M, a film that is directed by Fritz Lang in 1929, follows the story of a man, Hans Beckert, with an uncontrollable thirst to kill and the chaos that engulfs the city because of the killings. After a series of child abductions and murders, certain citizens take it upon themselves to find the murderer, due to the incompetence of the police force. They request the assistance of the head of the criminal union, Schranker, to lead the manhunt for the murderer. Schranker utilizes the beggars union to serve as spies and widens the search throughout the entire city, which ultimately pays off when a blind man who sold a balloon to Beckert identifies him later on by his whistling. After a lengthy chase, he is eventually caught and brought to a mock trial led by the criminal union.
Robert Altman’s 1973 film, The Long Goodbye, follows Detective Phillip Marlowe, as portrayed by Elliott Gould, in his effort to disclose the truth behind the alleged death of his friend Terry Lennox (Jim Bouton) and Mrs. Lennox. Straddling the line between paying homage to and satirizing the film noir genre, the only similarities between the leading character of The Long Goodbye and a classic film noir are situational rather than characteristic. While the film’s protagonist is presented with conventions such as a case that is in need of solving, finds himself at odds with the mob, and police force provide no relevant support, beyond circumstantial parallels, Marlowe is presented as the antithesis of the usual, hard-boiled, protagonist of
Introduction: Film noir is a well-known cinematic term that is generally used to deal with the briefing of Hollywood crime drama and is more particularly used to place an emphasis on the cynical attitudes that also deal with the sexual provoking activities. The time period of noir in the Hollywood history is generally marked as the extending period of the time of 1940 to 1950s. The Film Noir is the time period that deals with and is associated with the low-key and black and white visual styling. This time is rooted with the German Expressionist of cinematography.
When the original text can be described as “a detective story with horror elements”, in which audiences mostly enjoy the unexpected plot and intricate reasoning of the narrator, the movie is more suitable to be labeled as “a romantic movie with detective elements”, in which audiences focus more on the character development but not the crime itself. This shift leads to a drastic change to the focus when presenting the content, and the movie maker had to make some change in the original text to adapt to the
How you ever wondered why Tim Burton's films are always a fan favorite for everyone? Tim Burton uses cinematic techniques to create a mood and tone for the audience of any age to enjoy. Springboard informs the audience in their biography that Tim Burton is wickedly funny, grotesquely, humorous they claim that Tim Burton's films influenced his imagination and cinematic style. Tim Burton used his idol Roald Dahl stories to create Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Burton uses his influence to make the perfect blend element.
Ever since the early 1940s, young men across the country have been forced to enlist in the selected services. Regardless of these men’s plans for the future, it was expected of them to lay down their lives for their country. While the military draft was intended to strengthen the American army, it also strengthened the arguments made by antiwar protestors. Why should people have to die for a cause they do not believe in? This was the question numerous American citizens were asking themselves throughout the entirety of the Vietnam War.
"Looking At The Monster: Frankenstein And Film." Critical Inquiry 24.1 (1997): 133. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
Over the fifteen weeks of the first semester of film school, we were taught many interesting types and styles of early world cinema which were extremely informative and influenced the filmmaking style of the whole class and made us better filmmakers instantly. One such ‘ism’ which inspired me the most was German Expressionism which is a unique characteristic of Weimar Cinema. In this essay I am going to talk about the history of this ‘ism’, its impact on cinema, some significant works and how it inspired me and influenced my filmmaking style. German Expressionism is one of the earliest artistic genres to influence filmmaking, and one that ostensibly prepared for some other cutting edge artistic styles and techniques. It is an artistic genre
Fritz Lang’s M is a combination of a social film and a murder mystery—directed in 1931, in the midst of the Nazi movement’s takeover of German goverment, the film chronicles the public’s congregation to catch an infamous serial killer. Beckert, the child murder himself is presented to the audience several times throughout the film; he is shown to be involved with a constant internal struggle between allowing the darkest parts of his mind to overcome him and remaining sane. However, this film is, in some respects, making a statement less about murder and more about society at the time in which the film was released. More specifically, the film warns against and even mocks the competency and ability of the police to perform their jobs. There is a scene within the film involving an organization of beggars with the common goal of catching the child murderer.
Throughout his life in making films, Tim Burton has shown his unique talent and vision. He proceeds taking advantage of the cinematic techniques; lighting, sound, and camera movements creating a certain mood/tone. These three techniques are used numerous of times for the duration of each film. Although, many various emotions are constructed, there are feelings that anyone may connect to. Tim Burton is a successful filmmaker and has inspired many with the use of his cinematic techniques.
The film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari can be considered one of the most famous examples of German Expressionism, and also presents themes on brutal and irrational authority. German Expressionism emulates its culture of preying upon the fearful, as a way of telling a story. This film narrates the story of an insane hypnotist who uses a somnambulist to commit horrendous murders. The unique use of mise-en-scene escalates the emotions and thoughts of the main characters, enticing the viewers to become immersed in the spiraling insanity of a madman’s world by using setting/set, makeup, and behavior. The film features a dark and twisted visual style, with sharp-pointed forms, askew and curving lines, structures and landscapes that lean and twist in unusual angles.
Warped in all senses. fascinating and bizarre: this is the 1920 silent movie by Robert Wiene now re-released in cinemas – that lay down a template for today's scary movies, noirs and psychological thrillers. And it is topped off with a surprise ending that still gets used all the time now. With all the weird gaping and gurning, and the distorted perspective of its expressionist sets, Caligari is a nightmarish cinematic extension of Bram Stoker's 1897 classic Dracula, combining as it does romantic superstition with the supposedly rational world of psychiatric surveillance and control.
In the wake of building his reputation for being a playwright, Martin Mcdonagh critically acclaimed movie showing up in 2004 making the Oscar-winning, half-hour Six Shooter, set on a train in nearby Ireland, where bemoaning widower Brendan Gleeson is confronted by a gun toting psycho. He tailed it up in 2008 with his first film, the astounding, In Bruges, an insightful cross between Hemingway's The Killers and Beckett's Waiting for Godot in which Gleeson and Colin Farrell play Irish bounty hunters holding up for their psychopathic British boss to steer their next undertaking. Mcdonagh now in the States, where his favorite, Colin Farrell, is Marty, an early alcoholic Irish essayist managing a Hollywood film, and the amount of psychopaths included has exponentially ascended to seven. At the opening of the startling and interesting Seven Psychopaths the camera slants above Los Angeles, taking in the prominent sign that has approached over the city since 1923, the Hollywood.
The adaption from book to film is a hard fraught translation, in which many themes and fundamental ideas can be lost. This is apparent in the adaption of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein into the 1931 film directed by James Whale of the same title. While the two stories are of the same premise, they are fundamentally different in later story elements, ideas, and themes. Even though the film inspires horror and intrigue like its novel counterpart, it lacks the complex moral arguments and depth of the book it is based upon. Whale’s Frankenstein ultimately fails as an adaptation of Mary Shelly’s work, because the removal of the narration and moral conflict present in the novel, which causes the film to lack overall emotional depth.
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film Psycho redirected the entire horror genre, and in doing so dismantled the prudent 1950’s societal barriers of cinema. Although unseen for its potential by the large studios of the time, Psycho became one of the crowning achievements of film history. While based partially on a true story of murder and psychosis from Wisconsin, the widespread viewing of this tale made way for a new era of film and ushered in a new audience of movie goers. The use of violence, sexual explicitness, dramatic twists, sound, and cinematography throughout this film gave Hitchcock his reputable name and title as master of suspense.
