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
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