...Ingmar Bergman’s film, Seventh Seal, reflects his views on life in an allegorical fashion. Bergman utilizes the setting of a medieval, plague-ridden landscape to metaphorically investigate the existence of god and meaning of life. The film follows the knight, Antonius, as he returns from the Crusades with his squire, Jöns. Bergman uses black and white to enhance the mood. The film’s vivid imagery and powerful score challenge the viewer to interpret the film’s messages and assign them meaning. The film investigates the deepest philosophical questions of humanity. Compared with Akira Kurosawa’s film, Ikiru, the Seventh Seal expresses a darker outlook on the world. Bergman’s cinematic masterpiece remains a relevant work of art in a world that struggles to address the deepest questions of religion and the phenomena of simply being alive. Seventh Seal begins with a shot of the heavens as a powerful orchestrated piece of music plays. A passage from the Book of Revelation is recited, "And when the Lamb had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour," (Revelation 8:1). Antonius and Jöns lie on a beach of pebbles. The land is framed proportional to the sky, juxtaposing the kingdoms of heaven and earth. A chess set sits to the right of Antonius. The camera pans away from him, zooming in on the chess pieces. It symbolically equates Antonius as a piece of the game. A man cloaked in black approaches, revealing himself to be death. He states that...
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...film. It can involve the use of film or digital imagery, usually with a movie camera. It is closely related to the art of still photography. Many additional technical difficulties and creative possibilities arise when the camera and elements of the scene may be in motion. The cinematographer could also be referred to as the film director's main visual collaborator. The history of film began in the late 1890s, with the invention of the movie camera.Motion pictures were initially exhibited as a carnival novelty and developed to one of the most important tools of communication and entertainment, and mass media in the 20th century and into the 21st century. Most films before 1930 were silent. Motion picture films have substantially affected the arts, technology, and politics. The movie theatre was considered a cheaper, simpler way to provide entertainment to the masses. Movies became the most popular visual art form of the late Victorian age. It was simpler because of the fact that before the cinema people would have to travel long distances to see major dioramas or amusement parks. With the advent of the cinema this changed. During the first decade of the cinema's existence, inventors worked to improve the machines for making and showing films. Initially, there were technical difficulties in synchronizing images with sound. It was clear that Edison originally intended to create a sound film system, which would not gain worldwide recognition until the release of "The Jazz Singer"...
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...Global Cold War tensions increased as political turmoil turned to violent conflict in developing Third World nations. Responding to all of this, cinema became politicized on a scale not seen since World War II. The Third World was at the forefront of revolutionary cinema as filmmakers in those countries treated cinema as a tool of social change and a weapon of political liberation. This use of film as a social and political force emerged first in Latin America and spread to Africa and China, while also emerging in the First World countries including the U.S.S.R. and United States. The counterculture and the New Left were examples of an international politics of youth that focused on opposition to American involvement in Vietnam, critique of post-World War II capitalist society, and social-protest movements focused on equality of diverse groups. Eventually, radical leftism declined in the mid-1970s, but engaged filmmaking remained central to the micropolitics of the era. A June 1979 alternative-cinema conference in New York assembled over 400 political activists working in film and video in the United States. In some countries, government liberalization led to funding for militant film. The new Labour government in Britain assisted Liberation Film and Cinema Action, while the regional Maisons de la Culture allotted money for local media groups in France. Some parallel distribution and exhibition circuits proved successful in promoting films about nuclear power, day care...
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...Global Studies 298: Barcelona Winter 2009 Cinema History in Barcelona and Spain Cinema reflects the voice and culture of a nation. It documents important changes in politics, lifestyle, and even language. Barcelona was the birthplace for Cinema in of Spain. During the silent period of film all of the biggest Spanish directors including Marro, Chómon, Gelabert, and Bános were based out of Barcelona (Alvarez 6). The first films that had sound where shown in Barcelona before anywhere else, although without sound due to the lapse in technological capabilities (Alvarez 7). Barcelona’s movement in film did not stop there. Throughout the years and generations Catalan cinema has been a part of Spanish culture and has in its own right fought to survive. In the beginning Barcelona was the sole player in Spanish Cinema. Madrid, the other major metropolitan area, was more concerned with traditional forms of entertainment such as bullfighting and la zarzuela (musical theater) (Alvarez 6). The first Spanish film was actually that of a group of church goers leaving Sunday Mass which was entitled Salida de la misa de doce del Pilar or in English: “Leaving the Midday Mass at the Church of Pilar in Zaragoza.” This film was already the way from 1896 and would seem to show an enthusiastic future for film if it were not for such factors as foreign competition, government, and an overbearing church (Stone 14). During the turn of the century in particular themes of the church...
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...William Prado Professor Solis HST 301 OL 11/19/2014 The Golden Age of Japanese Cinema The Golden age of Japanese cinema started in the mid-1940s and lasted approximately 30 years to the end of the 1960s. It was a period marked by the end of the war that saw the defeat of Japan by America and her allies. The destruction that Japan faced with the twin bombings had left the country shaken to the roots and the young men and women wanted to find something useful to keep them busy. They found the cinema. With the advancement in technology, film directors such as Akira Kurosawa took the center stage with films that tried to teach people about harmony and restoration. Most of the films in the golden age focused on the need to prevent war and bring people together as one unique society through the preaching of peaceful coexistence. This research, therefore, focuses on the Seven Samurai film that was directed by Akira Kurosawa in 1953. Through the film, we hope to understand the concepts of the golden age of Japanese Cinema, as well as its characteristics (Tezuka 47). Seven Samurai is a war film that depicts the struggle that human beings go through in search for freedom and emancipation. It also reveals the post war effects on the society and tries to persuade people to coexist peacefully without causing chaos (Fischer 1-65). The film directed by Akira Kurosawa and produced by Sojiro Motoki, stars Toshiro Mifume, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima and several other individuals who...
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...“Reaction Paper About Andres Bonifacio” When a film is described as poetic, it is often taken as a compliment. However, when a film is described as theatrical, it is seen as a critique, scathing at that. What makes poetry the better spouse to cinema? Isn’t cinema but a visual and aural interplay of poetry and theater to begin with? Theater provides the cornerstones: the narrative, the milieu, the setting and the characters. Poetry, on the other hand, more than the façade and the flourishes, provides the requisite subtlety in the execution, the minute gestures that accentuate a character, that last five seconds of absolute silence before a cut, the symbols, the verses, the rhymes, and rhythms. This is purely hypothetical. But if films are judged based on a balance where theatricality is measured with poetry, and the former outweighs the latter by a large margin, does it mean that the film is better off staged than filmed? Of course, cinema, contrary to common misconception, is vaster than the trite and absolutely baseless hypothesis that was just forwarded. For that reason, cinema should and cannot be caged to what is merely “cinematic” because the term “cinematic” itself is already enigmatic, subjective in its very definition and has something more to do with how the recorded moving pictures are treated and utilized to express rather than how these pictures are moved and later on recorded. That being said, for all the accusations of supposed theatricality, Mario O’Hara’s...
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...Your responses should include examples from the reading assignments. 1. Compare and contrast the "revolutionary" cinemas of Cuba and Argentina. Argentina was part of third world revolutionary cinema, Solanas and Getino’s “Third Cinema” manifesto essay set the agenda for Argentina’s film making, Solanas explained that not all big productions were necessarily first cinema. Writing later in 1970s, Getino noted that “the force and cohesion of the popular movements in Argentina –were not as strong as we had imagined” (Octavio Getino, “some Notes on the concept of a ‘Third Cinema,” in Tim Barnard, ed., Argentine Cinema [Toronto: Nightwood, 1986], p. 107). In Cuba, feminist filmmaking pioneered the turn to issue-centered, grassroots problems. As the international women’s movement grew, films on rape, self-defense and house-keeping were paralleled by explorations of women history which are epitomized in the U.S. films Union Maids (1976) and with babies and Banners (1978) by Women’s Labor History Project. During the next decade, minority women also played an increasing part in the changes in experimental cinema. 2. What factors influenced the development of militant black African cinema in the 1960s and 1970s? Global cold war tensions increased as political turmoil turned to violent conflict in developing Third world nations. Responding to all these, cinema became politicized on a scale not seen since World War II....
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...The German cinema of the 1920s is generally pigeon-holed as part of the culture of the Weimar Republic (1919-33). And because Weimar culture -- described variously as 'radical', 'lively', and 'decadent' -- is seen, along with the republic's unstable political institutions, as paving the way for the Nazism which followed, it is not surprising that the German silent cinema has been saddled with a dubious reputation. Two famous books, Lotte Eisner's _The Haunted Screen_ and Siegfried Kracauer's _From Caligari to Hitler_, each in different ways explore the connections between German cinema of the 1920s, the culture of the Weimar Republic, and emergent Nazism. Kracauer's was first published in New York in 1947, Eisner's in Paris (under the title...
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...motion picture, including picture, picture show, and most commonly, movie. Additional terms for the field in general include the big screen, the silver screen, the cinema and the movies. Films are produced by recording actual people and objects with cameras, or by creating them using animation techniques and/or special effects. They comprise a series of individual frames, but when these images are shown rapidly in succession, the illusion of motion is given to the viewer. Flickering between frames is not seen due to an effect known as persistence of vision, whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been removed. Film-A true art-form:- Film is considered by many to be an important art form; films entertain, educate, enlighten and inspire audiences. The visual elements of cinema need no translation, giving the motion picture a universal power of communication. Any film can become a worldwide attraction, especially with the addition of dubbing or subtitles that translate the dialogue. Films are also artifacts created by specific cultures, which reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Historical Background:- The history of film is an account of the historical development of the medium known variously as cinema, motion pictures, film, or the movies. The history of film spans over 100 years, from the latter part of the 19th century to the present day. Motion pictures developed gradually from a carnival novelty to one of the...
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...Katarzyna Pyrek II MU AN ! ! The Italian American Cinema ! ! The crucial and influential part of the American Cinema represents the Italian American Cinema. The Italian American Cinema can be defined as films made by Italian Americans about relationships between Italians and Americans in the United States (Moliterno 2002:433). The Italian cinema has been appreciated and adored in the United Stated from its beginnings. Especially valued were its artistic and cultural quality, as well as the ability to transmit the values of the European history into films (Brunetta 2009:9). The reciprocal influences between Italian and American cinema date back to 1912 and have a Polish accent: in that year George Kleine, a film distributor from Chicago, purchased distribution rights to the film Quo vadis? based on the novel written by Henryk Sienkiewicz. After 1912 numerous Italian films flooded America: frequently used motives were Napoleonic campaigns and Homeric battles. Popular titles of movies from that period include Cajus Julius Caesar, Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei (The Last Days of Pompei), Spartacus among many others. Historicalmythological films became inspirational for such directors as David Llewelyn Wark „D.W.” Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille. After World War I popularity in the United States of America gained stars of the early Italian cinema: Francesca Bertini, Lyda Borelli and Pina Menichelli (Brunetta 2009:10). Another crucial moment in the relationship of American and Italian...
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...Cinema is a changed of expression and communication. It was invented by Edison, an American scientists. The cinema plays on important role in the social, moral, political and economic life. D.G. Phalke produced the first Indian silent film, Raja Harishchandra in 1913. The era of talkie films started in 1931 with the producing of Alam Ara. India is the largest producer of feature films in the world. The films are certified by the Central Board of Film Certification. Cinema is a source of entertainment, knowledge and employment. However, the sex and violence portrayed contaminate the minds of the people. The objective of films should be to educate, modify and to bring unity and harmony among the people. Cinema is a film i.e... a story etc. recorded as set of moving pictures to be shown on screen of a theatre house and television. It is a channel of expression and communication. The cinemas one of the most important inventions of modern science. It was invented by Dison, An American scientist. It is a medium of instruction as well as recreation. The cinema plays an important role in the social, political, educational and moral life. The history of Indian cinema began with the production of Pundalik by R.G. Torney and N.G. Chitre in 1912. This was followed by the production of Raja Harishchandra by Dhundiraj Govind Phalke in 1913. The latter is the first Indian silent film. D.G. Phalke is considered the father of Indian cinema. Women at that time were not allowed to perform in...
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...FLM 100: INTRODUCTION TO FILM HISTORY FLM 100: INTRODUCTION TO FILM HISTORY Author Note This paper was prepared for FLM 100: INTRODUCTION TO FILM HISTORY, MODULE 1, taught by MARC THOMSON. Directions: Using word processing software to save and submit your work, please answer the following short answer questions. All responses to questions should be one to two paragraphs, composed of five to seven sentences, in length. Your responses should include examples from the reading assignments. 1. Explain the role of the Kinetoscope during the period of cinema's invention. How did the Kinetoscope modify the capabilities of earlier camera and projection systems? The Kinetoscope was designed to show moving photographs by Edison and his assistant Dickson, who did much of the work. Dickson used Eastman film that he sliced 1 inch wide. He spliced them from end to end, with four holes on either side of the frames in order for toothed gears to pull the film through. The Kinetoscope was activated by viewers putting a coin in the slot. The viewers viewed the short film through a peep hole. 2. What steps did France's Lumière brothers take to make cinema a commercially viable enterprise? What kinds of Lumière movies were the most popular? How did the Lumières' activities influence the development of world cinema? The Lumiere brothers invented a projection system which helped make cinema a commercially viable enterprise....
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...In her landmark essay, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” Laura Mulvey concludes by saying that one goal of film theory is “to free the look of the camera into its materiality in time and space and the look of the audience into dialectics, passionate detachment.” However ambivalent about the object she describes, Mulvey writes out of a fervor motivated by the history of classical Hollywood film and feminist analysis. That is, while one pleasure might be destroyed in the process of analysis, it is replaced by another. This is in part what Roland Barthes means when he suggests that we bring to the cinema “an amorous distance.” It is also akin to the ambivalence that Christian Metz enacts when he writes, “I have loved the cinema, I no longer love it. I still love it.” Whatever distance or detachment each writer demands of the film viewer, each also acknowledges that our relation to the cinema, to film, and to film theory also contains a kind of love, fueled by passion. In an attempt to investigate the connections between cinephilia and cinema studies, this seminar will focus on a collection of theoretical readings fueled by both passionate attachments to and detachments from the object we love, no longer love, and still love. With a special focus on the “subject” – the “I” – that writes theory, we will therefore look at these writings as a set of ideas born out of passion, experience, and the generation of intellectual thought in an attempt, ultimately, to understand these...
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...Gibson upped the ante further with The Passion of the Christ, daring not only to present Jesus' sufferings with gut-wrenching realism, but also to take the remarkable step of using Latin and Aramaic in the film's dialogue. Even the critically disparaged Troy (2004) managed to be financially successful on account of audiences' enduring interest in the antiquity. The success of these movies, in turn, has led to new television offerings exploring the ancient world such as HBO's Rome (2005) and ABC's Empire (2005). Given Hollywood's revived interest in antiquity as a setting for films, it seems appropriate to look back on the ancient film genre as a way of understanding the history of the cinema and examining our enduring fascination with the ancient world itself. This course will introduce you to the history of Hollywood's treatment of the ancient world, acquaint you with the fundamentals of film criticism and teach you to use critical techniques...
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...INTERNATIONAL FILM CONFERENCE 2015 GLOBAL VIEW: Engendering Film Industry Connections 06.27.15 SMX CONVENTION CENTER - MANILA, PHILIPPINES www.ifx.ph T HE INTERNATIONAL FILM CONFERENCE (IFC) provides an opportunity for a group of international and Philippine film industry leaders to share their expertise with film enthusiasts and industry specialists. From the discussion on the newest film technologies to the value and efficiency of co-production, from the rise of national cinema to the significance of international film festivals – these and many other topics will addressed at this year’s conference. MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN O n behalf of the Film Development Council of the Philippines, I’m delighted and very honored to welcome you to the third International Film Conference in Manila, 2015. This collective gathering of film enthusiasts and members of the film industry serves as a testament to our commitment to the craft. In 2013 we launched the first International Film Conference with the intention of making filmmaking more accessible and efficient for the entertainment industry. Stakeholders from all over the Philippines and various Asian states came together for fruitful discussions on achieving financial sustainability, the advantages of co-productions, and new avenues of growth in the filmmaking industry. In 2014, as IFC assumed a core role with the establishment of World Premiere’s Film Festivals Philippines, we took a step further towards our goal of reaching...
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