[Film Club] INFJf Film Club - Week 0: Introduction

[SarahBS]

So as we discussed here Partner to watch movie / read books we're gonna have our own Movie Club ^^

The purpose: To get familiar with the history of cinema in general
[MENTION=13909]Satori[/MENTION] [MENTION=5601]ezra[/MENTION] [MENTION=1669]Gist[/MENTION] [MENTION=11651]Artisan[/MENTION] [MENTION=5667]Jacobi[/MENTION] [MENTION=13900]Breathlessangel[/MENTION]

Let's Rock

P.S1 this is one of my dreams coming true
P.S2 We have a book club -which I didn't know anything about till now!-that separated the threads by week and I thought it would be awesome to do that here as well ^^ ( we can continue this if you guys agree )

 

[Satori]

Outline in the next post.
A few words before posting though~

So, I guess I had too much fun doing the outline,
so though I originally said let's fill in the blanks together,
I've sort of filled in a lot of titles myself (sorry )

BUT, of course these are just my suggestions,
so please do review everything written,
make choices, add and change stuff,
omit topics you feel are unnecessary,
so yeah, basically feel free to edit everything.

 

[Satori]

FILM HISTORY 101


Week 0: Introduction - The Beginning of Cinema
(Should we just read up/watch on our own about the early innovations
and minute-long to one-reel first films, and proceed with the
Hollywood feature-lengths? Or would you like to include this in the discussion?)
*Short films from the Edison Studios:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu2EHjNvmo-QqqN9swC8jGw

---

Part I: THE VISUAL ART OF CINEMA - THE SILENT ERA (1890s-1920s)

Week 1: The Rise of Hollywood
Director in Focus: D.W. Griffith
Film: The Birth of a Nation (1915) or Intolerance (1916)

Week 2: The Soviet Montage
Director: Sergei Eisenstein
Film: Battleship Potemkin (1925)

Week 3: German Expressionism
Director: F.W. Murnau, Robert Weine, or Fritz Lang
Film: Sunrise (1927) or Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), or Metropolis (1927)

Week 4: The Pursuit of Silence
Director: Charlie Chaplin
Film: City Lights (1931)

---

Part II: BRING IN THE TALKIES - THE SOUND ERA (from late 1920s)


A: The Golden Age of Hollywood

Week 5: The American Gangster of the 30s
Director: Howard Hawks, or William Wellman?
Film: Scarface (1932), or The Public Enemy (1931)

Week 6: The Advent of Musicals in the 30s
Director: Mark Sandrich, or Victor Fleming?
Film: Top Hat (1935), or Wizard of Oz (1939)

Week 7: Film Noir
Director: Huston, Hitchcock, or Welles?
Film: The Maltese Falcon, Rebecca, or A Touch of Evil

Week 8: War/Post-war (40s-50s)
Director: Capra, Curtiz, or Ford?
Film: It's a Wonderful Life, Casablanca, or Welles' The Stranger
(If A Touch of Evil wins in Noir though, we should choose another director.)

---

B: The Big Screen (Cinemascope)

Week 9: Biblical Epics of the 50s
Director: Wyler, or DeMille?
Film: Ben-hur (1959), or The Ten Commandments (1956)

Week 10: The Family Films of the 60s
Director: Wise, or Stevenson?
Film: The Sound of Music (1965), or Mary Poppins (1964)

Week 11: The Huge 60s (sorry, can't think of a topic name.lol)
Director: Kubrick, or Lean
Film: 2001:A Space Odyssey, or Lawrence of Arabia

Week 12: New Wave from Europe (60s)
Director: Goddard, Fellini or Bergman?
Breathless or My Life to Live, 8 1/2 or La Dolce Vita,
(Not sure what movie to choose from Bergman, but if we're doing him,
maybe we should leave the trilogy for a later time.
So maybe The Seventh Seal, or Persona?)

---

Part III: NEW HOLLYWOOD

Week 13: Hollywood and The Vision of The Auteur (70s- 80s)
Director: Coppola, de Palma, or Scorsese
Film: The Godfather (1972), Blowout (1981), or Taxi Driver (1976)

Week 14: Soviet Auteur
Director: Tarkovsky
Film: The Mirror (1975) or Stalker (1979)

Week 15: The Dominance of Blockbusters (70s-80s)
Director: Spielberg
Film: E.T. (1982), or Jaws (1975)

Week 16: Fight of the Independents
Director: Scorsese, Tarantino, or Avildsen?
Raging Bull (1980), Reservoir Dogs (1992), or Rocky (1976)

Week 17: Special Effects in the 90s, or The Avant-garde Movement (Dogme95)
Director: Cameron, or Emerich? Or Vinterberg?
Film: Titanic (1997), or Independence Day (1996). Or The Celebration/Festen (1998)
(I didn't include Jurassic Park because Spielberg is already on the list.)
---

FINALE: 2000s TO THE PRESENT

Here enters our original list of current directors:
Haneke, von Trier, Gallo, Kaufman, Anderson, Aronofsky, Fincher, Burton, Nolan

So, we could either stop here and then start the 'by directors' body of work'
from the beginning, or we could continue on with the contemporary list.

End of Series 1 - Nov
----------------

Notes:

Things I've deliberately left out~

Animated films - as a big Animation fan, I just could not fit them in. Plus its development is another story,
so maybe let's do another series in the future focusing on these.

Documentaries - same reason as above

Asian directors (incl. Kurosawa) - again, there's a different cinematic development in Asia, so...

Erich von Stroheim's Greed (1924) - said to be one of the most important films,
but a copy seems to be hard to find.

C.T. Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) - just can't seem to fit it in, so maybe this
could be an optional watch in the silent era.

Boris Ingster's Stranger on the Third Floor (1940) - considered the first film noir,
but not so popular with the critics.

The adult films of the 70s - eh.. I just thought it would seem out of place when we're watching
classics, then see something like 'Deep Throat'.

The sequels of the 80s - though majority of the blockbusters in that period are the sequels by Spielberg and Lucas,
it would take a lot of time if we do them in the series.

EDIT: Choices in Italics are the additional suggestions.

 

[Tin Man]

That sounds interesting, quite a lot of films I've never seen. Could I make one slight alteration to the list. Instead of suffering through three hours of James Cameron, perhaps we could watch Independence Day or Jurassic Park (just suggestions). Or go a completely different direction than big budget special effect movies for that week.

 

[j654dgj7]

What an amazing list!! Thank you for taking the time, energy and smarts to make it! I have a few suggestions and votes. Votes first!

Part I: THE VISUAL ART OF CINEMA - THE SILENT ERA (1890s-1920s)

Week 1: The Rise of Hollywood
Director in Focus: D.W. Griffith
Film: The Birth of a Nation (1915) or Intolerance (1916)

Week 2: The Soviet Montage
Director: Sergei Eisenstein
Film: Battleship Potemkin (1925)

Week 3: German Expressionism
Director: F.W. Murnau, Robert Weine, or Fritz Lang
Film: Sunrise (1927) or Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), or Metropolis (1927)

Week 4: The Pursuit of Silence
Director: Charlie Chaplin
Film: City Lights (1931)

---

Part II: BRING IN THE TALKIES - THE SOUND ERA (from late 1920s)


A: The Golden Age of Hollywood

Week 5: The American Gangster of the 30s
Director: Howard Hawks, or William Wellman?
Film: Scarface (1932), or The Public Enemy (1931)

Week 6: The Advent of Musicals in the 30s
Director: Mark Sandrich, or Victor Fleming?
Film: Top Hat (1935), or Wizard of Oz (1939)

Week 7: Film Noir
Director: Huston, Hitchcock, or Welles?
Film: The Maltese Falcon, (?), A Touch of Evil

Week 8: War/Post-war (40s-50s)
Director: Capra, Curtiz, or Ford?
Film: It's a Wonderful Life, Casablanca, or (?)

How about The Stranger for post-war? It featured news-footage from the holocaust.

B: The Big Screen (Cinemascope)

Week 9: Biblical Epics of the 50s
Director: Wyler, or DeMille?
Film: Ben-hur (1959), or The Ten Commandments (1956)

Week 10: The Family Films of the 60s
Director: Robert Wise
Film: The Sound of Music (1965)

Mary Poppins could fit in well with New Hollywood

Week 11: The Huge 60s (sorry, can't think of a topic name.lol)
Director: Kubrick, or Lean
Film: 2001:A Space Odyssey, or Lawrence of Arabia

Space Odyssey is awesome!

Week 12: New Wave from Europe (60s)
Director: Goddard, Fellini or Bergman?
Breathless or My Life to Live, 8 1/2 or La Dolce Vita,
(Not sure what movie to choose from Bergman, but if we're doing him,
maybe we should leave the trilogy for a later time.
So maybe The Seventh Seal, or Persona?)

---

Part III: NEW HOLLYWOOD

Week 13: Hollywood and The Vision of The Auteur (70s- 80s)
Director: Coppola, or de Palma
Film: The Godfather (1972), or Blowout (1981)

Godfather is an adaptation. How about Taxi Driver?

Week 14: Soviet Auteur
Director: Tarkovsky
Film: The Mirror (1975) or Stalker (1979)

Week 15: The Dominance of Blockbusters (80s)
Director: Spielberg
Film: E.T. (1982)

Jaws could be awesome too! The original blockbuster

Week 16: Fight of the Independents
Director: Scorsese, or Tarantino
Raging Bull (1980), or Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Rocky? Perhaps?

Week 17: Special Effects in the 90s
Director: James Cameron
Film: Titanic (1997)

How about we do a Dogma95 film here, too? There was a wave of protest against big-budget movies, and some of the best movies were made then. One of my favorite movies of all time is The Celebration (Festen) by Thomas Vinterberg. It's so great.

---

FINALE: 2000s TO THE PRESENT

Here enters our original list of current directors:
Haneke, von Trier, Gallo, Kaufman, Anderson, Aronofsky, Fincher, Burton, Nolan

So, we could either stop here and then start the 'by directors' body of work'
from the beginning, or we could continue on with the contemporary list.

Great idea!!!

C.T. Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) - just can't seem to fit it in, so maybe this
could be an optional watch in the silent era.

I've heard that The Word is amazing - maybe at some point

The adult films of the 70s - eh.. I just thought it would seem out of place when we're watching
classics, then see something like 'Deep Throat'.

Russ Meyer ftw

The sequels of the 80s - though majority of the blockbusters in that period are the sequels by Spielberg and Lucas,
it would take a lot of time if we do them in the series.

Agreed - maybe Empire Strikes Back at some point, but not a priority for me

Let me know if my suggestions suck or whatever

 

[Satori]

Great suggestions [MENTION=5667]Jacobi[/MENTION] and [MENTION=5601]ezra[/MENTION] (No, they absolutely don't suck.
Let me just confirm, so you're voting that after the series,
we proceed with the contemporary list, instead of going back?)

I'll take note of everything. Let's just wait a bit for other
votes and suggestions, so we could make an edit.

Anyway, there's no pressure on the latter topics; we could always
make changes along the way. I guess the priority right now is to
at least reach a consensus on the first part so we could start.

 

[j654dgj7]

Let me just confirm, so you're voting that after the series,
we proceed with the contemporary list, instead of going back?)

I vote that we start with the chronological order that you've made and then proceed to the auteurs mentioned

Anyway, there's no pressure on the latter topics; we could always
make changes along the way. I guess the priority right now is to
at least reach a consensus on the first part so we could start. [/COLOR]

Yeah, let's get this thing rolling! :-D Griffith coming up?

 

[SarahBS]

Should we just read up/watch on our own about the early innovations
and minute-long to one-reel first films, and proceed with the
Hollywood feature-lengths? Or would you like to include this in the discussion?)
*Short films from the Edison Studios:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu2EHjNvmo-QqqN9swC8jGw

I don't particualy like doing this on own own.epecially here in this thread

I didn't include Jurassic Park because Spielberg is already on the list.)

I'm completely ok if we include it here. fab movie indeed

Animated films - as a big Animation fan, I just could not fit them in. Plus its development is another story

We really need to do sth about it. I'm also a big fan

C.T. Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

This is awesome

[MENTION=5601]ezra[/MENTION]

]Mary Poppins*could fit in well with New Hollywood
Space Odyssey is awesome!
Godfather is an adaptation. How about Taxi Driver?

I really want all of this in the list


Guys, how about adding IMDB's ALL Top 250 to the list PLEASE?
http://www.imdb.com/chart/top?ref_=nv_ch_250_4

 

[j654dgj7]

Guys, how about adding IMDB's ALL Top 250 to the list PLEASE?
http://www.imdb.com/chart/top?ref_=nv_ch_250_4

Sure, how about that after we do the auteurs of today?

 

[SarahBS]

Sure, how about that after we do the auteurs of today?

well some of them are already in the list ,we could add a clockwork orange for instance or brave heart?

 

[j654dgj7]

well some of them are already in the list ,we could add a clockwork orange for instance or brave heart?

Sure. If we could just agree on a film to watch first? [MENTION=13909]Satori[/MENTION] - The Birth of a Nation? Or what?

 

[SarahBS]

Sure. If we could just agree on a film to watch first? [MENTION=13909]Satori[/MENTION] - The Birth of a Nation? Or what?

Guess it should be sth about the start of the cinema.and plus I'm even ok if we can do it every day a movie a day

 

[Gaze]

Just to clarify, are watching a film from the early history of film or a film about the early history of film?

 

[Gaze]

For early films, Metropolis is a good one.

Rebecca (1940) - awesome!

 

[Satori]

Okay, since [MENTION=13542]SarahBS[/MENTION] is requesting for something earlier,
maybe we could include the *Week 0 topic?
(We have a week left in July after all.)

What if...let's all read up a bit on the early history of cinema,
then each of us choose about 2-3 short films,
(the minute-long ones in public domain)
and share our observations/insights about them?
[MENTION=1669]Gist[/MENTION] We're doing films from the early history of film

It would be like a warm-up week.
Then in the first week of August, we could proceed to
Griffith's Birth of a Nation (at least we all agree to this right?)
We could finalize on the following weeks as we go along.

About doing the Top 250, I agree with [MENTION=5601]ezra[/MENTION] about doing it after today's auteurs.
Though maybe we could also consider A Clockwork Orange (as per request)
the same week that we do 2001:A Space Odyssey, if everyone's schedules allow for it.

(I personally could only commit to occasionally have 2 films/week
as needed for the topic at hand. A movie a day seems overwhelming. Haha.
Don't worry Sarah, we have time. No need to rush things.;D)

So if I understand it correctly, the plan is:

Series 1 - Film History 101
Series 2 - The Contemporary Filmmakers
Series 3 - Top 250

About Animation, maybe for the 4th run?

 

[SarahBS]

[MENTION=13909]Satori[/MENTION]
I agree,completely.( guess the name of this thread need a change now )
a clockwork orange was an example I just thought we could add those movies in categories. Like when we're doing 90s, we add all those list 90s movies as well
oh and Metropolis and Rebecca are also awesome.

and I'm positive about Animations.


so


our warm-up week has started ^^ we're gonna find out how cinema was born ^^

 

[j654dgj7]

What if...let's all read up a bit on the early history of cinema,
then each of us choose about 2-3 short films,
(the minute-long ones in public domain)
and share our observations/insights about them?

The earliest days of cinema

A (very) brief introduction

The term "movie" is slang for "moving pictures", which is exactly what films are to this day. A succession of pictures, shown at a certain rate. Todays succession of pictures (frame rate) is standardized at 23.976, but at the invent of moving pictures, the succession differed from production company to production company. This progression of pictures made it seem like the action on the screen had movement in them.


Film #1: Annabelle Serpentine Dance
Director: William K.L. Dickson
Producer: William Heise
Production Company: The Edison Manufacturing Company
Year of Production: 1895
Length: 32 seconds


[video=youtube;sNXNfcEo5dQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNXNfcEo5dQ[/video]


One of the several short moving pictures produced by The Edison Manufacturing Company in the late 19th century, this one was quite revolutionary.
The color was hand-painted, frame by frame.
It was shown at exhibitions and as a demonstration of the film format.
The relatively short length of 32 seconds was amazing for the time. At about 30 frames per second, it was amazingly life-like, for a demanding moving subject like a dancer.
I like it. It's very beautiful as well as a brave project for its time.


Film #2: Le Manoir Du Diable (lit: The House of the Devil - translation: The Haunted Castle)
Director: Georges Méliès
Producer: Georges Méliès
Production Company: Star Film Company
Year of Production: 1896
Length: 3 minutes 18 seconds


[video=youtube;OPmKaz3Quzo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPmKaz3Quzo[/video]


Though technically not intended to frighten movie goers, this 60 meter film strip is considered one of the first horror films.
It deals with the devil as a supernatural figure.
Georges Méliès was one most important pioneers of cinema.
Notice the beautiful backdrop, and how it is creatively involved with the storyline.
The use of cuts to make actions seem instantaneous was also very revolutionary in the art of cinema.



Film #3: The Kiss
Director: Edwin S. Porter
Producer: ?
Production Company: The Edison Manufacturing Company
Year of Production: 1900
Length: 37 seconds


[video=youtube;gxmj-kQxALA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxmj-kQxALA[/video]


Very controversial for its time, The Kiss was an early project depicting people who loved each other.
The act of kissing and showing open affection for each other was very controversial at the tail end of the Victorian Era.
I love how there's an apparent affection between the two actors, and a seeming puzzlement in the faces of the actors. What exactly are they doing, and how will it look?



While these films might look elementary and amateurish today, they were inventive in the technical aspects of developing series of pictures that imitated movement properly. There were films before that looked equally good, but I like the above films for incorporating plots and developments during the time limits of the earliest period of film.

 

[j654dgj7]

I don't mean to rush you guys, I just know that I'll be very busy this upcoming week Take your time, we have this whole week.

 

[SarahBS]

SPAM:
I really wanna post the things I've learnt so far on that book I've bought but I have to go to work
Wait for me ...tonight....tonight ....

 

[Satori]

Before I do my own reviews, I just want to add a few thoughts regarding the three featured films above.
I agree that these films seem very innovative during those times, esp. considering the limits they had to work with back then.
Each is impressive in its own way, and generous in providing a stepping stone for the future filmmakers.

Now we look at these old films, knowing how in their very essence these are 'movies' or moving pictures.
Just like photos that do not always express structured stories, but can be thematic, vaguely suggestive of some idea, or experimental with style.

These three examples do not even have some of the technical elements that we look for in today's films.
No screenplay (or dialogues,duh). Not much cinematography (no angles or lens, and cutting was the only obvious camera work).
The two are mostly just thematic, instead of telling an actual story. Yet we take them for what they are.
And know they're all brilliant for what they have to show.

While in contrast, movies of today would get so much flak for so many different reasons.
Sometimes for not having a clear plot or structure. Sometimes for being too stylistic, but insubstantial.
Sometimes for being too shallow, though innovative. Sometimes for being too formulaic, while capturing the hearts of audiences.

So it just makes me wonder how movies got defined to be something in particular.
When did it become a learned craft, with its own language and structure, rather than a free artistic expression?
Who were the authorities that set 'rules' for it, thus making criticism today legitimate and necessary?

When, how, and why did 'movies' become more than just 'pictures that are moving'?

Well, I guess these are just some of the things we are supposed to discover for ourselves as we move along.



(Now...what mini-films to choose...)