World war one, Germany was defeated and the new government was known unofficially as the Weimar Republic. Wanting to fix their image, the government gave money to Universum-Film AG which enabled them to compete with other countries in the film industry. This started Germanys "golden age of cinema" from 1919 til 1933 when Adolph Hitler took power. 1919-1931 was the era of the German Expressionist film.
Context
Expressionism was the broad term for an art movement in the early 20th century. The opposite of Impressionism(surface reality), Expressionism is about human perception and emotion. German films used stylised set design and shadowy lighting.
Style
Expressionism in film used artificial set design elaborate costumes and unnatural makeup to create stylised worlds. They feature bold contrasts of bright highlights and dark shadows. Key characteristics are distorted settings, unnatural compositions, nonparallel lines, a moving camera and highly stylised acting. The protagonists often experience extreme psychological states. Key themes: madness, criminality and the fracturing of identity.
The most famous expressionist film is Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr Caligari(1920). Used lots of weird angles, no natural light although painted to look like light beams, with shadows. (how weird, why not just use real light?) The expressionist look is popular with Hollywoods dramas horrors and film noir. The first vampire movie was Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror(1922) the original dracula story. Metropolis by Fritz Lang is one of the most influential sci-fi movies of all time. It employed vast sets, thousands of extras and special effects to create its two worlds. It almost bankrupt the UFA company. Influenced Ridley Scott's Blade Runner(1982) and Tim Burton's Batman(1989). Tim Burton is so quirky! I love Nightmare Before Christmas, the claymation, weird twisted world and twisted take on christmas appeal to my inner weirdo.
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari
Interesting mix of drawn art images, and live action - no dialogue apart from written messages on screen and an eerie backing track. Rolling kettle drum and heavy bass provides a constant drone to the background, while a mixture of electric guitar and piano create the drama. This style of movie definitely makes it feel like it is dragging on longer than it really is. There is a lot of unnatural walls, and angles used by the director, and a lot of black everywhere. The old guy(Dr Caligari) reminds me of Danny Devitos Penguin in Batman Returns.
No comments:
Post a Comment