Film Midterm Part II: Belasco, Melies, Porter, Alice Guy
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- Why did people have an issue with the film 'The Great Train Robbery'?
- it told people exactly how to rob a train, and people worried that there would be many train robberies resulting from the film. it was considered very violent.
- Alice Guy-Blache started out how?
- 1897-1906 she started as a secretary at Gaumont Studio, began to write scripts, was so successful that she was put in charge of all film production (studio head).
- What are a few special tricks Melies used in the film 'A Trip to the Moon'?
- used stop motion to turn an umbrella into a mushroom, moved the moon closer to the camera to create the illusion of camera movement.
- What marked the end of Georges Melies work?
- he went bankrupt
- ***Alice Guy-Blache
- world's first female director.
- What type of film was 'Making of An American Citizen'?
- a melodrama
- ****Characteristics of early 1900's melodrama
- 'women's weepies'-sad stories about women who suffered, audience was expected to cry hysterically, women were primary audience.
- ****What is dye-bath?
- entire frame dipped in dye to color.
- What did Alice Guy-Blache express her characters and reinforce her themes??
- setting, costume, lighting, props, make-up, acting style -all elements of 'mise en scene'.
- Who was the first person to discover how to filter light for films?
- Georges Melies
- ****Edwin Porter-director of 'The Great Train Robbery' in 1903.
- Former Edison camera man. REMEMBER THAT TRAIN ROBBERY CAME ***AFTER*** A TRIP TO THE MOON.
- ****What is hand tining?
- adding color to film by laying out the filmstock and coloring by hand.
- ****Characteristics of 'The Great Train Robbery'
- real locations for sets, **first film involving movement between sets and on location. handtinted (NOT DYEBATHED), child used in film, rear-projection, **first use of camera movement (pan left, tilt down), male/female actors, realistic acting, ** first editing within the scene itself.
- What type of genre was the movie 'The Great Train RObbery' part of?
- a melodrama
- Where did Melies do his filming?
- on a rooftop studio built in 1897.
- ****What are short historical stories?
- reenactments of famous historical events-short, with no developed story
- ****How do the elements of mise en place work in the film 'Making An American Citizen'?
- intertitles (cards that explained plot, developed more storyline), costume (initially made to look like immigrants. costumes changed once they became'Americanized'), 2 protagonists (male & female), setting (statue of liberty in frame background between immigrants), use of roles, wardrobe (depicts social class. judge wears white depicting good), acting style, props
- What was the target audience of 'Making An American Citizen'?
- .americans, because of the higher moral ground she paints for American's to stand on
- ****What is 'mise en scene'?
- a french word referring to everything that's put in front of a camera to be filmed. Elements of mise en place can be used to express things about the actors,like mindset.
- Date that David Belasco was a big deal?
- 1903-1917
- Why did Georges Melies go bankrupt?
- he couldn't compete with developing studio aspects in the U.S. (multiple editors, set directors), sets were too expensive, What did Georgies do after he went bankrupt and what happened to his films?*Melies went back to magic tricks. Most of his films were destroyed during WWI to for celluloid to make boots. 140/500 remain.
- What was done to mitigate or reveal stealing of film clips?
- logos were used throughout the films. Melies logo was a star.
- Popular film genres in the early 1900's?
- melodrama and comedy
- Why was dissapearance and conversion easy to do with film?
- stripping and starting
- David Belasco
- one of the most important figures in theater. American playwright, director, producer. Known for excessive emotion.
- Characteristics of Melies rooftop studio
- made entirely of glass, filtered light with sheets.
- ****How was rear-projection used in 'The Great Train Robbery'?
- when the train is shown through the window in an office, and when scenery passes by viewed from within the train, it is actually footage of the train and scenery projected onto a back wall of the set while filming live footage.
- ****What movie is Georges Melies's best known work?
- A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage Dans La Lune)
- What is a narrative film?
- narrative film is a label given to film that tries to tell a fictional story
- ****What are one joke films?
- very short and to the point single jokes ie. the sprinkler sprinkled
- ****Technological significance of movie 'A Trip to the Moon'
- multiple scenes (fading between/editing to connect scenes), special effects, elaborate sets, longer film, cross dissolve (editing 2 scenes to dissolve into one another), elaborate costumes, huge cast, 3 dimensionality, no camera movement, stop motion, suspenseful, star logo, great lighting, hand cranked camera
- ****What kind of camera movement is used in 'The Great Train Robbery'?
- pan-left (camera pivoted side to side on a tripod), and tilt-down (camera tilted up and down)
- ****What were the types of popular film genres in the late 1800's?
- spectacles, one joke films, and short historical stories.
- What magic tricks did Melies use that earned him the name 'the french magician'?
- dissapearance (women in a box) and conversion (cloth into a dove)
- What was the name of Georges Melies's film company?
- Star Film Company
- What was a big problem for the Star Film Company?
- there were no copyrights yet, so there was a lot of stealing going on
- Characteristics of early 1900's comedies?
- all about excessive laughter
- What was Georges Melies known for in his films?
- fantasy/special effects.
- ****Georges Melies
- director known for the narrative film, was a 'french magician' before he made films.
- ****what were spectacle type films?
- not everyday life:mountains, oceans. Edison made 'Electrocuting an Elephant'.
- Solax
- Alice Guy-Blache's studio in Fort Lee, NJ. She moved to America in 1907 and founded it with a $100,000 investment.
- What were the sound characteristics of films in the early 1900's?
- they were silent films, but they were always accompanied by music in the theatre ie. record players, pianio, and nicer theatres had full orchestras.
- ****Making an American Citizen
- film directed/produced by Alice Guy-Blache in 1912
- ****Important things to remember about Georges Melies
- father of special effects films, creator of 1st science fiction film, inventor of many innovations in film making, and A Trip to the Moon was the 1st film that attempted to use a complex narrative.
- Where was considered the 'hollywood' of the time in 1907?
- Ft. Lee, NJ