Film Final

Question 1

production/style/exhibition changes in 1920s hollywood

Answer 1

production change: no more live entertainment, expansion of independent studios that did short animation (emergence of Disney)
style change: cinema now combines different movements, more universal exhibition change: start of short cartoons before features, A and B movies
internationalism: film as universal language, distribution overseas, many cultural themes from different countries in one movie

Question 2

What 2 studios brought sound to hollywood and what did they create
(sound on disk vs. sound on film)

Answer 2

Warner Bros: vitaphone projector made by western electric, wanted too make their own sound company in hollywood (sound on disk) had more issues, movietone
Fox: “movietone” system that made sound stay synchronized by western electric (sound on film)

Question 3

Kinetoscope

Answer 3

W.K.L Dickson and Edison invented it in 1894/5, synchronized footage w/ sound accompanying audio, short lived

Question 4

sound-proof camera booth

first synchronized film?

Answer 4

used in early sound films, “static” sound due to booths, many 1 camera/1 angle shots, booth v sensitive to sound

Question 5

first sound synchronized film?

Answer 5

first example: the jazz singer, alan crosland, 1927

Question 6

multicamera shooting

Answer 6

sound was recorded on multiple cameras so they could have copies of the sound, early sound film technique

Question 7

the majors and minors: big 5 little 3 and what they did

Answer 7

big 5: paramount, MGM, fox, warner bros, RKO (died in 50s) (monopoly, lots of control)
little 3: universal, columbia, united artists
(did many horror movies, did not control distribution, no competition with big 5)

Question 8

A and B movies

Answer 8

started during depression, A movie shown first, B movie followed, indirect consequence of sound introduced in studio system

Question 9

The Hays Code

Answer 9

MPPDA’s production code
created to avoid external censorship internationally, by Will Hays
controlled depictions of sex, violence, controversila subjects
represented 1920s conservative america
challenged certain actors/genres (Mae West, gangster films)
drafted 1930. enforced 1934
lasted until the 50s

Question 10

The Fleischer Studio

Answer 10

created Betty Boop
inspired by Mae West
big in 1930s 
embodied women of the 20s 
success due to merchandise 
rotoscope animation technique and rise of independents

Question 11

issues with censorship

Answer 11

Hays code reflected conservative America in the 1930s/depression, conservative values, no references to places in Chicago, anti-homosexual, hypocritical in their approach (more ok with incest depictions than homosexual ones)

Question 12

sematic/syntactic/pragmatic film approach on genre

Answer 12

semantic: iconography, presence of certain characters or motifs
syntactic: narrative structure
pragmatic: how a film is advertised and perceived by the audiences

Question 13

genre creation by Altman

Answer 13

films were put in a few select categories but then common themes were put together to make it a genre, genre then defined by the studios and escalated during sound, producing as many films as possible for as cheap as possible

first was a lose genre like “fight picture”, then around 1910 genre terms were harder to use to differentiate, so then genre borrowed from existing areas, then again became challenged in WWI for not being broad enough, silent cinema escalated this as well

Question 14

functions of genre film in production/distribution/consumption

Answer 14

production: genre concept provides template for production decisions
distribution: genre constitute a shorthand mode of communication between producers/ distributers, or distributor/exhibitor
consumption: genres create communication between exhibitor and audience, and among audience members

Question 15

Orson Welles

Answer 15

worked w/ mercury theater, adaptation of war of the worlds (breakout sensation)
1939: RKO hires Welles as director w/ complete creative freedom and huge budget, brought actors from mercury theater, created Citizen Kane

Question 16

Howard Hawks

Answer 16

one of best filmmakers, only made genre films, the “new woman”, overlapping dialogue, strong female roles, camera at eye level, limited editing, long takes

Question 17

Andre Bazin’s ideas on realism

Answer 17

compares 1920s and 1940s films, directors who put their faith in the image vs. directors who put their faith in reality

Question 18

Stylistic and ideological traits of cinematic realism

Answer 18

realistic time/space continuity, unambiguous meeting, not a new style: started in 20s, faith in reality instead of faith in the image

Question 19

Italian Cinema during Fascism

Answer 19

usually uncensored, entertaining films, actors/directors trained by fascist regime

Question 20

Italian cinema and WWII

Answer 20

driving forces: WWII, had to find new different styles, way to show the world

Question 21

Italian Neorealism (Zavattini)

Answer 21

more revolutionary but also has repeating themes, about reflection, awareness of what’s happening, making things as they are instead of turning things into reality, unknown actors, tradegy, documetary-esque, nothing hidden from audience, no empty space, love for reality and human nature, loess expensive, does not offer solutions, inconclusive, elimination of screen writer, dialogue in dialect , unprofessional actors

Question 22

Akira Kurosawa, life and career

Answer 22

had alpha brother Heigo, introduced Akira to movies, Akira saw many huge tragedies (urban destruction) in his life: 1923 huge earthquake in Tokyo, fire bombing of Tokyo 1945, bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, worked for Benshi, inspired by variety of movements including western films, brother commits suicide
Rashomon was a very successful film and led to Akira being a respected director

Question 23

Cinemascope: technology, aesthetics, exhibition

Answer 23

Cinemascope: introduced in 1953 by Fox, short lived, replaced after widescreen formats
technology: simple technology, anamorphic lens (squeezes the image in the film strip then stretches it when projected)
aesthetics: revolutionary, huge/curved screen, 2:55:1/8:3
exhibition context: counter influence of television, advertised for specific films
ANAMORPHIC LENS

Question 24

The influence of war on Japanese cinema

Answer 24

most films destroyed by tradegy, only 3% of Japanese silent films have survived, allies came and the rise of censorship in Japan, more nationalist, no more samurai films

Question 25

Kurosawa’s influences

Answer 25

Kurosawa’s influences: western films, metropolis, joan of arc, caligari, kabuki, noh, Japanese cinema (traditional singing, dancing, theatrical, narration, audience interaction)

Question 26

Andrews reading on Sunrise

Answer 26

emphasises two-ness, sunrise as a song and a movie, dividing outside from inside, modernity, classicalism, american/expressionism style of film, repoussoir, frame being framed

Question 27

vertical integration

Answer 27

one firm controlling the production/distribution of a film

big 5 had this, little 3 didn’t

Question 28

Howard Hawks and Ben Hecht

Answer 28

Hecht very critical of Hollywood, successful screenwriter, worked with Hawks and wrote scarface and had “the urban scoundrel” as the main hero (relates to Hawks’s preferences), vernacular modernism style

Question 29

Robert Florey

Answer 29

life and death of a hollywood extra, criticized hollywood but was respected by hollywood for it, they adopted him

helped write script for Frankenstein, b movie guy, had a successful career in hollywood

Question 30

French poetic realism/French cinema pre-1945

Answer 30

lively, ignoring the war, bourgeois society, realistic, sometimes tragedy, war elements, political undertones
French cinema pre-1945 (FH)
Large avant-garde scene 
Surrealism, impressionism, dada
Sound brought an end to it

many main characters, actors
Center on characters living on the margins of society, either as unemployed members or the working class or as criminals. After a life of disappointment, they find a last chance at ideal love
Film ends with disillusionment or deaths of the central characters
Tone of nostalgia and bitterness

Question 31

Satyajit Ray

Answer 31

western-educated, from educated family, lived in america, director

Question 32

Paramount Decision

Answer 32

major companies trying to keep everyone else from getting into the industry
Filed 1888: Amended 1940
Charged studio of restraining trade through monopolization

Question 33

Neorealism

Answer 33

location shooting, non-professional actors, natural light, reality, truth, camera follows freely, uncertain ending

Question 34

art cinema

Answer 34

Ray/Kurosawa/Oculus as examples
inspired by different culture, strong tie with auteurship, not completely alligned with the films in their country

qualities: story/narrative not important, look at trends/patterns/motifs, mise-en-scene

Question 35

Cahiers du Cinema

Answer 35

1951-present, Bazin involved, film journal, young french critics that later started french new wave, created “author theory”, Trufffaunt criticism of older french films and the need for the auteur

Question 36

original genres

Answer 36

Melodrama, comedy, western (20’s)
Horror, Gangster (30’s)
Film Noir (40’s Hollywood)