Selection of Cultural Activites (18/10/10 - 23/10/10)

Films

12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet, Orion-Nova Productions, USA, 1957)

All That Heaven Allows (Douglas Sirk, Universal International Pictures, USA, 1955)

The Boston Strangler (Richard Fleischer, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, USA, 1968)

Brides of Dracula (Terrence Fisher, Hammer Films, UK, 1960)

The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci, Mars Film, France, 1970)

The Dreamers (Bernardo Bertolucci, Recorded Picture Company, France, 2003)

French Lieutenant’s Woman (Karel Reisz, Juniper Films, UK, 1981)

The Haunted Palace (Roger Corman, American International Pictures, USA 1963)

Kill, Baby Kill (Mario Bava FUL Films, Italy, 1966)

Pickup on South Street (Samuel Fuller, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, USA, 1953)

River of No Return (Otto Preminger, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, 1954)

Sunday Bloody Sunday ( John Schlesinger, Vectia, UK, 1971)

Tenebre (Dario Argento, Sigma Cinematografica Roma, Italy, 1982)

Tulpan (Sergei Dvortsevoy, Pallas Film, Kazakhstan, 2008)


Preliminary Notes: French Lieutenant’s Woman
Further exploration would be Gavin Miller’s and Reisz’s The Technique of Film Editing (1968). I believe it would give insight into the aesthetics of film, though in relation to medium of editing.

Preliminary Notes Tulpan
The objective camera; never subjective shots.
Mise-en-scene – colour scheme: turquoise blue (Subtle, washed out look of film = hardship)
(Allegory) Dying lambs – comment on future of youth in Kazakhstan. Allegory also in The Dreamers (Paris 68' - Marxism/Maoism).
We never see what is desired – Tulpan = significant (unattainable dreams)

Preliminary Notes The Boston Strangler
Influence of father – Animation: Collage/double exposure sequences take place instead of a traditional American montage sequence (convey period of time/information).


Television

‘The Suitcase’, episode six, Mad Men, fourth series, USA, BBCHD, tx. 20.10.2010.
A History of Horror, UK, BBC4, tx. 18.10.2010
‘The Camping Trip’, episode four, The Inbetweeners, third series, UK, E4, tx. 18.10.2010.

Preliminary Notes Mad Men
Complex storylines: narrative arcs encompass all seasons.
Form + Content = Synthesis: Style + Narrative = Cohesive.
e.g. "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword" representation and exploration of girlhood sexuality.


Radio

The Film Programme, 2010. [Radio programme] BBC, BBC Radio 4, 22 October 2010 16.30.

Reading

Brownlow, Kevin. 1968. The Parade’s Gone by... Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California.

Perkins, V.F. 1972. Film as Film. London: Penguin Books.

Sternberg, Josef Von. 1966. Fun in a Chinese Laundry. London: Secker and Warburg.

I’ve been sidetracked this week, so I’ve only re-read a few more chapters of Film as Film but I have been exploring Silent Cinema (in relation to the Open Studies Certificate). I thought I would read Kevin Brownlow’s The Parade’s Gone by... to gain a more appreciative attitude towards silent American cinema.

More importantly, I was overjoyed to receive a copy of Josef Von Sternberg’s autobiography, Fun in a Chinese Laundry. Von Sternberg is one of my favourite film directors. When not trying to decipher fact from fiction, it is significant to note that he does give insight into his own theories on aesthetics, especially the first and the last two chapters.

Week 5: Warwick, Introduction to Film and Cinema Studies (23/10/10)

Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, USA, 1939): a study in Expressionism?
(The growth of the American studio system and development in sound and colour technology)

A screenshot from Gone with the WInd - demonstrarting the dramatic pictoralism.
This shot becomes a motif as it is repeated several time in he film but in diffrent circumstances due to changes in Scarlet's life throughout the narrative. With 'Tara' in the background, Scarlet and Gerald O'Hara are sheltered by the security of an oak tree; representing home.

This week Julia gave us a lecture about the film Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, USA, 1939); not only in is relationship to technological developments, the introduction of colour and sound to American Cinema, but also its relationship to earlier film movements.

We explored the aesthetics of Gone With the Wind and applied its influence to German Expressionism, particularly Murnau, and discussed how its sound and colour design developed on Expressionism’s power to connote meaning visually. The work of Griffith was acknowledged: not only in the subject matter of the civil war, which links in with Birth of a Nation (DW Griffith, USA, 1915), but also early cinema’s pictorialism.  

There was also discussion of other literary genres (e.g. Southern Gothic, Fairytales, Romanticism) and the issue of  authorship surrounding the film; in particular the influence of producer David O. Selznick and Production Designer Williams Cameron Menzies.

I made extensive notes, both from the lecture and the screening. Now that I have got my student card, I am able to login into the student website so I have researched the information that is on there.

As it was a single study of a text, there was little scope for general reading. Further reading consisted of quite specific texts. Though I kept in mind the previous reading I had done on German Expressionism.

As well as screening my own copy of the Gone with the Wind to view in its entirety, I also watched the original (1924) and the remake (1940) of the Thief of Baghdad in consideration of the influence of William Cameron Menzies.

Unfortunately, as the course is about the history and development of narrative cinema we were not able to go into discussion regarding the representation of race in Gone with the Wind. I will hopefully be able to look into the critical debates surrounding this during my own time.

I also explored early colour film both two-strip Technicolor, Mystery of the Wax Musuem (Michael Curtiz, USA, 1933), and three-strip Technicolor: The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, USA, 1939), The Adventures of Robin Hood (Michael Curtiz, USA, 1938), Becky Sharp (Rouben Mamoulian, USA, 1935) and La Cucaracha (Lloyd Corrigan, USA, 1934).

Concerning my assignments, I have chosen Nosferatu (FW Murnau, Germany, 1921) for 500 word shot analysis and “Discuss the ways in which  Battleship Potemkin demonstrates Eisenstein’s theory of montage” for the 2,000 word academic assessment.


Bibliography

Bordwell, David., Thompson, Kristin. 2009. Film History: An Introduction. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Bordwell, David., 1988. ‘Technicolor’. In: D. Bordwell, J. Staiger, K. Thompson, Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960. London: Routledge, pp. 353-357.

Bordwell, D., 2010. William Cameron Menzies: One Forceful, Impressive Idea. [online] Available at: < http://www.davidbordwell.net/essays/menzies.php > [Accessed 23 October 2010]

Higgins, Scott. 2007. Harnessing the Technicolor Rainbow: Color Design in the 1930s. Austin: University of Texas Press, pp. Chapter 7: ‘A Fully Integrated Design: Light and Color in Gone With the Wind’.

Larden, J. (2010). Gone with the Wind: A study in Expressionism?, [Lecture]. Introduction to Film and Cinema Studies. The University of Warwick. Open Studies Certificate. Stone Hall Adult Education Centre, 1083 Warwick Road, Acocks Green, Birmingham,23rd October.

Maltby, Richard. 2003. Hollywood Cinema. 2^nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Robertson Wojcik, Pamela.  2008. ‘Gone with the Wind’. In: P. Cook, ed. The Cinema Book. London: BFI Publishing, pp. 544-545


Filmography

The Adventures of Robin Hood (Michael Curtiz, Warner Bros. Pictures, USA, 1938)
Becky Sharp (Rouben Mamoulian, Pioneer Pictures Corporation , USA, 1935)
La Cucaracha (Lloyd Corrigan, Pioneer Pictures Corporation, USA, 1934)
Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, Selznick International Pictures, USA, 1939)
Mystery of the Wax Musuem (Michael Curtiz, Warner Bros. Pictures, USA, 1933)
The Thief of Baghdad (Raoul Walsh, Douglas Fairbanks Pictures, USA, 1924)
The Thief of Baghdad (Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, Tim Whelan, London Film Productions, UK, 1940)
The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, MGM, USA, 1939)



Image Source:
‘A screenshot from Gone with the Wind...' [online] Available at: < http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.com/?m=200903&paged=2> [Accessed 04 November 2010]

OCA - ASSIGNMENT 1: The Interaction of Media

Adolf, the Superman: Swallows Gold and
Spouts Junk c. 1932 (gelatin silver print);
John Heartfield (1891-1968)

Synoptic Explanation

(I am unsure, as this is an assignment, whether I am able to post it directly to my blog; though a copy has been forwarded to my tutor.  This is why at this moment I am only posting an outline of what I did.)

Technological developments in the late 19^th Century and 20^th Century influenced visual arts practice. Industrial and scientific advancement affected the artists work; either in their use and reference of equipment, materials, methods and production of work. I have chosen three visual artists Stuart Davis, Robert Rauschenberg and Richard Hamilton who have been affected by this change; mainly through the exploration of Pop Art. Though, I also make reference to the work of Raoul Hausmann, John Heartfield and Andy Warhol.
The analysed images are indicated in the bibliography.


  Bibliography

Davis, S. 1924. Odol [Painting].  Museum of Modern Art, New York, United Sates of America.

Odol c.1924. (oil on cardboard); Stuart Davis (1982-1964)

Greenberg, Clement. (1939). Avant-Garde and Kitsch. In: Harrison, C  & Wood P. (eds) Art in Theory, 1900-2000: an anthology of changing ideas. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Hamilton, R. 1956. Just What Is It that Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing? [Collage] Kunsthalle Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.

Hausmann, R. 1919. The Spirit of Our Time [sculpture]. Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, France.

Hausmann, R. 1920. Tatlin at Home [collage]. Moderna museet, Stockholm, Sweden.

Heartfield, P. (1932). Adolf, the Superman: Swallows Gold and Spouts Junk. [Photomontage]. Akademie der Kunste, Berlin, Germany.

Hughes, Robert. 1990. Shock of the New. 2^nd ed. London: Thames and Hudson.

Jones, J., 2003. The Spirit of Our Time - Mechanical Head, Raoul Hausmann (1919) (No. 177). [online] Available at: <http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2003/sep/27/art > [Accessed 23 October 2010]

Macdonald, D., 1964. ‘A Theory of Mass Culture’ From: Mass Culture: The Popular Arts in America. Rosenberg, B. & Manning White, D. (eds.) pp. 59-73. New York: Macmillan Publishing.

Rauschenberg, R. 1964. Retroactive I [Painting]. Wadsworth Athenuem, Hartford, United States of America.

Warhol, A. 1962. Campbell's Soup Cans [Painting]. Musuem of Modern Art, New York, United States of America.

Warhol, A. 1962. Marilyn Diptych [Painting]. Tate Gallery, London, United Kingdom.

Selection of Cultural Activities (11/10/10 - 17/10/10)

Films

Arabian Nights (Pier Paolo Pasolini, Produzioni Europee Associati, IT/FR, 1974)
L’ argent (Marcel L’Herbier, Société des Cinéromans, FR, 1958)
Bigger Than Life (Nicholas Ray, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, USA, 1956)
Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, Universal Pictures, USA, 1935)
Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, RKO, USA, 1942)
Frankenstein (James Whale, Universal Pictures, USA , 1931)
Freaks (Tod Browning, MGM, USA, 1932)
I Walked with a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, RKO, USA, 1943)
Lola Montes (Max Ophuls,  Gamma Films, FR/LUX/West Germany, 1955)
Lover Come Back (Delbert Mann, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, USA, 1961)
The Music Lovers (Ken Russell, Russ-Arts, UK, 1970)
La Règle de jeu (Jean Renoir, Nouvelles Éditions de Films (NEF), FR, 1939)
Shane (George Stevens, Paramount Pictures Corporations, USA, 1953)
The Thirty-Nine Steps (Alfred Hitchcock, Gaumont British Picture Corporation, UK, 1935)


Preliminary Notes: Cat People
Threatening female sexuality – akin to Film Noir?
Entrapment imagery: panther in cage, cat in the box, bird in cage, Irena in her apartment (she also locks herself in her bedroom) = suppressed sexual desires; an external expression of her psyche through mise-en-scène.

Preliminary Notes: Arabian Nights
The use of form in regards to the narrative (layers of interconnecting stories) supports the content of the film and the idea of storytelling from the original source.  


Television

‘Waldorf Stories’, episode six, Mad Men, fourth series, USA, BBCHD, tx. 13.10.2010.
A History of Horror, UK, BBC4, tx. 11.10.2010
‘Home Alone’, episode four, The Inbetweeners, third series, UK, E4, tx. 11.10.2010.


Radio

The Film Programme, 2010. [Radio programme] BBC, BBC Radio 4, 15 October 2010 16.30.

Reading

Perkins, V.F. 1972. Film as Film. London: Penguin Books

- I have been preoccupied with my university application this week so I have been unable to as much extended reading than I would have liked to have done.  Though, I began re-reading V.F Perkins Film as Film. Fantastic reading! Every time I read it, I understand his argument better due to the extended reading I have completed in the meantime.

Week 4: Warwick, Introduction to Film and Cinema Studies (16/10/10)

Keaton and one of the General's  in The General (1926)

The Great American Silent Comics: Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin


I wasn’t late this week, I’ve got my head around the buses.

This week consisted of less of a lecture from Julia as she demonstrated significant elements throughout the screening of The General (Buster Keaton, USA, 1926) and City Lights (Charlie Chaplin, USA, 1931).  Though, she did give us extensive background concerning both comedians.

I personally took notes of the lecture and have printout of the student handbook.

Some specific texts were suggested on the student website, which I have read. They are included on the bibliography. I have also done my own further reading with texts that I have on hand.

Chaplin and Virginia Cherrill in City Lights (1931)

It’s is interesting to see as we are studying the history of narrative cinema through film movements that from the Eisenstein’s visual metaphors (e.g. the non-diegetic objects used in highly symbolic ways) that we experienced last week, we are offered a very different method of communication through American silent cinema. In Chaplin and Keaton, subtle guidance is given through the technical devices (e.g. mise-en-scène and camera placement or movement) to create meaning.  The almost synthesis between form and content, helps create a more cohesive to the narrative; strengthening the means inherent in the text and also making the film seem more ‘natural’.

I have to apologise, I’ve been preoccupied with my university application this week so it has left little time for further reading or screening. Hopefully, I am able before Saturday 23^rd October to read the articles by André Bazin: ‘Charlie Chaplin’ (What is Cinema? Vol. 1), ‘The Myth of Monsieur Verdoux’, ‘Limelight, or the Death of Molière’, and ‘The Grandeur of Limelight’ (What is Cinema? Vol. 2).

Bibliography

Bordwell, David., Thompson, Kristin. 2009. Film History: An Introduction. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. pp. 128-151.

Carroll, Noël. 2007. Comedy Incarnate: Buster Keaton, Physical Humor, and Bodily Coping. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Corrigan, Timothy., White, Patricia. 2009. The Film Experience. 2^nd ed. London: Palgrave Macmillian, pp. 146-148; pp. 340-341.

Eisenstein, Sergei. 1922. ‘The Eighth Art. On Expressionism, America and, of course, Chaplin’ In: Writings, 1922-34 (Selected Works, Volume 1). London: BFI, pp. 29-32.

Krutnik, Frank., Neale, Steve. 1990. Popular Film and Television Comedy. London: Routledge, pp. Chapter  6: Hollywood, comedy and The Case of Silent Slapstick.

Larden, J. (2010). Great Comics of the Silent Cinema: Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, [Lecture]. Introduction to Film and Cinema Studies. The University of Warwick. Open Studies Certificate. Stone Hall Adult Education Centre, 1083 Warwick Road, Acocks Green, Birmingham,16th October.

Neale, Steve.  2008. ‘Comedy’. In: P. Cook, ed. The Cinema Book. London: BFI Publishing, pp. 270-272.


Filmography

City Lights (Charles Chaplin, Charles Chaplin Productions, USA, 1931)
The General (Buster Keaton, Joseph M. Schenck Productions , USA, 1926)
A King in New York (Charles Chaplin, Charles Chaplin Productions, UK/USA, 1957)



Image Sources:

'Keaton and one of the General's in The General (1926)' [online] Available at: <http://www.everymancinema.com/cinemas/standard.asp?SessionID=ehxyyewhn&cn=1&ci=2&ln=1&pi=3061> [Accessed 04 November 2010]

‘Chaplin and Virginia Cherrill in City Lights (1931)’ [online] Available at: <http://kittypackard.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/the-kitty-packard-pictorial-of-the-month-charlie-chaplin/citylights_chaplin/> [Accessed 04 November 2010]

Project 7: The flâneur

Leisure time and Consumerism – The flâneur

The latter half of the 19^th Century brought about the democratisation of art. This was through an increase in leisure time, an increase in disposable income, the genesis of the mass-produced image and the increasing availability, due to falling prices, of technology. This affected all classes, except only the poorest; allowing most the opportunity to view, buy and produce art e.g. photography.

This cultural change was held in conjunction with the development of the department store and shopping as a leisure activity; the beginning of consumerism. With this was the start of a new urban phenomenon, first theorised by French essayist and critic Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867): the ‘flâneur’.

What effect do you think this phenomenon had on the world of the artist in Western society from the latter part of the 19^th Century?

In think this emerging phenomenon (the flâneur) had a great effect on artists in Western society from the latter part of the 19^th Century, especially in their understanding of urban phenomenon and modernity.

Baudelaire described the flâneur as a “person who walks (strolls) the city in order to experience it”. This inclusive philosophical way of both living and thinking, is key for the artist to understand and portray urban life. It also permits the artist the dual role of participating in the urban experience and theoretically remaining a detached observer; while exploring the relationship between the individual and the rest of society.

After the 1848 French revolution, with the Empire being re-established, the bourgeois reasserted order through morals. Baudelaire reacted against this by writing that traditional art was inadequate for the new dynamic complications of modern life; a result of industrialisation.  It was now the artists’ responsibility to be a part and react to this world. The flâneur is both an active participant and has a critical attitude towards the conformity and anonymity of modern life. Now, instead of art being the reserve of the wealthy, the bourgeois had the opportunity to view, buy and produce their own art.

This phenomenon is important to the idea of modernity. Baudelaire’s aesthetic and critical assessment of the flâneur was later developed by Georg Simmel in regards to sociology and psychology. More importantly, the previous paragraph can better understood through Marxist discourse as the concept was adopted by Walter Benjamin. Benjamin saw the flâneur as an urban observer who both experiences the lifestyle and uses their distance as an analytical tool. A product of the industrial revolution, the flâneur is an uninvolved bourgeois dilettante.

With my reading of Sontag last week, I have come to understand that the phenomenon of the flâneur can be applied to photography. Sontag states In ‘Melancholy Objects’ (Sontag, On Photography: 1977) that the photographer is detached but aesthetically attuned to observation and this has its origins in Baudelaire’s middle class flâneur. Thus, a parallel can be drawn between the development of the flâneur and the mass-produced image. Sontag provides evidence for this by drawing attention to the street photography of Paul Martin, Arnold Genthe, Atget and Brassaï.


Bibliography

2010. Flâneur. [online] Available at: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fl%C3%A2neur> [Accessed 03 October 2010]
Sontag, Susan. (1977) ‘Melancholy Objects’ In:  On Photography  London: Penguin Books.


- I am disappointed that not only is there a lack of sources this week, but also that I had resort to Wikipedia for information on the concept of the flâneur.

Selection of Cultural Activites (04/10/10 - 10/10/10)

Films

Calamity Jane (David Butler, Warner Bros. Pcitures, USA, 1953)
C.R.A.Z.Y (Jean-Marc Vallée, Cirrus Communications, CAN, 2005)
The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, USA, 1940)
Heaven Can Wait (Ernst Lubitsch, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, USA , 1943)
Hud (Martin Ritt, Paramount Pictures, USA, 1963)
Jazz on a Summer’s Day (Aram Avakian & Bert Stern, Galaxy Productions, USA, 1960)
Les Enfants du Paradis (Marcel Carné, Pathé Consortium Cinéma, FR, 1945)
Leave her to Heaven (John M. Stahl, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, USA, 1945)
M (Fritz Lang, Nero-Film AG , GER, 1931)
Pillow Talk (Michael Gordon, Universal International Picture, USA, 1959)
The Only Son (Yasijurô Ozo, Shôchiku Eiga, Japan, 1936)
To Catch a Thief (Alfred Hitchcock, Paramount Pictures, USA, 1955)
Written on the Wind (Douglas Sirk, Universal International Pictures, USA, 1956)
Woman in the Window (Fritz Lang,  International Pictures, USA, 1941)


This week was my first introduction to Ozu, I liked what I saw.  I think I will be investing in Toyko Story for Christmas. I was also impressed with Hud; mainly because my brother actually watched it with me.

Preliminary Notes: Masculinity in Hud

Widescreen= spatial relationships
(Hud-Homer-‘Lonnie’; Alma’s Hut in comparison to the position of the male characters and the camera = prominent after she has left, aware of female absence)

The slaughter of the cattle: tractors in comparison to Homer’s horse (background) – action, destroying his way of life.

Catching the pig (?). Pen (enclosure for animals) imagery (Near the end of the film), male characters like the cattle they are about to slaughter (repeated later: Though Hud takes the place of the cattle.

Didn’t make any notes while watching the film. I just naturally noticed these points. Will have to watch again, and actually makes some proper notes!


Television

‘The Chrysanthemum and the Sword’, episode five, Mad Men, fourth series, USA, BBCHD, tx. 06.10.2010.
episode three, Downton Abbey, first series, UK, ITV, tx. 10.10.2010
‘Trip to Warwick’, episode four, The Inbetweeners, third series, UK, E4, tx. 04.10.2010.


Radio

The Film Programme, 2010. [Radio programme] BBC, BBC Radio 4, 07 October 2010 16.30.

Reading

Cahiers du Cinema, The Editors. 1970.  ‘John Ford’s Young Mr Lincoln’. In: B. Nichols ed. Movies and Methods, Volume 1. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp. 493-528.

Comolli, Jean-Louis & Narboni, Jean. 1969. ‘Cinema/Ideology/Criticism’. In: B. Nichols ed. Movies and Methods, Volume 1. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp. 22-30.

Kleinhans, Chuck. 1998. Marxism and Film’. In: J. Hill & P. Church Gibson eds. Oxford Guide to Film Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 106-117.

Sight & Sound. 20. (11/November 2010).


- As I’ve been studying basic Marxist concepts with the OCA, I thought it would be a good idea to explore this in relation to film studies. After reading the essay by Kleinhans, I explored the two Cahiers du Cinema two articles he suggested. I was pretty pleased that I understood all the concepts in each one.

Soviet Cinema and the Cinema of Sergei Eisenstein (09/10/10)

Eisenstein inspecting film strip.

The University of Warwick Open Studies Certificate: ‘Introduction to Film and Cinema Studies’; Term 1 “1895-1950: The Birth and Development of Narrative Film"; Week 3 (09/10/10)

Power of the Image, Influence of Griffiths and Expressionism: Introduction to Sergei Eisenstein

I was late by 30 minutes for this week’s lesson because there were no trains to Acocks Green, so I had to get the bus from the centre of Birmingham.

This week consisted of a two hour illustrated lecture given by Julia Larden, on Sergei Eisenstein. She discussed both his innovative aesthetic style and its relationship with D.W Griffith and German Expressionism.  This was done through the analysis of key sequences with in mind the expressive, not just descriptive, role of both the mise-en-scène and editing. The discussion mainly centred around the concept of montage.  Cinematic texts studied were Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, USSR, 1925) and October (Sergei Eisenstein, USSR, 1928).

After biographical information concerning Eisenstein’s life, we considered the historical context surrounding his work and applied to the aesthetic style exhibited. Are discussion mainly focused on editing, through montage, being the stylistic element that is central to the creation of meaning. 

I took notes of the session myself, and have received an attachment of the handout online. As the lesson is brief it is important to further reading in your own time.  Julia suggested some general texts: David Bordwell’s The Cinema of Eisenstein (Routledge, 2005) and Richard Taylor’s analyses of Battleship Potemkin (Taurus, 2001) and October (BFI, 2002). Julia also suggested the film script of The Battleship Potemkin (Faber, 1988).

I really enjoyed doing this research, as I have previously studied Soviet Montage Cinema, in a slightly broader sense, during A2 Film Studies (WJEC). In the module ‘Soviet Montage and Hollywood: FM 4’ we looked at the historical context surrounding this film movement. Through the close textual analysis of Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, Goskino, USSR, 1925) and The End of St. Petersburg (Vsevolod Pudovkin, Mezhrabpom-Rus, USSR, 1927) stylistic elements that would be considered a feature of Soviet cinema of the 1920’s. This was mainly done through the comparison of Eisenstein’s and Pudovkin’s different perspectives and the creation of meaning through film form.

I treated this week as not only an opportunity to develop my understanding of early Soviet cinema and the work of Eisenstein but as a reminder to sustain my interest in the subject area. Hopefully, when I attend university I will be able, if not through a taught program, to continue my research into Eisenstein and Soviet cinema.

Further research to be conducted concerning Sergei Eisenstein: 

• Jacques Aumont, Montage Eisenstein, 1987

• Ronald Bergan, Eisenstein: a life in conflict, 1997

• James Goodwin, Eisenstein: cinema and history, 1993

• Herbert Marshall (ed.), ‘The Battleship Potemkin’, 1978

• David Mayer, Eisenstein Potemkin, 1972.

• Jean Mitry, S.M.Eisenstein, 1978

• Marie Seton, Sergei Eisenstein: a biography, 1978.

• Ian Christie & Richard Taylor, Eisenstein rediscovered, 1993.

• Williams Powell, Richard Taylor (ed.) Writings, 1934-1947 (Sergei Eisenstein: Selected Works Vol. 3), 1996.

• Richard Taylor (ed.), Beyond the Stars: The Memoirs of Sergei Eisenstein (Sergei Eisenstein: Selected Works Vol. 4), 1996.

Further research to be conducted in regards to Soviet Cinema:

• Documenatry and the ‘Kino-Eye’ (Man With A Movie Camera (Vertov,1929)) and popular cinema (e.g. The Girl with the Hatbox (Boris Barnet, 1927) and the work of Grigori Aleksandrov).

• Yuri Tsivian, ‘New Notes on Russian Film Culture Between 1908 and 1919’, in The Silent Cinema Reader, pp.339-348.

• Denise Youngblood, Movies for the Masses (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992).

• Richard Taylor, “Russia: The Historical Background” and “Russia: The Needs of Revolution” in Taylor, Film Propaganda: Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany, (London: I. B. Tauris), 1998.

• Dziga Vertov, “Kino-Eye” (1926), “The Man With a Movie Camera (1928), “From Kino-Eye to Radio Eye” (1929) in Annette Michelson (ed.) Kino-Eye: The Writings of Dziga Vertov, trans. Kevin O’Brien (Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1984).

• Vance Kepley Jr., “The Origins of Soviet Cinema: A Study in Industry Development” in Richard Taylor & Ian Christie (eds), Inside the Film Factory: New Approaches to Russian and Soviet Cinema (London: Routledge, 1991).

• Jay Leyda, Kino: A History of the Russian and Soviet Film (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1960).

• Vlada Petric, Constructivism in Film – A Cinematic Analysis: The Man With the Movie Camera (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).

• Graham Roberts, The Man With the Movie Camera (London: I.B. Tauris, 2001).

• The theoretical work of Lev Kuleshov and Vsevolod Pudovkin. I also understand that the director Mikhail Romm wrote in some length about film; It is difficult to locate, if there are any, translations.  

• The influence of the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography on the consistency of aesthetic film style in the Soviet Union.

• The aesthetics of Socialist Realist Cinema.

• The work of Aleksandr Ptushko.

• The significance of animation.

The Odessa steps, Battleship Potemkin (1925)

Bibliography

Bordwell, David., Thompson, Kristin. 2006. Film Art: An Introduction. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. pp. 453-456.

Bordwell, David., Thompson, Kristin. 2009. Film History: An Introduction. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. pp. 105-127.

Casey Benyahia, Sarah. Gaffney, Freddie and White, .John., 2009. A2 Film Studies: The Essential Introduction. 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge. pp.162-183.

Coleclough, S. (2009). Soviet Montage and Hollywood, FM4. [Lecture notes] Soviet Montage. A2 Film Studies. Stafford College, Media Studies Department, Room T24, September.

Corrigan, Timothy., White, Patricia. 2009. The Film Experience. 2^nd ed. London: Palgrave Macmillian.

Eisenstein, Sergei. 1946. Film Sense. London: Faber.

Eisenstein, Sergei. 1949. Film Form. Florida: Mercourt.

Eisenstein, Sergei. 1988. Writings, 1922-34 (Selected Works, Volume 1). London: BFI.  

Michael, Glenny and Richard Taylor (Eds.). 1991. Sergei Eisenstein: Towards a Theory of Montage (Selected Works Vol. 2). London: British Film Institute.

Gillespie, David (2000) Early Soviet Cinema: Innovation, Ideology and Propoganda. Short Cuts. London: Wallflower Press.

Hayward, Susan. (1996) Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts. Abingdon: Routledge. pp. 361-369.

Joyce, Mark. 2007. ‘The Soviet Montage Cinema of the 1920s’. In: J. Nelmes, ed. Introduction to Film Studies. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 365-397.

Kenez, Peter. 2001. Cinema and Soviet Society: From the Revolution to the Death of Stalin. New York: I.B Tauris.

Kuhn, Annette.  2008. ‘Soviet Cinema’. In: P. Cook, ed. The Cinema Book. London: BFI Publishing, pp. 244-247.

Larden, J. (2010). Sergei Eisenstein: Images and Types, [Lecture]. Introduction to Film and Cinema Studies. The University of Warwick. Open Studies Certificate. Stone Hall Adult Education Centre, 1083 Warwick Road, Acocks Green, Birmingham,9th October.

Leyda, Jay. 1960. Kino: History of Russian and Soviet Film. New York: George Allen & Unwin.

Nilsen, Vladimir. 1972. The Cinema as a Graphic Art. New York: Hill & Wang.

Nizhny, Vladimir. 1979. Lessons with Eisenstein. New York: Da Capo Press.

Wollen, Peter. 1969. ‘Eisenstein’s Aesthetics’. In: Signs and Meanings in the Cinema.1997.London: BFI.

Add volume 2 montage and cinema of e (bordwell)

Filmography

Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, Goskino, USSR, 1925)
The End of St. Petersburg (Vsevolod Pudovkin, Mezhrabpom-Rus, USSR, 1927)
October (Sergei Eisenstein, Sovkino, USSR, 1928)
¡Que Viva Mexico! - Da zdravstvuyet Meksika! (Sergei Eisenstein, Mosfilm, USSR, 1979)
Storm Over Asia (Vsevolod Pudovkin, Mezhrabpomfilm, USA, 1928)
Strike (Sergei Eisenstein, Goskino, USSR, 1925)

Image Sources:
‘Eisenstein inspecting film strip' [online] Available at: < http://www.listal.com/viewimage/381221> [Accessed 04 November 2010]

‘The Odessa Steps, Battleship Potemkin (1925)’ [online] Available at: < http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2008/feb/01/battleshippotemkinmakesusstrong> [Accessed 04 November 2010]