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COM 320: History of the Moving Image
French Impressionism
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Defining Characteristics
Goal is to “convey sensations and emotional ‘impressions’ conveying the personal vision of the artist cinema shows us the souls of people and the essence of objects (photogenie) Cinema is a synthesis of the other arts” (architecture, painting, sculpture, music, poetry, dance)
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Form & Style: Camera work most important
Narrative structure—personal actions and psychology Abel Gance, Napoleon, 1927 Jean Epstein, Coeur fidele, 1923
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Form & Style: Camera work most important
Narrative structure—personal actions and psychology Germaine Dulac, The Smiling Madame Beudet, 1922
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Form & Style: Camera work most important
Narrative structure—personal actions and psychology Photogenie – “that quality which distinguishes a film shot from the original object photographed”
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Photogenie--There are parallels in French Imp painting, e.g.:
Frederick Carl Frieseke, Lady in a Garden, 1912
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Photogenie--There are parallels in French Imp painting, e.g.:
Mary Cassatt, Lydia Leaning on Her Arms, 1879 Claude Monet, one of his Water Lilies series, c
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Form & Style: Camera work most important
Narrative structure—personal actions and psychology Photogenie – “that quality which distinguishes a film shot from the original object photographed” Optical devices often used to do this Triptych from Abel Gance’s Napoleon
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Form & Style: Camera work most important
Narrative structure—personal actions and psychology Photogenie – “that quality which distinguishes a film shot from the original object photographed” Optical devices often used to do this Abel Gance, Napoleon, 1927 Abel Gance, La Roue, 1922
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Form & Style: Camera work most important
Narrative structure—personal actions and psychology Photogenie – “that quality which distinguishes a film shot from the original object photographed” Optical devices often used to do this Jean Epstein, Coeur fidele, 1923
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Form & Style: Camera work most important
Narrative structure—personal actions and psychology Photogenie – “that quality which distinguishes a film shot from the original object photographed” Optical devices often used to do this “Visual rhythm” of fast cutting Note examples from Abel Gance: The Charm of Dynamite
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Form & Style: Camera work most important
Narrative structure—personal actions and psychology Photogenie – “that quality which distinguishes a film shot from the original object photographed” Optical devices often used to do this “Visual rhythm” of fast cutting Location shooting Abel Gance, J’Accuse, 1919
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Background In a commercial film context
French film in crisis after WWI France swamped with German and U.S. films Small French companies willing to experiment
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Other Film Types in that Nation at that Time
Genre films Fantasy (e.g., Rene Clair) Rene Clair, Le Fantôme du Moulin Rouge, 1924
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Other Film Types in that Nation at that Time
Genre films Fantasy (e.g., Rene Clair) Comedy (e.g., Max Linder) Max Linder
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Importance of the Movement
Influential in style Not very important in terms of $$ (box office)
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Important Practitioners
Abel Gance ( ) Abel Gance, Napoleon, 1927
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Important Practitioners
Jean Epstein ( ) Jean Epstein, Coeur fidele, 1923
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Important Practitioners
Germaine Dulac ( ) Germaine Dulac, The Smiling Madame Beudet, 1922
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The Death of the Movement
The movement’s own success led to a diffusion of its techniques, and a lessening of its impact French Impressionist filmmakers lost their independence with the introduction of sound ($$)
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Current Influences & Applications
Subjectivity, especially in “indie” films e.g., films of Gus Van Sant
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