1. Cinema as independent art form
1920s and 1930s

2. mise-en-scene
creating the look and feel: since Georges Melies

3. 1930s – the studio system
The majors: MGM, 20th c. FOX, Columbia, Universal Studios, RKO, Warner Bros.
“Film factories”
Actors and directors on contract: several films a year.
“Star system”

4. Focus on glitz and glamour
Representations of glamorous lifestyles
Artificial jobs – focus on leisure and consumption
Warner Bros. - more realistic, representation of the working class people, more down-to-earth plot.

5. Sex and violence in the 1930s
Freaks, Scarface
Condemnation and calls for censorship
Hollywood Production Code introduced after 1934

6. Cinema of the code Will H. Hays: no skirt-lifting
no single bed for unmarried characters.
crime – always punished.
no kissing or touching etc.
no bathroom with toilet
Result?:
Creativity!

7. The Long Take and Deep Focus
Citizen Kane
The Long Take and Deep Focus

8. Significance Masterpiece of American cinema.
Greatly innovative – combines many techniques used separately before.
Story told in a very characteristic way.
Innovative use of cinematography as well as mise-en-scene.

9. Orson Welles
Citizen Kane was directed and written by 26-year-old Orson Welles ( ),
He also stars as the title character.
Welles came to the attention of Hollywood because of his infamous “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast

10. The other important figure
Gregg Toland
cinematographer

11. Makeup

12. Low angle shots

13. high angle shot

14. Deep focus photography

15. deep focus

16. shallow focus

17. Story William Randolph Hearst
Press magnate with political ambitions and colorful private life.
Hearst practically blocked Well’s career in Hollywood.

18. Complex narrative structure
Can be confusing:
the film begins with the death of the main character
the story of his life is told from multiple points of view

19. “News on the March”
newsreel (a miniature version of the rest of the film) Followed by five narratives told as flashbacks

20. Entries from the diary of Mr. Thatcher
(Kane’s legal guardian)

21. Interview with Mr. Bernstein (Kane’s business partner)

22. Interview with Jed Leland (Kane’s one-time closest friend)

23. Interview with Susan Alexander (Kane’s second wife)

24. Interview with Raymond, Kane’s butler.

25. the reporter
The newspaper: always turned away from the camera or in shadows as he conducts his interviews
He becomes a stand-in for the audience, often appearing only as a silhouetted head in the lower right corner of the frame.

26. Throughout the film we are limited to the knowledge that each narrator has about Kane, so the point of view changes with each new narrator.

27. Times of propaganda Sergei Eisenstein
Leni Riefenstahl "Triumph of the Will”
Wartime Hollywood
- many crude propaganda films with crass stereotyping
- but also more nuanced narratives
Casablanca

28. Casablanca
The setting – atmosphere, refugees, war far away yet impact perceptible
Characters:
Rick Blane (Humprey Bogart), Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman)
Public good over private desire.

29. Post-war America
Post-war optimism and economic boom in the USA, newly-found confidence. America: key player in international politics.
“Tinsletown” – celebration of prosperity and triumph, also celebration of national values through the triumph of law and order.

30. Film noir
Also the dark mirror – many of the pioneers came from Germany (escaped from Hitler),
brought traditions of German impressionism.
Peak of popularity 1940s and 1950s.

31. Film noir Atmosphere of desperation and paranoia. No happy ending.
Authority questioned: corrupt policemen, soldiers or politicians.
Beautiful seducers – femmes fatales.
Main characters: lonely types often criminals.
Urban setting

32. City spaces
shot on location rather than sets build in the studio (previously dominant form).
Use of authentic spaces.
Lighter, faster cameras.

33. Neorealism
Italian movement – first significant development in the post-war European cinema.
Movement of huge importance and impact:
Cesare Zavattini
Vittorio De Sica
Roberto Rosselini (Rome, Open City)
Luchino Visconti

34. Neorealism On location shooting. Use of non-professional actors.
Working life characters and communities.
Telling story through take rather than cut.
Sense of defeat and exploitation – social conscience.
sympathy for the common people

35. Bicycle Thieves

36. 1950s the Hitchcock Era
Alfred Hitchcock – one of the most famous directors ever.
Master of Suspense
famous for meticulous storyboarding.
The advent of colour
slow adaptation of the new technology: coexistence/