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Cinema Notes
Cinema - Mr. Fleck (fleckwil@libertyk12.org)
Syllabus
This is a half-year senior elective English course. Students will be exposed to the history of American films, who makes them, how they're made, and cultural issues surrounding the "Art Form of the 20th Century." Reviews, in and out of class, are required, as is a project/research paper and a final exam. Final exam exemptions are granted to students with an 85 or better course average, subject to teacher discretion.
Grade: 12
Length: 20 weeks
Evaluation: written film reviews, essays, reports
Prerequisites: Successful completion of English 11
Credit: ½
Course Objectives
Students who successfully complete this course will learn about significant films, trends in film, and how to write clear, coherent texts/film reviews. In addition, they will be able to research a topic, document sources, and organize supporting details.
In evaluating student performance, the instructor will use the following guidelines:
Reviews/papers should contain a clearly stated or implied thesis.
Reviews/essays should demonstrate good overall structure..
Students should participate fully in the revision process.
The course will develop the following skills:
the ability to write clear, grammatically correct sentences
the ability to write coherent, unified, well-developed paragraphs
the ability to communicate opinion
the ability to revise and edit
the ability to quote, paraphrase, and summarize effectively
the ability to develop and write forceful arguments
Students will be given viewing assignments throughout the semester. Students are responsible for all films viewed, and are required to submit reviews on the assigned dates. Conferences to discuss the student's work and progress may be scheduled by the student or the instructor.
The course will consist of:
Some study of the history of film
Discussion and development of ideas, often based on outside viewings
The examination and explanation of different styles of film
Required Texts
All required reading materials will be provided by the instructor.
Work Required Outside of Class
Expect the equivalent of one period of work--to read and to write, research, and revise reviews--for every period in class.
Evaluation Method
Students will complete 18 to 24 assignments during the course; these will count as 70% of the course grade. These assignments will include (but may not be limited to):
--in-class film reviews
--outside class film reviews
In addition, a Cinema Personality Project of 8-12 pages (1500-2000 words) in the proper format is required, and will count as the final exam (by school policy, final exams count as 20% of a student's overall course grade).
The final 10% of the student's grade will be a consideration by the instructor of the student's in-class writing, punctuality, and participation.
Late Work
Instructors will penalize students who hand in late work or late drafts of work. The instructors will penalize 10% of the value of the assignment per class day that work (or drafts of work) is late. Extra-credit assignments are not given to replace missing class assignments.
Plagiarism
The LHS English Department takes plagiarism seriously. Students who hand in work not their own (either in whole or in part), or who fail to cite properly their sources, will receive a zero for the assignment, and may be denied credit for the course.
Attendance Policy
Board of Education policy allows no more than 12 absences for semester courses.
Classroom Expectations
Students are expected to exhibit good manners during all lectures, film viewings, and classroom activities.
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Film Technology (Focus 1)
1. Synchronized Sound (begins 1927) - voices and lips moving together
Uses include: sound effects (SFX) - punches, shots, screams, roars, explosions,
Engines, "Mother Nature," etc.
Music (AKA soundtracks)
2. Pyrotechnics (explosions/fires)
3. Special Effects (SPFX) - cartoons, paintings, miniature sets, 3-D (puppet) animation, "Go-Motion," robotics, space ships, etc.
a. Special Make-Up Effects: creatures, masks, hydraulics, werewolves, aliens, characters, "gore" props, etc.
b. Computer-Generated Effects ("CG"; begins c. 1982): breakthrough - The Terminator 2; culmination - Jurassic Park
4. Stunts ("Gags") - fights, jumps, driving/piloting, falls, doubling, etc.
5. Optical Effects (transitions/contrasts)
a. fades - one image goes dark or vice versa; fade in, fade out
b. dissolve - one image melts into another
c. split-screen - two or more images on the screen at the same time
d. double exposure - two or more images bleeding into each other (ghost effect)
e. process/matte shot - live action and SPFX combined
6. Editing:
a. cuts or shots - strips of film containing one image or camera move (AKA "takes")
b. montage - a series of shots indicating the passage of time, often accompanied by music (Rocky III)
c. scene - a series of shots put together in order to help tell a story, like a chapter in a book
d. jump cut - moving quickly from one scene to the next
e. continuity - editing to match and achieve the illusion of a smooth flow
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Story (Focus 2)
Any good movie, like any good novel, short story, or TV show, should have the following:
Setting - where and when a movie takes place
Plot - what happens in a movie
Conflict - problem(s) in a movie
Character - people or people-like things in a movie
--active
--passive
--dynamic
--static
--protagonists
--antagonists
--supporting
Climax - "high point" where the conflict will be solved
Resolution - the end
Creating Characters
Most characters are based on models.
--real people
--other characters
--historical figures
--mythological figures
--archetypes
--stereotypes (e.g., mad scientists, wicked stepmothers, etc.)
--any combination of the above (a la Indiana Jones)
Personification - giving human characteristics to non-humans (e.g., many Disney films)
Judging a film character
--what the say
--what the do
--what others say about them
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Movie People (Focus 3)
In most cases, directors get credit for the success or failure of a film. And, in most cases (though there are exceptions), this isn't fair, since directors work with a host of others to make a film.
PRODUCERS often dream up a project, sell it to a studio or a backer, get the money, hire the talent, watch costs (line producer), etc. Very hands-on producers oversee things on the set and involve themselves in post-production and distribution, too.
DIRECTORS oversee the entire production; they block out and interpret the script, approve sets/costumes/make-up/effects/SFX, rehearse actors, decide camera angles/lenses/movements, oversee editing/dubbing/SPFX work, etc. A director must know everything there is to know about making films. Directors range from technically competent quarterbacks to genius personalities who affect filmmaking forever (Hitchcock, Welles, Curtiz, Spielberg, Scorcese)
SCREENWRITERS write the script (screenplay). Most screenplays are collaborations. On the set, the script is monitored by Continuity People who make sure that whatever is shot is "matched."
CINEMATOGRAPHERS or CAMERAMEN are experts in lighting, photography, lenses, color, etc. They generally oversee a camera crew.
EDITORS physically cut the film, working closely with the director as to the timing of each shot. There can be a crew of editors, and editing can make or break a film.
ACTORS perform the script (acting is a later Focus, so there's much more on this to come).
PRODUCTION DESIGNERS work with SET DESIGNERS to create the look of a film by scouting locations, overseeing prop designs, etc.
MAKE-UP ARTISTS make actors camera-ready. They can do straight beauty work or create characters. Often, they oversee a crew.
MUSICAL DIRECTORS generally write, arrange, and conduct/perform a motion picture score (the recording is called a soundtrack). Scores range from simple (Halloween) to all-out orchestral pieces (Star Wars).
SOUND EFFECTS, well, duh!
SPECIAL EFFECTS, or the Anything Goes department; miniatures, mattes, robotics, CGI, explosions, Nature-Gone-Wild, etc.
OTHERS:
--lighting (works w/ Cinematographer)
--acting coaches
--carpenters/painters/plumbers
--grips
--stunts
--musicians
--gophers ("go-for's")
--set managers ("Quiet on the set, everbody! Quiet!!")
--props
….And hundreds more!!
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Acting (focus 4)
"If someone can say to me about one of my performances, 'I liked when you did this or that,' I know I have to change it." -- Alec Guiness (the original Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars)
ACT: (v) 1. To play the part of; impersonate, as in drama. 2. To perform as if on a stage; feign the character of. 3. To pretend.
CREATING CHARACTERS
Character - people or people-like things in a film/play
How Character is Revealed
--speech (what they say)
--action (what they do)
--hearsay (what other characters say about them)
How Actors Create Character
--research
--observation
--speech patterns/diction/dialect
(includes pitch, rate, pace, and volume of the voice)
--imitation
--physical movements/body sculpting (like DeNiro, Will Smith, or Hilary Swank training
like boxers)
--make up
--emotional empathy
Ways of Creating Character ("Schools of Thought")
First rule of Movie Acting: Less is more! The camera magnifies.
The opposite is true for stage acting.
The Personality Actor (The Studio System)
Roles chosen for you on the basis of your looks, voice, personality; aka "typecasting"
(e.g., Schwarzenegger when he was acting; Stallone, Chris Farley, Martin Lawrence, Tyra Banks)
The "Just-Do-It" School
Performances created externally: costume, accent, make-up, etc., which help actor create the illusion of believability/reality. (Harrison Ford: "Acting is more craft than art.")
The Stanislavski Method of Character Creation (aka "The Method")
--creation of character through empathy; the idea is that emotion can't be faked, and actors must "become" their characters (Pacino, DeNiro, Washington, Diane Keaton)
Named for Konstantin Stanislavski (1863-1938), Russian actor/director/author and founder of the Moscow Art Theater; brought to like plays of Gorky and Chekhov.
--toured US in 1920s; teaching conveyed an emotional reality in acting never seen before
--"The Method" catches fire in the 1940s in NYC (Lee Strassberg's Actor's Studio),
transfers into Hollywood in the 1950s thanks to Brando, Clift, Taylor, and even
Marilyn Monroe)
The Method involves recall of past experiences to drum up realistic emotions and the submerging of the actor's personality into the character's. Can be time-consuming.
Actor to Hitchcock: "What's my motivation?"
Hitchcock: "Your paycheck on Friday."
SCREEN ACTING: The trick is to be larger than life while being true to life (as in real life….how do you make an impression without being annoying?)
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LON CHANEY, JR.
Sample Cinema Final Exam Research Paper
Mr. Fleck
Jan. 12, 2008
BIOGRAPHY
One of the most under-rated actors of Hollywood's Golden Age, Lon Chaney, Jr. (born Creighton Tull Chaney on Feb. 10, 1906) may be more popular now than ever before thanks to video, TV, and the internet.
Chaney's father was the famous horror star Lon Chaney, Sr. His mother was a singer named Cleva Creighton (for whom young Chaney was named). When Chaney was a baby, his parents divorced and his father got custody of him (that was very rare for a father in those days). The divorce was bitter, and the boy was told that his mother was dead (she wasn't-Beck, Heroes of the Horrors, pp. 226-228). When he found out that his father and stepmother had been lying to him, Chaney searched for his mother. But when he found her, she wanted nothing to do with him (A&E Biography, “Lon Chaney Jr: Son of A Thousand Faces,” Feb. 2000).
Chaney, Sr. didn't want Creighton to be an actor. But when he died in 1930, his son quit the boilermaker business and tried to make it in pictures. Big, handsome, and fairly talented, he had some small parts in quite a few films. But stardom didn't come. Eventually, he changed his name to Lon Chaney, Jr. “They starved me into it,” he said (Beck, p. 231).
Chaney had an affair with actress Patsy Beck in the late 1930's that ended his first marriage (he had been married to Dorothy Hinkley, and they'd had two sons: Lon and Ronald). He married Patsy in 1937 (A&E Biography).
Chaney's first starring role came in 1939 when he played Lennie in Of Mice and Men (based on the John Steinbeck book). His performance was believable and touching, and it won him the respect of Hollywood producers and directors (Beck, p. 235). But his biggest role was yet to come.
Universal, home of Dracula and Frankenstein, cast Chaney as The Wolf Man in 1941. The film was a huge hit and made Chaney a star. Universal followed up by putting him in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, Son of Dracula, The Mummy's Tomb, and House of Frankenstein (Mank, It's Alive!, pp. 96-98).
When horror films became unpopular in the late 1940's, Chaney was dropped by Universal and eked out a career as a character actor (notably in High Noon). His growing alcoholism destroyed his looks as well as his reputation. Directors and producers were wary about hiring him because he often would be inebriated by early afternoon (Beck, p. 170).
Toward the end of his life, Chaney was wracked by a series of ailments (including throat cancer-the illness that had killed his father). He died of a heart attack in July of 1973 at the age of 67 (Mank, p. 170). His body was donated to the medical school at UCLA as a specimen (Mank, p. 171).
Chaney made more than 150 films in a career that spanned 37 years (www.imdb.com). Most of them were forgettable. But, thanks to home video and cable TV, his famous turns as the Wolf Man and Lennie are easy to find for a new generation of film fans. The Wolf Man is even being remade with Benecio Del Toro in Chaney's role (www.imdb.com).
REVIEWS
The Wolf Man (1941)
What famous horror classic, panned by reviewers upon its initial release in December of 1941, looks better and better every year? The Wolf Man, starring Claude Rains, Ralph Bellamy, Evelyn Ankers, and Lon Chaney Jr. as the hapless Larry Talbot.
The story is a familiar one: Larry, the son of esteemed Sir John (Rains) returns home to Wales after many years in America, is bitten by a werewolf (well played by Bela Lugosi), and becomes a werewolf himself. What's extraordinary is the fact that the film can be so effective today.
The biggest reason for this is the acting. Some classic films, pre-Actor's Studio, look pretty pathetic when it comes to realistic characterization. Not so The Wolf Man. Curt Siodmak's excellent screenplay (likened to a Greek Tragedy) provides a vehicle for the stars to be at their best, and, boy, do they shine: Rains a tower of strength as the proud father; Ankers hitting just the right note as the torn female lead; Maria Ouspenskaya as the Old Gypsy Woman whose words prefigure Larry's doom....
But the standout is Lon Chaney Jr. A definite mixed-bag as an actor, he is perfect here--and this is a role calling for the use of all human emotions (unlike later Wolf Man films, where Talbot's head-pounding becomes monotonous). In fact, seeing The Wolf Man recently has convinced me that Chaney would have made the ideal screen Phillip Marlow (and I'm not forgetting Bogie)--big, tough, surly, yet charming when need be (a highlight early in Wolf Man is Larry's attempts at flirting with Ankers; Chaney does the surprisingly playful dialogue with just the right touch). There's no doubt that his performance would merit accolades even today.
This is not to say that there aren't problems in the film. The continuity is off in a number of places (Chaney transforms into the Wolf Man at one point wearing a sleeveless undershirt; in the very next scene, he's wearing a neatly buttoned Dickey), and there's a scene or two that's completely inexplicable (e.g., why DOES the Wolf Man pass out when caught in that trap?)....
But overall, the pace, lighting, cinematography, excellent musical score, and strong story propel the film through these rough spots, the 70-minute ride leaving the viewer wanting more. For these reasons, The Wolf Man is a classic.
Of Mice and Men (1939)
Director Lewis Milestone's classic version of John Steinbeck's 1937 novel is, in many ways, an important part of film history.
To begin with, Of Mice and Men is the first American film to feature what's called a “pre-credit” sequence (in other words, the film begins before the title credits appear). While this is common today, it was a unique thing to do back in '39.
The film-released by United Artists--is also notable for putting Lon Chaney, Jr. on the map. Chaney had kicked around films since 1932 with limited success. His performance here made him a star, and it should have-his interpretation of Lennie as a giant, childlike strongman with a heart of gold is very influential, and sets the standard for this type of part ever since.
The story is familiar to anyone who ever went to high school. George Milton (Burgess Meredith) and Lennie Small (Chaney) are itinerant workers in placeCityDepression-Era StateCalifornia. All they want is a place of their own, but the mentally-challenged Lennie continually keeps them in hot water. Things really take a turn for the worse when they meet up with the flirty young wife (Bette Field) of a jealous rancher named Curly (Bob Steele).
Director Milestone keeps the action moving. A particular standout is a fight scene between Lennie and Curly; Milestone captures the fast-paced viciousness of Steinbeck's writing perfectly here. Truthfully, aside from the fact that Steinbeck's salty language had to be cut from the screenplay (due to the Production Code at the time), it's difficult to imagine a more faithful adaptation of the book (Gary Sinise's 1992 remake, though a fine picture in its own right, takes significant liberties with some of the supporting figures).
Of Mice and Men, then, is a clean, fast-paced, faithful adaptation of an American classic. And, as such, the film is an American classic in its own right, well worth seeing.
Son of Dracula (1943)
One of a series of horror films produced by Universal in the early 1940's, Son of Dracula is a cut above the average thanks to the direction of Robert Siodmak.
The story is fairly simple: Count Dracula (Lon Chaney, Jr.) emigrates from Transylvania to the placecountry-regionU.S. in search of fresh blood. When people begin to die, Professor Lazlo-a specialist in occult matters (J. Edward Bromberg)--puts the puzzle together. Add to the mix a woman who wants to be a vampire (Louise Albritton), and you have an entertaining (if predictable) plot (exactly why the film is called Son of Dracula is the biggest mystery, since Chaney is playing the old fella himself, not his son).
Siodmak (brother of Universal screenwriter Curt Siodmak) keeps the action moving and atmospheric. Tops is the scene where Albritton's spurned boyfriend (John Payne) burns Dracula's coffin; Chaney's angry intensity-and a great musical score by Hans J. Salter-really give the vampire a fitting send-off.
In the lead role, Chaney is surprisingly good. Generally adept at gaining an audience's sympathy, most industry wags would've said that a portrayal of the cold-blooded variety was beyond him. But Chaney rises to the occasion and delivers a chilling, violent take on the character that pre-figures Christopher Lee's definitive version years later. The then-six-foot, 220-pound Chaney has been picked on over the years for being too beefy to be a vampire, but where, exactly, is it written that vampires have to be skinny?
He's matched every step of the way by Bromberg, Albritton, and Frank Craven as a sympathetic local doctor. While it's no classic, Son of Dracula is an entertaining, absorbing, and fairly intelligent thriller.
CHANEY'S IMPORTANCE
For some, horror film stars begin and end with Lon Chaney, Sr., Bela Lugosi, and Boris Karloff. Lon Chaney, Jr. leaves many of these critics cold. Admittedly, at his best, Chaney lacked the originality of his father, the charisma of Lugosi, and Karloff's raw talent as an actor. When not at his best (The Frozen Ghost, The Black Castle), he could be downright embarrassing to watch.
But if given a good script and a part he could sink his teeth into, Chaney was capable of creating a believable, sympathetic, compelling character-a Lennie, a Wolf Man, a Martin Howe (High Noon, 1952). That these characters-and Chaney's performances as these characters-have stood the test of time is enough to keep his memory alive.
Works Cited
Beck, Calvin Thomas. Heroes of the Horrors. placeCityNew York, StateNY: Collier, 1975.
"Lon Chaney, Jr." Internet Movie Database. <http://www.imdb.com>.
"Lon Chaney, Jr.: Son of a Thousand Faces." Biography. A&E. Feb. 2000.
Mank, Gregory W. It's Alive! the Classic Cinema Saga of Frankenstein. placeCityBoston: A. S. Barnes & Company, Incorporated, 1981.
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I will see you at the movies!
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