Jennifer Fleeger
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- June 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199366484
- eISBN:
- 9780199366514
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199366484.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, Popular, History, American
Chapter Two explores the visual and musical changes in the opera short as it evolved throughout the conversion era primarily by looking at the prolific output of Warner Bros. and its intensified ...
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Chapter Two explores the visual and musical changes in the opera short as it evolved throughout the conversion era primarily by looking at the prolific output of Warner Bros. and its intensified attention to the tenor. Although Warners’ “high-culture” experiment was primarily conducted on sound-on-disc technology, it nevertheless had an enormous impact on how Hollywood envisioned the purpose of both film music and the body on screen. By attending to the gendered representation of the operatic singing body, the chapter argues that the legacy of the castrato influenced the promotion of the tenor at the expense of the soprano. Thanks to the stardom of Metropolitan Opera singer Giovanni Martinelli, “opera” on film was increasingly defined by what the tenor could sing.Less
Chapter Two explores the visual and musical changes in the opera short as it evolved throughout the conversion era primarily by looking at the prolific output of Warner Bros. and its intensified attention to the tenor. Although Warners’ “high-culture” experiment was primarily conducted on sound-on-disc technology, it nevertheless had an enormous impact on how Hollywood envisioned the purpose of both film music and the body on screen. By attending to the gendered representation of the operatic singing body, the chapter argues that the legacy of the castrato influenced the promotion of the tenor at the expense of the soprano. Thanks to the stardom of Metropolitan Opera singer Giovanni Martinelli, “opera” on film was increasingly defined by what the tenor could sing.
Jennifer Fleeger
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- June 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199366484
- eISBN:
- 9780199366514
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199366484.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Popular, History, American
Sounding American: Hollywood, Opera, and Jazz examines the interactions between musical form, film technology, and discourses of race, ethnicity, and the nation during the American cinema’s ...
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Sounding American: Hollywood, Opera, and Jazz examines the interactions between musical form, film technology, and discourses of race, ethnicity, and the nation during the American cinema’s conversion to sound (1926–1932). It argues that each of the major studios constructed its own version of an ideal American voice that was intricately linked to the capabilities of its sound technology and articulated through its appropriation of opera and jazz. Though often neglected in studies of the film score, opera and jazz were important in defining the scope of the American soundtrack, not only during the conversion but also once sound had been standardized. To study the influence of opera and jazz, Sounding American concentrates on the musical shorts of the late 1920s and early 1930s, showing how their representations of the stage, conservatory, ballroom, and nightclub reflected what opera and jazz meant for particular groups of Americans and demonstrating how the cinema helped to shape the racial, ethnic, and national identities attached to this music. The book concludes by claiming that the classical Hollywood film is essentially an illustrated jazz-opera with a musical structure that prompts the spectator to generate imaginary spaces apart from the diegesis and patterns that refuse to be absorbed by the narrative.Less
Sounding American: Hollywood, Opera, and Jazz examines the interactions between musical form, film technology, and discourses of race, ethnicity, and the nation during the American cinema’s conversion to sound (1926–1932). It argues that each of the major studios constructed its own version of an ideal American voice that was intricately linked to the capabilities of its sound technology and articulated through its appropriation of opera and jazz. Though often neglected in studies of the film score, opera and jazz were important in defining the scope of the American soundtrack, not only during the conversion but also once sound had been standardized. To study the influence of opera and jazz, Sounding American concentrates on the musical shorts of the late 1920s and early 1930s, showing how their representations of the stage, conservatory, ballroom, and nightclub reflected what opera and jazz meant for particular groups of Americans and demonstrating how the cinema helped to shape the racial, ethnic, and national identities attached to this music. The book concludes by claiming that the classical Hollywood film is essentially an illustrated jazz-opera with a musical structure that prompts the spectator to generate imaginary spaces apart from the diegesis and patterns that refuse to be absorbed by the narrative.
Nina Schneider
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780813049908
- eISBN:
- 9780813050362
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813049908.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
Compulsorily broadcast in cinemas and on television, short films constituted the most important form of official propaganda. Chapter 2 provides the first systematic analysis of 106 AERP/ARP filmetes ...
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Compulsorily broadcast in cinemas and on television, short films constituted the most important form of official propaganda. Chapter 2 provides the first systematic analysis of 106 AERP/ARP filmetes held by the National Archives in Rio, concentrating on production volume, content, aesthetics, and audience. Brazilian Propaganda demonstrates how these films revolutionized the formerly elitist propaganda style by portraying seemingly apolitical everyday topics. It introduces a subcategory for this kind of propaganda (subliminal propaganda) in contrast to other forms (blunt, indirect, and economic propaganda). The chapter identifies the most common film topics, highlighting in particular the themes of nationalism and rapid economic development.Less
Compulsorily broadcast in cinemas and on television, short films constituted the most important form of official propaganda. Chapter 2 provides the first systematic analysis of 106 AERP/ARP filmetes held by the National Archives in Rio, concentrating on production volume, content, aesthetics, and audience. Brazilian Propaganda demonstrates how these films revolutionized the formerly elitist propaganda style by portraying seemingly apolitical everyday topics. It introduces a subcategory for this kind of propaganda (subliminal propaganda) in contrast to other forms (blunt, indirect, and economic propaganda). The chapter identifies the most common film topics, highlighting in particular the themes of nationalism and rapid economic development.
Pawel Frelik
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9781781380383
- eISBN:
- 9781781381557
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781781380383.003.0015
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The chapter discusses the manifold influences that the advent of digital technologies has had on science fiction filmmaking. Among them are the unprecedented globalization of science fiction cinema, ...
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The chapter discusses the manifold influences that the advent of digital technologies has had on science fiction filmmaking. Among them are the unprecedented globalization of science fiction cinema, the emergence of short film as a major visual form in science fiction, the appearance of digital aesthetics, and numerous audience-side practices, such as vidding, fan edits, and the mockbuster. Many of these phenomena not only provide new contexts for the production and circulation of science fiction film, but also force a reassessment of the traditional conceptions of the genre and the ways in which it performs its cultural work.Less
The chapter discusses the manifold influences that the advent of digital technologies has had on science fiction filmmaking. Among them are the unprecedented globalization of science fiction cinema, the emergence of short film as a major visual form in science fiction, the appearance of digital aesthetics, and numerous audience-side practices, such as vidding, fan edits, and the mockbuster. Many of these phenomena not only provide new contexts for the production and circulation of science fiction film, but also force a reassessment of the traditional conceptions of the genre and the ways in which it performs its cultural work.
Jennifer Fleeger
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- June 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199366484
- eISBN:
- 9780199366514
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199366484.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, Popular, History, American
Chapter Three examines the representation of jazz music by three major studios during the conversion era. It argues that Warner Bros., Paramount, and MGM each appropriated jazz in its own way to ...
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Chapter Three examines the representation of jazz music by three major studios during the conversion era. It argues that Warner Bros., Paramount, and MGM each appropriated jazz in its own way to promote particular qualities of its film style while suggesting that its own sound technologies might be a means of controlling the reception of the music. The chapter focuses particularly on those moments where the voice fails to signify, discussing the relationship between vocal techniques like scatting, groaning, and humming, and jazz images, pictorial fragments that will not assimilate to the narratives of conversion-era jazz shorts and that acknowledge the music’s racial history. How these images appear in the studios’ output exposes their unique commercialization of the music and the differences in how they expected spectators to react to it.Less
Chapter Three examines the representation of jazz music by three major studios during the conversion era. It argues that Warner Bros., Paramount, and MGM each appropriated jazz in its own way to promote particular qualities of its film style while suggesting that its own sound technologies might be a means of controlling the reception of the music. The chapter focuses particularly on those moments where the voice fails to signify, discussing the relationship between vocal techniques like scatting, groaning, and humming, and jazz images, pictorial fragments that will not assimilate to the narratives of conversion-era jazz shorts and that acknowledge the music’s racial history. How these images appear in the studios’ output exposes their unique commercialization of the music and the differences in how they expected spectators to react to it.
C. Claire Thomson
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474424134
- eISBN:
- 9781474444712
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474424134.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The first book-length study in English of a national corpus of state-sponsored informational film, this book traces how Danish shorts on topics including social welfare, industry, art and ...
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The first book-length study in English of a national corpus of state-sponsored informational film, this book traces how Danish shorts on topics including social welfare, industry, art and architecture were commissioned, funded, produced and reviewed from the inter-war period to the 1960s. For three decades, state-sponsored short filmmaking educated Danish citizens, promoted Denmark to the world, and shaped the careers of renowned directors like Carl Th. Dreyer. Examining the life cycle of a representative selection of films, and discussing their preservation and mediation in the digital age, this book presents a detailed case study of how informational cinema is shaped by, and indeed shapes, its cultural, political and technological contexts.The book combines close textual analysis of a broad range of films with detailed accounts of their commissioning, production, distribution and reception in Denmark and abroad, drawing on Actor-Network Theory to emphasise the role of a wide range of entities in these processes. It considers a broad range of genres and sub-genres, including industrial process films, public information films, art films, the city symphony, the essay film, and many more. It also maps international networks of informational and documentary films in the post-war period, and explores the role of informational film in Danish cultural and political history.Less
The first book-length study in English of a national corpus of state-sponsored informational film, this book traces how Danish shorts on topics including social welfare, industry, art and architecture were commissioned, funded, produced and reviewed from the inter-war period to the 1960s. For three decades, state-sponsored short filmmaking educated Danish citizens, promoted Denmark to the world, and shaped the careers of renowned directors like Carl Th. Dreyer. Examining the life cycle of a representative selection of films, and discussing their preservation and mediation in the digital age, this book presents a detailed case study of how informational cinema is shaped by, and indeed shapes, its cultural, political and technological contexts.The book combines close textual analysis of a broad range of films with detailed accounts of their commissioning, production, distribution and reception in Denmark and abroad, drawing on Actor-Network Theory to emphasise the role of a wide range of entities in these processes. It considers a broad range of genres and sub-genres, including industrial process films, public information films, art films, the city symphony, the essay film, and many more. It also maps international networks of informational and documentary films in the post-war period, and explores the role of informational film in Danish cultural and political history.
C. Claire Thomson
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474424134
- eISBN:
- 9781474444712
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474424134.003.0003
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Et lille land’ - a little land - is a trope of Danish identity which recurs in many of the short informational films about Denmark made from the 1930s to the 1960s. This chapter outlines why the ...
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Et lille land’ - a little land - is a trope of Danish identity which recurs in many of the short informational films about Denmark made from the 1930s to the 1960s. This chapter outlines why the notion of Denmark as a small country has historically been fundamental to the nation’s self-understanding as an imagined community, and how and why it has been employed in informational films made for domestic and foreign consumption. The chapter discusses the role of film in the national imagination, and the importance of medium-specific qualities in that process of imagining: for the purposes of this book, such qualities include the films’ shortness, which impacts on narrative as well as distribution and exhibition. The chapter then discusses recent scholarship on ‘small-nation’ cinema, especially in the Nordic region, and the place of informational filmmaking within the small-nation context. A final chapter section outlines a further body of scholarship on cultural diplomacy, soft power, and nation-branding in the Nordic region as a framework for understanding how images (including informational films) move across borders and re-negotiate auto- and xenostereotypes.Less
Et lille land’ - a little land - is a trope of Danish identity which recurs in many of the short informational films about Denmark made from the 1930s to the 1960s. This chapter outlines why the notion of Denmark as a small country has historically been fundamental to the nation’s self-understanding as an imagined community, and how and why it has been employed in informational films made for domestic and foreign consumption. The chapter discusses the role of film in the national imagination, and the importance of medium-specific qualities in that process of imagining: for the purposes of this book, such qualities include the films’ shortness, which impacts on narrative as well as distribution and exhibition. The chapter then discusses recent scholarship on ‘small-nation’ cinema, especially in the Nordic region, and the place of informational filmmaking within the small-nation context. A final chapter section outlines a further body of scholarship on cultural diplomacy, soft power, and nation-branding in the Nordic region as a framework for understanding how images (including informational films) move across borders and re-negotiate auto- and xenostereotypes.
Leslie Kealhofer-Kemp
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781781381984
- eISBN:
- 9781786945211
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781781381984.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature
This chapter examines key short films featuring Maghrebi migrant women in France through an analysis of objects such as letters, a play script, food, photographs, and clothing items. It highlights ...
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This chapter examines key short films featuring Maghrebi migrant women in France through an analysis of objects such as letters, a play script, food, photographs, and clothing items. It highlights the extent to which such objects are crucial to giving expression to the experiences of Maghrebi women through this particular medium, where meaning must necessarily be communicated in a short period of time. These objects have multi-layered meanings and serve as potential channels for communication and understanding between first-generation women and people who are different from them, most notably because they have not shared the women’s experience of migration and exile and in many cases do not speak the women’s mother tongue. This analysis highlights the ways in which the women negotiate, navigate, and cross various cultural, linguistic, psychological, and spatial boundaries or barriers that exist in their lives. The cultural productions discussed in this chapter include films directed by Fejria Deliba, Ismaël Ferroukhi, Faïza Guène, and Catherine Bernstein.Less
This chapter examines key short films featuring Maghrebi migrant women in France through an analysis of objects such as letters, a play script, food, photographs, and clothing items. It highlights the extent to which such objects are crucial to giving expression to the experiences of Maghrebi women through this particular medium, where meaning must necessarily be communicated in a short period of time. These objects have multi-layered meanings and serve as potential channels for communication and understanding between first-generation women and people who are different from them, most notably because they have not shared the women’s experience of migration and exile and in many cases do not speak the women’s mother tongue. This analysis highlights the ways in which the women negotiate, navigate, and cross various cultural, linguistic, psychological, and spatial boundaries or barriers that exist in their lives. The cultural productions discussed in this chapter include films directed by Fejria Deliba, Ismaël Ferroukhi, Faïza Guène, and Catherine Bernstein.
Jack Newsinger
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780748676392
- eISBN:
- 9780748693856
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748676392.003.0002
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter takes a political economy approach to understand Shane Meadows' development as a filmmaker. By focussing on the institutional-industrial contexts of regional production, it is argued ...
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This chapter takes a political economy approach to understand Shane Meadows' development as a filmmaker. By focussing on the institutional-industrial contexts of regional production, it is argued that Meadows and his collaborators benefitted from a complex regional filmmaking infrastructure that has its roots in the 1970s film workshop movement and the cultural industries approach to regional development in the 1980s. The chapter explores a number of different production strategies utilised by Meadows, from larger-budget attempts to reach broad and even international audiences, to more innovative low-budget, niche approaches which suggest a workable strategy for the future of regional film. It is noted, however, that these fragile regional media ecologies are dependent on public funding which makes them particularly vulnerable to austerity.Less
This chapter takes a political economy approach to understand Shane Meadows' development as a filmmaker. By focussing on the institutional-industrial contexts of regional production, it is argued that Meadows and his collaborators benefitted from a complex regional filmmaking infrastructure that has its roots in the 1970s film workshop movement and the cultural industries approach to regional development in the 1980s. The chapter explores a number of different production strategies utilised by Meadows, from larger-budget attempts to reach broad and even international audiences, to more innovative low-budget, niche approaches which suggest a workable strategy for the future of regional film. It is noted, however, that these fragile regional media ecologies are dependent on public funding which makes them particularly vulnerable to austerity.
Chris Perriam
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780748665860
- eISBN:
- 9780748684267
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748665860.003.0004
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The chapter presents the network of different audiences for the films discussed in the preceding chapters. It sets out the context of the wider cultural activities of film-watchers -- bookshop and ...
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The chapter presents the network of different audiences for the films discussed in the preceding chapters. It sets out the context of the wider cultural activities of film-watchers -- bookshop and web browsing, DVD buying, going to festivals. It looks in detail at short films and filmmakers, and at the role of videoart. A section on key LGBTQ film festivals in Spain links this more independent cultural production directly to its audiences. Overall it maps the range of images available to the LGBTQ cultural subject as part of audience or community.Less
The chapter presents the network of different audiences for the films discussed in the preceding chapters. It sets out the context of the wider cultural activities of film-watchers -- bookshop and web browsing, DVD buying, going to festivals. It looks in detail at short films and filmmakers, and at the role of videoart. A section on key LGBTQ film festivals in Spain links this more independent cultural production directly to its audiences. Overall it maps the range of images available to the LGBTQ cultural subject as part of audience or community.
Dominique Nasta
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231167451
- eISBN:
- 9780231536691
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231167451.003.0010
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter discusses the emergence of Romanian short films onto the world stage. Starting in 2001, Romanian cinema became increasingly visible to critics and audiences in the festival circuit ...
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This chapter discusses the emergence of Romanian short films onto the world stage. Starting in 2001, Romanian cinema became increasingly visible to critics and audiences in the festival circuit thanks to a previously neglected sub-genre, that of short films. Romanian shorts, mostly fictions presented by newcomers as part of the final phase of their university training or as totally independent projects, were recognized in high-profile competitions in Berlin, Cannes, and Venice, as well as in most European and US festivals showcasing this specific film category. Notable short films include Constantin Popescu's Apartamentul (The Apartment, 2003), which won the Great Prize at the Venice Festival Short Film contest in 2004, the Jury Prize at the Transylvania International Film Festival in 2005, and the Best Screenplay prize at the newly created Danube Delta venue, Anonimul in 2004.Less
This chapter discusses the emergence of Romanian short films onto the world stage. Starting in 2001, Romanian cinema became increasingly visible to critics and audiences in the festival circuit thanks to a previously neglected sub-genre, that of short films. Romanian shorts, mostly fictions presented by newcomers as part of the final phase of their university training or as totally independent projects, were recognized in high-profile competitions in Berlin, Cannes, and Venice, as well as in most European and US festivals showcasing this specific film category. Notable short films include Constantin Popescu's Apartamentul (The Apartment, 2003), which won the Great Prize at the Venice Festival Short Film contest in 2004, the Jury Prize at the Transylvania International Film Festival in 2005, and the Best Screenplay prize at the newly created Danube Delta venue, Anonimul in 2004.
Tom Ryall
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719064524
- eISBN:
- 9781781703007
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719064524.003.0023
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter shows Asquith's contribution to the British film industry. In a career lasting from the 1920s to the 1960s, Asquith directed thirty-five feature films and also worked in a variety of ...
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This chapter shows Asquith's contribution to the British film industry. In a career lasting from the 1920s to the 1960s, Asquith directed thirty-five feature films and also worked in a variety of capacities on other films: foreign-version direction, screenwriting, and second unit work. He made a number of short films; some were documentary drama films made for the Ministry of Information during the Second World War, others were made for charities such as the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association and St Dunstan's, a centre for the blind. During Asquith's career, the industry went through numerous changes, responding to the challenge of Hollywood, to the example of European cinema and to major events such as the Second World War, constructing a body of films that prompted both despair and enthusiastic endorsement by critics at various times. The twenty or so titles chosen from the thirty-five features that Asquith directed reflect a number of things, not least of which is ease of availability. However, the selection represents a diverse career in which art cinema, middlebrow culture and popular art are reflected, although the films chosen are not intended to indicate any particular ranking in Asquith's career as a whole.Less
This chapter shows Asquith's contribution to the British film industry. In a career lasting from the 1920s to the 1960s, Asquith directed thirty-five feature films and also worked in a variety of capacities on other films: foreign-version direction, screenwriting, and second unit work. He made a number of short films; some were documentary drama films made for the Ministry of Information during the Second World War, others were made for charities such as the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association and St Dunstan's, a centre for the blind. During Asquith's career, the industry went through numerous changes, responding to the challenge of Hollywood, to the example of European cinema and to major events such as the Second World War, constructing a body of films that prompted both despair and enthusiastic endorsement by critics at various times. The twenty or so titles chosen from the thirty-five features that Asquith directed reflect a number of things, not least of which is ease of availability. However, the selection represents a diverse career in which art cinema, middlebrow culture and popular art are reflected, although the films chosen are not intended to indicate any particular ranking in Asquith's career as a whole.
Martin Fradley, Sarah Godfrey, and Melanie Williams
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780748676392
- eISBN:
- 9780748693856
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748676392.003.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The introductory chapter opens the book by positioning Shane Meadows in the landscape of contemporary British filmmaking before moving on to provide a brief career overview which emphasises the ...
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The introductory chapter opens the book by positioning Shane Meadows in the landscape of contemporary British filmmaking before moving on to provide a brief career overview which emphasises the continuity in certain practices and themes throughout Meadows' development from DIY local filmmaker to BAFTA-winning director. The importance of memory and nostalgia to Meadows' work is also examined in detail, as is his engagement with issues of class representation. The introduction concludes by outlining the content of the chapters to follow.Less
The introductory chapter opens the book by positioning Shane Meadows in the landscape of contemporary British filmmaking before moving on to provide a brief career overview which emphasises the continuity in certain practices and themes throughout Meadows' development from DIY local filmmaker to BAFTA-winning director. The importance of memory and nostalgia to Meadows' work is also examined in detail, as is his engagement with issues of class representation. The introduction concludes by outlining the content of the chapters to follow.
Stefanie Van de Peer
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780748696062
- eISBN:
- 9781474434836
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748696062.003.0002
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The first case study deals with the ‘mother’ of Egyptian documentary making Ateyyat el Abnoudy, and traces her career as a lawyer, journalist and filmmaker. As a pioneer of politically engaged and ...
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The first case study deals with the ‘mother’ of Egyptian documentary making Ateyyat el Abnoudy, and traces her career as a lawyer, journalist and filmmaker. As a pioneer of politically engaged and socially preoccupied documentary, she has influenced many young female filmmakers. Since the early seventies, her films, both short and feature length, have been celebrated throughout the world at festivals and retrospectives, but remain controversial in Egypt itself. This case study looks in detail at her early short films, Horse of Mud (1971), Sad Song of Touha (1972) and The Sandwich (1975), as well as feature length documentaries Permissible Dreams (1982), Responsible Women (1994) and Days of Democracy (1996). Dealing with the lower classes, women’s issues, education and illiteracy among women, their personal status and their political situation in Egypt, the films reflect a concern with the subaltern woman. The filmmaker’s concern with the subaltern woman stems from an intellectual preoccupation with inequality and a professional insight into the unwillingness of the state to deal with women’s problems.Less
The first case study deals with the ‘mother’ of Egyptian documentary making Ateyyat el Abnoudy, and traces her career as a lawyer, journalist and filmmaker. As a pioneer of politically engaged and socially preoccupied documentary, she has influenced many young female filmmakers. Since the early seventies, her films, both short and feature length, have been celebrated throughout the world at festivals and retrospectives, but remain controversial in Egypt itself. This case study looks in detail at her early short films, Horse of Mud (1971), Sad Song of Touha (1972) and The Sandwich (1975), as well as feature length documentaries Permissible Dreams (1982), Responsible Women (1994) and Days of Democracy (1996). Dealing with the lower classes, women’s issues, education and illiteracy among women, their personal status and their political situation in Egypt, the films reflect a concern with the subaltern woman. The filmmaker’s concern with the subaltern woman stems from an intellectual preoccupation with inequality and a professional insight into the unwillingness of the state to deal with women’s problems.
Jennifer Fleeger
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- June 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199366484
- eISBN:
- 9780199366514
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199366484.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, Popular, History, American
This book has argued that opera and jazz played a crucial role in selling the cultural importance of sound cinema and molding classical Hollywood film music. This Conclusion summarizes what this book ...
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This book has argued that opera and jazz played a crucial role in selling the cultural importance of sound cinema and molding classical Hollywood film music. This Conclusion summarizes what this book has shown in terms of the role of producers in the last 1920s and early 1930s in solidifying American attitudes towards performance and power. The representational practices of the conversion era established the ideological lens through which classical Hollywood used opera and jazz thereafter. The story of the relationship between opera, jazz, and Hollywood cinema has been written here as a progression from the short to the feature film. The Conclusions discusses the reasons for this.Less
This book has argued that opera and jazz played a crucial role in selling the cultural importance of sound cinema and molding classical Hollywood film music. This Conclusion summarizes what this book has shown in terms of the role of producers in the last 1920s and early 1930s in solidifying American attitudes towards performance and power. The representational practices of the conversion era established the ideological lens through which classical Hollywood used opera and jazz thereafter. The story of the relationship between opera, jazz, and Hollywood cinema has been written here as a progression from the short to the feature film. The Conclusions discusses the reasons for this.
Chris Perriam
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780748665860
- eISBN:
- 9780748684267
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748665860.003.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The chapter establishes the connections between LGBTQ filmmaking and the everyday experience of its audiences in Spain over the past 25 years. It links a discussion of the term ‘queer’, relating both ...
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The chapter establishes the connections between LGBTQ filmmaking and the everyday experience of its audiences in Spain over the past 25 years. It links a discussion of the term ‘queer’, relating both to film and Spain, to the phenomenon of liberalization represented by changes to the Spanish Civil Code in July 2005 on same-sex married couples. It traces the developments of a queer Spanish film culture and of post-identity politics through documentaries, feature films and shorts.Less
The chapter establishes the connections between LGBTQ filmmaking and the everyday experience of its audiences in Spain over the past 25 years. It links a discussion of the term ‘queer’, relating both to film and Spain, to the phenomenon of liberalization represented by changes to the Spanish Civil Code in July 2005 on same-sex married couples. It traces the developments of a queer Spanish film culture and of post-identity politics through documentaries, feature films and shorts.
James Naremore
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520285521
- eISBN:
- 9780520960954
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520285521.003.0014
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Some of Burnett’s most characteristic and impressive work has taken the form of completely independent, very low budget short films that he has written, directed, photographed, and edited. These ...
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Some of Burnett’s most characteristic and impressive work has taken the form of completely independent, very low budget short films that he has written, directed, photographed, and edited. These films return him to his beginnings as a sort of guerilla filmmaker who works in the streets. This chapter gives three examples: When It Rains (1995), a jazz fable about a neighborhood griot who tries to keep a mother and daughter from being evicted; The Final Insult (1997), an experimental mixture of documentary and fiction concerning homelessness in Los Angeles; and Quiet As Kept, a darkly comic film about a black family that has been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The chapter ends with a comment on Burnett’s work in progress and his continuing importance for us today.
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Some of Burnett’s most characteristic and impressive work has taken the form of completely independent, very low budget short films that he has written, directed, photographed, and edited. These films return him to his beginnings as a sort of guerilla filmmaker who works in the streets. This chapter gives three examples: When It Rains (1995), a jazz fable about a neighborhood griot who tries to keep a mother and daughter from being evicted; The Final Insult (1997), an experimental mixture of documentary and fiction concerning homelessness in Los Angeles; and Quiet As Kept, a darkly comic film about a black family that has been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The chapter ends with a comment on Burnett’s work in progress and his continuing importance for us today.
E. Dawn Hall
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474411127
- eISBN:
- 9781474444620
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474411127.003.0004
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter discusses all three of Reichardt’s experimental short films. Each contain elements of feminist ideology highlighting a mixture of social and cultural tensions pulled from news headlines. ...
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This chapter discusses all three of Reichardt’s experimental short films. Each contain elements of feminist ideology highlighting a mixture of social and cultural tensions pulled from news headlines. All three short films share a haptic sensibility via form and content. Ode based on Bobbie Gentry’s song “Ode to Billie Joe” follows an adolescent boy’s struggle with his sexuality, ending in suicide, set in the rural south. Ode is a 48 minute narrative shot on Super-8 and mixes the tension between homosexuality and extreme religious ideologies. Then, A Year is a collage of images with voice-overs discussing real life news stories: the statutory rape case perpetrated by Mary Kay Letourneau and the murder of a woman by her husband. Travis is based on a National Public Radio interview with a mother struggling to understand the loss of her son during the Iraq war. This chapter connects the influence of documentary style realism in all of these early films to her later narrative features as she explores social and cultural issues.Less
This chapter discusses all three of Reichardt’s experimental short films. Each contain elements of feminist ideology highlighting a mixture of social and cultural tensions pulled from news headlines. All three short films share a haptic sensibility via form and content. Ode based on Bobbie Gentry’s song “Ode to Billie Joe” follows an adolescent boy’s struggle with his sexuality, ending in suicide, set in the rural south. Ode is a 48 minute narrative shot on Super-8 and mixes the tension between homosexuality and extreme religious ideologies. Then, A Year is a collage of images with voice-overs discussing real life news stories: the statutory rape case perpetrated by Mary Kay Letourneau and the murder of a woman by her husband. Travis is based on a National Public Radio interview with a mother struggling to understand the loss of her son during the Iraq war. This chapter connects the influence of documentary style realism in all of these early films to her later narrative features as she explores social and cultural issues.
Victoria Duckett
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252039669
- eISBN:
- 9780252097751
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252039669.003.0003
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter examines Sarah Bernhardt's appearance in the 1900 short film Hamlet. Part of Paul Decauville's program for the Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre at the Paris Exposition, Bernhardt's film featured the ...
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This chapter examines Sarah Bernhardt's appearance in the 1900 short film Hamlet. Part of Paul Decauville's program for the Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre at the Paris Exposition, Bernhardt's film featured the fencing scene of Hamlet. She had played (and toured) Hamlet successfully on the live stage the previous year. In this way, the film pointed backward just as it pointed forward, to a known theatrical show and to invention, to mechanical mediations that brought with them new ways of presenting and promoting theater. This chapter considers how live musicians, the phonograph, and hand-colored film contributed to Decauville's initiative and hence to Hamlet. It argues that Bernhardt's short film was a calculated response to the new media and to its possible future. Bernhardt did not just adapt her stage work for the screen; she was a savvy businesswoman aware that cinematized theater could attract new audiences to her.Less
This chapter examines Sarah Bernhardt's appearance in the 1900 short film Hamlet. Part of Paul Decauville's program for the Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre at the Paris Exposition, Bernhardt's film featured the fencing scene of Hamlet. She had played (and toured) Hamlet successfully on the live stage the previous year. In this way, the film pointed backward just as it pointed forward, to a known theatrical show and to invention, to mechanical mediations that brought with them new ways of presenting and promoting theater. This chapter considers how live musicians, the phonograph, and hand-colored film contributed to Decauville's initiative and hence to Hamlet. It argues that Bernhardt's short film was a calculated response to the new media and to its possible future. Bernhardt did not just adapt her stage work for the screen; she was a savvy businesswoman aware that cinematized theater could attract new audiences to her.
James Clarke
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231169776
- eISBN:
- 9780231850629
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231169776.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This book explores the massively popular cinema of writer-director James Cameron. It couches Cameron's films within the evolving generic traditions of science fiction, melodrama, and the cinema of ...
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This book explores the massively popular cinema of writer-director James Cameron. It couches Cameron's films within the evolving generic traditions of science fiction, melodrama, and the cinema of spectacle. The book also considers Cameron's engagement with the aesthetic of visual effects and the ‘now’ technology of performance-capture which is arguably moving a certain kind of event-movie cinema from photography to something more akin to painting. The book is explicit in presenting Cameron as an authentic auteur, and each chapter is dedicated to a single film in his body of work, from The Terminator to Avatar. Space is also given to discussion of Strange Days as well as his short films and documentary works.Less
This book explores the massively popular cinema of writer-director James Cameron. It couches Cameron's films within the evolving generic traditions of science fiction, melodrama, and the cinema of spectacle. The book also considers Cameron's engagement with the aesthetic of visual effects and the ‘now’ technology of performance-capture which is arguably moving a certain kind of event-movie cinema from photography to something more akin to painting. The book is explicit in presenting Cameron as an authentic auteur, and each chapter is dedicated to a single film in his body of work, from The Terminator to Avatar. Space is also given to discussion of Strange Days as well as his short films and documentary works.
