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Sunrise 1927 F.W. Murnau Melodrama/Romance (CONTEXT (German Expressionism,…
Sunrise 1927 F.W. Murnau Melodrama/Romance
REPRESENTATION
EDITING
Simple cuts on action
(primitive) continuity editing
Communicates the romance between the couple and its used to sell the love story to the audience
Close ups are also used to communicate this
Double exposure
used in the opening vacation scene
shows a ship arriving and a seperate beach scene
While in the city it's used again
The man and the woman are walking through the city but the background is replaced with a garden scene
This is an in camera technique
An in-camera effect is any special effect in a video or movie that is created solely by using techniques in and on the camera and/or its parts.
CONTEXT
Fox Film Corporation was the studio behind it
Awards
Won three Oscars in the inaugural presentation in 1929
Best actress
Janet Gaynor
Best Cinematography
Rosher/Staruss
Best unique and artistic picture
German Expressionism
Film and art movement
Considered an avant-garde movement
Avant-garde:new and experimental ideas and methods in art, music, or literature
used Modernism as a springboard to push the boundaries of aesthetics and representation
direct response to post WW1 Germany
During WW1 Germany closed it's borders and home-grown film making flourished
Grew from 28 films in 1913 to 245 films in 1919
The films did not gain popularity and the quality was low
Resulted in remakes of American films or films which re-enforced the ideology within Germany
Germany was cut off financially, culturally and ideologically from the world due to the new Weimar Government
Artists and film makers began to critique/respond to the atrocities of the war
Their work was highly provocative and directly critiqued Germany's past
Banned foreign films in 1916
Sought to differentiate itself from French movement and American film movements
explored inner feelings and ideologies through the expressive use of film form and confrontational narratives
Murnau
born into a relatively wealthy family, owning a textile factory in Westphalia
He studied Philosophy in Berlin
He served as an air Commander in WW1
Endured 8 plane crashes and was imprisoned in a prisoner of war camp
In the camp he produced plays for the other prisoners and french guards
late 1920's prominent expressionist filmmakers fled Nazi germany to a more promising Hollywood
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Cinematographers were Karl Strauss and Charles Rosher
Stikes with melodramatic generic codes
Uses a variety of two shots and close ups for dramatic effect
fluid and dreamlike camera moves
Either crane-mounted or on a moving trolley (tran)
AESTHETICS
The look, feel and mood of the film
Murnau was given carte blanche by William Fox to create a masterpiece which melded the artistry of German Expressionism with financial muscle of Hollywood
Double exposures
Forced perspective
Elaborate sets
Chiaroscuro lighting
Italian term which means light and dark and basically refers to the high contrast light/dark style
Pam Cook
'extreme stylisation of mis-en-scene' and that 'Chiaroscuro lighting and surrealistic settings are combined with a remarkably fluid camera'
MISE-EN-SCENE
City scenes were filmed on lavish sets
cost $200,000 to build
They were used by John Ford
Created a bewildering sense of bewildering sense of realism and spectacle for the audience
Audience had never seen anything like this before
Back projection and facade sets
created amazing perspectives
Rochus Gilese worked on the Mise-en-scene
He created many interiors and sets which bear strong hallmarks of german expressionism
The theme park and house of the lady from the city use impossible perspectives and angles
created the meaning of unnatural/corrupting influences
SOUND
Murnau utilised new Fox Movietone Sound-On-Film Technology
Added a synchronous score to the film print
There was no need for an accompanying organis or band
NARRATIVE
Structure
utilises conventional linear narrative
Innovation of flash forwards and primitive day-dream sequences
Viewpoint
Communicates narrative from perspective of the three main characters
man
country
city
We piece together the cause and efefct narrative from directly observing their actions
Is the narrative typical of the genre?
not typical of its genre at the time
Due to further evolution in today's market with twists on the formula, it does fit in with it's genre
Devices
Primary device is lust
QUOTES
'Murnau's early films, like Nosferatu (1922), are seen today as being aesthetically "almost exclusively" expressionistic (Cook)
Andre Bazin, in relation to expressionism and realism in silent film wrote that; "image is evaluated not according to what it adds to reality but what it reveals of it".