Tuesday, 4 April 2017

Section A: World Cinema - SURREALISM

Unit FM4 Varieties of Film Experience – Issues and Debates
Section A: World Cinema
b) International Film Styles
SURREALISM
Starter: Work together to attempt the crossword handout.

There are three sections to the exam:
Section A: World Cinema (35 Marks)
Section B: Spectatorship Topics (35 Marks)
Section C: Single Film – Close Critical Study (30 Marks)
Candidates sit a two and three quarter hour exam, which assesses A01 and A02 objectives
_____________________________________________


 SURREALISM: AN OVERVIEW
The work of Sigmund Freud was profoundly influential for Surrealists, particularly his book, The
Interpretation of Dreams (1899). Freud legitimized the importance of dreams and the unconscious as
valid revelations of human emotion and desires; his exposure of the complex and repressed inner
worlds of sexuality, desire, and violence provided a theoretical basis for much of Surrealism.               

Surrealism as an international film movement emerged out of the Surrealist art movement,
especially in the work of Luis Buñuel and Jean Cocteau at the end of the 1920s and the
beginning of the 1930s.
Purists will in fact argue that there are very, very few genuine surrealist films with the list not
extending far beyond: Un Chien Andalou, L’Age D’Or and The Blood of a Poet.

 Task 1: Attempt the worksheet; Surrealism and Art

In practice, a number of experimental film makers have carried forward the surrealist
approach – sometimes in order to represent the unconscious.
The claims of independent/mainstream film makers, such as David Lynch, to be carrying
forward a surrealist practice is an area open for critical debate.

Less ambiguous are the claims of animators, most notably Jan Svankmajer, and it is therefore
necessary to focus on the surrealism informing certain kinds of animation practice.

What can also be referenced are sequences within otherwise realist films which take on a
surrealist form. The most obvious examples, such as in Hitchcock’s Spellbound and
Almodovar’s Talk to Her, also require critical reflection.

Seashell and the Clergyman (Dulac 1928)
Conflicts between a clergyman (Alex Allin) and a soldier (Genica Athanasiou) symbolically examin
the effects of conformity and authority on society.

Etoile de Mer (Ray 1928)
L'Étoile de mer is a 1928 film directed by Man Ray. The film is based on a script by Robert Desnos
and depicts a couple acting through scenes that are shot out of focus

Un Chien Andalou (Buñuel/Dali, 1929)
(An Andalusian Dog) is a 1929 silent surrealist short film by the Spanish director Luis
Buñuel and artist Salvador Dalí.[1] It was Buñuel's first film and was initially released in
1929.

L’Age d’Or (Buñuel, 1930)
The Golden Age or Age of Gold, is a 1930 French surrealist comedy directed by Luis
Buñuel about the insanities of modern life, the hypocrisy of the sexual mores of bourgeois
society and the value system of the Roman Catholic Church. The screenplay is by
Salvador Dalí and Buñuel. L'Age d'Or was one of the first sound films made in France.

The Blood of a Poet (Cocteau, 1930)
Told in four episodes, an unnamed artist is transported through a mirror into another
dimension, where he travels through various bizarre scenarios.

Task 1: Attempt the worksheet; Surrealism test 1 (bullet points only)
The Short Films of Len Lye and Norman Mclaren (The GPO Film Unit, Vol. 2: We Live
in Two Worlds)

Meshes in the Afternoon (Deren, 1943) + At Land (Deren, 1944)
Dreams that Money Can Buy (Richter and others 1947)
Jan Svankmajer: The Complete Short Films 1964 – 1992
Daisies (Chytilova, 1966)
Phantom of Liberty (Buñuel, 1974)
That Obscure Object of Desire (Buñuel, 1977)
Alice (Svankmajer, 1988)
Songs from the Second Floor (Andersson, 2002)

The work of directors such as Frederico Fellini, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Jean-Pierre Jeunet
and Guy Maddin can also be considered

Task 1: Attempt the worksheet; Surrealism test 2

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SURREALISM Previous Exam Questions
June 2010
Either
Consider the significance of cinematography and/or editing in creating a distinctive style of cinema in the films you have studied for this topic.
Or

How important is it to see the films you have studied for this topic as being marked by their specific time and place of production?

June 2011
Either
How important is it to locate your chosen films in a particular time and place in order to understand their meaning and significance?
Or
‘There are significant stylistic variations within international film styles.’ How far have you found this to be true in the films you have studied for this topic?

June 2012
Either
Discuss how far your international film style was developed by directors and how far by other influences.
Or
To what extent is your international film style characterised by a particular approach to performance and/or mise-en-scène.

January 2013
Either
Discuss some of the ways in which your chosen film style can be seen as exciting and new.
Or
How useful has it been to place your chosen films within an historical context?
Basics – As a minimum a good Film Studies Essay will deal with the following:

  1. Cast & Crew (Director, Screenplay, Cinematographer, Sound Editor, Film editor & Actors and the roles they play)
  2. The Genre  – which Genre or sub genre does the film fall within? What features (codes and conventions) are evident that allows for audience or spectator definition or hypotheses with the genre?
  3. The Narrative – how is it mediated? Is it linear or non-linear? Is there a central ‘voice’- that of the narrator? What effect does this have on reception and the way the spectator interprets the film
  4. The cultural context and setting. Where is it set? When is it set? How do we know?
  5. The micro features ( Sound, Lighting, Editing, Performance, Cinematography, Mise en scene)


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