exam 1 film studies (weeks 1-4)

early steps of film

• shadow puppets

• camera obscura/pinhole cameras

• 1802-39: development of photography

• 1878: The Horse in Motion

• 1882: introduction of celluloid as a medium

• 1888: first recorded short films (Roundhay Garden Scene survives)

• 1902: first color movies 

celluloid

• developed in 1882

• standard material used for films up until 1950s

• early form of plastic

• inexpensive

• more durable than earlier alternatives

• now causes archival issues because it deterioates

silent film era (1890s-1920s)

• film becomes more than a novelty

• lots of experimentation

• development of a narrative

• films accompanied by recorded soundtrack or live music

• art films are already being made, especially in Europe

• first movie stars (e.g. Clara Bow)

international cinema in the 1910s-20s

• japanese pure film movement urges move away from theatrical standards

• german expressionism focuses on emotion rather than realism (e.g. The Cabinet of Dr Caligari)

• french impressionism is early form of avant-garde film

• soviet union develops propaganda films

U.S. golden age: mid. 1920s-mid. 1940s

• escapism

• 1927: The Jazz Singer (first commercial movie with sound)

• 1930: Hays Code introduced

• 1932: Technicolor camera invented

• first full length musicals

• the late 30s and the 40s have a darker tone

Hays Code (1930-68)

• set rules about what you could and could not show in films

• put into place after a couple of public scandals in the industry

• several states had censorship boards

• adapted by Hollywood voluntarily to avoid further government censorship

• covered topics like alcohol, sex, and who would be allowed to win in the end

• enforced to different degrees at different points and lost some of its bite by the late 50s

the 1950s

• age of prosperity and consumerism

• start of the cold war

• the “big five” studios lose their monopoly

• more and more households have televisions

• color becomes standard

• stars like Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, James Dean

Psycho and its director

• Alfred Hitchcock had been directing since 1925

• Hitchcock: thriller, adventure, comedy, and romance

  • best known for suspense

• weekly anthology program, Alfred Hitchcock Presents

• most recent film, North by Northwest (1959), had been a critical and box office success

• detail-oriented, controlling, and cunning

• liked dark comedy

psycho in pop culture

• characters in the Halloween and Scream franchises named after Sam Loomis

• theme song used in Finding Nemo for the fish-killer Darla

• soundtrack and dialogue sampled in several songs

• American Psycho

• Norman Bates becomes a cultural reference when talking about creeps

Alfred Hitchcock

• had been directing since 1925 - wanted to prove he could still surprise people

• did mixtures of thriller, adventure, comedy, and romance

• celebrity in his own right

• weekly anthology program, Alfred Hitchcock Presents

• most recent film, North by Northwest, had been a critical and box office success

• detail-oriented, controlling, and cunning

• liked dark comedy

Janet Leigh (Marion Crane)

• reasonably big name

• had appeared in comedies, dramas, and adventure stories

• easy to buy as a protagonist

Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates)

• homosexuality had been a problem for his image

• had a singing career

• studio had him do romances

• All-American guy?

money hurdle in Psycho

• low budget by Hitchcock standards ($807,000 = $8.5M today)

• used his television crew to save money

• Hitchcock took a percentage rather than his usual fee

censorship hurdle for Psycho

• technically fulfills requirement that criminals be punished

• you never actually see Marion and Sam naked in bed

• black and white to reduce effect of gore

the shower scene in Psycho

• designer Saul Bass brought in for this scene and title credits

• 45 seconds, 52 camera angles, 78 shots

• caused panic in audiences

• borrows from earlier Hitchcock films (ex. Rear Window, in which a killer cleans a bathroom)

• took seven days to film

• Janet Leigh used a body double, but the scene still took up about a third of her shooting time 

themes and plot points in Hitchcock films

• ordinary people in unusual situations

• false accusations

• unclear identity

• confinement

• voyeurism

• overbearing mothers (ex. The Birds)

story structure

• Marion commits a crime

• Marion tries to get away with a crime

• Norman becomes aware of Marion’s crime

• Marion is the victim of a crime; Norman is the perpetrator

• Norman tries to get away with a crime

• Lila, Sam, and Arbogast investigate a crime

• several crimes are revealed

witnesses and voyeurs: watching people in Psycho

• Marion terrified by potential witnesses

• Marion eavesdrops on Norman and his mother, but she can’t see them

• Norman: seems like a potential witness, but actually a voyeur

• painting: Susanna and the Elders

• shower scene makes audience part of Norman’s voyeurism

• by the end, audience is desperate to see Mrs. Bates

Psycho: decay, Hollywood, and the American Dream

• satirizes American naivety and sends up the 50s ideal of domesticity

• Marion is going west to California

• Money she steals is for a house (a wedding present)

• small town that has dried up

• Norman “going through the motions”

  • changes sheets to avoid damp

  • if he left, house would be “damp and cold as a grave”

• Norman carries Marion and Mrs. Bates bridal style while they’re wrapped in pale shrouds

imagery and symbolism in Psycho

• birds

• marriage

• cars

• water

• reflections

• straight lines

• mirrors 

building tension in Psycho

• lots of shots of observation, surveillance, etc.

• lots of frantic movement - escape attempts

• items close to discovery: the money, the car

• music from credits recurs

  • when Marion is running away

  • when Arbogast is looking at all the motels in Fairvale

  • Norman’s version: similar tempo and feel, but with higher violins 

Psycho’s influence on horror and thriller genres

• elevates horror above B-movies

• establishes that horror is scarier when close to home

• invents the slasher

• both showcases and subverts the “final girl” trope

• presents violence and sex as intertwined

• influences portrayal of trans women and gay men

• introduces villain with variant of dissociative identity disorder

• encourages horror to reflect on audience voyeurism 

Psycho’s influence on film

• pioneered the twist ending

• demonstrated the power of exploiting audience expectations

• pushed the boundaries of allowable sex and violence on screen

• taught people the value of clever angles and cuts 

1960s

• films reflect disillusionment

• movies play with audience expectations

• more directorial control and rise of auteur theory

• films address societal debates about issues such as war, race, and gender

• later in the decade, color becomes almost universal 

new Hollywood and auteur theory

• 1950s: French New Wave emphasized experimentation and artistry

• 1962: first use of term auteur theory in English to translate a French phrase

• auteur theory: a director is the author of films they make. and those films can be analyzed together (like books or paintings by the same creator)

• theory applied to older films like Citizen Kane (1941)

• 1960s-80s: New Hollywood / American New Wave directors

  • Stanley Kubrick (Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey)

• term auteur now often used to describe director with distinct vision and style

• theory is controversial

MPAA ratings

• early to mid-60s: debate about how the Hays Code should be enforced

• replaced at the end of 1968 by ratings system:

  • G: safe for general audiences

  • M: mature audiences

  • R: restricted (no admission of persons under 16 without guardian)

  • X: no admission of persons under 16

• takes into account violence, substance use, profanity, nudity, and sex

• has undergone various changes, including addition of PG-13 rating in 1984

• subject to criticism

struggle with highest ratings

• debate about age for restricted or no-admission-under movies

• can’t advertise widely for X/NC-17 movies

• X/NC-17 considered a death sentence for a movie

• production companies pressure MPAA into rating their movies R (ex. Warner Brothers in 1973 for The Exorcist)

• MPAA does not copyright X, and pornographers start using it

• X becomes almost synonymous with porn, and this gives rise to XX and XXX on adult content as a way of advertising how explicit it was 

1970s

• filmmakers experiment with new freedoms after Hays Code

• developments in sound technology and special effects

• “Blockbusters”: Star Wars, Jaws

• slashers

• blaxploitation

• rising pornography industry 

1980s-90s

• advent of VCR

• rise of franchises: Jaws, Star Wars, Indiana Jones

• action movies (Jackie Chan, etc.)

• special effects-heavy films like Jurassic Park and Titanic

• one-ups the 70s in violence

• overall less dark in tone

• comedies are popular 

2000s-2010s

• 1999: Star Wars, Episode 1: A Phantom Menace uses lots of CGI

• increasing use of CGI (ex. introduction of de-aging filters)

• increasing digital cinematography over use of physical film

• early 2000s: documentary films become commercially viable

• ends golden age of romantic comedies

• streaming changes entire landscape

• industry rocked by #MeToo

film and culture: 9/11 terrorist attacks

• catalyst for US-Iraq War and US-Afghanistan War

• caused swell of patriotic sentiment and corresponding willingness to submit to censorship and invasion of privacy

• stoked existing Islamophobia

• media culpable for encouraging damaging narratives about Islam

• increased interest in superhero movies, as well as movies about previous conflict in the Middle East (e.g. Argo)

2020s so far

• streaming landscape keeps changing

  • COVID

• biggest ongoing debate is use of AI

• 2023: Writers Guild went on 6-month strike over the use of ChatGPT to write scripts

• 2025 Oscar nominations controversial over AI (The Brutalist, Emilia Perez)

key moments

• 1950s-60s: color becomes standard in films

• 1968: replacement of Hays Code by ratings system

• 1971: first commercial VHS player

• 1970s: films begin to use CGI for effects

• 1999-2010s: rise in digital over film

• 2010s-present: advent of streaming

• 2020s: increasing debate about AI 

key terms

• message: what something (e.g. a work of art) communicates

• medium: type of communication (e.g. film, book, blog)

• form: the medium and the choices made within it

content

what happens in the story

• characters

• plot

• setting

• themes

never completely separate from form 

form

how the story is told

• lighting 

• editing and scene order 

• camera angles and framing

• acting choices

• soundtrack 

communicates meaning to the audience

relies on audience familiarity with the “language” and pattern’s it’s using

can play to or subvert audience expectations 

how film manipulates time and space

• slowing or speeding up footage

• cutting between scenes

• using camera cuts between different sets to make them seem like one location

pulp fiction context

• 90s movies

  • continued the violence of the 70s and 80s

  • looked back to earlier periods in film (e.g. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare)

  • lots of crime thrillers and action movies, ex. Heat (1995)

• Pulp Fiction came out in 1994 and overlapped in theaters with Forrest Gump, the Shawshank Redemption, Jurassic Park, and The Lion King

• Quentin Tarantino’s second feature film

• success of Reservoir Dogs (1992, budget $1.2M) let Tarantino make Pulp Fiction (budget $8.5M)

quentin tarantino (director)

• had previously worked at an adult theater and a video store

• brought people to Pulp Fiction from previous project (Reservoir Dogs, 1992): Andrej Sekula (cinematographer); David Wasco (production designer); actors Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel, and Tim Roth

• key features of his style:

  • black humor

  • blending genres

  • non-linear narratives

  • stylish look

  • extreme violence

key figures from Pulp Fiction

• cinematographer Andrzej Sekula: American Psycho (2000)

• production designer David Wasco: La La Land (2016)

• music supervisor Karyn Rachtman: Clueless (1995), Get Shorty (1995), Romeo + Juliet (1996)

• editor Sally Menke: Tarantino considered her a collaborator

• Linda R. Chen: helped Tarantino edit screenply

• Roger Avary: co-writer who allowed Tarantino to take sole writing credit 

postmodernist films

• term hard to define; best understood from characteristics

• explore relationship between form and content

• blend styles and genres; mix “highbrow” and “lowbrow” art 

  • ex. Blade Runner (1982)

• challenge narrative conventions, especially chronology

  • ex. Psycho (1960), Mulholland Drive (Lynch, 2001)

• meta-reference: the film reminds the audience they’re watching a movie

  • ex. Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail (1975), Scream (1996)

non-chronological narrative

• non-chronological structure lets film group scenes thematically 

  • end to Jules and Vincent’s stories

• dramatic irony: when the audience knows more than the characters

• seems chaotic, but must be carefully planned

• careful use of details to tell the audience when a particular scene takes place

  • Mia thanking Vincent for dinner when he comes to talk to Marsellus about Butch’s double-cross

  • the Bonnie Situation starts with “Yes, you did, Brett!”

actual order of events in Psycho

1. (a long time ago) Captain Koons gives Butch his father’s watch

2. Vincent and Jules go retrieve the briefcase

3. Marvin’s death and the clean-up

4. the diner robbery

5. Marsellus and Butch make a deal

6. Vincent takes Mia out to dinner and she almost dies

7. Butch wins the fight

8. Marsellus gives orders that Butch should be found

9. Butch retrieves his watch and encounters Vincent, Marsellus, Zed, and Maynard

editing and effects

• editing: choice and arrangement of audio and visuals

• effects: audio or visuals added in post-production

• editing and effects can draw attention to themselves or try to be inconspicuous

pulp fiction as a collage

• collage: art created by combining pieces of other art to form something new 

• genres: western, crime thriller, comedy

• music is a blend of genres and time periods

  • opening credits blend “Misirlou” (rock version of old folk song, 1962) with “Jungle Boogie” (funk, 1974)

• pulp fiction: cheap magazines popular in the first half of the 20th century

  • covered lots of genres, including western and crime

  • known for sensationalism, inl. sex and violence 

references in pulp fiction

• Jackrabbit Slim’s

  • waiters in costume

  • the dancing and overall feel recall John Travolta’s role in Grease (1978)

• costume

  • drug dealer’s wife wears Flintstones shirt

• scenes from movies

  • Fabienne’s “motorcycle movie'“: The Losers (1970)

• dialogue

  • Captain Koons mentions Winocki, a character from Air Force (1943)

• scenarios

  • homage to Psycho when Marsellus sees Butch at the crosswalk

improbable events and butterfly effects in pulp fiction

• vincent’s drug dealer is out of balloons - Mia thinks heroin is cocaine

• main shoots entire clip at Jules and Vincent without hitting them

• Butch and Marsellus happen to see each other, have fight in worst possible shop

• Vincent dies because

  • Jules retires

  • Marsellus goes to get breakfast

  • Butch makes himself a pop tart

the briefcase in pulp fiction

• macguffin: an object that characters wants to possess or control, which exists solely to drive the narrative and not for its own sake

  • old concept, but term popularized by Hitchcock

• Kiss me Deadly (1955): briefcase full of radioactive material which kills someone who opens it

ever-present violence in pulp fiction

• butch semi-accidentally kills his opponent

• vincent shoots marvin accidentally

• marsellus shoots random woman

• vincent shot after coming out of bathroom

• yolanda is eager to shoot someone 

humor in pulp fiction

• characters under-or over-react to events

  • “Aw, man, I shot Marvin in the face.”

  • “You got to appreciate what an explosive element this Bonnie situation is.”

• dramatic moments mixed with lowbrow comedy

  • Vincent’s three trips to the bathroom 

  • Captain Koon’s story of how the watch was smuggled

• absurd and unlikely events

• gap between dialogue and events 

influence of film and director in pulp fiction

• reminder that independent films can be profitable

• use of non-chronological narrative structures

  • Go (1999)

  • Christopher Nolan (ex. Memento in 2000, Oppenheimer in 2023)

  • Glass Onion (2022) and other mysteries

  • Arrival (2016)

• Violence combined with bright colors, flair, upbeat music, and sometimes a vintage feel

  • Jennifer’s Body (2009)

  • John Wick series (2014 and following)

  • Birds of Prey (2020)

narrative

• fiction where events are joined by cause-and-effect

• non-fiction movies (documentaries) often have a narrative, in which they try to explain real events using cause-and-effect

• some movies blur lines of fact and fiction

• experimental films sometimes have narrative

genre

• usually talked about in terms of one medium (e.g. film)

• sometimes discussed across media (ex. discussing rom-coms)

• class of artistic works that share common characteristics for form and/or content

  • culture they come from

  • time they’re produced

  • narrative structure

  • tone

  • audience

  • techniques (camera shots, lighting, etc.)

  • color palette

different ways of defining genres

• animated: uses drawings or models (clay, CGI, etc.)

  • distinguished by not being live-action

  • can include many topics and styles

• spaghetti westerns: westerns produced in europe in the 1960s

  • distinguished by setting, story types, and place/time of production

• fantasy: includes elements that break understood rules of nature

  • distinguished by inclusion of this one thing

  • can include many stories, settings, styles, tones 

pros of genre

• offers audience some chance of knowing if they’re interested in a film

• easy way to group films for browsing or thinking about

• gives critics a way to discuss throughlines in films across time

• encourages generic self-reflection

• allows for fun meta stuff

cons of genre

• can result in formulaic movies

• critics may fail to recognize cross-genre influence

• ghettoizes certain genres 

tropes

• narrative device that recurs across stories

• some tropes are genre-specific

• it’s not possible to write a story without tropes

• ex: Psycho

  • temptation of normal person by money

  • person with unhealthy attachment to parents

  • serial killers as hunters/predators/trappers 

westerns

• setting: the American frontier in the 19th century

• towns are often small, isolated, and impoverished

• characters: solo gunslingers, large gangs of criminals, hardworking townspeople, and lawmen

• themes: greed, honor, freedom, cycles of violence 

• formal elements: 

  • close-up on fighters’ faces

  • long shots of people travelling

  • music heavy on guitar, fiddle, and brass instruments 

  • sounds of nature (wind, rain)

  • use of silence at key moments 

the gunslinger

• often a morally grey character like a bounty hunter or a vigilante

• skilled warrior

• at home on the frontier

• usually rides alone; often a man of few words

• sometimes works with law, but often not a part of either the gangs or the government

• roams, doesn’t stay in one place

• often has a beautiful lady love interest

western tropes

• saloons and drunkenness

• trains and train robberies

• duels: two men face off with guns, often in the middle of town

• barmaid or prostitute with heart of gold

• cruel and ruthless gang leader

• fighting over treasure 

science fiction

• stories that feature advanced technology and/or encounters with alien races

• extremely hard to define coherently in terms of theme

• common themes: hubris, greed, dangers of technology, human desire to control nature

  • ex. Jurassic Park (1993)

• sometimes focus on power of human mind and spirit

  • The Martian (2015)

• alien encounters often represent dangers of an imagined other

  • Alien (1979)

• may emphasize universal aspects of the human experience, such as loss

  • Interstellar (2014), Arrival (2016)

narrative

story told in a film, the events that take place

• usually based on cause and effect

• a character has a goal, but meets obstacles

narrator

who tells the story

narration

how the story is told

• can be omniscient or limited

diegesis

world of the story: characters, setting, events

diagesis

• a diagetic element is one which is part of the story

• a non-diagetic element is one which is not

• we often discuss this with diagetic and non-diagetic sounds

• sounds made by the characters, or which the characters can hear, are diagetic

• sounds that cannot be heard in the world of the film are non-diagetic

• similarly, we can talk about diagetic and non-diagetic narrators 

fourth wall

• the imaginary wall between the actors and the audience

• represents the boundary between fiction and reality

• can be broken for many reasons

• often done for comic effect