Spearheading the first of these groups was the figure of Sergei Eisenstein, whose film-making and theoretical essays in the 1920’s established a conception of the role of the cinema as a primarily aesthetic one. According to Eisenstein, a film’s aesthetic value depended on its ability to transform reality and in his films this usually took the form of montage. [2] In opposition to Eisenstein were the impressionists and surrealists. They also believed the main function of the cinema to be aesthetic, but thought that the camera itself was enough to render ordinary objects sublime. Their emphasis on cinema as a visual medium meant that they regarded narrative in many cases as an obstacle that had to be overcome.
Douglas Sirk is a popular auteur director. He gained auteur status through his use of social discussion and distinctive film form. He is best known for his films in the melodrama genre. According to Kolker (1999, p107) “melodrama is central cinematic that creates empathy and identification”. Douglas Sirk focused on getting the audience to feel the emotional turmoil of the characters lives.
Compare and Contrast the styles of two films, each from a different decade. Breathless 1960 Dir. Jean Luc Godard Amores Perros 2000 Dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarittu “This is why I would like to call this new age of cinema the age of the camera-stylo. ” Alexandre Astruc In 1948 Alexandre Astruc wrote an article “The birth of a new Avant-Garde: Le Camera Stylo”, in which he expressed the future of cinema will adopt a more personal touch from the film maker, in that, he/ she will “express his thoughts no matter how abstract they can be“ through cinematic language.
American Beauty film analysis American Beauty a film directed by Sam Mendes, shares an uncomfortably real perspective into the lives of two American families. Mendes effectively deconstructs the fabricated illusion of the ‘American Dream’ by dissecting American Culture. He does this buy crafting a story around stereotypical characters and then scene by scene peeling away the layers of each character to produce a portrayal; of the reality of human lives – not the false one society has built. Through the use of film construction, Mendes conveys to the audience the unattainable reality of the American Dream. He also communicates his ideologies regarding conformity, happiness and most important of all – beauty.
FINAL COURSE PROJECT AP Rhetorical Analysis of a Documentary Film from http://www.digitalparlor.org/icap/node/212 Documentary film is probably one of the first mediums that come to mind when we think about “documenting reality,” yet they are also one of the most complex formats for recording aspects of our world. Documentary films use a variety of methods—images, words, sounds, and various film techniques, to name a few—in order to present an argument. This project asks you to view a documentary film and to analyze the rhetorical strategies employed by the filmmaker in the construction of the film’s argument, to record a “yak track” of two scenes and to present your findings to the class in a formal presentation, and to produce and show
The protagonist Christopher McCandless's discoveries evoked from him wanting to break the social constraints of western society and live a material free existence on earth. Penn highlights the protagonist’s eventuating hatred and discomfort when within western society through the use of lighting and camera effects. The camera effects are enable the responder to evidently see, and experience the protagonist’s emotions and feeling when within the city and surrounded by materialistic people. A blurred and darkly-lit scene is utilised when Chris is traveling through large cities expressing his opinion of these particular areas of modern society to the responders. This further enables the responder to engage and sympathise with the protagonists emotion, therefore evoking an altering of the responder perception of society and the broader world around them.
Your Name: Ilya Van Nieuwenhuyse Extended Essay Advisor: Ms. Anson TOK Teacher: Ms. Geistbrech Word Count: 3975 Date : October 27th 2014 Abstract The primary focus of this extended essay is to examine how Eisenstein has changed and modernized film through development of his five techniques of montage. Eisenstein’s first theory Tonal, manipulates the clip to elicit an emotional response from the viewer. His second theory Metric, focuses on consistent cuts after a specific number of frames. This effect is used to force the audience to feel a certain way. Eisenstein’s third theory is Rhythmic, where unlike metric, the cuts are more random and usually synced to the tempo or beat of the background music.
Lars Von Trier Lars Von Trier, an important and prominent Danish Auteur director once said in an interview that “for (him), stealing from the cinema is like using letters of the alphabet when you write”. The films of Lars von Trier show that he has had many influences in crafting and producing his films. The given quote helps to understand his approach to film and how he adapts film language, and even creates his own, in order to delivery an intended message to the audience. To be able to understand what is impressive able von Trier’s approach to films and what makes him an Autuer director, we need to be able to understand his influences, which are wide and extensive, so as to be able to comprehend their impact on his style of directing and the structural, technological and thematic explorations in his films. Von Trier was known to be more consistent as a director than he was with his visual style.
Stanley James Granz writes about the origins of postmodernism in his book A Primer on the Postmodern: “Many historians place the birth of the modern era at the dawn of Enlightenment... it became the God of human intellectual quest to unlock the secrets of the universe in order to master nature for human benefit and create a better world”. (Granz, 1996) It is important to familiarize ourselves with Enlightenment in order to understand postmodernism. The term is used within the European philosophy and refers to the time we know now as the Age of Reason. An example of the quizzical, curious state of minds of people living in this era can look no further than the first encyclopaedias, which were compiled and published during this period. Rather than be content with what history had taught them, they would seek the truth, rather than settle for superstition and fear.
As a founder of the Moscow Arts Theatre Stanislavski further developed this method acting system in an environment which encouraged him to be creative, much different from the life he led growing up. He developed his approach through watching, directing and acting himself. It was through this vast experience that Stanislavski gained the knowledge and indeed need, to form a systematic approach to acting. As he progressed as a performer and director and critic Stanislavski further refined his system of acting. This makes it the ever more tragic that great parts of his works were lost through mistranslation and cutting and changing by American copyrighter Elizabeth Hapgood.