Bold compositional shots using deeps space and tracking cameras
Denounced the grandeur and egomania of cinema and made a raw film
Influenced by Italian renaissance paintings, Shakespeare, times before democracy (kings and queens)
Welles was physically huge, with a matching voice, his films had a grand scale, dramatic changing sound
Used overlapping and hectic dialogue to make a scene more realistic
Deep focus
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) dir. William Wyler didn’t follow the action, instead left the unknown to the audience: he placed the camera by a piano being played while the main character was on the phone in the far background
Code Unknown (2000) dir. Michael Haneke uses deep space to show a woman getting away from harassment: cat callers in the background, woman walks to the from of the train
Sátántangó (1994) dir. Béla Tarr used deep space to guide the viewer’s eye around the screen quickly
Each occurrence was to build tension, as if the people are held in the bubble of the screen
Shallow Focus
Deep focus went out of fashion again in the 50s, and wide screen stock was too sensitive for all the information of deep focus
Heat (1995) dir. Michael Mann long lenses had focus so shallow the backgrounds became blobs of light
Italy was the center of cinema in the 1940s, the language of film changed with the creation of Neo-Realism
Rubble movies emerged
Rossellini was a distinct director from the time
Used 50mm lenses to keep images clean and undistracting
Loosened the head of a camera tripod for movement rather than handheld
Young women filmed like in romantic movies
Older, tired women filmed deglamourized, low light
Used a lot of bare light bulbs
Cesare Zavattini changed a lot about plot
He reduced it to just what he needed, de-dramatized it
When we create a scene we feel the need to remain in it, because it can have “echoes and reverberations”, ordinary details mattered suddenly, he brought out the boring details
Bicycle Thieves (1948) dir. Vittorio De Sica man’s bicycle is stolen, which is his only way to get work, he and his son search for it all day
The man steals someone else’s bike in the end, the camera is far away, as if not to intrude on the father’s shame
The son sees the theft, and then the camera gets close, it gets personal
The son almost gets hit by a car, and nothing happens of it, there was no cause or effect, just a shocking moment
Before war, stories were chains, after, it was a branch, with part sticking out and sometimes multiple lines
Hollywood also started becoming less happy and glossy, it was not a paradise any longer
350 dark movies were made: film noirs began
Common themes are fated characters with one dooming character flaw
They end up in the fate they tried to avoid
Noirs influenced by war, LA itself, flawed characters, social and legal collapse, and german expressionism, neo-realism and documentary all helped create film noir,
Double Indemnity (1944) dir. Billy Wilder is the most famous film noir, it had masterful uses of tension and situational irony
Titanic (1997) dir. James Cameron is one of the most famous romantic movies shot after the arrival of film noir
House Un-American Activities was like a poison in Hollywood, it got artists blacklisted, it helped the dark tone of film noir develop, and tore apart some of the “bauble” of Hollywood
The Film Intdustry got a Supreme Court Case, because they basically had a monopoly on all their products, they had to separate their production and distribution
There were also challenges to common themes
Singin’ in the Rain (1952) (introduced in Episode 2) dir. Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen the joy in the camera and in Gene Kelly did big flashy musical numbers to make fun of the numbers done in old romantic cinema
Indiscreet (1958) dir. Stanley Donen challenged censorship, he had two cameras running and edited the film into a split screen, so they appeared to be in bed together on a phone call
These mainstream movies show how film noir and the war affected Hollywood
The Third Man (1949) dir. Carol Reed had a old ending, where a woman walks down a long walkway, past a man who she may or may not leave with, but walks out of frame alone