German Expressionism Investigation

Name of the film: The Golem: How He Came Into The World

Date that it was made: 1920

The name of the filmmaker/director: Carl Boese and Paul Wegener

What makes this film fit into the German Expressionism movement:

a.) Chiaroscuro (Bright colors contrasting dark colors)

b.) Subjective POV (Very defensive of the Jews, maybe cause of racism in Germany?)

c.) Urban setting (Very dark setting and seems to be in the middle of nowhere)

d.) Complex architectural compositions (Stairs at around 3:30)

Has this film inspired any other films, directors, or movements: The Limehouse Golem, a 2016 British film is said to be heavily inspired from the Golem movies. I think there is a chance it could have helped as a sort of propaganda against the Nazi's in World War 2, who's only fear of the Jews was actually the mystical golems.

Name of the Film: Nosferatu

Date It Was Made: 1922

The Name of the Filmmaker/Director: F. W. Murnau

What makes this film Fit into the German Expressionism movement:

a.) The "Birth of Horror"

b.) Madness, paranoia, obession

Has this film inspired any other films, directors, or movements: This has inspired a whole wave of Dracula fans who loves movies like this. You could consider it a movement. There's tons of movies that were made because of this movie, all about vampires or the vampire lord himself.

Name of the Film: Pandora's Box

Date It Was Made: 1929

The Name of the Filmmaker/Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst

What makes this film fit into the German Expressionism movement:

a.) Urban setting

b.) Moved away from marketing to focus on storytelling

c.) Subjective POV

Has this film inspired any other films, directors, movements: According to the video and paragraph, this film inspired upper-class films and was the first film to start with lesbian desire.

Comments

Rear Window, Film Analysis and Audio Study

The entire film is shot in one huge panning scene, and the camera never leaves the room. This makes sense for the start of the movies opening shot just one large pan across the neighborhood, giving us insight into the plot for the entire movie. We get to see each person living in their natural space, and then onward their development through the film. I think it's an amazing feat Hitchcock has completed managing to capture the entire film is one single panning scene. The commentator makes some excellent points, bringing up how Hitchcock creates more suspense by showing us almost as much as the protagonist, and making us feel as powerless as L.B feels throughout the film, unable to move. This makes the film a million times better, and adds excitement and thrill to watching this, and makes us question the main characters sanity. I think that this film was amazing. Some of the shots were very interesting ideas, like when L.B actually became the cameraman momentarily when ...

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The Golden Mean

The golden mean comes from a mathematician named Phidias, who figured out the composition of the "average" human being. To create the golden mean the proportion has to be 0.618 to 1. We saw some interesting examples of the Golden Mean like the Mona Lisa (by Leonardo Da Vinci) and even in Stonehenge. This is living proof that humans have been using the golden mean for centuries. It's also a major factor to why humans are at the top of the food chain, because we have supposed "perfect bodies." The golden mean is also prevalent in many cultural references, including the pentagram. For that reason, that is why the Pentagon is our base for US defense. The golden mean is used so often, wether it be in art, architecture, or even in just human design, it begs the question of why the golden mean is used so often. Well, the answer is simple. It's the best that we've got, and is based on humans. Why would we settle for the rest if we already have the best. :-)

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