A2 C2SC Silent Cinema: Sunrise Flashcards
What is the significance of the 28th of December 1895?
It was on this date in the Salon Indien du Grand Cafe, Paris that the Lumiere Brothers first showed films to a paying audience - also known as the date of the birth of cinema.
Who was in the audience at the Salon Indien du Grand Cafe in 1895?
Georges Melies
What two traditions in cinema do the Lumieres and Melies represent?
Realism and expressionism
Name one Lumiere brothers film
E.g. Workers Leaving A Factory, Train Arriving at the Station, The Gardener etc.
Name one Melies film
E.g. A Trip to the Moon; The Kingdom of the Fairies, The Impossible Voyage
What was the name of the camera/projector patented by the Lumieres?
The Cinematographe
Name the two cinematographer on Sunrise
Karl Struss & Charles Rosher
What type of camera did Karl Struss use for the famous ‘marsh sequence’ in Sunrise?
A motorised Bell & Howell which allowed him to explore space on a dolly.
Sunrise is one of the first silent films to which a score was added. What was the name of the brand under it was released?
Movietone
Who wrote the score for Sunrise?
Hugo Riesenfeld
Who directed Sunrise?
Friedrich Wilhelm (FW) Murnau
What was Murnau’s family name?
Plumpe
Name three other films by the director of Sunrise
Nosferatu, The Last laugh, Faust, City Girl, Tabu.
What was the name of the huge Berlin-based studio which produced many of Murnau’s films?
Ufa
What was the name of the Hollywood mogul who produced Sunrise?
William Fox
Name the three stars of Sunrise
George O’Brien, Janet Gaynor and Margaret Livingston
Name the two film movements associated with Murnau’s work in Germany
German Expressionism
Kammerspielfilm
Which cinematic codes create the ‘expressionism’ in German Expressionism?
Mise-en-scene
Performance
Which cinematic codes is used most ‘expressively’ in Kammerspielfilm?
Cinematography
What is the term used to describe the cinematography in Kammerspielfilm, for which Murnau became famous?
the ‘unchained camera’
In what sense can the tracking shot in Sunrise be described as both realist and expressionist?
Realist: it is following The Man’s actions
Expressionist: it positions the audience with The Man, creating subjectivity and aligning use with his feelings as he walks towards TWFTC.
Identify two ‘realist’ uses of sound in Sunrise
Street sounds in the City; the bell; the sound of the storm
Identify the main source of ‘expressive’ use of sound in Sunrise
The score by Hugo Riesenfeld, used for example in the ‘marsh scene’
In what senses does Sunrise have a ‘duel identity’?
Hollywood film made by a German director
Realist & expressionist
A ‘silent’ film with a synchronised soundtrack (although not a talkie!)
Via characters such as The Wife and TWFTC - contrasting representations of femininity, rooted in Hollywood realism and German Expressionism.
What is a ‘flapper’?
A young, hedonistic, financially independent and sexually liberated woman. This identity was expressed via shorter dresses and bobbed hair, a more androgynous silhouette (minus corset), smoking, drinking, dancing to jazz and generally focussed on fun. Although she was an ‘apolitical’ figure in some ways, the flapper nevertheless represented an image of freedom as well as a threat to conventional, domesticated femininity .
What is a ‘vamp’?
The vamp was a popular archetype in films of the 1920s. Whilst sharing many of the characteristics of the flapper, the vamp was more overtly amoral and predatory. men were warned in newspaper and magazine articles about the threat from the vamp to family life. In Film Noir, the vamp became the ‘femme fatale’. Physically the vamp inevitably had black hair (in a bob if a contemporary setting). 1920s vamps included Theda Bara, Louise Brooks and of course, Margaret Livingston in Sunrise.
