Introduction to Electronic Media: Class 11, Germany and Expressionism
Introduction to Electronic Media: Class 11, Germany and Expressionism
1 German Film Industry
1.1 Domestic Film Industry
film industry and remained second only to Hollywood until
Nazis in 1933
expanded because government banned most foreign films,
1916–1920
prod. cos rose from 25 in 1914 to 130 by 1918
1.2 Universum-Film AG
government-chartered private company
founded in 1917
bought and merged many studios into one large film making
unit
founded to counter negative images during the war
produced movies boosting German spirit at home
position it abroad since so many bad images during the War
moved to enormous studios near Berlin in 1920
1.3 Postwar German gloom
Decade of economic and political crisis
harsh war reparations
goods shortages and inflation
by 1923 food and consumer goods unbelievably expensive
Deutsch Mark was practically worthless
1.4 Postwar film boom
ban of import of foreign films lifted
300 film production companies forming by 1921
anti-German feelings dissipating by early 1920s
German film found favorable international reception
inflation helped film industry since saving money was useless
more theaters
more exports of film
less imports
2 Historical Epics
2.1 inflation made it easy for studios to finance big historical epics
2.2 these elaborate films could compete abroad with Hollywood films
2.3 Ernst Lubitsch
started out as a comedian
then comic director
made epic MADAME DU BARRY in 1919
big hit in Germany and abroad
by 1923 he was hired to work in Hollywood
became one of the most skillful directors of Hollywood style
3 Expressionism
3.1 Began in painting and theater in 1908
3.2 modernist movement
reaction against realism
extreme distortion to express inner emotional reality
jettisoned surface appearances
3.3 Painting
Wassily Kandinsky
Pioneered Expressionism in 1909
Murnau Street with Women (1908)
“beyond the impressionism he receives from the exterior
world from nature continually accumulates experience in
his inner world quest for artistic form which must be
liberated from all irrelevant elements, so as to express
only the necessary”
Avoided subtle shading and colors
bright unrealistic colors
dark cartoonish outlines
rejected materialism
arrive at new era of spirituality and the soul
important after World War I
3.4 Theater
started in 1908 as part of leftist political protests
Performances as distorted as expressionist sets
actors shouting
actors screaming
gesturing broadly
goal was to express feelings in most direct and extreme
fashion
3.5 Film
by 1910, Expressionism had gone from being avant-garde to
being fashionable
expressionist films followed, lasting until 1927, the coming
of sound
only about a dozen films made in the style
contrast with Hollywood cinema, where…
most important figure is human form
sets and costumes forming secondary elements
privileges 3 dimension space where action occurs
subjugates 2 dimensional graphic qualities of screen
Stylistic distortions
Sets
Hermann Warm, Caligari’s set designer: “film image
must become graphic art”
sets express inner emotional reality of scene
sets dictate actors’ movements who move like dancers
simple lighting from front and side, illuminating the
scene flatly and evenly
Acting
Expressionist acting deliberately exaggerated to
match settings
acting style, where behavior was seen as part of
mise-en-scene
Conrad Veidt, who played Cesare: “if the decor has
been conceived as having the same spiritual state as
that which governs the character’s mentality, the
actor will find in that decor a valuable aid in
composing and living his part”
Camera work
long shots, used to show actors’ movement against the
set
very little camera movement or unusual angles
slow paced movement
Narration
interest in fantasy and horror
frame stories
4 Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
4.1 New aesthetic ambitions for film
first effort to bring Expressionist style to film
established links between infant cinema and most progressive
art movements of the day
no realistic sets or acting
attracted intellectual audience
brought German film culture unprecedented international
prestige
avant-gardists hoped their films would play in regular
theaters
4.2 New commercial ambitions for film
producers recognized a vast new audience could be won if
prejudices of middle class could be overcome
bigger theaters
lure of art
producers told designers to do sets as “eccentrically as you
are able” to help sell the film
thought public would be titillated
deliberately designed as an alternative to Hollywood
4.3 Screenplay
Hans Janowitz was a dramatist
Carl Mayer was a poet
directed by Robert Weine
started work in 1918–1919
Janowitz says idea came from insanity of his years of
military service
story came from a sideshow featuring a hypnotized strong man
they saw together in Berlin
4.4 Premiered in 1920
immediately caught public attention
Film came out at a crucial time for Germany film industry
opened overseas markets closed since WWI
war had cut off all film imports
most markets remained closed to Germany
British exhibitors voted 5 year ban
France instituted a 15 year ban
Great Critical reaction
premiered in NY on April 3, 1921
in fashion of time, there was a live prologue and epilogue
where host announces that Franzis is fully recovered
contrary to myth that film was a commercial flop at its
premiere
4.5 Expressionist film
critic & public: authentic manifestation of Expressionism
a momentous extension of new art to a new medium
a garment in which to dress the drama
no Expressionist content in original scenario
story might equally have been handled in naturalistic mode of
popular detective stories of the time
mise-en-scene familiar to public through posters and textile
designs
4.6 Legacy
attacked by film theorists
a “cinematic mistake”
it prestylizes reality
violating inherent photographic realism of the medium
artifice instead of nature
enormous influence not only in Germany but in France
inspired many avant-garde experiments in abstract cinema
performances, decor, and costume are, however, expressionist
in style, taken from current theater practices