Jordan Ilan A-Level Film Studies

Art so far: - Talkies controversial when originally introduced - Film seen as a form of art and mass media when it came about - MWAMC: experimental, took on concepts never done in films before, created idea of art - Art is no longer just a painting, cinema is art A propos de Nice (About Nice): - A documentary about Nice Unmediated -> not edited to appease certain people, without bias? Realist vs Expressionist Realism: - Representation: As unmediated as possible - Visual Aesthetic: Simple - Principle: Respect/Truth - Intent: Spectator reflection Expressionism: - Representation: Highly mediated - Visual Aesthetic: Highly constructed - Principle: Manipulation - Intent: Spectator 'agitation' APDN: expressionistic -> designed to make people angry about the rich APDN: - directed by Jean Vigo, France, 1930 - Silent short documentary - Photographed by Boris Kaufman (brother of MWAMC's director Dziga Vertov) - Film depicts life in Nice, France by

Constructivism The constructivists believed art should directly reflect the modern industrial world. Vladimir Tatlin was crucially influenced by Pablo Picasso’s cubist constructions ( Construction  1914) which he saw in Picasso’s studio in Paris in 1913. These were three-dimensional still lifes made of scrap materials. Tatlin began to make his own but they were completely abstract and made of industrial materials . By 1921 Russian artists who followed Tatlin’s ideas were calling themselves constructivists and in 1923 a manifesto was published in their magazine  Lef : The material formation of the object is to be substituted for its aesthetic combination. The object is to be treated as a whole and thus will be of no discernible ‘style’ but simply a product of an industrial order like a car, an aeroplane and such like. Constructivism is a purely technical mastery and organisation of materials . Constructivism was suppressed in Russia in the 1920s but was brought to the

Sped-Up with train -> celebrating what they can do with film & the constructive movement using fast motion. Revolutionary in this. This particular sequence is fast motion -> symbolises rapid production that occurred in Russia at this time. Made trams look faster, shows technology in a better light, influenced by the Italian futurism movement Entirely filmed on location & natural lighting, gives it an extra documentary dimension, accurate representation of reality at the time Contrast between realism of the shot & a documentary film but its been edited and speeded up shots, excessive & abstract Symmetry of the shot adds aesthetic Dutch angle shot shows chaos. Split screen with canted angle gives it a sense of fluidity with constant movement City symphony shot on location -> dynamism and fluidity to it Brechtian distanciation Split screen -> engineered process Celebrating beginning of film with Lumiere brothers of train going in and out

2 paragraphs minimum on two micro features in City of God and Pan's Labyrinth (e.g. cinematography and mies-en-scene) Section A: Global Film With close reference to the two films you have studied, explore how either mise-en-scene or cinematography create meaning. (40 marks) City of God micro element paragraph: One element that Fernando Meirelles uses to create meaning in City of God is cinematography. This is depicted through the deaths of Shaggy and Bene. Meirelles uses lighting during the scene of Shaggy's death to create meaning; the lighting at the start of the scene is bright as the sun is glistening which represents the hope of escaping the City Of God for a 'brighter' future but the lighting changes when Shaggy dies as the shadows disappeared. This creates meaning as the lighting depicts that Shaggy's dream of escaping the lifestyle of City of God is no longer a reality and conveys Shaggy's loss of life. This ignites a response from the audience