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| A still from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) |
German Expressionism is
a twentieth century German Art Movement which was started
with artists' inner feelings for example; paintings. But this art movement
replaces into film too.
* 1919-1926: In response to the domination of
French, Italian and American films banned import of films except from Denmark:
government encouraged cartel formation to counter imported films; the UFA
became the largest company and built the best equipped companies of Europe.
* 1920s: Germany coproduced many films spreading
German stylistic influence abroad.
* The German film industry concentrated on three
genres; spy and detective series; sex education movies on homosexuality and prostitution;
the Italian historical epics of the pre-war period.
* The historical epics were financially successful.
The UFA could enter the international film market in 1919 with Ernst Lubitsch’s
movie.
* There are some small independent companies which
initiated expressionist film making.
* Beginning of Expressionist film: Decla Bioscope in
1919 attempted to make an unconventional script with two unknowns, Carl Mayer
and Hans Janowitz.
* There designers assigned to the film suggested
that the film be made in expressionist style.
* The goal was to have a space in international
market by offering something exceptional.
* Examples, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
* This low cost film was a huge success. One of its
designers, Herman Warm said, ‘The film was like a moving expressionist painting
or mood cut print. It expresses the distorted viewpoint of a madman.’
* German expressionism depends heavily on
Mise-en-scene. Mise-en-scene (to put on
stage); ‘the contents of the frame and the way that they are organized’ (Gibbs,
2002)
* Prop: A bottle can be a prop. In a word, what I
use is prop.
* Shape are distorted and exaggerated
unrealistically for expressive purposes. Actors often wear heavy make up and
move in jerky or slow sinuous patterns. Most importantly, all of the elements
of the mise-en-scene interact graphically to create an overall composition.
Characters do not simply exist within a setting but rather form visual elements
that merge with the setting.
* Expressionism became an accepted style, functioned
to create stylized situations for fantasy and horror stories.
* The rise of the costs of filmmaking recruitment of
many of the film makers by Hollywood and competition from Hollywood killed the
movement in the mid 1920s.
* To cope with the Hollywood competition Germany
began to imitate Hollywood products.
19/05/2015
