1. German Expressionism in Cinema
Presentation by Chris Schloemp
Source:

2. Artistic Background
Any work of art in which the representation of reality is distorted in order to convey an inner vision
An avant-garde strain of modernism
In painting, expressionism opposes impressionism
In literature, it opposes naturalism

3. What is Expressionism?
Seeks the essence of things, rather than the way things appear
Seeks an object’s most expressive aspect
Reality is entirely the creation of minds and wills
Characters are bearers of ideas
Messianic call for a new man

4. Key Features of German Expressionistic Film
Chiaroscuro (dark/light)
Predilection for the studio
Emphasis on shapes, forms, and patterns
Tendency towards abstraction
Distortion, angularity, extreme verticals
Hypnotic and nightmarish worlds

5. Obsession With Doubles
Harmless semblance and more sinister counterpart
Constant play with artifice and illusion
World of fakes, frauds, simulations, and shape-shifters

6. Stylized Acting Highly gesticulatory
Characters sometimes become functions of set design and architecture
Fervent, often histrionic

7. Meta-filmic aspects Films about films and film-making
Narratives involve framing devices(eg mattes)
Themes of seeing and creation
Characters who arrange scenes (mise-en-scene)

8. Key Films (1919-1924) From Morning to Midnight(1920) Genuine(1920)
The House of the Moon(1920)
Torgus(1920)
Raskolnikov(1923)
Waxworks(1924)

9. Nosferatu

10. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

11. Metropolis