Canvas Post 10 : Japan

In chapter two of The Cultures of American Film, the main focus is the establishment of studios. As demand for films rose in the early 1900’s, production companies needed to expand; this lead to the creation of large scale studios.

This paper was prepared for Introduction to Film History, Module 1 Homework Assignment, taught by Professor Stephanie Sandifer.

Film has revolutionized the world as we know it. In the current day and age film is quite advanced. You can watch movies with special effects and insane resolution there were never thought possible before. But film has not always been this way. Over the decades since around the 1900s when the first film was made there been amazing advances in technology and in acting. An examination of the past hundred or so years will show the amazing advances film has taken to come to what we know of it today.

In cinema’s early days, the film industry was based in New York, the nation’s theatrical center. Most movies were being filmed in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, and Florida. However, by the 1920’s, southern California had become the leading film capital due to its cheap land and labor. Films gained their popularity after Vaudeville actors striked in 1901. This left theaters scrambling for acts and films became the main event. Silent films were widely popular in the early 1920’s and were usually accompanied by live piano or organ music. Talking-pictures were first introduced in 1923, but did not become popular until 1927.

Early cinema is often referred to as a progression to narrative cinema, Tom Gunning would argue that it was not a progression but had its own purpose and coined the term The Cinema of Attractions in his essay ‘Now you see it, Now you don’t’. This is the concept that a large quantity of the first film makers produced films that were more about the spectacle, most of the films leading up to 1900 reflected the fascination with technology and how things happened rather than why. Gunning noted that there were three assumptions of film; the general ideas that people had about the timeline of film and where it would end up. There is the cinematic assumption, the idea that film was ‘restricted to the technological reproduction of theatre’ (Gunning T.1993) early cinema was primitive and only a practice for what was to come. The narrative assumption is that film is ‘only important as it is a predecessor to a more engaging and effective form of film,’ (Gunning T. 1993) this suggests that narrative cinema is the natural form of film. The final assumption is the idea that ‘cinema only truly appeared when it discovered its mission of telling stories.’ (Metz C. 1974) These assumptions all encompass the idea that narrative is the end form of film. In this essay I am going to discuss Tom Gunning’s theory of The Cinema of Attractions and the differences between them and narratively driven films.

Sergeant Louis zamperini from WWll stated ¨Where there´s still life there's still hope¨ he stuck with it will spending three years in a Japanese prison camp. Louie and mine okubo were both held against their will by japan and the U.S.A in complete different condition and under different circumstances. In spite of the Japanese and American governments to make POWS and Japanese-American internees feel invisible, they use these acts of dehumanization and isolation to regain their self-worth and dignity.

Jacob Braunstein History of Film Professor Carman 2 December 2014 Film Noir’s Influence on Contemporary Cinema In the 1940’s to late 1950’s, the stylized film noir conquered Hollywood. This dark cinema was reflected through the tough economic times due to the Depression and WWII. Three decades later, film noir has resurfaced and is being used ever since.

The film industry has continuously changed since its inception due to rapid technology advancements. Camera technology has been a key factor that has influenced the growth of filmmaking. The first motion picture in the world was produced in the early 1880s, and the first public screening occurred ten years later. It didn’t take long for the quality of films to improve as new filmmaking equipment emerged. Ever since the first movie was produced, the film industry has been continuously changing in response to emerging filmmaking technology. Introduction of digital photography and digital data storage along with the development of internet significantly influenced the film industry (Barsam, 2015). These technologies contributed

Soviet cinema has a significant contribution to the world’s film history. The years after the October Revolution in 1917 bring many economic difficulties and political changes to the newly formed USSR, which also affected film production. The nationalization of the film industry, Kuleshov experiments, and the support from the government mark some of the most important phases that influenced the progress and development of the Soviet film. Even though used as medium of propaganda, the cinema popularity

Portrait of an Arhat (Rakan) was created in Edo period of the Japanese art culture. This period started in 1615-1868 when culture expression started to really blossom for the Japanese culture (Singer). From statues, lavish paintings, and religion the art speaks vibrant vibrations. This culturally diverse period gets its name from the city of Edo, known as Tokyo modern day. Which became the headquarters of the government when Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542 – 1616) unified the country (Department of Asian Art). The Tokugawa regime was started in 1603, when the emperor, in “recognition of Ieyasu’s supremacy on the battlefield”, appointed him shogun. Shogun is the highest military position you can carry in Japan (Singer). After this Japan had strict laws on not using motor vehicles were put into place. Going into the 1630s, contact with the outside world was stopped through “official prohibition of foreigners” (Department of Asian Art). Around 1720 Edo had a population of “more than one million residents having more population than London or Paris at the time” (Singer). According to Art of Edo Japan Kyoto, was city of temples and shrines. It was the leading center of arts and crafts production with a population of close to 400,000 (Singer).

The movements of German Expressionism and Japanese pre-war cinema produced trends greatly influenced by its historical context. These contexts contributed to shaping their own stylistic styles captured throughout the theme, mise-en-scene, and cultural ideologies. Although these two movements occurred in fairly similar time periods, they both occurred in different parts of the world which had a fundamental role in generating key contrasts between these movements. Both occurring in pre-war periods, a striking similarity existed between the two; they both displayed the economic instabilities. Both subtly exhibited the internal anxieties that the individuals faced in the differing societies. German Expressionism had the stylistic forms that in turn captured distorted images or grotesque style to convey an abstract sense of reality throughout 1920’s. On the other hand, the Japanese pre-war cinema expressed the humanistic family by displaying their everyday struggles of the lower middle class known as the “common people” during the 1930’s. Although these movements were individually unique throughout their distinct stylistic devices and ideologies, they essentially came together during this time period to help transform the art of national cinema.

Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998) was one of Japan’s most important film directors of the twentieth century. His work spanned over fifty years and included a broad range of genres from historical epics to gangster dramas. His films not only told interesting stories but also broke new ground. Many of his innovations were technical, such as his use of the long lens, his penchant for shooting with multiple cameras, and his virtuosic editing. Other innovations were tied to his emphasis on details within his films, such as elaborate period costumes and sets, western music, stunning location shots, and detailed miniature sets.

The beginning of the motion picture industry can perhaps be traced back to a mid seventeenth century invention called the “ Magic Lantern.” Dutchman Christiann Huygens is arguably the inventor of the “Magic Lantern.” Over two centuries later, Leland Stanford hired Edward Muybridge to attempt to capture the complete motion of a horse galloping to win a bet. Stanford’s theory was that all four legs of the horse leave the ground at the same time. He was correct. This was the huge step in bringing motion pictures to life, and then in 1890 Thomas Edison and William Dickson developed and tested the Kinescope. The major factors that lead to the development of the motion picture industry were the usage of the “Magic Lantern” and innovations by Thomas Edison; the motion picture industry was developed in terms of the need for technological innovations and narrative structure, and Hollywood has played a major role in the culture of the motion picture industry through the years.

Asian cinema is refer to film from East Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, and South Asia. What make asian unique is faces, languages, their own traditional costumes and also geophysical location. In the early silent film era, the first short film produced is in Japan called Bake Jizo and Shinin no Sosei from 1898. In the forms of chinese martial arts, emerged in 1920s in Shanghai. Popular with Wuxia ( swordplay) and Gongfu ( kung fu ).While in the early sound era, earliest sound film is including indian filmmaker released Alam Ara by Ardeshir Irdani, it was the first indian talking film in 1931. Following cinema of Japan, which start to released their film in U.S theatrical. However all of the film received increasing censorship. After the world war II, is considered as Golden Age in asian cinema, Japanese filmmaker starts to emerge without limitation or rules from West. Then there were 3 director that emerged which is Mizoguchi, Ozu popular with comedy drama and Akira Kurosawa who

The history of film began in the 1890s, when motion picture cameras were invented and film production companies started to be established. Because of the limits of technology, films of the 1890s were under a minute long and until 1927 motion pictures were produced without sound. The first decade of motion picture saw film moving from a novelty to an established large-scale entertainment industry. The films became several minutes long consisting of several shots. The first rotating camera for taking panning shots was built in 1897. The first film studios were built in 1897. Special effects were introduced and film continuity, involving action moving from one sequence into another, began to be used. In the 1900s, continuity of action across successive shots was achieved and the first close-up shot was introduced . Most films of this period were what came to be called "chase films". The first use of animation in movies was in 1899. The first feature length multi-reel film was a 1906 Australian production. The first successful permanent theatre showing only films was "The Nickelodeon" in Pittsburgh in 1905. By 1910, actors began to receive screen credit for their roles, and the way to the creation of film stars was opened. Regular newsreels were exhibited from 1910 and soon became a popular way for finding out the news. Overall, from about 1910, American films had the largest share of the market in Australia and in all European countries except France.