THE EDGE OF HOLLYWOOD CINEMA

We watched a documentary about independent filmmakers in Hollywood last Wednesday. The documentary elaborated on how independent filmmakers chose to be independent and their styles to making their own movies. Even though they were independent filmmakers they still had their names known in Hollywood.

Independent filmmakers chose to make independent films for reasons that it a personal choice. They were independent because they did not like the idea of conforming to the mainstream film industry. They wanted to show their own styles and voice out their own expressions freely through their independent films. Having to submit to mainstream films limits their choices and they would not have the freedom to produce the films they want.

Spike Lee, who is an African-American director, showcased African-American films that were not accepted in mainstream Hollywood. Racism is evident in films to extent that they would not use African-American artists who will be the lead or protagonists in Hollywood films. But Spike Lee made a movie with an all African-American cast.

Every independent filmmaker had their own unique style in their films. They cannot make what they want in the mainstream studio system. They used techniques like not showing a scene makes it more impacting because it makes the audience feel the horror or it makes them think what is the meaning behind. These independent directors just wanted to make films even with a small and limited budget.

NOTES/SUMMARY: ITALIAN NEO-REALISM

There is no definitive source for the term Neorealism, but it first appeared in the early 1940s in the writings of Italian critics. The term presented a younger generation's desire to break free of the conventions of the ordinary or mainstream Italian cinema. Today, most historians believe that Neorealism was not a complete break with Italian cinema under Mussolini. Pseudo-documentaries such as Roberto Rossellini's White Strip, even though propagandist, prepared the way for more forthright handling of contemporary events.

Regional dialect comedy and urban melodrama encouraged directors and scriptwriters to turn towards realism. Foreign influence and indigenous traditions made several filmmakers in the post-war era make films with the goal of revealing contemporary social conditions or even propagandistic styles. This trend became the Neorealistic movement. It was about showing the real world in Italy, it showed the real conditions of the economy, culture and society.

Italian neorealism was known for on location shooting. Neorealist's mise-en-scene relied on actual locales, and its photographic work tended toward the raw roughness of documentaries. They made use of nonactors to show a more realistic look and behavior. Roberto Rossellini is the number 1 Italian neorealism director.

The Italian Neorealism movement came to and end when Italy regained its economic state. The economy became stable again and censorship was brought back, large film companies began to rule in the Italian film industry making small film companies close down. Though the movement ended, many directors were influenced and began using the style in their own films.

NOTES/SUMMARY: SOVIET MONTAGE

Following the Russian revolution in October 1917, the New Soviet government faced the difficult tas of controlling all sectors of life. During the World War I, there were a number of private production companies operating in Moscow and St. Petersburg with most imports cut off, these companies did quite well making films for the domestic market.Most distinctive Russian films made during the mid-1910s were slow paced melodramas.

"Of all the arts, for us the cinema is the most important." -Lenin, 1922

Some of the Russian directors tried to make films that would start a national cinema movement. Some of these directors were Lev Kuleshov and Dziga Vertov. Lev Kuleshov founded the State School of Cinema Art, the first school in the world. Dizga Vertov began working on documentary footage of the war, at age 20, he was place in charge of all news reels.

Lev Kuleshov

In Lev Kuleshov's school, they taught and tried experimenting "by editing footages form different sources into a whole that creates an impression of continuity." This was what they called Montage Editing. Montage editing is from the combination of shots just like in Hollywood that is known as continuity editing. Sergei Eisenstein was the first to make a major film of the montage movement in his 1925 film Strike.

The fall of the Soviet Montage was mainly due to the Soviet government. They did not allow complicated films and Russian directors went out of Russia. Then the government introduced a new type of movement in film called Soviet Realism in 1934.

The Kuleshov effect

NOTES/SUMMARY: THE FRENCH NEW WAVE

The late 1950s and early 1960s saw the rise of a new generation of filmmakers around the world. some trained in film schools, many allied with specialized film magazines, most in revolt against there elders in the industry. The most influential of these groups appeared in France.

In the mid-1950s, a group of young men who wrote for the Paris film journal Cahiers du cinema made a habit of attacking the most artisitically respected French filmmakers of the day. "I consider an adaption of value," wrote Francois Truffaut, "only when written by a man of the cinema. Aurenche and Bost are essentially literary men and i reproach them here for being contemptuous of the cinema by underestimating it."

Jean Luc Godard criticized 21 major directors saying, "your camera movements are ugly because your subject are bad, your casts act badly because your dialogue is worthless; in a word, you don't know how to create cinema because you no longer know what it is." Truffaut, Godard, Claude Chabrol, Eric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette praised other directors.

An auteur usually did not write scripts but managed nonetheless to stamp his or her personality on studio products, transcending the constraints of Hollywood's system. These directors also loved commercial Hollywood. Many of the Hollywood directors these critics and filmmakers championed have become recognized as great artists.

Writing criticisms fueled these men to also make films. They borrowed money from friends and filmed on location, each started to shoot short films. With their patience and persistence these directors led journalists to nickname them la nouvelle vague or the New Wave. The most obviously revolutionary quality of the French New Wave was their casual look. They admired Neorealists, they took their mise-en-scene in actual locales in and around Paris. Shooting on location became the norm, available light and simple supplemental sources were used.

The New Wave camera moves a great deal of panning and tracking to follow character or trace out relations within a locale. Eclair developed a lightweight and flexible camera that could be hand-held. One of the most salient features of the New Wave films is their casual humor. It also pushed further the Neorealist experimentation with plot construction. The films also lacked goal-oriented protagonists. The New wave film typically ends ambiguously, it leads the film to an open and uncertain ending.

In 1957, cinema attendance fell off drastically, mainly because television became more widespread. But the French industry supported the New Wave through distribution, exhibition and eventually production. even though the New Wave had their own production company, they were absorbed by the film industry.

LE MEPRIS

Le Mepris is a film directed by Jean-Luc Godard on 1963. The film was based on an Italian novel Il disprezzo.

The movie is about a couple, Paul Javal and Camille Javal, whose relationship was tested due to misunderstandings and priorities. Camile Javal is a very beautiful woman who is married to Paul Javal a scriptwriter. Paul Javal was assigned to write a script for a movie adaptation of Homer's Odyssey.. Fritz Lang was hired by the American Producer, Jeremy Prokosch, to direct the film. When Jeremy Prokosch met Paul Javal and his wife he had found Paul's wife to be beautiful. When Jeremy Prokosch invites the couple to have drinks, Paul arrives late and Camille started suspecting that Paul might have cheated on her.

The couple were bound in arguments and misunderstandings. Paul Javal became dedicated to his work that he lost time for Camille. The two fell out of love and separated. Camille Javal then goes to France but on their way there, Camille and Jeremy were in a car accident were the two died.

This film was shown to us last Wednesday and I think that there are points in the movie that would be boring and there would be points where your emotions gather up. Some scenes in the film were very long, for example is the conversation of Camille and Paul inside their house. The continuous camera shot was evident and it took really long for the certain conversation to keep on going.

There are scenes that would play with your emotions like their conversation in the apartment when they would be mad at each other and later on be alright. I think the different emotions set the long dragging shot of a scene made it less noticeable to be boring and long.

A WEREWOLF BOY

A Werewolf boy is a 2012 South-Korean produced fantasy romance film. Suni is a teenage girl who moves into a new home in the country with her family due to her health. As they moved in and were hanging the laundry, Suni notices a boy hiding in the outhouse that seemed to be scared to come out. Suni's mother offers the boy some food and as he steps out from the outhouse they noticed that he is a feral boy. He doesn't talk nor act like a human. Suni's mother decided to keep him in until they find his guardian. But they only failed and instead they took him under their guide,bathed and fed him. At first, Suni did not like the idea of having the boy but later on she opened up and started teaching him how to act like human, to read, to write and to speak.

They named him Chul-soo as decided by Suni's mother. Chul-soo then started showing signs that are not normal for a human. Ji-tae, the son of Suni's father's friend, starts to cause trouble because he doesn't like Chul-soo being with Suni as he has feelings for her. Suni and Chul-soo becomes very close but their relationship became difficult as Chul-soo reveals his werewolf instincts and protects Suni but scares the village people. They are met with different paths and chooses to sacrifice in order to live peacefully. Suni leaves Chul-soo and promises him, "Wait for me. I’ll come back for you."

Chul-soo is played by South-Korea's talented flower boy, Song Joong-ki, and Suni is played by actress Park Bo-Young. The whole film is set in a flashback except from the prologue and epilogue. The prologue and epilogue takes place in the present time while the flashback is set in the post war era of South Korea. The protagonists in the film both share a common ground, Suni being an introvert and Chul-soo being feral. Both of them does not like or know how to deal with social circumstances.

Song Joong-ki has played the role of Chul-soo very well as he has learned almost everything about being a werewolf. From his little movements, mannerisms, inhaling food like he was starved in a lifetime, even growling and howling, and how his expressions always come out from his eyes. Song Joong-ki does not speak all through out the film except from the time they were about to separate and at the epilogue. His first lines were almost towards the end of the film and it was really heartbreaking. I really have to give it up for Song Joong-ki for making my heart and eyes hurt from crying for delivering his first and most explosive line really well!

The movie keeps you on your edge. You get to immensely hold your emotions and when things get out it hits you like a train full of feelings. At the epilogue when Suni comes back to the country home after 47 years, Chul-soo was still there waiting for her for 47 years. Chul-soo was loyal to her, learning how to speak, to act human and to control his emotions all through out those years. He obeyed Suni's instructions to wait fo her until she comes back. It is a very tragic ending as we see that Chul-soo was somewhat forgotten and left to wait while Suni lives her life and even gets to go to America and have a family.

5 HORROR MOVIES TO WATCH WITH PEANUT AND POPCORN

I'd like to share with all of you my top 5 favorite horror movies! I am a big fan of horror and slasher films that I could not recall how many I have watched already. So for those with weak hearts and souls, I do not recommend any of these for you, sorry!

1. The Saw Series

My all-time favorite horror film would be Saw. This is the most twisted film from all the horror and slasher films that I have seen. This has the most twisted plot that unravels along the story line. The creepy and psychologically traumatizing kidnapping going on in this movie is its main highlight. "Jigsaw" kidnaps his victims, who he thinks do not deserve to live or be granted with a life, and puts them in a "game" where they have to play the rules in order to live. They are put to suffer and they start to panic once they play the game and do the most wild things unimaginable. It is a strong psychological battle with oneself in order to survive. Things unravel as the story goes, why jigsaw kills? who are his victims? what happens if he gets caught or if he dies? I think Jigsaw is one of the world's creepiest doll next to Chuckie.

2. Evil Dead (2013)

This version of the Evil Dead is already a remake but I think this one is also creepy and scary at the same time. It's story is about a group of friends who go to a cabin in order to help Mia recover from her heroine addiction. As they stay at the cabin they discovered an awful smell coming from the basement and finds animal corpses and book. The book was cursed and was put away but they summoned the evil spirits back as one friend chants the book's contents. The spirit enters Mia's body and one by one she kills her friends while they figure out how to cast the evil spirit away.

The set, color, and frames all match together and create a creepy vibe into the film in order to feel the emotions more. The colors were toned down so that it will give the feeling of horror and loneliness. The killing scenes are also to watch out for. The effects were almost like reality that you would feel your insides turning as you see how Mia pulls out her hand that was stuck from under the car and it gets separated from her arm.

3. The Exorcist (1973)

Possession is one mostly used plot in horror films. Talking about possession, The Exorcist would be the scariest possession ever made in film. The movie is about a demonic possession of a 12 year old girl and her mother's attempt to bring her back by doing many tests until she approves of exorcism.

The movie portrayed possessions really disturbing and scary. The sets portrayed a big role in the movie as it established the scenes of the movie. Special effects and makeup helped a lot to make the movie, so that if close-ups were necessary it would look realistic. The famous spider-walk scene (when Linda Blair went down the stairs with her back bent backwards) in this movie will never get old!

4. Thirteen Ghosts (2001)

Thirteen Ghosts is a horror film based on a ghost hunter and his team finding to capture a ghost called the Juggernaut. The ghost hunter, Cyrus, inherited a house wherein he planned to move there with his two children. The house they move into a glass house with Latin inscriptions on it. 12 ghosts are imprisoned in the house and one by one they were set free and the team inside the house were also killed one by one. 

This is one of the most memorable horror films that I have watched. At first it doesn't seem like a horror movie due to the fancy glass house but when the ghosts were one by one presented it was really creepy. The film had received bad reviews as they say that it lacked in scare senses and that it has bad editing. But I think the film has a great story and character presentations. 

5. A tale of two sisters (2003)

A Tale of Two Sisters is a South Korean psychological horror film. This South Korean film talks about two sisters who came home from a psychiatric hospital and deals with their evil stepmother. Su-mi being the elder sibling, she is protective and takes care of her younger sister, Su-yeon who is shy and is and introvert. The siblings encounter a ghost during night-time especially Su-yeon. Su-mi becomes more protective and becomes cautious toward their stepmother. It turns out that Su-yeon is actually already dead and the stepmother is absent throughout the whole film.

This is also one psychologically twisted film. The film uses flashbacks in order to explain the occurrences in the scenes. The flashback is a major point in the film as it helped create the whole story line. Watching the film as it is make it seem like it's like any ordinary horror film, but the twist of the film is really surprising so i really recommend this a must watch!

I hope you like the 5 movies I recommended! :)

BATTLE ROYALE

If you know The Hunger Games maybe you have heard about Battle Royale. If not, then let me guide you about Battle Royale!

Battle Royale is a Japanese film adaptation from Koushun Takami's novel of also the same name. It is an action thriller film directed by Kinji Fukasaku in the year 2000. 42 students were forced by the government to play in a game of survival at the abandoned island of Okishima. The 42 students who were in the same class, 3-B, had to kill each other until only one survives.

The said "game" that was created by the government was called the BR Act. This was to teach the students or the younger generations, who were rebelling at those times, to learn to follow and comply with the government.  The government was afraid of the younger generations learning to rebel because they might cause a disruption in the system and learn about their wrong-doings.

Shuya Nanahara and Noriko Nakagawa were able to escape the game alive at the end, thanks to a transfer student who helped them. The transfer student, Shogo Kawada, was the previous game's winner, earning him an edge and the know-how's to escape or win in the game again. But instead of just playing for himself, he decided to help the two and escape together. Every film needs an antagonist and that would be Kazuo Kiriyama, another transfer student added in the game. He was everyone's strongest opponent. He killed for no reason and the film did not emphasized on his life as to why he was so merciless. At the near end of the film, Kiriyama emerges from a building that was bombed and he became blind because of the impact. Nanahara, Nakagawa and Kawada found him walking out of the building and it was from there that Kawada shot Kiriyama as he became an easy opponent now that he was blind.

Towards the end of the film, Kawada fakes the death of Nanahara and Nakagawa in order for them to escape. He goes back to the school to surrender to the teacher. But the teacher knows of his plans and intended to kill Kawada when Nanahara and Nakagawa suddenly showed up with guns pointed at their teacher. Their teacher then revealed his painting, all his students were dead except for Noriko Nakagawa who was at the center of the painting, emerging as the game's winner. It turned out that the teacher had helped Nakagawa to become the winner because he had a liking for her. They shot their teacher and there he died. On their way back to the main island of Japan, Kawada died on the boat due to his injury. Shuya Nanahara and Noriko Nakagawa became fugitive murderers and they were escaping the country.

The film is full of action with merciless killing that some may find gory. Battle Royale presents a system that would do anything in order to keep their positions in tact. Every student or character in the film has their own story in order to explain their attitudes toward killing. The film shows a unique presentation of friendship and trust given the situations they were in. Shuya Nanahara was like a clueless person who had strong friendship and trust that he did not get the purpose of killing and would do anything in order to stop the situation. But being clueless, he was a forward person who would trust and submit easily to others, he represents the idea of not being able to rebel because he does not think deeply enough. Shogo Kawada is the character who would rebel against the system until he makes a difference.

Battle Royale is a symbol of rebellion and submission to the government or a system. It did gained controversies but I think it is really a great movie to watch. Try reading the novel too because it is more detailed and full of story. But then again, the movie itself is a really great piece :)

NOTES/SUMMARY: THE NEW HOLLYWOOD AND INDEPENDENT FILM-MAKING

Halfway through the 1960's, the Hollywood industry seemed to be healthy with blockbuster movies such as The Sound of Music and Dr. Zhivago. But problems then arose, with expensive studio projects failing, TV networks stopped bidding for pictures. By the year 1969, Hollywood companies were losing $200 million annually.

In order to bring back the industry, one strategy they used was to produce counterculture-flavored films aimed at young people. But these "youthpix" about campus revolutions and unorthodox lifestyles proved disappointing at the box office. Films aimed at a broader audience proved to help lift the industry's fortune. The most successful films were Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (1972), William Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973), Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975), George Lucas's Star Wars (1977).

These and other directors were know as "movie brats". Instead of coming up from studio system ranks, they had gone to film schools. They learned about the mechanics of production, film aesthetics and history. The movie brats produced self-conscious films. They used their life experiences, opinions and thoughts in creating the stories for their films.

The movie brats

Many films of the new Hollywood were based on Old Hollywood as the young directors were influenced and involved in movies. Many of the directors were drawn to European Tradition and dreamed of making complex art films in the European mold. Lucas and Spielberg became powerful producers. They worked together to produce blockbuster films like The Indiana Jones series and they had personified Hollywood's new generation. Scorsese was the most critically acclaimed living American filmmaker by the end of the 1980's.

During the 1980's, fresh talents won recognition, creating a new new Hollywood. Many more films from directors like Lucas, Spielberg and Scorsese  became famous. The resurgence of mainstream film was also fed by filmmakers from outside Hollywood. Many directors came from abroad during the 1980's and 1990's, more women filmmakers became commercially successful.

 The new new Hollywood absorbed some minority directors from independent films while others shifted into the mainstream, making medium budget films with widely-known stars. On the other hand, other directors remained independent. The most mainstream young directors still stick to the tradition of classical American cinema. Continuity editing was still the norm with clear signals for time shifts and plot developments. Visual techniques were used for storytelling strategies wherein they play with focus, motion and special effects. Spielberg and Lucas also led the advancement toward digital sound and high-quality production.

Less well funded Hollywood film making cultivated more flamboyant styles. Some use slow motion and camera movements to extend an emotional impact like Scorsese. De Palma used long takes, startling overhead compositions and split screen. Coppola used fast-motion black and white in Rumble Fish. Several of the newer entrants in Hollywood enriched mainstream conventions of genre, narrative and style.

By the end of the 1990's, classical conventions and independent film tradition were merging. Independent films began having larger audiences. Sometimes the big budget films of independent filmmakers conveyed a distinctly experimental attitudes. The films conveyed or presented the society, its problems and issues. They also began to play with narrative form, using misleading narration or complicated stories that enticed the audience to watch the films again in order to fully understand its story.

Source: The New Hollywood and Independent Film-making pp 463 – 468 of Film Art by Bordwell and Thompson

NOTES/SUMMARY: GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM 1919-1926

With the start of the World War i, the output of the German film industry was small and most of their movie theaters were playing French, American, Italian and Danish films. When the government started to support the film industry, productions increased to 131 small companies by 1918. The government then encouraged these companies to band together into cartels. by the 1920's, Germany produced many films with companies in other countries to help spread German stylistic influence abroad.

Erich Pommer's film, Decla, undertook to produce an unconventional script by Carl Mayer and Hans Janowitz. The two writers wanted the film to be made in an unusually stylized way. The three designers for the film: Hermann Warm, Walter Reimann and Walter Rohrig-suggested it be done in Expressionist style. Expressionism is an avant-garde movement. 

Expressionist style resulted in a stylistic movement in cinema. It has helped the German film industry by keeping their avant-garde directors within the industry. German expressionism heavily relies on mise-en-scene. Some features of expressionism include shapes that are distorted and exaggerated for expressive purposes, actors often wear heavy makeup and move in jerky or slow patterns. Expressionism often functioned to create stylized situation for fantasy, horror stories or historical epics. This style also became a narrative point of view for mad characters.

The Expressionist movement also had its downfall. German exporters sold their films cheaply abroad but inflation discouraged imports. Foreign films came in more quickly with the stabilization of the German economy. Production budgets were climbing and German directors made their way to Hollywood. Since the directors came to Hollywood, Hollywood films have been influenced with German expressionist style and this is evident on horror films and film noirs. By the year 1924, expressionist style had died out in Germany.

This video is an example of a German expressionist film.

Source: German Expressionism (1919-1926) pp 447-450 of FILM ART by Bordwell and Thomson