CINEMATIC LANGUAGE REPRESENTATION CONSTRUCTION MANIPULATION OR WAYS OF

CINEMATIC LANGUAGE REPRESENTATION, CONSTRUCTION, MANIPULATION: OR WAYS OF THINKING ABOUT FILM

HOLLYWOOD ‘GRAMMAR’ (1930 - 1950) • WRITTEN LANGUAGE = LINEAR (WORDS IN A SENTENCE) • FILM LANGUAGE = SPATIAL, AURAL, VISUAL, MOVEMENT (ELEMENTS IN THE FILM FRAME) • FILM EXPRESSION CAN RANGE FROM REALISM TO SURREALISM AND BEYOND (LIMITLESS POTENTIAL)

TRANSITIONS • THE VIEWER’S ATTENTION IS TAKEN FROM ONE SUBJECT TO ANOTHER VIA: • -CUTS (ABRUPT TRANSITION) • -PANS (GRADUAL TRANSITIONS THAT TAKE STOCK OF THE SURROUNDINGS AS THEY MOVE) • -DISSOLVE (GRADUAL FADING OF ONE SUBJECT/CONTEXT INTO ANOTHER) • -MONTAGE (ILLOGICAL TRANSITION OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH SURREALISM, PSYCHOLOGICAL DEPICTIONS OF STATES OF MIND, METAPHOR & ILLUSION…SUGGESTING PSYCHOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY)

CULTURALLY DERIVED CODES • FILM DIRECTORS OFTEN COMMUNICATE IN CINEMATIC CODES: • THE SHOWER SCENE FROM PSYCHO HAS BECOME A POPULAR CODE IN ITSELF : • SHOWER SCENE PSYCHO • THE ENTIRE FILM “PSYCHO” FUNCTIONS AS A CINEMATIC CODE OF SORTS • ACAPELLA PSYCHO

OPEN & CLOSED FORMS • CLOSED FORM: THE CAMERA FOLLOWS THE SUBJECT CLOSELY (MORE PRESCRIPTIVE. THE ENTIRE WORLD OF THE FILM IS ENCLOSED IN THE FRAME) • OPEN FORM: SUBJECTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO LEAVE AND REENTER THE FRAME (EXPERIMENTAL, LESS CONTROLLED. CHARACTERS MIGHT WANDER IN AND OUT OF THE FRAME. SUGGESTS THE POSSIBILITY OF LIFE OUTSIDE OF THE FRAME…)

PROXIMITY, PROPORTION, & PSYCHOLOGY (SUBCODES) • WHAT ELEMENTS OCCUPY THE FRAME AND WHAT CAN WE READ INTO THEIR IMPORTANCE VIS A VIS THEIR PLACEMENT IN THE FRAME? • WHAT STANDS OUT AS THE MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENT IN THIS SCREEN SHOT? Factors at play: aspect ratio, depth, lighting, camera angle, color, focus (if applicable), line. . .

ESTABLISHING SHOT • THE FIRST ENTRANCE INTO THE WORLD OF A FILM…SETS THE TONE:

SHANGHAI EXPRESS • CAST: • ANNA MAY WONG (1905 -1961). CONSIDERED TO BE THE FIRST CHINESE AMERICAN HOLLYWOOD MOVIE STAR. SILENT FILMS, SOUND FILMS, TV, THEATER, AND RADIO IN HOLLYWOOD AND EUROPEAN CINEMA. • MARLENE DIETRICH (1901 -1992). GERMAN-AMERICAN ACTOR/SINGER. BORN IN BERLIN. SHE WAS DISCOVERED AS A FILM ACTRESS IN GERMANY BY JOSEF VON STERNBERG. WITH THE SUCCESS OF THE FILM ‘THE BLUE ANGEL, ’ SHE LEFT HOLLYWOOD IN 1930 AND WENT UNDER CONTRACT WITH PARAMOUNT PICTURES (AND WITH THE SUPPORT OF VON STERNBERG, ANOTHER GERMAN EXILE). DIETRICH HOUSED AND COMFORTED MANY EXILES FROM HITLER’S GERMANY DURING WWII FROM HER NEW HOME IN THE U. S. • “DIETRICH WAS KNOWN TO HAVE STRONG POLITICAL CONVICTIONS AND THE MIND TO SPEAK THEM. IN THE LATE 1930 S, DIETRICH CREATED A FUND WITH BILLY WILDER AND SEVERAL OTHER EXILES TO HELP JEWS AND DISSIDENTS ESCAPE FROM GERMANY. ” SHE DONATED THE ENTIRE SALARY (450 K) FROM ONE OF HER FILMS TO THE FUND. SHE LATER RECEIVED THE MEDAL OF FREEDOM FROM THE US GOVERNMENT AND THE LEGION OF HONOR AWARD FROM FRANCE. SHE WAS ALSO OPENLY BI-SEXUAL, AND, AS A CABARET PERFORMER IN BERLIN, WENT TO MANY OF THE DRAG BALLS IN 1920 S BERLIN.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT: SHANGHAI EXPRESS • OPIUM WARS, TWO ARMED CONFLICTS IN CHINA IN THE MID-19 TH CENTURY BETWEEN THE FORCES OF WESTERN COUNTRIES AND OF THE QING DYNASTY, WHICH RULED CHINA FROM 1644 TO 1911/12. THE FIRST OPIUM WAR (1839– 42) WAS FOUGHT BETWEEN CHINA AND BRITAIN, AND THE SECOND OPIUM WAR (1856– 60), ALSO KNOWN AS THE ARROW WAR OR THE ANGLO-FRENCH WAR IN CHINA, WAS FOUGHT BY BRITAIN AND FRANCE AGAINST CHINA. IN EACH CASE THE FOREIGN POWERS WERE VICTORIOUS AND GAINED COMMERCIAL PRIVILEGES AND LEGAL AND TERRITORIAL CONCESSIONS IN CHINA. THE CONFLICTS THE START OF THE ERA OF UNEQUAL TREATIES AND OTHER INROADS ON QING SOVEREIGNTY THAT HELPED WEAKEN AND ULTIMATELY TOPPLE THE DYNASTY IN FAVOR OF REPUBLICAN CHINA IN THE EARLY 20 TH CENTURY. • THE OPIUM WARS AROSE FROM CHINA’S ATTEMPTS TO SUPPRESS THE OPIUM TRADE. FOREIGN TRADERS (PRIMARILY BRITISH) HAD BEEN ILLEGALLY EXPORTING OPIUM MAINLY FROM INDIA TO CHINA SINCE THE 18 TH CENTURY, BUT THAT TRADE GREW DRAMATICALLY FROM ABOUT 1820. THE RESULTING WIDESPREAD ADDICTION IN CHINA WAS CAUSING SERIOUS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DISRUPTION THERE. IN SPRING 1839 THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT CONFISCATED AND DESTROYED MORE THAN 20, 000 CHESTS OF OPIUM—SOME 1, 400 TONS OF THE DRUG—THAT WERE WAREHOUSED AT CANTON (GUANGZHOU) BY BRITISH MERCHANTS. • SHANGHAI EXPRESS: IS SET JUST AFTER THE OPIUM WARS, DURING THE EARLY PHASE OF THE CIVIL WAR BETWEEN THE KUOMINTANG GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA AND THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA. THE FINAL PHASES OF THIS WAR IS REFERRED TO AS THE CHINESE COMMUNIST REVOLUTION (1945 -1949).