Final reading

1. What has been the ongoing relationship between so-called mumblecore filmmakers and the South By Southwest (SXSW) Festival in Austin, TX. Hint: Here are two shorts that appeared before 2007 features at SXSW:

FRIENDS! they're all good friends who's films are very connected because of content, style, cast and crew. it seems like they were all in Austin for SXSW and a couple of them had features screening so they filmed all these little bumpers to play before films. Looks like fun. looks like a cool group of friends.

2. Broadly speaking, what characteristics define mumblecore?

no jerks. 20somethings, plots about communication, love interests, technology filled, everyday events as plot, long takes, handheld, improvised acting.

3. What have been the most common charges against mumblecore?
Trite subject for plot. Too real characters. too personal.


4. How has the internet affected the DIY distribution of mumblecore films?

It has been very beneficial for them. it has created a way for a specific audience to find the films, a way for them to advertise through podcasts and other forms, and a way to order a DVD. Myspace is noted as being a key element in the distribution process of these films. I remember when 4-eyedmonsters was in production and going to their myspace to watch video podcasts.

6. IFC Films picked up Hannah Takes the Stairs for “day-and-date” distribution. What does this mean? It opens the IFC Center's series today and then can be downloaded from IFC.

Week Fifteen

1. Despite its use of improvisation, how is Gummo different from “execution dependent” screenplays such as Stranger than Paradise?

Korine's descriptions of the characters, choice of dialogue and action make the screenplay a cohesive and authentic piece. He expresses his knowledge about teens through the dialogue and in the screen play he had very specific images of the characters written out in words.

2. According to Murphy, what function does the “nonsense” included in the dialogue serve in the film as a whole?


Murphy says that the "nonsense" is what makes Korine's screenplay so poetic and mysterious.

3. What specific connections does Murphy make between Gummo and New American Cinema (including Beat films)? How did Korine respond to associations made between his work and underground film?

Murphy assumes influence of the improvesational aspects in Gummo to John Casavetes films. he connects the lack of plot to avant guarde films by Maya Deren (Meshes of the afternoon) and Christopher Mclaine (the End) and Jonas Mekas.
Korins stated that he is all commercial film maker and doesnt want to be associated with other cinema. he denay that underground cinema exists.


4. Besides as a filmmaker, how has Korine participated in alternative urban youth culture?

He wrote the screenplay for Larry Clark's Kids and is considered an expert in the youth culture.

5. If Gummo uses “collage techniques” instead of a traditional plot, what techniques are used on the image and soundtrack to make connections and associations across the course of the film? How are these techniques similar or different than the “narrational tactics” described by Bordwell? (Look at your Week Nine response, TWHTI, “Tightening the Plot,” starting on p. 43.)

The connections and associations that can be made from the Gummo soundtrack are loose. and becasue the film doesnt really have a plot and each scene is somwhat self contained, they allusionment in the soundtrack doesnt nessecary move the narritive forward but act as filler.

Week Fourteen

1. What does Flo Liebowitz mean by “dialogue as behavior”?
Much of the dialogue in Stranger than Paradise is there because that is how the character is, doesnt have the underlying intention of moving the plot forward like it does in most hollywood films.

2. What are some of the connections between Stranger than Paradise with the New American Cinema, including Shadows?

The stylistic qualities of Stranger than Paradise are very similar to those of shadows as well as the subject matter of family relations intertwined with friend relations. Both films have several main characters that the story switches between.


3. In what specific ways does Jarmusch’s script deviate from standard scriptwriting structure and format?
Jarmusch's script is like a bunch of self containned mini-scripts where thereisnt much dialogue writen. instead he notes in detail the action taking place, or the story thats happening. Stranger than paradise plot structure also doesnt fit the four part model.

4. What is an "execution dependent" screenplay?
A screen play that NEEDS to be acted out. due to stylistic qualities un able to be clearified through the screenplay text.


5. What are the similarities and differences between Stranger than Paradise and punk films?

similarities: Willie's cynical and aggresive attitude and the film has the punk attitude

But its not obsessed with the iconography of violence. Jarmusch didnt want this film to be a fashion trendy film so he downplayed the punk elements.

Week Thirteen

4. According to Ed Guerrero, what were the three phases of the black image in Hollywood films?
pre-blaxploitation, submissive portrayal of blacks.
blaxploitation era - black films that challenged the mainstream ideology reguarding the black image.
Current New Black Cinema - where black independents and blaxploiation merged.


5. Why did the filmmakers of the "LA Rebellion / Los Angeles School" (including Charles Burnett) reject traditional Hollywood production values?

they rejected the traditional hollywood projection values because although they mastered the technique, they chose not to utilize it because they were being ignored so the Los Angeles School "politicized the question of technical compitence"

6. What are the two distinct notions of "guerrilla cinema" exemplified by Spike Lee and Bill Gunn?

Bill Gunn worked in Hollywood to earn money to finance films that were against hollywood. He wanted to challege the asthetic principles of the studios from the inside of the system.
Spike Lee made independent films in order to acheive a hollywood recognized career so that he could penatrate hollywood.

7. What are the two divergent readings of Spike Lee's films by Amiri Baraka and Houston Baker?

Baraka groups Lee in with other young film makers who seek economic struggle over political struggle and he states that Lee is just caricaturizing the black revolutionary politics in his films.
Baker says that Lee's focus on economics is not in purposeful disreguard for politics, but just Lee's political Ideology. Baker also notes that Lee shows his devotion to politics through interest in New York City's politics.
However, both Baraka and Baker think that Lee doesnt treat women characters in his film with much respect.

NonIndustry Report Annotated Bibliography

YOUTUBE SOURCE
David Gordon Green Speaks at No-Budget Film School about the budgeting and inspiration for Geroge Washington.





JOURNAL SOURCE
Lucia, Cynthia. "A TOUCH OF THE NEOREALIST" Cineaste, v. 26 no4 (Fall 2001) p. 13-17.
http://0-search.ebscohost.com.uncclc.coast.uncwil.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ach&AN=BART01036735&site=ehost-live

This interview with David Gordon Green about Geroge Washington reveals some of his methods for directing acting in the film, as well as budgeting solutions.

JOURNAL SOURCE
Daryl Chin and Larry Qualls. "Open Circuts, Closed Markets: Festivals and Expositions of Film and Video." PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, Vol. 23, No. 1 (Jan., 2001), pp. 33-47
http://0-www.jstor.org.uncclc.coast.uncwil.edu/stable/3246488

This article reiterates the difficulties independent films are faced with as far as distribution, and explores the film festivals and the temperal accptance process of Geroge Washington.

ARTICLE SOURCE
David Thomson. "Film & Music: David Thomson's Biographical Dictionary of Film #47: David Gordon Green made stylish, searching films in defiance of Hollywood methods. Then he teamed up with Seth Rogen - and had a hit" GUARDIAN FILM AND MUSIC PAGES; Pg. 14
http://0-www.lexisnexis.com.uncclc.coast.uncwil.edu/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T4971692135&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T4971692142&cisb=22_T4971692141&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=138620&docNo=2

This article reflects on the phenomenal, and unprecedented success of George Washington and how the young director moved into larger projects, and different ones at that.

QUESTION:

What techniques were used to enable this film to be made on such a small budget, and be able to be exhibited on such a large scale.

Week ELEVEN

The first and second waves of mergers

the mergers in the 1960's when studios were bought by bigger corporations that had their hands in other, way other, things than film, or film related things. As the article gives an example; Gulf and Western bought Paramount Pictures, but also had investments in a variety of other things.
the first wave of mergers happened by the studios testing the limits of the law, and purchasing and controlling aspects of the films exhibition and distribution. Something that had been outlawed during the Hollywood studio era. The article calls it a vertical integration; like Columbia, buying theaters and making profits off of their films showing.

the second wave involved the companies expanding their involvement,investment,ownership into the TV side of things. purchasing channels, and Pay TV stations.

International Partnerships

for the opening of the European Union to foreign trade of movies and television programs, thehollywood studios began investing in, and forming partnerships with European companies. Time Warner for example invested in things from satellite broadcasting in Scandinavia to Pay-TV in Germany and Hungary.

DOmestic Partnerships.

This consited of the major companies interacting with the smaller companies and investing in them, risking money but also acting as a saftey net for the bigger budget films.


How were production companies such as Carolco, Castle Rock, Morgan’s Creek, and Imagine Entertainment in the 1990s different from the failed “mini-majors” such as Orion, DeLaurentis, and Cannon in the 1980s?

THe main difference was that the minors of the 1990s were involved with the majors.

the article states 5 reasons the minors of the 1990s didnt fail like the 1980s minors.
1- less staff. not a big company, so dont act like one
2 - mainly concentrated on film entertainment
3 - less productions per year
4 - use major's distributors and only domestic
5 - didnt depend on home video deals.

WEEK TEN

too much to handle.

the reading is located not in my reach or sight, the full post will not be possible tonight.

Week Nine

How do films with multiple protagonists work within the model?

they mostly follow the same 4 part structure. some films the protagonists have the exact same goals and turning points, others are bent a little to fit, and some end up dominating.

List and briefly describe the narrational tactics discussed in the section “Tightening the Plot” (starting on p. 43).

Ticking Clock - appointments, deadlines and things to rush. Motifs - creating theme.



What does Bordwell mean by his claim that Hollywood narratives have “passages of overtness balanced with less self-conscious ones”

about the ways in which hollywood films work, and how the scenes are linked together. The plot elements that make up films.

Week Six make-up

Which of Altman’s stylistic techniques does Sawhill associate with "inclusiveness"?

Sawhill says that Altman's audio recording techniques and cinematography techniques were "inclussive" capturing sounds that we usually wouldnt hear, and shooting with multiple cameras to get a lot of coverage and more natural acting.

What does Sawhill mean when he suggests that Altman “was making nonlinear multimedia before the form existed,” and that Nashville “doesn't suffer from the fragmenting effects of stop-and-start, at-home viewing”?

he says that Nashville is just a compiation of a bunch of little scenes taking place in Nashville. and that the non-linear story structure is ok for stopping and starting. because you can understand/appreciate each small segment on its own in some way.


Sawhill was an NYU film student in 1975, thus a product of the film culture that emerged in the late 1960s / early 1970s. Respond to his opinion of post-1975 American film culture (part 3, "A Cinema of Information.") Do you agree or disagree with his assumptions, observations, and conclusions?

It seems like he thinks that the times after Jaws was when the hollywood films lost the Art and became focused on, he says, "Despite the occasional good movie, the news since has all been about technology, effects, gender, race and business. "

Questions on theses on the philosophy of Hollywood history

They quote Matthew Bernstein talking about independent production units during the Classical Hollywood period that give rise to the thought that the unanimous shift to postfordism occurred when there were already and all along non-fordist films being made.

What films is this talking about?
Can the shift be clear when and where it started? because it seems like so many lines are blurred and crossed by earlier films acheiveing things that the latter films were called "new" for, and latter films doing what older films were classified as older for.


they note that the classical period not only refers to aesthetic qualities but the Historic role of Hollywood as a template for worldwide filmmaking.

Shouldnt we take into account the impact of hollywood on other countries? Maybe not too much for this class, but it is maybe still a bit relative to see how influencial a film like jaws was on other countrie's films?



Question for the Timeline drawn in Class.

Do Bordwell and Thompson (if thats what that last timeline was refering to) say that there has been no post-modernist films. well, they dont call it modernist films, its just Calssical style with innovations. But do they not think that films have changed since 1960 in a more drastic way? what do they say for the whole Film, video-game, books, and other merchandising strategery that is used for films now days?

Weak seven

Kramer explains how different critics and historians have used the term “New Hollywood” to describe both the 1967-1975 period and the 1975-present period. Setting the terminology aside, explain what he means by the contrast between “artistically and politically progressive liberal cycles” of the earlier period and the “regressiveness of the blockbusters” of the later period. What are the assumptions behind the terms progressive and regressive? Do you agree with these assumptions?

He says that the “artistically and politically progressive liberal cycles” happened during the earlier years when film makers where breaking the molds of old Hollywood and experimenting with techniques and styles. A time when the big studio conglomerates didnt have full day in majar artistic features of the film. Progressive - because they were moving forward, away from classical hollywood and studio domination.
The "regressive" stage came later with films like star wars that used huge budgets, and lots of special effects. Regressive - because it regressed back into the big blockbuster, studio controlled type films of the classical period.



Why is “allusionism” significant for both modernism and post-modernism? If modernist filmmakers alluded to film history, what do post-modernist filmmakers allude to?
Allusions are like using shorthand, a shorter way of conveying lots of information. By using an allusion youre triggering the audience's memories and emotions of whatever the allusion is based on. It is useful in modernism and post-modernism, because they hold so much information. modernist might use the allusion of a hot rod to bring up emotion in the audience from their encounters with previous films with hot rods. then the post-modernist may include a hot-rod in the film to bring up the modernist feelings, but then alter them.


Name three ways in which the publishers of the book and the producers of the film worked together to promote Jaws. How did they know that their logo for Jaws was successful? [Include names/companies in your answer.]

Batnam and the producers, Zanuck, went on book tours to promote the paperback book. They had media coverage of the movie production interviews with stars, director. They arranged had the paperback book serve as a tester for the graphic. they knew it was a hit when the preview was a hit and the name "jaws" was never published on the sign... just the graphic.

Plot Segmentation

Plot Segmentation The best method for understanding a film’s narrative
system is to create a plot segmentation, a scene-by-scene outline of the
entire film. Each scene should be described briefly in a separate line, and
the entire segmentation should not exceed more than a page or two. One of the
first things a plot segmentation shows is the function and boundaries of
the scene. Aristotle held that a scene consists of a unified time, space, and
action. When a film significantly shifts in time, space, or action, we recognize
that a new scene has begun. The plot segmentation helps reveal a film’s overall
structure (e.g., three or four acts, perhaps following a thematic pattern)
and its smallest details (e.g., a motif of transitions between scenes).
Here’s an excerpt from a plot segmentation of John Ford’s Stagecoach
(1939):

{Title, cast names, and principal production credits}
I. MORNING OF THE FIRST DAY IN TONTO IN THE 1870S
A. The U.S. Calvary office receives telegraph warning that Apache
warriors, under the command of Geronimo, are cutting telegraph
wires, a sign that they’re preparing to attack the white settlers.
B. Six passengers, the driver, and the sheriff board the stagecoach,
which is accompanied by a cavalry escort.
II. FIRST STAGE OF THE JOURNEY TO LORDSBURG
A. Conversations establish the passengers’ basic antipathy toward one
another.
B. A rifle shot announces the appearance of the Ringo Kid; he surrenders
his rifle, and the sheriff arrests him as an escaped convict.
C. Ringo enters the coach.
D. The journey resumes without interruption.
The usefulness of this plot segmentation is twofold: First, it helps you to see
the film’s structure, reminding you of the scene sequence so that you don’t
need to keep viewing the film to determine the order of events. Second, laying
the plot out in this way might help you see patterns in the film that could
be useful to your paper.

Week 5

How were young filmmakers in the late 1960s and early 1970s different from previous generations of filmmakers in terms of the following: how they broke into commercial film making, how their films were financed, and who was in charge of the studios?


Because of the success of Bonnie and clyde and the Graduate, which were directed by young directors, studios began seeking younger directors, producers and other talent to appeal to a younger generation. Most studios were had been bought by conglomerates and would only put out little money for these films.


Give two specific examples of how Part II disappoints the viewer (according to Berliner) and how these disappointments “work” for the film.

the "inevitable disappointment with movie sequels" that the audience has prior to and while viewing the film is due to the nastolgia for the old plot and if that thought is upset the film succeeds.

The films length and confusion led people to link it with the first and say that it was just a continuation of the first film.

Week Four

What does Kramer argue was characteristic of the bulk of Hollywood-centred film criticism in the 1960s?

The criticism was against the directors who had started thier careers in the studio era and were stuck in styles and techniques and had still been getting a significant amount of attention. more than new directors who had more to offer.



What was Kael’s critique of art cinema and the New American Cinema, and why was Bonnie and Clyde “the most excitingly American American movie” at the time?

the film was a "cultural event" that not only the minority could identify with bu t the american apopulation. much more than films had been doing recently. in the past they had but it had gone extinct. The movie was then viewed as the strugle between young and old, hip and square, new genereation and older genertaion. Midus.


Krael, Sheed and Wolf against Crowther and Cook. Crowther and Cook were the old timers who didnt find the violence nice.

What is meant by “modernist” in the passage: “Critics engaged with a self-declared ‘New American Cinema’ exemplified by the work of writers and directors such as Jonas Mekas, Kenneth Anger, and John Cassavetes, certain aspects of which constituted, according to David Bordwell, a conscious ‘modernist’ break with Hollywood classicism”? [The answer is not in the passage; I’m asking you to look up “modernism” and “modernist” if you are not familiar with the term as you should be doing for any unfamiliar terms.]

When the artists in film caught up with the artists in other mediums.

WEEK 3

Why was the Charles Theater important for the development of “underground film” in New York City?

What a community theater. Having local films play, hanging local art in the lobby along with local musicians performing, the Charles seemed the place to be to not only see a couple underground or experimental films but also to be part of the scene. The Charles not only gave the underground films hype, but also showed the audience that they too could make films that would play in theaters.

Which underground films encountered legal problems in 1964, and why?


Scorpio Rising for nudity
The Connection for language
Flaming Creatures


How does Mussman compare and contrast Warhol’s work in The Chelsea Girls with the work of the following directors?

Chelsea Girls is compared to the "explosiveness" Bunuel's film because of the content of Warhol's film

He compares the audience that Warhol is making films for and the audience that Hitchcock makes films for; saying that Hitchcock is manipulating his audience to a calculated end that he has in store for them. Warhol's films are open-ended and the audience is able to form responses more freely.

Week ONE

For Andre Bazin, why did the "classical" period in Hollywood end in 1939?

He noticed a big differences between western films made in 1939 and 1940. the films where "impure"...not using all the classical guidelines and formats, but mixing them with other techniques and styles.


What was Gilbert Seldes's main critique of Hollywood in his book, "The Great Audience"?

The audience. and how hollywood was making films for a minority maturity level. between 10 and 19. he wanted hollywood to make more mature films.


Why was Richard Dyer McCann optimistic about the future of the American cinema in 1962?

He was excited about the future of hollywood because it was breaking free of the "tyranny" of the studio censorship and cookie-cutter films

911

American Cinema
Fall Schedule
Daphne Berries are inedible