Pick a film we've screened in class and write a short description for a catalog, or for someone who's never seen it. Look at the "How To Discuss Films" handout for ideas and categories. Start with the title and director, mention some technical specs and the genre, and consider the author's intent, sound design, and historical significance, if any.
No repeats, though. If someone has already blogged here about a work, you'll have to pick another.
Keep in mind my comments from class -- no "I" or "me" or "the audience is made to feel." Avoid conversational writing, titles go in quotation marks, watch out for repeated words, and proofread. Misspelled words and typos are embarrassing.
Your choices are...
“Film Crash Course”
“Matches: An Appeal”
“The Automatic Moving Company”
“A Trip to the Moon”
“The Enchanted Drawing”
“Humorous Phases of Funny Faces”
“Fantasmagorie”
“The Cameraman’s Revenge”
“Gertie the Dinosaur”
“Krazy Kat Goes A-Wooing”
“The Tantalizing Fly”
“Felix All Puzzled”
“The Mascot”
“Forging the Frame: The Roots of Animation 1900-1920”
“The Adventures of Prince Achmed”
“The Idea”
"Night on Bald Mountain"
"The Nose"
(skipping McLaren's pinscreen doc)
“Ghosts Before Breakfast”
“Rhythmus 21”
“Diagonal Symphony”
“Study No. 7”
“Muratti Marches On”
“Composition in Blue”
“Trade Tattoo”
“Free Radicals”
“Begone Dull Care”
“Neighbors”
“Le Merle”
-Tim Finn
Gertie the Dinosaur is a 1914 American animated short film by Winsor McCay. It consisted of Gertie, the animated dinosaur, and McCay interacting with one another. Although Gertie the Dinosaur is not the first animated film, it was the first cartoon to feature a character with an appealing and relatable personality. Gertie being a character of substance distinguished her from earlier animated films, such as those of Blackton. This minor adjustment allowed the audience to empathize with the character. While the film is void of audible dialogue it does have music. Dialogue cards were used to convey McCay and Gertie’s interaction. The Production of Gertie the dinosaur consisted of McCay drawing thousands of frames that would later be animated using key frame animation. Making it the first time key frame animation was done.
ReplyDeleteVincent Coviello
"The Idea" an experimental animation by Berthold Bartosch was created in 1932. Using 100 Watt bulbs Berthold would light up sheets of glass allowing him to paint with washtinted blacks and soap. "The Idea" was a new way of creating animation giving off interesting aspects of visual appeal and emotion.
ReplyDeleteNot only is Berthold's film a one of a kind technique but it has depth and meaning in it's plot. During this time People were persecuted for freedom's of speech, thought and 'Ideas'. This film is based on real problems that allowed the people of that time to relate to what was going on. One idea from one man starts out small but grows and if that man is taken down the idea will still lurk in the minds of others. The Idea goes from thought to press to revolts to revolution's.
From the words of Berthold:
“Men live and die for an idea, But the idea is immortal. You can persecute it, judge it, forbid it, condemn it to death, But the idea continues to live in the minds of men…. He whom it penetrates no longer feels isolated, For above all the idea remains…..” (Opening titles of the film, 1932).
Elize McKelvey
"Study No. 7" is a 1931 abstract, black and white animated film made by Oskar Fischinger. It consists of 2 and a half minutes of music ("Los Verderones" by Jacinto Guerrero) and white sqaures and rectangles moving along to the music. Although there are no characters or narrative, the shapes have a life of their own as they move in time to the melody. They seem to dance together, as a flock of birds flies together in the sky. The black background is static and flat, causing the white shapes really pop out. Fischinger wanted to create a beautiful visual piece to accompany the music.
ReplyDelete"The Cameraman's Revenge" is a stop-motion animated film (one of the first stop-motion animated films using puppets ever to be created) by Ladislaw Starewicz who released his film in 1912. The film maker's original goal was to create a short film for a museum on beetles, but they would not move under the hot lights, so he produced "Cameraman's Revenge," instead. In this film, Starewicz tells the story of Mister and MIsses Beetle and their fidelities that lead to an exciting, fire-based climax.
ReplyDelete"The Cameraman's Revenge" is a colored film (however, only uses muted, sepia colors) set to musical scores that change according to the excitement of the story. This original comedy by Starewicz contains no dialogue (as the film was made before the time of lip sync), but makes great use of black slides that inform the viewer what exactly is going on. All audiences that seek entertainment should watch this film, however, the children may not always understand what is going on due to the film's use of adult situations like fidelity.
The very first science fiction film, "A Trip to the Moon" was made in 1902 by the French director Georges Méliès and his brother, Gaston. The film is black and white, and is nothing more than a series of amusing shots which are scenes in themselves. A silent film, "A Trip to the Moon" was among the most technically innovative films of its time, yet displayed a primitive understanding of narrative technique.
ReplyDeleteThe story takes place at a meeting of Astronomers who decide to take a trip to the moon. Six astronomers agree to the plan , and build a bullet-shaped space capsule. The ship is fired from a cannon and they are shot to the moon--which has taken on a human face with eyes and a mouth. They land in the "eye" of the moon, and exit the capsule while watching the Earth rise in the distance. The astronomers encounter creatures called Selenites, their king, and run back to their capsule. Five get inside and the sixth uses a rope to tip the capsule over a ledge on the moon and into space. The capsule lands in the ocean and the astronomers are rescued by a ship and towed ashore.
"A Trip to the Moon" is based loosely on two popular novels of the time: "From the Earth to the Moon" by Jules Verne, and "The first Men in the Moon" by H.G. Wells. This film used innovative animation and special effects, and was named one of the greatest 100 films of the 20th century.
“The Adventures of Prince Achmed” is a stop motion animation made by German director Lotte Reiniger in 1926. It is the oldest surviving feature length animation. It features a silhouette animation technique using paper cutouts similar to Chinese shadow puppets. The story is based on various elements from 1001 Arabian Nights with a focus on “The Story of Prince Achmed and the Fairy Paribanou”. After a run-in with an African sorcerer Prince Achmed goes on a journey, eventually meeting the lovely Paribanou whom he falls in love with. He meets various interesting characters along the way such as the Witch of Fiery Mountain and Aladdin of the magic lamp.
ReplyDelete-Rachael Brennskag
The Mascot is a 1933 black and white film directed by Wladyslaw Starewicz. It combines live-action and stop-motion to tell a tale of a toy dog who, after his creation, hears a little girl ask for an orange, but she is not allowed to have one. Soon after, the dog falls in with other toys sent to a store. Some break free, but the rest must escape later on. After the dog escapes, he finds an orange to bring back to the girl. The dog makes his way through an array of other toys in places they call home, including a secret setup run by a devil, who sets his sights on the dog's orange. The devil is destroyed, and the dog returns home with the orange to give to the little girl.
ReplyDeleteHumorous Phases of Funny Faces” is a short black and white animated film by J. Stuart Blackton from 1906 and is considered to be one of the first animated film ever made. Blackton adapted the technique of stop-motion filmmaking to what would become basic animation. He would create one face, take a picture and then create the next drawing in his series. The series of photos of the drawings would be played in order of they were taken in, creating the illusion that the actually drawings were moving, just like how a flipbook works.“Humorous Phases of Funny Faces” begins with a cartoonist drawing on a black chalkboard with white chalk. The audience only sees the artist’s hand as he draws and easers. There is no solid plot through out the film, just small scenes that include a man and a woman, a man with his umbrella and a clown performing with a small dog. This black and white film was originally filmed without sound, music would be played live along side the film but over time music has been added in.
ReplyDeleteNorman McLaren tells you to love your neighbor in his 1951 live-action film "Neighbors". It all starts with two identical houses over a perfect lawn, and two men that display identical financial status with their simple khaki pants and shirts. The two men are outside reading their newspaper when a flower sprouts right in the middle of the lawn, precisely between their properties. The two of them inspect the flower, and as soon as they smell it, the flower's scent sends each of them into a brief high. When the two of them decide to claim the flower as they own, the conflict begins. They first begin by building fences around their property and then around the flower. Soon enough, they begin to fight over the flower and beat one another to the point that one wrecks the home and family of the other, and the flower too. Both men die, and as they are buried in each other's property, a flower then sprouting over each of their graves.
ReplyDeleteThis film was in color and sound is scratched out, leaving the film with sound-effects similar to that of vintage video games. No speech is present throughout the film however.
"The Enchanted Drawing" is a black and white short animation done by James Stuart Blackton in 1900. The original film was silent, without narration, and can be looked at as one of the earlier examples of animation. The film shows Blackton himself drawing upon a large pad of paper, as he often did for his "lightning drawings." He draws the head of a man, and then draws in new objects for the man to interact with, and Blackton seemingly pulls the objects, such as a bottle of wine and a top hat, out of the drawing. All the while, the man in Blackton's drawing reacts to what Blackton is doing, with smooth animation from one facial expression to the next. Overall the film is upbeat and comedic, and shows the progress of animation at the time, as well as Blackton's skill as an artist.
ReplyDelete-Rue Hartsell