Coursework Three: Dominant versus Counter Cinema: Comparison

Contemporary cinema is significantly dominated by Holywood films, which seem to continue their success until today. Bordwell, Staiger and Thompson claimed that during the period between 1917 and 1960, the filmmakers have created a distinctive style (so called 'Holywood style'), which has a pragmatic character, because of its global dominance. They also mention that all filmmakers face a decision regarding which way to go, either to accept the 'Holywood style' and follow it or subvert it consciously.

Peter Woolen makes here a point between these two different kinds of filmmakers by defining them as belonging to either dominant or counter cinema. Both of them are characterised by seven features, which help to identify the differences between both cinemas. In case of dominant cinema, he calls them the  'seven deadly sins' or in counter cinema - 'seven cardinal virtues'. 

To help to understand the difference between these two approaches, three examples of films are used to illustrate that: 'Halloween' (1978) directed by John Carpenter and ' The Silence of the Lambs' (1991) directed by Jonathan Demme as the classic Holywood films and 'Inglorious Bastards' (2009) directed by Quentin Tarantino as the one that subverts that classical style.

Holywood Classic Film   versus     Auteur Film                                                        (Domiant Cinema)                    (Counter Cinema)

1. Narrative transivity  versus  narrative intrasivativity 

The main difference here is that films from dominant cinema have a more 'straightforward' structure than the counter cinema films, as they use the casual chain: exposition, complication and resolution. This is achieved through the continuity style and its editing techniques. In case of counter cinema films, they challenge the continuity editing, as they tend to use episodic construction' and it very often provides rhetoric, rather than narrative. 

In 'the Silence of the Lambs' the director has based his techniques on Alfred Hitchock through the cross-cuting technique. To get a better idea of this, one of the scenes in 'Halloween' illustrates this. While we see  Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) sitting in a class and then we are moved to a scene with Tommy Doyle (Brian Andrews) leaving his school, which happens in the same time as the previous one. The opposite pattern can be noticed in 'Inglorious Basterds' where audience is moving in time from scene to scene. 

2. Identification versus estrangement 

In Dominant Cinema, the viewers can establish an emotional relation with the character and therefore identify themselves with them. In case of Counter Cinema, it is connected with the character's alienation and therefore it is distancing the viewers from them.

It is worth to note that the filmmakers use the ‘point of view’ shot to create audience identification with characters in the film.At  the beginning of ‘Halloween’ the audience can see through the eyes of the Michael Myer’s eyes, while he commits his first murder on his older sister and then the camera draws back at the end of the scene to deliver the final shock, the ability to see the children’s eyes from the other perspective, after he killed. Similarly, in ‘Silence of the Lambs’, the sequence of the serial killer 

stalking Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster).

An opposite example is reflected in the final scene in the 'Inglarious Basterds', which does not let the viewer to identify with one person.

3. Transparency versus foregrounding

Transparency is very typical for the classic Holywood films, as the film is a seamless flow of images, which creates a fantasy product, someone's fantasy. To achieve that, filmmakers use a various of techniques to destroy the sense of allusion. In opposite to dominant films, counter cinema concentrates on the production of meaning, as 'the image is given a semantic function within a genuine iconic role'.

In the examples of the Dominant cinema, viewers do not consider these stories as allusion and they easily get absorbed by them. In 'Inglorious Basterds' the filmmaker concentrates on the semiotic signs, which may be understood differently by the audience.

4. Single digesis versus multiple diegesis 

Simplistically saying in Hollywood films everything belongs to 'one world' even if they include such moments as travelling on the other planet, although in case of counter cinema, they tend to have 'more than one world', which is done by using a' film within a film.'

In case of 'Halloween' everything takes place in the same fictional city-Haddonfield and 'Silence of the Lambs', the films take in Quantico, Virginia. 'Inglorious Basterds' takes place during the Second World War and uses a previously mentioned feature by using: the film 'Nation's Pride' (directed by Eli Roth) . 

5. Closure versus aperture

Dominant cinema films are self contained objects and they are harmonised within its own boundaries and Counter Cinema films tend to use such methods as; pastiche, intertextuality or various quotations.

In this case, both examples from dominant cinema differ from each other, as 'Halloween' is the only self-contained film, which was the inspirtation for the other filmmakers, who made its remakes. Although 'The Silence of Lambs' is based on Thomas Harris's book (1988), which questions its belonging to the classic Holywood films.  In 'Inglorious Basterds' the use of intertextuality is very visible, as it inspires and uses the concepts from such films as: 'The Sound of Music' (1965), 'The Dirty Dozen' (1967),  and 'Inglarious Bastards' (1978).

6. Pleasure versus unpleasure 

Holywood films's aim is to entertain their audience and it does not require them to 'interpret' the movie too much, wherea counter cinema tends to provoke their audience and they may create different interpretations of the film.

Undoubtedly, 'Halloween' and 'The Silence of the Lambs' aim to entertain the viewer in many ways, as they easily absorb viewer's attention. Similarly 'Inglarious Basterds' easily entertains the audience, although it uses many provocative scenes, which lead to different interpretations and may not always 'entertain' the audience.

7. Fiction versus reality 

Classic Holywood films tend to depict the fictional characters and the world surrounding them, where 'the oppositional cinema' tends to present something 'real' and has some connection with the real world.

Despite this, all the examples of dominant cinema and counter cinema present fictional events, the 'Inglorious Basterds' relate to the Second World War history by various means, such as the previously 

mentioned reference to Eli Roth's documentary.


To summarise, filmmakers tend to choose either one of the approaches in creating their films, although sometimes it seems that certain features of the films suggest that they both conform and subvert the classic Holywood standards and techniques.



Videos:

Dirty Dozens (1969): Trailer. Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 3rd of March 2013]

Halloween (1978): Trailer. Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 3rd of March 2013]

Halloween (1978): Various Scenes. Available online from YouTube 
[Accessed on 3rd of March 2013]

Halloween (1978): Opening Scene. Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 3rd of March 2013]

Inglorious Basterds (2007): Trailer. Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 3rd of March 2013]

Inglorious Basterds (2007): Final Scene. Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 3rd of March 2013]

Nation Pride: Behind the Scenes. Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 3rd of March 2013]

The Silence of the Lambs (1991): Trailer. Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 3rd of March 2013]

The Silence of the Lambs (1991): Scene. Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 3rd of March 2013]

References:

Definitions from Goldberg's website [Accessed on 3rd of March 2013]

Demirbas, Y., 2008. Towards New Understanding of Games: Auteur Game Criticism. Available online from a website.
[Accessed on 27th of February 2013]

Dominant Cinema and Counter Cinema website [Accessed on 27th of February 2013]

FAQ For 'The Silence of Lambs' website [Accessed on 27th of February 2013]

Film Lesson Plans website [Accessed on 27th of February 2013]

Fower, C., 2002. The European Cinema Reader. London: Routledge.
Available online from Google Books [Accessed on 27th of February 2013]

'Inglorious Basterds' Analysis website [Accessed on 27th of February 2013]

More Helpful Film Vocabulary website [Accessed on 27th of February 2013]

Coursework Two - What makes an Auteur? – What makes a filmmaker an Auteur?

The concept of an Auteur in film refers to a film made by a person who is also the primary author of the work from the French for ‘author’. Unsurprisingly, the concept developed in post-liberation France which found its cinemas swamped by previously banned American films.  French audiences were overwhelmed by films about which they knew next to nothing. As result of seeing these films for the first time, in effect on a blank slate, French critics claimed to see certain recurring themes and motifs from the various directors. That suggested, to film critics, that certain directors, through the use of certain techniques which occurred in many of their films were actually ‘creating’ an individual style comparable to that of an author (auteur) in literature.  The critics were thus able to see a directors work as a whole in conceptualising a visual authorship in their directorial methodologies and idiosyncraticies.  There are many filmmakers whose films represent the auteur qualities in them the individual characteristic of the filmmakers’ individual style and approach to the ‘literature’ of visual style is apparent. In these films, the director becomes the screenwriter.

An excellent, and admittedly obvious, example is the director Woody Allen as an archetypal example of the director-auteur. Most of his films include auteur qualities, such as repetitive themes and motifs, recurring images and autobiographical elements. To understand better Allen’s auteur qualities, it is worth looking at three of his films: 'Take the Money and Run' (1969),  'Bananas' (1971), and 'Annie Hall' (1977).

Some rights reserved by A.Currell

In these films Allen was director, screenwriter and (for the first time in Take the Money and Run) protagonist, which allowed him to premier his popular 'Woody Allen’ character (Girgus 2002). This highlights the domination of the major aspects of the filmmaking process by one man, the director-auteur, Woody Allen. In particular, Allen is the leading American comedic filmmaker and therefore he is known for his distinctive sense of humour, which can be illustrated in his films. Good examples include the ‘Bank Robbery’ scene in 'Take the Money and Run', the ‘Court Scene’ in 'Bananas' and the ‘Easter’ scene in 'Annie Hall'.

Sam Girgus, in his book, makes the important point that ‘Allen and much of contemporary critical theory should work well together because he concentrates so intensely on the place and situation of women, the role of psychoanalysis, and the social construction of art forms.’

                                                  

 (Click here to see 'Take the Money and Run' trailer)

The first theme, which is common in his films, is that Allan uses psychoanalysis. Therefore the characters he is playing are usually ‘weirdoes’ and ‘outsiders’, who are going through a psychological journey during the film. In 'Take the Money and Run', he stars as Virgil Starkwell, who is presented as a ‘lame duck’ and, likewise, in 'Bananas', Allen plays Fielding Mellish, who is a ‘broke and clumsy fool’ and, somewhat in a departure from the norm, Allan as, Alvy Singer in 'Annie Hall', plays Alvy Singer, who is presented as a New York intellectual obsessed with death. These three characters played by the actor significantly change during the film and to achieve that Allen uses visual images and language to present their psychic instability and confusion (Girgus 2008).

In his films, Allen ‘personalizes’ his stories with his own life and persona (as an actor – thereby combining director-auteur and actor), as François Truffaut in his essay remarks ‘a true film auteur is someone who brings something genuinely personal to his subject instead of just producing a tasteful, accurate but lifeless rendering of the original material.’ Such autobiographical elements are apparent in Bananas and Annie Hall, where Allen relates to his own personal life or to significant people in his life. In Bananas the examples can easily be seen, as the main character was born on the same day as the director (1 Dec. 1935) and a ‘Felini-esque’ dream sequence in which the main character dreams that he is carried on a cross through Manhattan by a group of monks, which relate to his religious origin, as being Jewish.  This almost surely a reference to his supposed inspiration - Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries. In Annie Hall, he relates too this Jewish identity although the significant thing to note is that Allen took the name and the key character in this film from the actress Diane Keaton (Allen was in love with her), who claimed that the film presents an idealized version of her. Even the name of the film is related to her name, as she was born as Diane Hall and ‘Annie’ was one of her nicknames.

These three films demonstrate that Woody Allen is an excellent example of an auteur filmmaker, whose qualities are visible in his films as a result of his use of, and references to, to the author’s own personal experiences and his aspirations to the work of other American and European directors. Sam Girgus called Allen ‘a legend in his own times’. His films are considered outstanding masterpieces, because they were the result of the director-auteur controlling the whole ‘creative’ process of filmmaking.




Videos: 

Take the Money and Run (1969): Trailer.Available online from TCM
[Accessed on 1st of March 2013]

Take the Money and Run(1969): Bank Robbery Scene. Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 1st of March 2013]

Bananas (1971): Court Scene. Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 27th of February 2013]

Bananas (1971): Therapy and Dream Sequence. Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 27th of February 2013]

Bananas (1971): Trailer. Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 21st of February 2013]

Annie Hall (1977): Easter Scene. Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 27th of February 2013]

Annie Hall (1977): Trailer. Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 20th of February 2013]

Wild Strawberries (1957). Available online from YouTube
[Accessed on 27th of February 2013]

References: 

Caughie, J., 1988. Theories of Authorship. London: Routledge. Available online from Google Books [Accessed on 3rd of March 2013]

Gilks, T., 2012. Bananas. Every Woody Allen Movie. Available online from www.everywoodyallenmovie.com  [Accessed on 3rd of March 2013]

Gilks, T., 2012. Take the Money and Run. Every Woody Allen Movie. Available online from www.everywoodyallenmovie.com [Accessed on 3rd of March 2013]

Gilks, T., 2012. Annie Hall. Every Woody Allen Movie. Available online from www.everywoodyallenmovie.com [Accessed on 3rd of March 2013]

Girgus, S., 2002. The Films of Woody Allen. 2^nd edition. New York: Cambridge University Press. Available online from Google Books [Accessed on 3rd of March 2013]

IMD website [Accessed on 27th of February 2013]


Leung, R., 2007. Q&A: Diane Keaton. Available online from Google Books
[Accessed on 2nd of March 2013]

Moran, M., 1999. The Problem with Auteurism. Intro to Film Studies. Available online from
Google Books [Accessed on 27th of February 2013]

Coursework One - Defining moments in cinema pre-1930s

Films pre-1930s can be roughly split into two categories, those from the Silent Era, and those after the development of sound with moving pictures.

Notable films from the silent era

Edison: The Kiss (1896)

This short clip is a scene recorded by Thomas Edison from a musical call The Widow Jones. It shows one of the first kisses recorded on film. This film, along with another recorded by Edison two years earlier of a woman dancing, were to spark the debate about censorship in motion pictures.
Source: Bacall. First Kiss in Cinematic History from Classic Movie Gab, 2010.

Continuity of scene

Come along, do! (1898)

This quaint film gives an idea of the continuation of a scene, because up until this point, scenes were static but a new sense of movement was introduced which would reflect a natural continuation of scene. We first see a couple outside, and then we see a new shot of the inside of the gallery. But instead of being two disparate shots, they link together in a continuation of the scene. This film was produced by R.W. Paul.
Source: Brooke, Michael. Come along, do! from BFI Screenonline, 2003-12.

The Sealed Room (1909) 

This entertaining, but rather brutal film, is an example of parallel editing, one of many techniques used in film production even today invented by D.W. Griffiths. The particular feature used here is specifically called cross-cutting. The movie shows a the scene of the jealous king sealing up his wife and lover from two angles, but edited in a continuous fashion whilst flipping from each viewpoint.

Source: Link, Trevor. The Sealed Room from Journed by Frame, 2011.

La Pêche aux Poissons Rouges (1895)

This is a French film, the translated title is 'Fishing for Goldfish'. Although this film is earlier than the previous three, it is important because it comes from the Lumiere brothers in France. They developed the Cinematographe after being influenced by the work of Edison and his team. The Lumiere brothers are considered the 'founding fathers of modern film' because they had developed a system that could be shown to more than one person via a large screen. So the brothers are thought to have created the first ever cinema.
Source: Dirks, Tim. The Lumiere Brothers and the Cinematographe from Filmsite.

Moving away from the silent era

Undoubtedly - and one which we can relate to in this day and age - the major turning point in film production was the invention of recording sound and film together, rather than the days of films being silent or accompanied by a live piano, orchestra and/or singer.

The Jazz Singer (1927)

This film features Al Johnson and uses the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system developed by made by Warner Brothers. This was a fundamental step in the history of film-making which brought new opportunities to producers. The Jazz Singer is thought to be the first feature film to use synchronised film and sound, but it is actually the second. A film made by John Barrymore called Don Juan (1926) used the same Vitaphone system, but never made any success. 
Source: Dirks, Tim. The Jazz Singer, Film Review from Filmsite.