Kung-Fu Goddess Secret Lair Maya Modelling Development

2001: A Space Odyssey Film Review

Space Oddities: Metropolis Review

Space Oddities Metropolis

Space Oddities: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Review

  This film review examines Robert Wiene’s 1919 film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, a German expressionist film set in a surreal world of an expressionist painting brought to life through the sets designed by Hermann Warm, Walter Reimann and Walter Rohrig. The style of the film is symbolism for the uncertainty of the German people at the time following World War 1, and the emotions they were feeling having lived through it.

  The film starts out in a normal setting and then becomes this surreal world during a flashback that the story of the film takes place in, this world is later explained through the psychological state of the main character. This is symbolism for the psychological state of Germany at the time after world war 1 and uses expressionist paintings to show how unsettled the country was feeling, which is portrayed through the characters and the locations,  Matt Holmes agrees that ‘The imaginative sets show the deep psychological nightmare of Germany who couldn’t quite believe the horrors they had been through in the previous years.’, also due to constraints in budgets with the value of money dropping during the German expressionist period, cheaper sets were used which allowed this style of expressionist films to come forward and be more successful as well as the ban on most international films in Germany. The film was also part of the extreme anti-realism period of German expressionism, which worked as a form of escapism to the public, from what had happened and their lives.

The dimly lit spaces and contrast between dark and light in the film are typical of German expressionism but add to the effect, creating a dramatic emphasis on the characters and what is happening. Using dark cramped settings adds to the suspense and build up to the climatic points, such as when the Sleepwalker is creeping up to the victim, the camera angles are close to the scene and enclosed creating a sense of claustrophobia while the victim is being attacked. Kolar takes the view that ‘The story lines of German expressionist films matched the visuals in terms of darkness and disillusionment. Often sombre in mood and featuring characters from a corrupt underworld of crime, the films’ dramatic effects produced motifs of claustrophobia and paranoia.’, the visuals are used to add to the narrative of the film, with the sets being used to start the build up to a climatic point, and add emphasis on parts of the film. Everything in the world created is familiar in shape and recognisable but is distorted to become stylized in a way which adds to the psychological unsettlement in the film, Reimer agrees that ‘The world, created to be both familiar and strange, speaks to the physical and psychological horrors Germans experienced after the end of the war’, which adds to the escapism of the film by the settings being different to everyday life but while still familiar.

Bibliography

Kolar. German Expressionism: The World of Light and Shadow. http://mubi.com/lists/german-expressionism-the-world-of-light-and-shadow

Matt Holmes. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: Suffering creates art? http://whatculture.com/film/55-the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-1920-robert-wiene.php

Robert Reimer, Historical Dictionary of German Cinema (New York: The Scarecrow, Inc., 2008)

Space Oddities: Le Voyage Dans La Lune Review

  This review examines George Méliès’s 1902 film, La Voyage Dans La Lune, a film where Méliès uses an array of painted backdrops and special effects to create the other worldly-feel about the film. No one had been to the moon in 1902 so the moon was still mysterious and unexplored, allowing Méliès to create his own world based on fantasy novels of the time such as H. G. Wells’s 1901 novel, ‘First Men in the Moon’. Méliès relied on painted backdrops as was custom at the time, making the whole film look very theatrical and as if it was on a stage, as well as some of the sets looking like they could be an ‘old masters’ landscape painting.

  The sets in the film were designed by Méliès himself, capturing the mystery of the moon in a low detail way with the lack of clarity on the shapes adding to the effect the sets create, sometimes only using basic shapes or rock formations but successfully creates the sense of being in a different world, as can be seen in the still above. The depth to the scenes is created using forced perspective, making the 2d sets look real, as is described in the follow quote ‘In his exuberant narrative Méliès successfully mixes traditional stage-craft with his extensive repertory of special effects.’ a technique that is common in theatre and the way he uses special effects with the theatrical sets creates various perspectives in the shot and create the sci-fi element of the film. The scenes also used moving parts to show exploration of the moon as is described in the following quote, ‘Méliès was also known for creating a glass studio that allowed him to carefully construct the mise-en-scène, using elaborate scenic backdrops complete with moving parts’, in the scene above part of the back drop quickly moves away as they explore and becomes a different scene, creating a more immersive experience to the film.

The poster above shows the most famous scene from the film, where lighting and special effects are used to create the character of the moon and create a sense of momentum as the rocket flies towards to moon and ends up lodged in the face , as is described in the following quote, ‘its signature image of a bullet-shaped rocket lodging itself in the eye of a smirking moon is one of the most recognizable images in cinema history.’ This is interesting as it is only a short scene in the film and is purely for comedic purposes, without much relation to the rest of the film, and could be just because of the special effects used were ground-breaking at the time.

Bibliography

Le Voyage Dans La Lune. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/trip_to_the_moon-1902

R. F. Cousins. Le Voyage Dans La Lune. http://www.filmreference.com/Films-Vi-Wi/Le-Voyage-dans-la-Lune.html.

Tyson James Yates. Le Voyage Dans La Lune. http://staticmass.net/early-films-and-cinema/le-voyage-dans-la-lune-a-trip-to-the-moon-1902/