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Critical research paper german expressionism
German Expressionism roots
Essay of German expressionism
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Double Indemnity: Film Response Billy Wilder’s film Double Indemnity uses a considerable amount of German Expressionism techniques. A crystal clear example of this is at the end of the film when Walter goes to meet Phyllis at her house, when he opens the door a long and sharp shadow appears across the wall. This is a technique used in one of the most famous german expressionism films Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. In order to get this effect, Wilder is using low-key lighting so the shadow is obvious to the audience. In this film, long and sharp shadows as well as inky blackness often appear on the screen, this is a major characteristic of german expressionist films. The mise en scene reinforces the darkness in the style and tone. These films emphasize
Double Indemnity is a film noir directed by Billy Wilder and was released in 1944. The film follows Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), an insurance salesman, and Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck), a housewife who is unhappy with her marriage, as they carry out a plan to kill Phyllis’ husband, set it up as an accident, and collect $100,000 worth of insurance money to keep for themselves. While many viewers would say the primary relationship in the film is between Walter and Phyllis, there is a unique, less-obvious relationship between Walter and his boss, Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson). Throughout the film they have peculiar conversations, light one another’s cigarettes, and share a heartfelt breakup at the end of the film. The relationship
The movie “A Civil Action” released on January 8, 1999 provides viewers with an extraordinary story of the nightmare that occurred in Woburn Massachusetts in the late 1970’s. The people of this small town at the time had no idea what was going on until there were various cases of Leukemia in small children that ultimately resulted in the early passing of them. The people eventually had gone to find out that the drinking water in this small town was contaminated and there were many women that stepped in to get answers. This movie is a tremendously jaw dropping, eye opening account of a heartbreaking true story incident. There are various elements of negligence in this movie including, duty, legal cause, proximate cause and damages.
The mise en scenes in this film are unique because it gave viewers the ability to have a sense of how the characters are feeling. For example, low lighting was used throughout the film to express a sense of the unknown and/or fear. Another great example of how mise en scene was used is how human shadows for night shooting were used to increase the feeling of mystery and a threating atmosphere (Awjingyi). And one of the most important examples of mise en scene used in this film is in the last scene where mirrors were used (aka the “funhouse”) to
First and foremost, film noir refers to the visual style of a picture. The imagery of film noir was influenced by early 20th century German expressionism, featuring distorted, sinister shapes and shadows. These precursors to film noir used abstract figures and looming shadows for bizarre, emotionally stirring results. Techniques such as chiaroscuro were used to give a dark and minimalistic feeling. In many cases lighting is limited to a single harsh light source, which obscures the image, and even throws shadows across actors’ faces. These elements ensure that an audience regards the actors and the setting with equal importance. Oblique angled shots permeate many film noirs, naturally provoking anxiousness and apprehension in the viewer. In Sun...
Roman Polanski's 1974 film, 'Chinatown', revolutionized the film noir genre. Aside from the absense of voice-over, the film shares all the same characteristics with earlier noirs. That is, of course, except for the fact that ?Chinatown? is filmed in color. Because of this, it is more difficult upon the first viewing to immediately classify the movie to this genre. In movies such as ?Double Indemnity? even scenes that take place during the daytime are dark, and since it is a black and white film, this is easy to do. However, in a film with color it is much harder to create this dark effect, especially in scenes that are filmed outdoors. Polanski makes references to symbols that remind the audience that although ?Chinatown? is in color, it still belongs in the genre. For example, one of the first lines in the movie is, ?I just had [the venetian blinds] installed on Wednesday.? Venetian blinds are often seen in the genre, and the reference immediately makes the connection between this...
Proximate Cause: The shoulder and rotator cuff injuries were within the scope of the risks that made us determine that the dropping of Vicky’s body was a breach. Because Dwayne dropped Vicky, Dwayne’s dropping of Vicky’s body proximately caused the injuries sustained. Felix’s carrying of the body was a cause in fact but not the proximate cause of the injuries Vicky
Mise-en-scène, what the audience sees in a film, is crucial to the movie’s development. Lighting and props are two of the many important aspects of this category. The previously mentioned scene has the goal of representing Kane’s early ideology of what the New York Daily Inquirer will become and provide for its readers. While writing the document, Welles constantly uses lighting to illuminate it for the audience, naturally drawing eyes to the paper even before it is introduced in the film. The lighting of the scene helps viewers identify the document’s value, especially in comparison to Kane as he tends to be less lit then the paper for the majority of scene. The other three cast members, Leland, Bernstein and briefly Sully, continue to be lit but almost never to the magnitude of the paper itself. The first cut of the scene shows Kane writing the document from outside; where a burning gas lamp is the key lighting, allowing the audience to easily notice both the flame and the paper. In the following cut, Kane continually looks at the paper and the gas flame as to signify their imp...
Alfred Hitchcock’s film Shadow of a Doubt is a true masterpiece. Hitchcock brings the perfect mix of horror, suspense, and drama to a small American town. One of the scenes that exemplifies his masterful style takes place in a bar between the two main characters, Charlie Newton and her uncle Charlie. Hitchcock was quoted as saying that Shadow of a Doubt, “brought murder and violence back in the home, where it rightly belongs.” This quote, although humorous, reaffirms the main theme of the film: we find evil in the places we least expect it. Through careful analysis of the bar scene, we see how Hitchcock underlies and reinforces this theme through the setting, camera angles, and lighting.
Double Indemnity (dir. Billy Wilder 1944) is a film about an insurance sales man Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) that falls for a highly sexual, scandalous woman, Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) who attempts to kill her husband. Even though Walter dismisses Phyllis attempt to purchase life insurance policy for her husband; he is unable to stay away from Phyllis for long. In the time they spend together, Walter and Phyllis try to hatch a fool-proof plan to get rid of her husband and get a double indemnity from the insurance company. Walter Neff boss Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson) is a man of skill and knowledge, and has been working in the same job for twenty-six years, and has always been able to tell who is a cheater and who is an honest man. Barton ability to tell who is being honest by consulted the ‘little man’, and does so throughout the film. Walter later finds out that Phyllis has been involved in another ‘accident’ prior to her involvement with her husband Mr. Dietrichson (Tom Powers).When both Walter and Phyllis are about to be found out by Barton, Phyllis attempts to kill Walter and escape with the cash. The scene in which both Barton and Walter are together in the office and are later in the hallway in which the male characters Walter and Barton both find themselves together on the ground highlights and suggest gender noir in the film. The film Double Indemnity uses the stylistic qualities of film noir to illustrate the homo-erotic relationship between Barton and Walter with the use of lights, shadows, and oneiric qualities which also suggest and emphasize the importance power of gender in noir.
Statement of intent: This formal report was written with the intent of discussing the mise-en-scene element of film which is used in two of Wes Anderson’s most popular films. Both films The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and Moonrise Kingdom (2012) showcase the limited colour palette and costume aspects of mise-en-scene.
The first movie I would like to concentrate on is the film that is considered to have started the development of the genre – M by Fritz Lang (1931). Born in Germany and originally starting his career there, Fritz Lang shot this film in Germany as well, before moving to the U.S. later in life. This film was also later translated in the United States in 1933 (Garncarz 219-25). Although, earlier in the 20th century Hollywood had already produced a number of films that had similar features to “film noir” (among them are Nosferatu (1922) and Sunrise (1927)), but which still were shot more in the stylistic traditions of horror (Wexman 49). This film (M (1931)) was also the first one to start a whole line of black and white movies with similar characteristics and techniques used in them. Although color movies have already taken their established place in the film industry, the decision to shoot films in black and white was a creative technique that provided films with a certain atmosphere and allowed using more denominated shadows and light accents. Everything in this film, from complex, maze-like narrative which includes crime, police and court and leitmotif as a background music to the shadows on the columns and in the windows and simple shots that presuppose something horrifying. Lang also explores an unsavory subject in his work which is now considered one of the features of “film noir” (Brégent‐Heald 125-38). M’s plot and narrative shifts from protagonist’s to antagonist’s point of view (the viewpoint of Hans and the cops trying to catch him), blurring the boundary between
Women in Film as Portrayed in the Movie, Double Indemnity. Introduction American commercial cinema currently fuels many aspects of society. In the twenty-first century, it has become available, active force in the perception of gender relations in the United States. In the earlier part of this century filmmakers, as well as the public, did not necessarily view the female “media image” as an infrastructure of sex inequality.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a very popular American novel and was portrayed in a 1974 film directed by Jack Clayton. Just as one would read a novel, one must also read into the mise-en-scene of a film. The scene in the film where Jay Gatsby finally meets up with Daisy Buchanan has exceptional use of this cinematic element. The textbook Looking at Movies: An Introduction to Film defines mise-en-scene as, “Staging; the overall look and feel of a movie-the sum of everything the audience sees, hears, and experiences while viewing it” (Barsam and Monahan 500). Mise-en-scene as a whole effects a film greatly, but the setting, costumes, and lighting really bring a film to life.
In our society, individuals might insist their own point of view and refuse to consider others’ opposite ideas, however, in an existing film, revolutionary and conservative standpoints can be accepted at the same time to make the film “neutral”. Through considering the collisions of opposite standpoints which occur in the noir movie named “Double Indemnity” which directed by Billy Wilder and had earned the label of “unfilmmable” in Hollywood because of the story between Walter Neff played by Fred MacMurray and Phyllis Dietrichson played by Barbara Stanwyck in 1943(Biltereyst 148) , this essay will illuminate the characteristics of traditional female image and another kind of female role named “femme fatales” which is opposite to the traditional
Fritz Lang’s M is very much a product of its time, receiving huge influences from German Expressionism during the 1930s. After World War I, this form of presenting film became very prominent in Germany reflecting the cynicism and disillusionment that encapsulated the country. As a result of Lang’s expressionist approach to the film along with his own unique take on the genre, M is also a very early example of film noir.