Film Unit 3

film noir

"black film" -emerged in hollywood films of the 40s, shot using stylized black and white cinematography in nighttime urban settings and featuring morally ambiguous protagonists, corrupt institutions, dangerous women, and convoluted plots

The 3 basic features of a classical hollywood narrative

-1. The narratives focus on one or two central characters -2. These characters move a linear plot forward -3. the action develops according to a realistic cause-and-effect logic

three fundamental elements of a western

-1. characters, almost always male, whose physical and mental toughness separate them from the crowds of modern civilization -2. narratives that follow some version of a quest into the natural world -3. a stylistic emphasis on open, natural spaces and settings

Mulvey's final summary highlights three different "looks" associated with cinema

-1. that of the camera as it records the pro-filmic event -2. that of the audience as it watches the final product -3. that of the characters at each other within the screen illusion

What's the first cartoon with sound printed on the film?

-Steamboat Willie -1928 -Disney and Iwerks

comedy

-celebrates the harmony and resiliency of social life, typically with a narrative that ends happily and an emphasis on episodes or "gags" over plot continuity

How did films in the post-WWII era, especially international films, use narrative structures?

-challenged the formulaic Hollywood storytelling style of the time -international filmmakers like Bergman and Fellini used narrative structures that questioned pre-WW2 values: featured characters without direction; surreal events

cinema verite

-cinema truth -a style of documentary first practiced in France that used unobtrusive, lightweight cameras and sound equipment to capture real-life situations

What kind of filming does "Paris is Burning" use?

-cinema verite -uses lightweight unobtrusive cameras to capture real life situations

What are the six major movie genres?

-comedies, westerns, melodramas, musicals, horror films, and crime films

3 ways in which a documentarian shapes the subject

-cumulative, contrastive, developmental

What happens at the end of each act of film?

-end of first act: the goal is defined, the protagonist is off on their quest -end of second act: reversal of fortunes, all hope is lost

developmental documentary

-follows a non-narrative structure but still follows a change or progression

genre

-is a category or classification of movies that share similar subject matter, settings, iconography, and narrative and stylistic patterns -a set of formulas and conventions repeated and developed throughout film history

What is the most weighty criticism of the bechdel test?

-its limitation in terms of intersectionality

Blaxploitations

-low budget films made in the early 70s targeting urban AA audiences and featuring streetwise AA protagonists

cumulative documentary

-presents a catalog of images or sounds throughout the film

Spine of any story

-protagonist -pursuing goals -confronted by obstacles

In "Yes, 9 to 5 really is a feminist movie", What three actions in the film lead to the transformation of "the drab, testosterone-fuelled offices of Consolidated Companies into a veritable utopia of gender equality" in the author's opinion?

-rehiring of unfairly fired female employees -on site daycare -equal pay for women

archetypes

-spiritual, psychological, or cultural models expressing certain virtues, values, or timeless realities

The Exorcist: subgenre and director

-supernatural horror film -William Friedkin

story

-the subject matter or raw material of a narrative

What are the criteria for the Bechdel test?

-there are at least two female characters -who drive the plot forward -who have names -who talk to each other -talk about something other than a man

Four principle frameworks to a documentary

-to explore the world and its peoples -to interrogate or analyze an event or problem -to persuade the audience -to reflect the presence of the filmmaker

How are women usually depicted in film noir

-women pained as "mysteries" -either guilty or in need of a savior

Which series set the standard to the anime aesthetic?

Astro Boy

Who is responsible for the development of the highly exaggerated poses and faces that became a hallmark of The Looney Tunes?

Chuck Jones at Warner Brother's

claymation

Clay characters or moquettes moved in small increments between still photographs

9 to 5

Colin Higgins

Howl's Moving Castle

Diana Wynne Jones, 1986

What is cel animation?

Each image is drawn individually and displayed sequentially

What was the first appealing character and use of keyframes?

Gertie the dinosaur

diegesis

In a narrative film, the world of the film's story. The diegesis includes events that are presumed to have occurred and actions and spaces not shown onscreen.

Which of the actress's production company helped generate the project , "Is 9 to 5 really a feminist movie"?

Jane Fonda

Paris is Burning

Jennie Livingston, 1990

Boyz n the Hood

John Singleton

Little Miss Sunshine

Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

Who theorized "the male gaze" and the objectification of the female form in film?

Laura Mulvey

first person narration

Narration in which the point of view is that of the main character.

Which character from 9 to 5 previously trained Franklin and is repeatedly overlooked for a promotion?

Violet

formalism

a critical approach to cinema that emphasizes conventional properties of the text or medium over content or context

auteur theory

a critical method by which a film is viewed as the product of its "auteur" or director and is judged by the quality of its expression of the director's personality or world view; usually used to relate a film to others by the same director.

keyframe

in animation, refers to the beginning or end point for the transition of an object.

medium specificity

a film's properties that are unique to the medium

Main difference between Warner Brother's Merrie Melodies and Disney's content

a more satirical view of american society with an emphasis on slapstick comedy

restricted narration

a narrative in which our knowledge is limited to that of a particular character

documentary

a nonfiction film that present real objects, people, and events

stop-motion photography

a process that records inanimate objects or actual human figures in different positions in separate frames and then synthesizes them on film to create the illusion of motion and action

supernatural horror films

a spiritual evil erupts in the human realm to avenge a wrong or for no explainable reason

reception theory

a theoretical approach to the ways different kinds of audiences regard different kinds of films -race and representation

rotoscoping

an animation technique in which live action video is traced to create animation that mimics the live action.

appeal

animators should strive to create images that will be interesting and compelling to audiences.

Jidai-geki films

are a period films or costume dramas set before 1868 when feudal japan entered the modern Meiji period

westerns

are a staple of hollywood, although their popularity has waxed and waned in different historical eras -these films are set in the American West and typically feature rugged, independent male characters on a quest or dramatize frontier life.

hybrid genres

are mixed forms created through the interaction of different genres to produce fusions, such as musical horror films like "the rocky horror picture show

gangster films

are set in the world of organized crime and its violent criminals

subgenres

are specific versions of a genre denoted by an adjective

apparatus theory

argues that the mechanics upon which film is based were developed according to certain ideologies; filmmakers are primarily from hollywood, so most movies support western ideas

poststructuralism

challenged the fixed definitions of structuralism. Emphasizes the place of subjectivity, the unreliability of language, and the construction of social power

melodramas

combinations of the intensities of music and the interaction of human conflicts. -characters who are defined by their situation or basic traits rather than their deeds and who struggle, often desperately, to express their feelings or emotions

epic western

concentrates on action and movement and develops a heroic character whose quests and battles serve to define the nation and its origins

Postmodernism

incorporates many other styles through fragments or references in a practice called pastiche.

Heimat films

depict a world of traditional folk values in which love and family triumph over virtually any social evil, communities gather around maypoles, and townspeople sing traditional German folk songs

slasher films

depict serial killers

scenics

early nonfiction films that offered exotic or remarkable images of nature or foreign lands

political westerns

evolved out of the existential western, foregrounding ideology and politics and questioning the individual independence and use of violence featured in epic westerns

social melodramas

extend the crises of the family to include larger historical, community, and economic issues

physical horror films

films in which the psychology of the characters takes second place to the depiction of graphic violence

mockumentaries

films that use a documentary style and structure to present and stage fictional subjects -take a humorous approach to the question of truth and fact

detective films

focus on a protagonist who represents the law or an ambiguous version of it, such as a private investigator

physical melodramas

focus on the material conditions that control the protagonist's desires and emotions.

family melodramas

focus on the psychological and gendered forces restricting individuals within the family.

horror films

have crossed cultures and appeared in various forms throughout film history -characters with physical psychological or spiritual deformities -narratives built on suspense, surprise, and shock -visual compositions that move between the dread of not seeing and the horror of seeing

timing

helps create the illusion that an action is abiding by the laws of physics.

romantic comedies

humor takes second place to the happy ending, typically focusing on the emotional attraction of a couple in lighthearted way

iconography

images or image patterns with specific connotations or meanings

xerography

in animation, a process where the animator's drawings are printed directly onto the cell.

What other films are mentioned in the article as films that "say one thing and mean another" in "Is 9 to 5 really a feminist movie"?

jurassic park

psychological horror film

locate the dangers that threaten normal life in the minds of bizarre and deranged individuals

voyuerism

looking without being seen

structuralism

looks for common structures in filmic narratives rather than originality

slapstick comedies

marked by their physical humor and stunts, comprised some of the first narrative films

third person narration

narrator is outside of the story - an observer of others

Actualities

nonfiction films introduced in the 1890s depicting real people and events through continuous footage -workers leaving the lumiere factory

propaganda films

political documentaries that visibly support and intend to sway viewers toward a particular social or political issue or group

contrastive documentary

presents a series of images but with opposing points of views -skylines from different cities

historical paradigms

presumes that a genre evolved to a point of perfection at some point in history and that one or more films at that point describe the generic ideal

Which theory does Laura Mulvey propose is appropriated in film "as a political weapon, demonstrating the way the unconscious of patriarchal society has structured film form?"

psychoanalytic theory

musicals

range from traditional opera to vaudeville and musical theater in which songs either supported or punctuated the story

structural paradigms

relies less on historical precedent than on a formal or structural ideal that may or may not be actually seen, in a complete or pure form, in any specific film

realism

the connection or quality of resemblance to the natural world

What did the realist critic Andre Bazin propose in the '50s about how the film image should be evaluated?

the film image should be evaluated "not according to what it adds to reality but what it reveals of it" -created auteur theory

plot

the narrative ordering of the events of the story as they appear in the actual work

omniscient narration

the narrator knows all of the actions, feelings, and motivations of all of the characters.

existential westerns

the traditional western hero is troubled by his changing social status and his self-doubts, often as the frontier becomes more populated and civilized

screwball comedies

transformed the humor of the physical into fast-talking verbal gymnastics and unpredictable action, arguably displacing sexual energy with barbed verbal exchanges between men and women

crime films

typically feature criminals and individuals dedicated to crime detection and plots that involve criminal acts

animated musicals

use cartoon figures and stories to present songs and music

anticipation

used to let the audience know that a major action is about to take place.

integrated musicals

when musicals began to integrate musical numbers into the film's narrative

theatrical musicals

which situate the musical convention onstage or backstage