FILM 2700: HISTORY OF THE MOTION PICTURE PROFESSOR SHELDON SCHIFFER MAYMESTER VERSION Office hours: 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM Daily Office: 25 Park Place South – Room 1023 phone:

Lecture Slides: Day 4 Cinemas of European Turbulence – Artistic and Political Movements WW1 Carnage: More than 300k died in the Battle of the Somme, from July to November 1916

Historical Question 4.1 What effects did World War 1 have on the German film industry? How did it help or hurt domestic business? If audiences went, why did they go to the cinema?

Germany during WWI Devastating socially, economically. Largest conflict since the birth of the German nation in the mid 19th century Borders blockaded American films, its own cinema could survive and even grow w/o US competition. (Contrary to intuition, perhaps) Film and art, which had a very vibrant presence before, during and after the war, was especially expressive. War trauma externalized through art, German Expressionism was born.

Effect of WWI on Germany Government support ($) to keep German film producing and screening German film provided a medium for the construction of a unified identity. War reparations distorted the economy with record inflation (by 1923, 6 billion German Marks = $1)

Effect of WWI on Germany People spent money immediately, rather than save, and film viewing was cheap entertainment. So, films were watched. Imports were blocked during WWI After war were heavily competed with a flood of American product. Eventually economic crisis in late 1920s too devastating, and film industries weakened

Important German Companies Decla Deutsch –Bioscop Ufa All benefited from government support and inflation, as their product after the war was much cheaper than all other films when bought from an exchanged foreign currency

Historical Question 4.2 What aspects of World War 1 effected German Art and Cinema known as German Expressionism? Connect the aesthetic of German Expressionism to the mood of a post World War 1 Germany? What evidence suggests a war cause to an art movement effect?

German Expressionism Emile Nolde painting, Mask Still Life III Still from Murnau’s Nosferatu

German Expressionism in the Arts As War Reaction Without directly confronting the political causes of WWI, German art made the trauma of the war into an expressive style “Realism” could not express how the War distorted reality. More than 1 million soldiers dead, 750K civilians dead, a loss of 15% of male population.

German Cinema, Theater and Art German theater artists quickly participated – playwrights and actors Major theater personalities who became film actors and/or directors: Max Reinhardt and Paul Wagener (The Golem), Ernst Lubitsch Projects produced: European “Spectacle” cinema – e.g. Madame Dubarry, (1919) Emile Nolde, painter, Jakob Steinhardt, woodcutter, establish graphic style and figurative emotion

Visual Characteristics Of German Expressionism Visual qualities that “express feelings in the most direct and extreme fashion possible.” Unrealistic dark colors Cartoon like outlines Living skeletons and corpse-like characters Physical distortion of characters and set, walls, buildings and furniture

Visual Characteristics Of German Expressionism Expression through photographed graphic composition Psychological state (of emotion) of character extends into set design composition/framing High contrast lighting – extreme blacks and bright whites

Visual Characteristics Of German Expressionism Graphic patterns in set design and costumes with distinctive repeated shapes Association of human figure condition with trees and animals, also distorted Oddly, camera movement is steady and controlled, not very expressive of human character state (a kind of missed opportunity for expression)

Narrative Characteristics of Stories Characters in extreme situations of life and death Mythic fantasies of European/German folklore or characters possessed with scientific solutions to social ills Science fiction/Fantasy genre (by today’s definition) Vampires, Frankensteins and Zombies “Mad” scientist characters

Major German Expressionist Films Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Robert Weine Metropolis (1927), Fritz Lang M (1931), Fritz Lang The Golem (1920), Paul Wegener Nosferatu (1922), FW Mernau

Historical Question 4.3 What is the aesthetic of Kammerspiel movies? How is Kammerspiel different from German Expressionism? Still from Murnau’s The Last Laugh

Kammerspiel / Chamber Stories Intimate stories and characters about friends and family Subtle melodrama, but not as emotionally evocative as soap operas or telenovelas Familiar realities based on “naturalistic” and sometimes “idealistic” social roles

Visual Characteristics Domestic and urban settings on location or in studios that simulated locations Few locations, giving a sense of isolation and claustrophobia

Narrative Characteristics Internal actions, slowly paced Few characters, mostly with interpersonal problems Often sad or ironic endings

Historical Question 4.4 What were the post World War 1 effect on the German film industry? What condition made German film investment and production attractive? What conditions diminished the industry at the end of the years between the wars?

Production Company Expansion German films became acceptable with relaxation of anti-German post War attitudes Inflation encouraged investment in property, equipment (such as American lighting, cameras, dollies and camera movement systems, set building tools) and infrastructure (electrical grids, transport systems) since it kept value longer than cash assets

Production Company Expansion More high-tech allowed for more spectacular films – The Last Laugh (1924) – Metropolis (1927) Cheap labor of post-War civilians made it possible to make films requiring a lot of labor

End of Inflation and Decline of Production Companies Too much borrowing during inflationary times (without government control of interest rate), made payback of debt impossible Companies went bankrupt or were bought out. Decla-Bioscop merge Ufa absorbs Decla-Bioscop

End of Inflation and Decline of Production Companies Ufa nearly goes bankrupt with production of Metropolis and Faust – Rescued by loan from Paramount and MGM MGM/Paramount deal required release of 20 U.S. films in Germany Once Ufa bankrupted again, Nazis took it over Most successful directors left for U.S. (Lubitsch, Murnau, Pasbst)

Historical Question 4.5 How did social, economic and political conditions diminish German Expressionism and give rise to New Objectivity? Lining up for food or cinema?

End of German Expressionist Movement As Germany became more politically unstable, the Left influenced artistic tastes Expressionism was too formalist and spectacular for social realist artists that were more attached to next movement: New Objectivity Expressionism (bourgeois) vs. New Objectivity (socialist)

New Objectivity Aesthetics Audience experiences characters almost as science specimens New objectivity was opposite of Expressionism. Audience and characters were less emotional, more detached. These are its characteristics, films, influences Political focus on the inequalities of class, and on the bureaucracy of government

New Objectivity Directors, Films, Demise and Revival Bertolt Brecht – famous theater director, wrote and influenced filmmakers The Street (1923) – Karl Grune The Joyless Street (1925) & The Loves of Jeanne Ney (1927) – GW Pabst Loves of Jeanne Ney

New Objectivity Directors, Films, Demise and Revival New Objectivity as narrative style disappeared during Nazi Germany, but came back in 1960s- 1990s New Objectivity was interrupted by extreme right wing politics and Nazi takeover.

Historical Question 4.6 What were the social and economic conditions that impacted Russian-Soviet art and cinema during and after WW1? How were these conditions similar and different with the German film industry at the same time?

Soviet Union (Russia, Ukraine, et. al) Dual revolutions severely diminished Russia- Soviet economy. Revolution against the monarchy came first, and then revolution between two rebellious armies – White (liberal democratic) and Red (communist).

Soviet Union (Russia, Ukraine, et. al) Russia participated in WWI, and took many losses Production of films was very low – lack of equipment and film stock Economic blockade by nations opposed to Communist victors (Reds) after White-Red revolution.

Soviet Political Influence On Art and Cinema Influence on artistic community in Soviet Union was gradual. Experimental artists could continue modernist-formalist traditions Filmmakers, like in Germany, absorb contemporary art movements of their time into new cinematic art. Artists and filmmakers were encouraged to convert modernist-formalist tendencies to a function that helped (educate) the society, and spread the Communist ideology.

Soviet Political Influence On Art and Cinema Disavowal but permission of conventional “bourgeois” (middle-class oriented) art and cinema tastes “Bourgeois” art focused on the material and personal goals of individuals rather than groups or classes of people Encouragement to incorporate Communist point of view to form of filmmaking

Historical Question 4.7 What ideas were common between Marxism and Soviet Montage? Can you connect the Marxist idea of history with the various types of montage?

Montage Movement and Marxist Material Dialectic Dialectics of Marxism (as relates to Montage): Karl Marx was not only an economic theorist, but he also a historical theorist. What were his theories? Dialectical Materialism (originally proposed by Joseph Dietzgen)

Montage Movement and Marxist Material Dialectic What is knowable in the world is physical material (you think what you sense/see) Dialectical Materialism: All matter is in motion from – being born into one state, – to decaying into another, often as a result of interaction of different bits matters – to create a third state of matter Synthesis is the process of two ideas (of matter) combining to create a third

Montage Movement and Marxist Material Dialectic For Lenin (and suggested by Marx), Communism was synthetic result of combining feudalism, and monarchism, to create capitalism Then synthesizing capitalism with liberal democracy, to create Socialism. To achieve Communism (ultimate socio-political utopia) one must destroy the concept of individualism (that capitalism depends) To create the invincible society where the People are most valued (not the individual person).

Montage as Applied Marxist Theory Lev Kuleshov took one image of a face, and combined them with other images that the eyes of the face looked at – soup, dead body, a baby. Effect was on how the audience interpreted the thoughts and feelings of the face looking at the object. The image of the object triggers an implied relation/reaction in face looking at object. Audience perceives change in idea, where in fact, no change in face occurs.

Soviet Montage Theory Sergei Eisenstein’s montage theories: montage originates in the “collision” between different shots in an illustration of the idea of thesis and antithesis. Montage is inherently dialectical, thus it should be considered a demonstration of (Karl) Marxist and (GW Friedrich) Hegelian philosophy. Collisions of shots based on conflicts of scale, volume, rhythm, motion (speed, as well as direction of movement within the frame), as well as more conceptual values such as class.

Historical Question 4.8 What are the kinds of Soviet Montage? Can you spot them in a movie either from the Soviet films or in a contemporary movie?

Formal Characteristics of Montage Metric - where the editing follows a specific number of frames (based purely on the measure of time), cutting to the next shot no matter what is happening within the image. Rhythmic - includes cutting based on continuity, creating visual rhythms, or repetitions of movement form edit to edit. – The Battleship Potemkin “Odessa steps” sequence.

Formal Characteristics of Montage Tonal - uses the emotional meaning of the shots — not just manipulating the temporal length of the cuts or its rhythmical characteristics – Elicits emotional reaction from audience even more complex than from the metric or rhythmic montage – The Battleship Potemkin. This is the clip following the death of the revolutionary sailor Vakulinchuk, a martyr for sailors and workers. Overtonal/Associational - the overtonal montage is the accumulation of metric, rhythmic, and tonal montage to synthesize its effect on the audience for more abstract effect.

Other Visual Characteristics Of Montage Radical framing to exaggerate power relations (making powerful characters large in frame, looking above lens, weak and vulnerable characters small and looking below lens Extensive use of superimpositions Use of text to clarify messages Use of non-professional actors and real locations to lend authenticity

Narrative Characteristics Of Montage Films Stories tended to have physical and political conflict Individuality in characters is minimized, while class types, and familial archetypes are easily recognized Many events in history staged Often the personal role of individuals in relation to family is metaphorized to represent the State as surrogate family

Major Soviet Montage Filmmakers and Films Filmmakers also wrote theory books – Toward a Theory of Montagge, Eisenstein Sergei Eisenstein – Strike (1925), Battleship Potmkin (1925), October: Ten Days that Shook the World (1927) Dziga Vertov – Cinema Eye (1924), Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

Historical Question 4.9 What were the aesthetic concerns of Constructivism in Soviet cinema and art? Was it complimentary or oppositional to montage? Rodchenko

Constructivism, Art Movement Most Related to Montage Montage was formal, but still based in photographic informal, and its iconic relay to the viewer. Constructivism allowed for labor/hand of artist to show directly Film could only be functional if it was educational in someway – an indirect function that depended on the viewer to use knowledge.

Constructivism, Art Movement Most Related to Montage Constructivism proposed art should have a function most directly, much like architecture, graphic design and engineering. Art objects, while unique in form, should have a specific material or social function. Constructivism made art responsible for the construction of the mind in society, not art or film as “entertainment”.

Historical Question 4.10 What were the aesthetic concerns of Soviet Socialist Realism? [This question will get repeated in the post-WW1 units, so it won’t be on the first unit exam.] Stalin with children and flowers

Soviet Government Moves Toward Social Realist Stalin takes control of government, artists pressured to abandon art and filmmaking that was difficult for peasants to understand, Abandon experiments with form and instead express the social and political message

Narrative Characteristics of Social Realism Stories about families and individuals sacrificing personal needs for the benefit of the community/state More Soviet Social Realism to come after WWII and invention of sound for film