Unit Eight: Movies Pearson Longman © 2009 “This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images; any rental, lease, or lending of the program.” HU300 Art and Humanities

Final Project Information Your Final Project is to create a virtual time capsule. A time capsule is a grouping of items for future discovery. For our purposes, we will imagine that our time capsule will be buried at the end of the course and opened 100 years later. The goal of our capsule is to provide an overview of what you believe future generations will need to remember about the twentieth- and early twenty-first centuries. Though your time capsule is not physical, it will provide the following:

A letter of introduction to tell someone in the future about your day-today life— where you live, where you work, what your family and friends are like. An example of morality and decision-making in current culture (Unit 3 Discussion) Your definition of happiness (Unit 4 Discussion) Your definition of freedom (Unit 4 Discussion) You will also need to list the following, along with a paragraph detailing why its inclusion is critical: A significant literary work (poem, short story, or novel) A significant example of art or architecture A significant song or group of songs A significant film A significant item from popular culture (a toy, gadget, fad, etc.)

CONVENTIONS OF FILM Conventions are the conditions accepted by the audience. Cinematography is the way in which the camera tells the story. Pearson Longman © 2009

CONVENTIONS OF FILM Conventions o establishing sh ot o close-up o sound o background music o point of view Pearson Longman © 2009

CONVENTIONS OF FILM Conventions o intercut o elongated moment o lingering take o pan o dissolve Pearson Longman © 2009

CONVENTIONS OF FILM Conventions o freeze frames o tracking shot o cut o quick cut o flip Pearson Longman © 2009

Invention Thomas Edison “peep show” & projector technology Pearson Longman © 2009

Major Genres: Slapstick Comedy Chaplin & the Little Tramp – Gold Rush 1925 The first international star.

Major Genre: Farce Marx Brothers – A Night at the Opera 1935 Heroes of the underdog defying the aristocracy. Pearson Longman © 2009

MAJOR FILM GENRES Animated Film o Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs o The Little Mermaid o Ratatouille Pearson Longman © 2009

Animation: Beginning of Feature Animations Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1936

Animation: Revival of drawn animation The Little Mermaid 1989

Animation: Modern Ratatouille 2006 Computer animation and taste.

MAJOR FILM GENRES Film Noir o Cynicism o Dark tone, lack of cheerfulness Pearson Longman © 2009

Huston - The Maltese Falcon 1941 Bogart as Sam Spade

MAJOR FILM GENRES Romantic Comedy o Philadelphia Story o Class difference, dialogue, clash of manners o Lost in Translation o Loneliness, realism, chance meetings Pearson Longman © 2009

Romantic Comedies

MAJOR FILM GENRES Screen Musical o Singin’ in the Rain o Dirty Dancing o Chicago Pearson Longman © 2009

Musicals Then and Now

MAJOR FILM GENRES The Western o Destry Rides Again o High Noon o Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid o Dances with Wolves Pearson Longman © 2009

Western Themes Good v. Evil Independence Civilization v. Frontier Man v. Nature

MAJOR FILM GENRES Horror and Suspense o Psycho Social Issues o Mr. Deeds Goes to Town o It’s a Wonderful Life o Grapes of Wrath o Sullivan’s Travels Pearson Longman © 2009

MAJOR FILM GENRES Documentaries & Docudramas Documentaries – a nonfiction film that usually has a narrator but not a structured storyline. o Titicut Follies o Winged Migration o Roger and Me, Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11 o An Inconvenient Truth Pearson Longman © 2009

MAJOR FILM GENRES Documentaries & Docudramas Docudrama – a nonfiction film that has not only a narrator but characters, either real people or actors, and a story line. o Ladybird, Ladybird Pearson Longman © 2009

MAJOR FILM GENRES Fictionalized Biography o The Agony and the Ecstasy (Michelangelo) o Lust for Life (van Gogh) o Amadeus (Mozart) o La Vie en Rose (Piaf) Pearson Longman © 2009

MAJOR FILM GENRES Adaptations o The Killers (Hemingway’s “The Killers” o Tess of the D’Urbervilles (Hardy) o Troy ( The Iliad) Pearson Longman © 2009

TWO AMERICAN CLASSICS Citizen Kane Casablanca Pearson Longman © 2009

THE FILM AUTEUR Alfred Hitchcock o Shadow of a Doubt o The Birds o Psycho Francis Ford Coppola o The Godfather Trilogy o Apocalypse Now Martin Scorsese o Mean Streets o Age of Innocence o The Departed Pearson Longman © 2009

NOTES ON CRITICAL VIEWING Some criteria to determine the merit of a film: o Use of a style unique to cinema o Characters with complex inner lives o Relevance to the times o Integrity o Avoidance of stereotypes o Gravity of theme o No violations of probability Pearson Longman © 2009

Your Thoughts What makes a great film? Which films have had the biggest influence in your life? What are your favorite types of movies?