Embedded Files
Film Poster for Fritz Lang's M (1931)
Listed below are some links to some of the films that we will be using or referencing in the IB Film class. Some others listed below may be referenced in class as well. Feel free to peruse them at your leisure, and, when assigned to complete them for viewing in class or to catch up when you are absent in class, make sure to view them seriously and faithfully.
Use your analytical skills, and understanding of mise-en-scene and camera techniques, along with your explication skills, to focus on the most important elements of each viewing, and how you can use them in your analyses. When creating your own film projects and sequences and materials, view and research to see if someone has done something similar that might inspire you to create your own cinematic vision in a different way.
Make sure to correctly cite any homage or reference that you use. The below-linked handout from the IB programme may provide some support as you document any homage to film that you might make.
Effective Citing and Reference Guide (2015) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nN7xkdsKM-DkNF711jJSnV5DujTrZPms/view?usp=sharing
Crash Course in Film History
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avAALYc7jw8&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtN-Bd-H_TGq72CN50Fpv_JX - This excellent series of videos, posted and maintained by the Crash Course Youtube channel, gives a quick and engaging view at Film History and some of the more important elements of the art of Cinema.
Crash Course in Film Production
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZrpxf2ebDM&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtPnisE6CrrLO00Qoe67TDpx - This excellent series of videos, posted and maintained by the Crash Course Youtube channel, is similar to the Film History Crash Course series, but focuses on the production elements of film: how are films made, who makes them, and the general role that production crews have in the making of films. A production team is a necessity for any filmmaker, whether at a studio or in independent filmmaking.
Crash Course in Film Criticism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF1bYBrmLCk&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtOCicti5dwLAKuesMQVi7hw - This excellent series of videos, posted and maintained by the Crash Course Youtube channel, is similar to the Film History Crash Course series, but focuses instead of interpretations of film, as well as the various methods and styles that the films and their directors and staff use to achieve meaning and purpose in the films that they create.
The Voyage to the Moon (1902)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNAHcMMOHE8&frags=pl%2Cwn - This film is the hallmark piece of the filmography of master director George Méliès, a stage magician who revolutionized editing and special effects. Its premiere in 1902 showed audiences something that would later dominate science-fiction film: space travel. The film follows a groups of astronomers who go to the moon and encounter the weird, bizarre, and alien. The most famous still from this film shows an actor, portraying the Man in the Moon, being struck by the moon capsule in the eye.
This version of the film uses a modern brass quintet to add a soundtrack, but the original would have probably have had its own band music, which is now lost to time.
Tonight, Tonight by the Smashing Pumpkins (1995)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOG3eus4ZSo - This music video for the Smashing Pumpkins' song Tonight, Tonight is an homage to George Méliès and his works. The details and cinematography are indicative of his singular and expressive style of filming.
The Great Train Robbery (1903)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XVOisZVB_I - This film, directed by Edwin Porter in 1903, was remarkable for its time and astounded audiences in the United States with its rough-riding plot and daring rescues. During premieres in some cities, audiences feared that bullets would actually fly through the screen during the final scene, in which a cowboy fires blank cartridges at the camera.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gpn49rUuOGU - This film, directed by Robert Weine in 1920, is a staple of the movement known as German Expressionism. The film boasts a tremendous attention to set design and costuming, with levels of detail beyond other contemporary films of the time (e.g. some of the light beams from lanterns and windows are actually painted onto the background). This Youtube version is a high-definition remastering of the original film, with English subtitles for the German text cards. Note the artistic elements contained in even the text cards for the dialogue.
*Lecture Notes available in the Film History and Movements tab, under IB Film Resources (JIB) - Film History and Technics.*
Otherside by the Red Hot Chili Peppers (2000)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn_YodiJO6k - This music video for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' song Otherside is an homage to Weine's Caligari. It uses similar costumes, lighting, and set design pieces, as well as a thematic interlude that is reminiscent of German Expressionism.
Nosferatu (1922)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC6jFoYm3xs - This film, also a piece of the German Expressionist movement, directed by F.W. Murnau in 1922, is unconventional in many ways. First, this film was not able to obtain the rights to the story of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula (1895) for its premiere; the director and writers changed the names of the characters, thinking it would avoid lawsuits of plagiarism (it did not). Second, this remains one of the few horror stories in which a vampire does not have enlarged cuspid ("canine") teeth, but instead enlarged incisor ("eye") teeth, giving the vampire villain a distinctly rodent-like look. Third, the original soundtrack (meant to be performed by a band while the film played, like many during the silent film era) has been lost to time, and most of the music is something created after the film's premiere by composers not affiliated with the production. Fourth, this film has seen a resurgence of popularity because of numerous references in children's shows (e.g. Spongebob Squarepants uses the vampire in a funny way).
*Lecture Notes available in the Film History and Movements tab, under IB Film Resources (JIB) - Film History and Technics.*
The Battleship Potemkin (1925)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca0c4vEc5Is - This Russian film, directed by Sergei Eisenstein, is one of the most influential propaganda films in Russian history. Eisenstein was a master of editing, and helped to create the concept of montage or arranging film pieces to create meaning for an audience. This film also highlights a departure from Western narrative: the plot emphasizes a group effort towards a common goal instead of a single heroic figure dominating the exposition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCR44ihk6C8 - This Russian film is often used to highlight a major philosophic and social difference in the narratives and films of Europe and Asia, and the United States. Often, the corporate response to an obstacle is juxtaposed to the individual response, and each separate historical context values the two differently. In the U.S., the individual response is more expected of protagonists, while in Europe and Asia, the community response is more encouraged.
Modern Times (1936)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3mhpli - This film is a jewel in the crown of actor, director, producer, writer, composer, and comedian Charlie Chaplin (who directed this film as well). His style was funny and endearing, keeping his characters sympathetic, and his films portrayed advanced many social and political themes that were both indicative of the time and also strangely applicable to modern audiences.
M (1931)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdSL9FvCv0U - This film by Fritz Lang is a singular pleasure and horror to watch. The subject matter of the film is taken from grisly pieces of history, mirroring actual accounts of serial killers in Germany (the Vampire of Dusseldorf, the Butcher of Hanover, etc.). Lang's film incorporates elements of German Expressionism with the production style of modernized filmmaking and editing that came with the advancement of the inclusion of sound in film. Note the additional elements of sound used in the film, and how the use of off-screen diegetic sound, adds to the overall tone and tension created by the film. Lang's film is suspenseful and emotional in the best ways, and marks the beginning of an acting career for German actor Peter Lorre.
*Lecture Notes available in the Film History and Movements tab, under IB Film Resources (JIB) - Film History and Technics.*
The 39 Steps (1935)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVo7uK3vlYw - This film by Alfred Hitchcock is a great example of a common trope of Film Noir: the innocent man. The hero, in the wrong place at the wrong time, is accused of a crime or thrown into the middle of a clandestine situation. With nowhere to turn, the only way to be absolved is to solve the crime himself. This film also showcases an excellent use of shadow and intrigue, features that are synonymous with film noir.
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
https://archive.org/details/casablanca-1942_202203/The+Maltese+Falcon+(1941).mp4 - This film by director John Huston is the quintessential film noir: hard-bitten detective Sam Spade has to uncover a mysterious plot that has resulted in the murder of his partner. While he investigates, he also has to dodge the accusations from the police that he was the murderer. Based on a novel by Dashiell Hammett, the film showed a red-letter cast in Humphrey Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre (who also starred in Lang's M). One of the more interesting aspects of the film involves the characters' names: each major character's name hints as to their personality and purpose in the film (i.e. Sam Spade "uncovers" the mystery; Caspar Gutman is the "Fat Man;" Miles Archer gets shot, etc.).
Casablanca (1942)
https://archive.org/details/casablanca-1942_202203/Casablanca+(1942).mp4 - Quite possibly one of the greatest American films of the 20th century, Casablanca was a poignant and nostalgic glimmer on the silver screen, complete with a cast that also starred many of the same names as in The Maltese Falcon (Humphrey Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre). Rick, an unassuming and apathetic cafe-owner in Casablanca, Morocco, is thrown into an international plot during WWII, and has to decide where his loyalties will lie personally, and patriotically. The memorable piano player Sam, played by actor Arthur "Dooley" Wilson, sings a song in the film that remains the opening musical riff when introducing Warner Bros. Studios films to this day: the leitmotif of the film "As Time Goes By."
*Lecture Notes available in the Film History and Movements tab, under IB Film Resources (JIB) - Film History and Technics.*
Bicycle Thieves (1948)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQkDYXzsHJE - This film by Vittorio de Sica highlights a tremendously difficult aim for a filmmaker: to create a narrative story that is both funny and enjoyable, as well as saddening and disheartening. This Italian Neorealist story follows a man who loses something very dear, and is unable to reclaim it. The film showcases the poor and downtrodden citizens who felt the real brunt of Italy's loss following WWII. The film is especially poignant when viewed through the lens of social commentary, though the story is engrossing and captivating on its own.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ02hIG_kIU - The Vatican archives itself has labeled this film as one of its Most Memorable 45 Films of All Time for its portrayal of humanistic values, and poignant, emotional subject matter. The film holds many other awards: an Academy Honorary Award for Most Outstanding Foreign Language Film in 1950; it was labeled "the greatest film of all time" by Sight & Sound magazine's poll of filmmakers and critics in 1952; and is labeled one of the top ten among the British Film Institute's list of "Films You Should See by the Age of 14."
Breathless (1960)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RkH3V_MAs8 - This film by Jean-Luc Godard showcases the rebellious and experimental nature of the French New Wave. As a film student, then film critic, Godard, along with fellow directors Francois Truffaut and others, was able to understand the academic and philosophic nature of film and editing, which in turn allowed them measure to break those exact same rules. The narrative structure of the film is designed for its audience to simultaneously follow the story while also knowing that the story is not real (both believing and disbelieving in the act of film-viewing as a a truthful experience in an act that post-modernists refer to as cognitive dissonance). This link also provides, in the beginning, a brief interview with Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, in which he describes and explains the impact of the French New Wave directors on film.
The Rabbit of Seville (1950)
https://vimeo.com/456078993 - When most adults think of operatic and classical music, they usually point to one specific episode of the Looney Tunes, and their memories of watching Bugs Bunny sing as he shaved Elmer Fudd. This classic cartoon is diegetically framed within the opening Overture of The Barber of Seville, and pairs the characters' animated antics with classical compositions and musical timing.
What's Opera, Doc? (1957)
https://vimeo.com/444002896 - One of the Looney Tunes most popular cartoons, this animated classic uses several operatic and classical pieces of music, in addition to authentic ballet and dance portrayals, to create what animators in 1999 listed as the most important animated cartoon of all time.
The Last Man on Earth (1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuPgXDWMB-Q - This film, directed by Ubaldo Ragona and Sidney Salkow in 1964, is an Italian-American film that is based on Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend. The film showcases the brilliant Vincent Price as Robert Morgan, attempting to cure the world of a pandemic that only he has survived. Aside from various horror elements, the film is also a strong statement towards social and political issues in America at the rise of the Cold War and Civil Rights Movement.
*Lecture Notes available in the Film Theory and Genre tab, under IB Film Resources (SIB) - Film Theory and Philosophy.*
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
https://archive.org/details/2001-space-odyssey - This film, directed by Stanley Kubrick, remains a time-tested classic of science-fiction, and is responsible for establishing many tropes and elements of the genre for future movies. Premiered before the advent of CGI graphics, the film shows a beautiful and shockingly accurate portrayal of space travel that actually spawned conspiracy theories that Kubrick filmed the 1969 moon landing. The film itself grapples with major philosophic quandaries in science-fiction, like the nature of artificial intelligence, the state of human evolution, and even the ethics of technology.
*Lecture Notes available in the Film Theory and Genre tab, under IB Film Resources (SIB) - Film Theory and Philosophy.*
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x80zdcp - This classic children's film, based on a book by author Ian Fleming, is a great example of the large scale musical productions that made other great films like The Sound of Music (1965), Mr Fair Lady (1964), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), and Singin' In The Rain (1952). The expert combination of music (a soundtrack composed by the Sherman Brothers), choreography, costuming, props, and story make this film an enjoyable viewing experience decades after its premiere.
My Fair Lady (1964)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x80otkr - Another classic musical, based on the Greek myth of Pygmalion, and the subsequent play by George Bernard Shaw, and stage musical, this film was another huge production, filled with flowers, horse races, ball gowns, and Cockney accents. The Ascot Opening Race sequence is a masterclass in blocking and staging, as well as costuming and decor.
I Captured the King of the Leprechauns (1959)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ2EaF8n6iA - As a premise before the cinematic release of Disney's live-action Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959), Walt Disney produced a fictional "hunt" for Irish characters to include in his film. He included numerous cultural elements of Irish folklore, including the seanchaí (pronounced "shana-kee") or traditional storyteller and history-keeper, as well as numerous other names, people, and places. In the end, he actually convinces King O'Brian, king of the little people, to come to America himself to be in the actual film. Note the use of physical and visual effects that predate any computer-generated image.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
https://archive.org/details/bonnie-and-clyde.-1967/Willy+Wonka+%26+the+Chocolate+Factory.1971.mp4 - This classic children's film, based on the novella Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964) by Roald Dahl, was catapulted to popularity through television and movie syndication, despite not being very popular when premiered. Originally produced by the Quaker Oats Company to herald a Wonka Chocolate bar, the film was filmed using a real chocolate factory, and real chocolate powder cream for its chocolate river, and even boasted having the author himself work on the film's screenplay. The inestimable Gene Wilder brought his own zany voice and hold to the title character, and cemented this classic among many as the best children's movie of all time.
*Lecture Notes available in the Film Appreciation and Application tab, under IB Film Resources (SIB) - Film Theory and Philosophy.*
Rio Lobo (1970)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x718v51 - This is the epitome of the Western, starring classic cowboy actor John Wayne in the aftermath of the U.S. Civil War. The film is set in American Southwest, and features other elements of the western film genre: cowboys on horseback, revolver pistols, cattle ranches, and a final confrontation between the forces of good and evil.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7v4wfp - This classic Western film highlights the individualistic appeal of the western protagonist, while also illustrating the draw of many western genre films: the need for community and team effort. The two competing characters, a protagonist and deuteragonist, each from opposing sides of the American Civil War, must work together with other locals to overcome a power-hungry traitor's rise to prominence in a small town.
Vincent (1982)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxQcBKUPm8o - This short film is one of director and writer Tim Burton's first films, and shows his extensive and intricate auteur style, which mirrors the German Expressionist movement of film. Narrated by Vincent Prince himself, this short tale of terror is a fun look at a new way that a cinematic movement that is no longer practiced can still be effective in the modern era.
Mr. Bean Takes an Exam (1990)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeMmavFtJ3c - This episode of the British comedy sketch show Mr. Bean is the pilot episode. The show is internationally acclaimed and able to relate to audiences of all ages. This episode features all the comedic stylings of actor Rowan Atkinson, and the patterns of many future episodes of the show.
I'm Telling You for the Last Time (1998)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GO3X6RXIvs - This HBO filming of the standup of comedian Jerry Seinfeld is funny and relatable, and exhibits some of the elements of a good standup routine: an overarching point that links each individual story, and a connection to each comedic elements at least three times.
Disney's Recess season 2, episode 9 - The Girl Was Trouble (1998)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyWEbKcudFM - This episode of the popular Disney cartoon series Recess, while simple and cartoonish, is fairly skilled at incorporating elements of the Film Noir genre into the plot. The attention to detail is remarkable, even in an animated children's show.
Disney's Recess season 4, episode 21 - Schoolworld (1999)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r44G2vc6nn8 - This episode of the popular Disney cartoon series Recess is inspired by the masterful Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and incorporates numerous references to the film, as well as to the genre of science-fiction in general.
Fresh Guacamole by PES (2013)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNJdJIwCF_Y - This Oscar-nominated short film is an excellent example of the use of stop-motion animation, in which a filmmaker uses posable figurines and subjects to create movement one single frame at a time. Remember that the frame rate of analog film (between 24 and 30 frames per second) meant that a stop-motion film required a photograph taken for every frame of film, which makes this style of filming a labor-intensive but artistic endeavor.
Paperman (2012)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xzt3vb - This short film, directed by John Kars, heralds a return to classic animation for Disney Studios, normally rooted in computer-generated animation with Pixar Studios. This Academy award-winning short film uses both 2-D and 3-D animation styles, combining traditional and CGI-programs, to create an endearing and heartwarming short film in the classic Disney mode. The film is entirely without dialogue, and demonstrates the importance of a good story sans technical effects.
Hair Love (2019)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNw8V_Fkw28 - This short film is also an Academy-Award winner for Best Animated Short Film, and showcases the bold and warm style of writer and director Matthew Cherry. The film involves a direct look at the concept of family, uses an engaging animated style to portray some cultural issues surrounding hair styles and parenting, and presents a positive message in opposition to cultural stereotypes. In addition to being included as a short film with a major studio produced film, it has also been adapted into a children's book.
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