World Cinema and the History of Cinematography - Essay Example

WORLD CINEMA by The of the The of the School The and where it is located The Date It is impossible to imagine modern life without cinema. People all over the world are totally involved in this branch of art and follow the major events, which influence the future development of this area. The aim of this work is to reveal the essence of the content “world cinema” in terms of different aspects and to analyze the rate of its impact to the world industry of art and culture. Cinematography is a branch of human activity, which deals with the creation of moving images. Cinema was invented in the late XIX century and became extremely popular in the XX century. The concept of cinematography includes the viewing of contemporary fine art, which works are created by means of moving images. Film industry is a branch of the economy, which deals with the production of films, special effects for movies, animation, and shows these works to the public. The films are made with the usage of special equipment, which has been developed for a long period of time. They are shown in cinemas and on television in the form of video cassettes and video discs. The emergence of high-speed Internet provided the opportunity to download video files from different websites, as well as to view them online. Watching of films has become the most favorite activity of children and adults. Modern world of cinema created the masterpieces that could not leave anyone indifferent. The work of talented actors had the most significant contribution to the works of cinematography. Cinema takes the unique place in the life of the society. It also refers to the means the mass media, which fully seize the viewers perception and make the audience identify themselves with the characters of the film. The character of the cinema reveals in its full impact on the deepest layers of human consciousness. The viewers today are immersed in the world of dreams, which touches all strings of their souls and at the same time reflects the most pressing issues of the day. After going through the grand salons of Paris, finding the sound and color and withstanding the competition of television and video, films continue to bring people together and give them a magical flickering illusion, which can merge the emotions, passions, hopes and dreams of millions. None of the arts is able to transfer the events of human daily life, its habits and customs with such certainty. Even the greatest actor can fail in the movie, because talent is not the only necessary factor for this area. The success of the film depends upon the spirit of the time and is predetermined by the way, how adequately the actors express the mood of contemporary society. The idols of the public of the "golden era" of cinematography, Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart, Jean Gabin and Gary Cooper, Greta Garbo and Bette Davis - will remain in the history of human consciousness forever. These actors were the inspiration for the millions cinema lovers of XX century. The history of cinematography “It is used to be accepted to see the history of early cinema as a story of inevitable progress towards a form of aesthetic perfection represented by classical Hollywood” (Chapman, J., 2003, 56). Historically, the cinema was the result of the task of securing a tangible medium of continuous images of movement and their projection on the screen. For the solution of this problem it was necessary to invent several technical appliances: a flexible light-sensitive film as well as the device, which rapidly changed the images. The first non-combustible, flexible, photosensitive film was invented by Russian photographer I. Boldyrev in 1878-1881 and in 1887 by the American inventor G. Goodwin. In 1889 Eastman created the inflammable celluloid film. The first chronophotography machines were designed in the 80s of the XIX century. The beginning of the development of cinematography started with the public demonstration of short films. In October, 1895, M. Składanowski demonstrated his "Bioscope" in Berlin, and in December, 1895, the Lumiere brothers demonstrated their "motion picture" in Paris. During the 1896-1897, short films were demonstrated in all capitals of the world. In Russia, the first show was held in May, 1896 in St. Petersburg, then in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod. The first trial session of "living pictures" of the Lumiere brothers was held in Kiev Noble Assembly, in January, 1897. A few months later the famous theater entrepreneur, Nikolai Solovtsov, bought a movie camera and began to travel with it around Kiev, the cities of Volga and Siberia. The first filming of the Russian Empire was made by the art photographer A.Fedetskim in Kharkov. The technical process of movie making depended greatly on the imaginary and creative skills of the cinematography patrons. “Films produce their illusion of continuous movement by passing a series of discrete images in quick succession in front of a light source enabling the images to be projected on a screen. Each image is held briefly in front of the light and then rapidly replaced with the next one” (Nowell-Smith, G., 1997, 6). The process seems to be simple for the ordinary film-lover, but the quality of the pictures produced for the auditory required more skillfulness and inventory characteristics from those, who created the films. “For most of its first two decades film was an essentially international medium. Films crossed national boundaries and there was widespread international exchange of ideas and technical developments. Stylistic innovations made in one country were quickly seen and adopted elsewhere” (Chapman, J., 2003, 76). The popularity of cinema was so high that the new achievements could not be concealed, as the other film makers caught the ideas instaneously, in order not to miss the success of the new innovation. The development of world cinematography was filled with the events, which indicated its status as the most popular and required area. “While the cinema was thus evolving its characteristic organizational and economic form, film-makers were discovering teqnique and authentic principles” (Robinson, D., 1973, 31). The era of silent movies The first short films (15-20 meters, about 1.5 minute demonstration) were mostly documentaries, but in the comedic dramatization of the Lumiere brothers reflected the characteristics of inception of feature films. The short length of the first films was presupposed by the technical imperfection of film equipment, however, in the 1900s, the length of the films increased up to 200-300 meters (15-20 minute demonstration). The improvement of projection equipment contributed to a further increase of the length of movies, as well as acting and directing. The popularity of the area of cinematography ensured its economic profitability, which also influenced the artistic value of the films. This period is the time of formation of different genres of the movies, which contained the artistic originality for each specific set of its visual techniques. The highest peak of the prosperity of the "silent" movie comes in the XX century, when it was recognized as an independent form of art. “Inasmuch as the creation of the cinema as a social and artistic institution took place in Europe and America, the image that cinema has traditionally projected to the world has been one that reflects these western cultures. The development of editing, a camera movement, and, later sound gave film a language, a meaning and a definition” (Teshome, G., 1982, 1). The emergence of sound “The very earliest plans for moving pictures made the obvious extension to imagining their association with sound” (Montagu, I., 1964, 57). The appearance of the sound in the world of cinematography, predetermined the great increase among the film lovers. This process was characterized by the inventions, which were the results of different experiments and researches. Before the beginning of the XX century, Thomas Edison tried to synchronize the “kinetoscope” with the phonograph, but failed. William Dixon, the partner of Edison claimed that in 1889 he had already managed to create a device that was able to reproduce the sound and image simultaneously. However, there his words were never proved. In the beginning of cinematography development there were some attempts to create sound films in a variety of countries, but the inventors faced two major problems: the difficulty in synchronization of picture and sound, and the lack of volume of the latter. The first problem was solved by recording of the sound and images on the same source, while the solution of the second problem required the invention of low-frequency amplifier, which occurred only in 1912. As a result, a patent for the system of sound film, which was later considered as ​​a sound revolution, was obtained in 1919, but the production company did not pay any attention to the importance of sound in the movie in order to avoid the increase in the cost of production and distribution of films as well as the loss of foreign-language markets. Nevertheless, the worlds first sound film was shown in September, 1922 in Berlin. In 1925, Warner Brothers, who were at that moment on the verge of bankruptcy, made the investments to the risky sound project. In 1926, Warner Brothers released a few sound films, consisting mostly of the musical numbers, but they had little success with the audience. It came only with the movie "The Jazz Singer", which in addition to musical numbers of Al Jolson contained also his short remarks. The day of the premiere of "Jazz Singer", which took place in October, 1927 is considered to be the birthday of the sound film. The emergence of color “In recent years technical developments have been so rapid that cinematography is now only one of many systems which record and store pictorial information” (Leslie, J., 1953, 15). The first color film was “Annabelle Serpentine Dance”. It was produced in black and white in 1894, and in 1895-1896 hand-painted with a brush. The first commercially successful color film "Journey to the Moon", created by Georges Méliès in 1902, was also painted by hand. In 1899, the photographer Edward Raymond Turner patented the process of shooting color film. In 2012, the staff of the National Museum of the media and technology in Bradford found a color video of Edward Turner, dated by 1902. Earlier, the oldest color film was dated by 1909, created with the help of Kinemacolor technology. "Kinemacolor" was invented in 1906. It was the first system in the world of color film, which had a commercial success. However, in comparison with the films, painted by hand, it lacked the colors, as it was created by the mixture of two primary colors, instead of three: red-orange and blue-green. This technology was used in the film “A Visit to the Seaside” (1908), which was the first color film shown in the cinemas. It also included the production of such films as “Checkmated” (1910) and “With Our King and Queen Through India” (1911) - the first color feature-length documentary film. The other works of "Kinemacolor" technology were: «The World, the Flesh and the Devil» (1914) and «Little Lord Fauntleroy» (1914). «The Gulf Between» (1917) was created on the basis of "Technicolor". “Hollywood” has become a convenient shorthand for the American film industry, even though the label tends to used imprecisely and often inaccurately” (Chapman, J., 2003, 95). The first two color Hollywood film was released in 1922. It failed to impress the audience, while, the subsequent works such as "The Wanderer emptiness" (1924), achieved great success. “Movies were no longer the entertainment of the lower classes alone; the great American middle class had finally embraced film, and it was they who filled the lavish movie palaces, decorated in Oriental, Moorish, or Baroque style and manned by platoons of uniformed ushers, which had proliferated across the nation” (Leish, W., 1974, 45). Types of cinematography The development of cinematography predetermined the emergence of different types of films. The most popular of them are: Feature films. Works of cinema can be divided into (playing) and documentary (non-playing) movies. The first shows the events played by the actors, while the second one filmed the actions, which take place in the real life. However, such a division is often criticized due to the fact that there are documentaries, in which the real events are changed during the play of the actors. It is necessary to distinguish between the documentary and art historical films. Short-length films. At first glance, the short-length film is different from the full-length one only by its duration (generally 15-20 minutes). However, it is only the first impression. The content of the short-length movie should comprise the entire spectrum of audience experience that exists in the full-length one, which is a very complicated work. From the artistic point of view, short film is a separate kind of Motion Picture Arts and cinematic creativity. Documentary films. Completely separate phenomenon of cinema art is a documentary (non-fiction) movies. Documentary film is based on the real events. The first shooting of the documentary movie was made at the beginning of the emergence of cinematography. Nowadays the documentary films are firmly established in the art of cinema all over the world and often shown on television. The themes for the documentaries concern the interesting events, cultural peculiarities, scientific facts and hypotheses, as well as the life of famous people and the community. The masters of this kind of filmmaking often arose serious philosophical generalizations in their works. “While the emergence of the narrative film may not have been inevitable, nevertheless its dominance requires explanation” (Chapman, J., 2003, 58). Educational films are intended to be shown in schools and other educational institutions. The experience show that the educational material, represented in the form of a movie, is perceived much better than the same material retold by the teacher. The point here is, apparently, in the visualization of the object of study. The practice of showing educational films is very common in the United States. “The history of film, then, for Munsterberg, functions through various forms of cinema containing narratives or stories formulated primarily to activate the minds of spectators as earlier forms of visual non-kinetic art do for our contemporary culture” (Gazetas, A., 2000, 20). The nature of cinema socializes people and unites them. A movie is able to cover almost all areas of social consciousness, but its essence is predominantly based on mythology. It means that people learn about the world by immersion into a complex structure of archetypes and phenomena through their emotional research. The movie reinterprets the myths in the spirit of each new decade, introducing them into the sphere of human consciousness. The history of cinema art is an entire epoch. Flickering light from the projector, causes people to experience their life as something much more valuable and significant. The truth is, that the movie does not substitute the reality for the imaginary world, but mythologizes the private and public life of the individual, making every action and movement of the human soul unique. This is the way the script-writers create masterpieces of film industry. “Once it has ceased to be merely an idea, the plot or plan of a film is almost always embodied in a script” (Spottiswoode, R., 1951, 14). They take the plots for their stories from the real life and describe the possibilities of its development, making these events important unlike the usual daily routine. World cinema became the notion of nobility and applied a high status in the society. The development of this industry is proved by the annual ceremonies held. For example, the annual film festivals, which are considered to be the most important events of the year. Shohini Chaudhuri in her book “Contemporary World Cinema” wrote: “Film festivals are important to considerations of “world cinema”, as they facilitate cultural exchange between different “national” cinemas and provide an alternative global distribution network” (2005, 5). The term “world cinema” is not only the industry created by the prosperous and talented people, it is also the hundreds of years of inventions and hardworking, which include the incomparable devotion of those who spend all their life for the sake of art. References Chapman, J., 2003. Cinemas of the world, London: Reaction Books Ltd. Chaudhuri, S., 2005. Contemporary World Cinema, Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Gazetas, A., 2000. An introduction to world cinema, New York: MacFarland & Co. Kenneth, W. L., 1974. Cinema, New York: Newsweek Books. Leslie J. W., 1953. Principles of Cinematography. A Handbook of motion picture technology, New York: Morgan and Morgan, Inc., Publishers. Montagu, I., 1964. Film World. Great Britain: Penguin Books Inc. Nowell-Smith, G., 1997. The Oxford History of World Cinema, Oxford University Press. Robinson, D., 1973. The history of world cinema, New York: Stein and Day Publishers. Spottiswoode, R., 1951. Film and its techniques, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Teshome, G., 1982. Third cinema in the third world. The aesthetics of liberation, Michigan: Umi Research Press. Read More