Film History and Criticism (1940-present)
Week 2
The Tough Guy and the Fatal Woman
Reading: Wexman, Orson Welles: Boy Genius and
Films of the Period pp143-147; Hayward Key Concepts:
Realism pp 298-300
Screening: Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941). Screenplay
available at www.imsdb.com/scripts/Citizen-Kane.html
A few key film studies concepts:
Also Refer Wexman Text Glossary pp 475 –79
and relevant sections of Susan Hayward Key Concepts in
Cinema Studies
You tube shot type videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VS2iNhz180
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwbsYgZ7d-8L
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuGvRu5N9v4&NR=1
ecture
2
Mise en Scene
The arrangements of visual
weights and movements within a
given space. In the live theatre,
the space is usually defined by
the proscenium arch; in cinema
it is defined by the frame that
encloses the images. Cinematic
mise en scene encompasses both
the staging of the action and the
way it's filmed. Literally “what
is placed in the scene” All that is
before the camera!
Close-up (CU)
A detailed view of a
person or object. A closeup (CU), Medium Closeup (MCU) or extreme
close-up (ECU) of an
object or actor, usually
only his or her head or
perhaps an eye. As
opposed to a long shot.
(LS) Hayward Key
Concepts pp317-320
Long Shot
Low Angle
Low Angle- A shot
in which the subject
is photographed
from below. As
opposed to a high
angle shot.
Medium Long Shot 1
Medium Long Shot 2
Dolly Shot or Tracking Shot (Trucking
Shots)
Dolly Shot, Tracking
Shot, Trucking Shot- A
shot taken from a moving
vehicle, bicycle,
automobile, train.
Originally, tracks were
laid on the set to permit a
smoother movement of the
camera. Often produced
cinematic clichés such as
train lines to infinity.
Tracking (dolly) Shot
Aerial or Crane Shot
Aerial or Crane Shot- A
shot taken from a special
device called a crane,
which resembles a huge
mechanical arm. The
crane carries the camera
and the cinematographer
and can move in virtually
any direction.
‘Z’ jib/crane
Deep Focus
Deep Focus
A photographic
technique that
permits all distance
planes to remain
clearly in focus,
from close-up
ranges to infinity.
High Angle
High Angle A shot in
which the subject is
photographed from
above. As opposed to
a low angle shot.
Long Shot
Long Shot- Often an
establishing shot; a shot
that includes an area
within the image that
roughly corresponds to the
spectators view of the area
within the proscenium
arch in the live theatre. As
opposed to a close-up.
Dissolve
Dissolve- The slow
fading out of one shot
and the gradual fading
in of its successor,
with a superimposition
of images, usually at
the mid-point.
Montage
Montage- Transitional
sequences of rapidly
edited images, used to
suggest the lapse of time
or the passing of events.
Often uses dissolve and
multiple exposures. In
Europe, montage means
the art of editing.
Dialectical versus additive
Click
Image for Video Clip
montage
Shot /reverse shot
The camera cuts back
and forth between two
points of view
(P.O.V.) in a scene,
normally between two
characters
180 degree rule.
When planning a sequence
of shots the director is
aware of maintaining
continuity through the
convention of not
"crossing the line", or of
positioning cameras on the
same side of the 180
degree line of action or
axis of action.
Diegesis
Refers to Narration –
the content of
narration or the
fictional world inside
the story. All that is
really going on - on
screen – to
construct/represent a
fictional reality.
Diegesis 22
A narrative's “timespace continuum.” The
diegesis of a narrative is
its entire created world.
Any narrative includes a
diegesis, whether you are
reading or viewing another form of reading science fiction, fantasy,
mimetic realism, or
psychological realism.
Diegetic Sound
Diegetic Sound/ Commentary Sound - sound whose source is
neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present
in the action
narrator's commentary (voice over)
such as ‘Voice of God’ in documentary and sound effects
which are added for the dramatic effect such as mood music.
Non-Diegetic Sound
Non-diegetic sound is represented as coming from a source
outside the story space. The distinction between diegetic or
non-diegetic sound depends on our understanding of the
conventions of film viewing and listening. Occasionally this
is illusionistic i.e. Sam the piano player in Casablanca who
was singing diegetically (As Time goes By) and other hit
compositions to piano previously recorded. We know that
certain sounds are represented as coming from the story
world, while others are represented as coming from outside
the space of the story events.
Three-Point Lighting
Three-Point Lighting A common technique of lighting
a scene from three sources. The key light is the main
source of illumination, usually creating the dominant
contrast where we first look in a shot. Fill lights are
less intense and are generally placed opposite the key,
illuminating areas that would otherwise be obscured
by shadow. Backlights are used to separate
foreground elements from the setting, emphasizing
depth in the image.
Orson Welles 1915-1985
George Orson Welles was born in.
George Orson Welles born in Kenosha, Wisconsin in
1915. Father, Richard Head Welles, wealthy from the
production of several wagon factories. In one of his
interviews, Welles credits his father with the invention of
automobiles. Welles’s mother, Beatrice Ives Welles, a
highly-regarded woman in her time, was considered a
beauty, very active in the arts and in her community. In
short a very prominent couple.
Welles 1
Welles’ mother taught him to read using Shakespeare and
later taught him the piano, though he would never become
accomplished musically. In school, Welles would actually
write, direct, and act his own plays, catching the attention
of local newspapers who, with the assistance of a local
pediatrician dubbed him a prodigy. When Welles was six,
his parents divorced partly as a result of his father’s
increasing alcoholism, and his mother took him to
Chicago, immersing her bright young son in the theatre
and classical music. Her unexpected death a few years later
left Welles very shaken.
Welles 2
His father would die when Welles was fifteen, reportedly
alone and in despair from alcohol. After her death, Beatrice
Welles left him in the care of his father and Bernstein.
Bernstein sent Welles to Todd School. Where he
auditioned for Hilton Edwards and
Micheál MacLiammóir, posing as a famous, Broadway
actor, a ploy that did not fool either Edwards or
MacLiammóir. Though Welles was disappointed with his
own audition, it was considered a brilliant piece of
charismatic "ham-acting," and it was enough to win him a
place at the Gate. His performance as the Duke in Jew Süss
was an incredible triumph.
“His next few roles were disappointments, and Welles left The
Gate in search of more famous theatres in England. However he
was unable to obtain a work permit and returned to the Midwest
U.S. keeping himself occupied with various projects until a
fortunate meeting with playwright Thornton Wilder helped him
land a job with a road company headed by Katharine Cornell.
After a brief stint with this theatre group, he met John Houseman
who, with Welles, began work with the New York Federal
Theatre, a project formed under the New Deal reformation. They
produced adaptations of Macbeth and Julius Caesar. Houseman
went on to form a new repertory company called the Mercury
Theatre, which according to film historian James Naremore was
lifted "from a copy of Mercury magazine lying in a corner of an
empty fireplace at Welles's
home.”
Bibliography
Callow, Simon. The Road to Xanadu.
Cowie, Peter. A Ribbon of Dreams: The Cinema of
Orson Welles. A.S. Barnes: New York, 1973.
Higham, Charles. The Films of Orson Welles. University of
California Press: Berkeley, 1970.
McBride, Joseph. Orson Welles. Viking Press: New York,
1972. Naremore, James. The Magic World of Orson Welles.
Oxford University Press: New York, 1978.
Mulvey, Laura Citizen Kane BFI books
Orson Welles and Peter Bogdanovich This is Orson Welles
Citizen Kane 1941 (release date)
“If modernist narrative is
associated with the
foregrounding of
cinematic language,
multiple levels of
narration, and
estrangement of the
spectator, Citizen Kane
might be said to be fully if
not overly qualified for
modernity” (Wexman p.
143)
Touch of Evil, 1957
Orson Welles:
Actor/Director
The Hearts of Age, 1934
Too Much Johnson, 1938
Citizen Kane, 1941
The Magnificent Ambersons, 1942
The Stranger, 1944
The Lady from Shanghai, 1945
Macbeth, 1947
Othello, 1952
Don Quixote (unfinished), 1954
Confidential Report, 1955
Mr. Arkadin, 1955
Touch of Evil, 1957
The Trial, 1962
Chimes at Midnight, 1966
Falstaff, 1966
The Immortal Story, 1968
F For Fake, 1975
The Other Side of the Wind (unfinished), 1975
Orson Welles’ Quotes
I hate television. I hate it as much as peanuts. But I can't stop eating
peanuts.
I have an unfortunate personality.
I passionately hate the idea of being with it, I think an artist has always
to be out of step with his time.
I started at the top and worked my way down.
The enemy of society is middle class and the enemy of life is middle
age.
If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop
your story.
I think we're a kind of desperation. We're sort of a maddening luxury.
The basic and essential human is the woman, and all that we're doing is
trying to brighten up the place. That's why all the birds who belong to
our sex have prettier feathers — because males have got to try and
justify their existence.
If there hadn't been women we'd still be squatting in a cave eating raw
meat, because we made civilization in order to impress our girl friends.
And they tolerated it and let us go ahead and play with our toys.
The enemy of art is the absence of limitations
Orson Welles began as a young actor and theatre director with
the depression initiated Federal Theatre Project and then
developed with John Houseman (1902 -1988) The Mercury
Theatre Group which was responsible for the notorious
broadcast of HG Wells novel The War of the worlds
Citizen Kane called the “The most significant film produced in
the American Commercial Cinema."
While few of its stylistic effects were new what was dazzling
was the way it brought to bear a variety of innovations in
nearly every scene. In fact what was startling for many who
first viewed it was the total effect described by NYU film
historian Robert Sklar as "the concentration, the
comprehensiveness and unity of its stylistic effort."
The film was nominated for nine Oscars in 1941 including
Best Picture. Arguably the greatest film ever made, Citizen
Kane almost never saw the light of day. In a documentary by
directors Michael Epstein and Thomas Lennon, the story
behind the legendary film is told, highlighting the attempts by
newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst to kill the
thinly-veiled biographical film by first-time filmmaker, 25year-old Orson Welles. The meteoric rises of both figures are
chronicled, drawing parallels between the lives of not only
Hearst and the fictional Charles Foster Kane, but Welles, as
well. Along with archival footage and clips from Citizen Kane,
the documentary includes interviews with journalists,
historians, and filmmakers, such as long-time Welles assistant
William Alland, newspaper writer Jimmy Breslin, and director
Peter Bogdanovich.
William Randolph Hearst
A documentary produced by
Michael Epstein and Thomas
Lennon, revealed the story
behind the legendary film,
highlighting attempts made by
newspaper magnate William
Randolph Hearst (1863-1951)
to kill the thinly-veiled
biographical film by first-time
filmmaker, 25-year-old Orson
Welles.
Citizen Kane's importance is based upon several features:
1) Recognized importance of the ensemble acting of Welles
Mercury Theatre Players Joseph Cotten, Agnes
Moorehead 1906-1974), Everette Sloane (1909-1965)
2) Gregg Toland’s Cinematography:
a) employing camera lenses that maintained focus
throughout thus producing deep space.
b) symbolic low and high angle shots to emphasize
character (credited to Welles elaborate pre-production
plans).
c) the avoidance of direct cuts through camera panning,
dollying and overlapping dissolves assisted by the
incredible deep space of the sets (mise en scene).
The film begins in a very surrealistic manner with the
death of multi-millionaire publisher and entrepreneur
Charles Foster Kane. The narrative is kicked off with a
mystery ……….. What is the meaning of Kane’s dying
word “rosebud.” The film investigates the significance of
this through a series of flash backs framed by the
dialogue of a number of Kane’s associates including
Walter Thatcher, and Steinberg.
Agnes Moorehead 1906-1974
Agnes Moorehead came
to Hollywood from New
York with Orson Welles
to appear as Charles
Foster Kane's mother in
Citizen Kane (1941), her
first of 60+ film roles.
Moorehead as Mrs.
Kane in Citizen
Kane, Shannon as
Charles' father,
George Coulouris
as Charles'
financial guardian
Walter P. Thatcher,
and Buddy Swann
with his sled as the
young Charles
Foster Kane.
Joseph Cotten (1905Other Films
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
• Gaslight Love Letters (1945)
The Farmer's Daughter
(1947)
Portrait of Jennie (1948)
The Third Man (1949))
Everette Sloane (1909-1965)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Journey Into Fear (1943)
The Lady from Shanghai,
(1947)
Jigsaw (1949)
Prince of Foxes (1949)
The Men (1950)
The Desert Fox: The Story
of Rommel (1951)
The Enforcer, (1951)
Sirocco (1951)
The Blue Veil (1951)
Bird of Paradise (1951)
Lust for Life (1956)
Somebody Up There Likes
Me (1956)
Home from the Hill (1960)
The Patsy (1964)
Key Dates
Attendance and Participation (10%)
Assignment 1: In class short answer film glossary test
(10%) January 22nd
Assignment 2: Film Sequence analyses (20%) Due Monday
March 5th
Assignment 3: Research Paper (30%) Due April 2nd
Take Home Exam: 30% March 27th due before 5.00pm
Office, Historical and Critical Studies, Tuesday April 10th
Next Week
Assignment 1: In Class Glossary Review Test
reminder: Monday January 25th
Week 3
Post-War Cinema I: Italian Neorealism: Rossellini,
De Sica
Readings: Wexman, Chapter 8 Italian Neorealism 149 159; Robin Wood “Ideology, Genre, Auteur” in Mast pp
475-485 and on library reserve. Hayward, Key Concepts
Italian Neo-Realism pp pp191-2.
Screenings: Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini dir
1945) and clips from Miraculo a milano (Miracle in
Milan) (1950) and Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves)
Vittorio De Sica (1948).