sunrise: silent

Question 1

German expressionism

Answer 1

-mixes German expressionism and more traditional Hollywood storytelling
-opposition to the dominant American films that aimed to represent the real world in a conventional manner
-sunrise=elements pf expressionist cinema through- off kilter camera angles, low key lighting- exploring notions of duality
-juxtaposition- the wife and twftc

The film is unique in that it is a German Expressionist film made with German talent for a Hollywood Studio (Fox). It reflects silent film at its peak as an art form, released just days before the premiere of the first ‘talkie’, The Jazz Singer.

Question 2

Cinematography

Answer 2

• The opening vacation montage employs multiple exposures and super-impositions to convey summertime in an expressionist style.
• The film uses light sources such as a candle on the table and light through a window ̶ this use of single light sources is typical of the late silent period.
• When the Man and the Wife renew their love in the church, they move from shadow into light. The lighting is a metaphor for the renewal of their marriage vows.

Question 3

Sound

Answer 3

• Although Sunrise is a silent film, it was synchronised with a musical score.
• The sound of bells is used as a motif at various points – bells sound as the Man decides to spare his wife. Later, bells are heard again
and the Man and the Wife emerge from the church. Here, bells signal the Man’s change as he repents and renews his love for his wife.

Question 4

Representations; twftc and the wife

Answer 4

• The Woman from the City represents the ‘flapper’ figure. Flappers were women in the 1920s who enjoyed a new-found freedom and American jazz music. They rejected Victorian modes of dress, favouring short bobbed hair and short shirts. Here, the flapper is represented as a threat to the stability of marriage.
º twftc effect on the man= a time period where society was fearful of women- 1919 been given the right to equality and education and professional pay- the wife/ mother role is under threat

Question 5

Mise en scene

Answer 5

• The film contains many visual oppositions including: day vs. night; the city vs. the country; the dangerous Woman from
the City vs. the innocent Wife.
• Murnau employs ‘forced perspective’ ̶ an expressionist device where objects in the foreground are large, making the background recede.
• The mise en scene is symbolic, reflecting the characters’ psychological states. The mud the Man and the Woman from the City wade though is a metaphor for their relationship.