ‘surrealism’ has come to be regarded as a technique in addition to being an art movement. Surrealism as a technique relies on the juxtaposition of symbols, images, or actions to create a world outside of reality, a super-reality.
Surrealism has given artists free reign over their collective subconscious. The end result has been some of the most daring and provocative works the world has ever seen.
Now that we have defined Surrealism in film, let’s remind ourselves of the term’s origins.
Surrealism was “officially” founded in Paris in 1924, but the seeds of the movement were planted long before then. The early age of the movement was largely influenced by the works of Karl Marx (1818-1893), Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), and Carl Jung (1875-1961), among others.
Surrealism has deep roots in the theory of epistemology — or how we come to understand the world. Within the theory of epistemology, there are two dominant perspectives: rationalism and empiricism.
Rationalism says that the world is what it is, it exists within a reality and that reality is real. Empiricists say that it’s impossible to know whether the world is real so we have to rely on our senses to construct a reality.
But what happens when that “reality” is twisted, contorted, and flat-out ridiculed? Then one could say that the reality has become surreal.
Artists like Andre Breton, Man Ray, and Salvador Dalí used surrealistic techniques to become titans of their fields. Let’s take a look at a quick video to see how they did it.
Soviet Montage/Constructivism Russia
(1924-1930)
The Soviet Montage movement began in 1924/25 and ended at 1930. During the Montage movement's existence, perhaps fewer than thirty films were made in the style. The central aspect of Soviet Montage style was the area of editing. Cuts should stimulate the spectator
Poetic Realism France (1930-1939)
Poetic
Reallism (1930-1939) A film movement in France leading up to World War II. The
films center on marginalized characters who get a last chance at love, but are
ultimately disappointed. They have a tone of nostalgia and bitterness. They are
"poetic" because of a heightened aestheticism that sometimes draws
attention to the representational aspects of the films.
Italian Neo Realism Italy 1942-1951)
Italian
Neo-realism (1942-1951) is a film movement which started in 1943.The movement
is characterized by stories set amongst the poor and working class, filmed in
long takes on location, frequently using nonprofessional actors for secondary
and sometimes primary roles. Italian neorealist films mostly contend with the
difficult economical and moral conditions of postwar Italy, reflecting the
changes in the Italian psyche and the conditions of everyday life: defeat,
poverty, and desperation.
The
movement was developed by a circle of film critics that revolved around the
magazine Cinema. The neorealists were heavily influenced by French poetic
realism. Elements of neorealism are also found in the films of Alessandro
Blasetti and the documentary-style films of Francesco De Robertis. Two of the
most significant precursors of neorealism are Toni (Renoir, 1935) and 1860
(Blasetti, 1934).
French New Wave France
(1959-1964)
The New
Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of classical
cinematic form and their spirit of youthful iconoclasm. Many also engaged in
their work with the social and political upheavals of the era, making their
radical experiments with editing, visual style, and narrative part of a general
break with the conservative paradigm.
It holds
that the director is the "author" of his movies, with a personal
signature visible from film to film.
American New Wave/Indy Cinema US
(1969-1980)
American Independent Cinema/American New Wave or The New
Hollywood' and 'post-classical cinema' are terms used to describe
the period following the decline of the studio system
in the '50s and '60s and the end of the production
code. It is defined by a greater tendency to dramatize such things
as sexuality and violence, and by the rising importance of blockbuster movies.
'Post-classical cinema' is a term used to describe
the changing methods of storytelling in the New Hollywood. It has been argued
that new approaches to drama and characterization played upon audience expectations
acquired in the classical/Golden Age period: Although the 1970s opened with
Hollywood experiencing a financial and artistic depression, the decade became a
creative high point in the US film industry. Restrictions on language, adult
content and sexuality, and violence had loosened up, and these elements became
more widespread. And Hollywood was renewed and reborn with the earlier collapse
of the studio system, and the works of many new and experimental film-makers
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