Film Culture Research Articles

Social Changes in America: The Silent Cinema Frontier and Women Pioneers

Silent cinema acted as a bridge between early motion pictures and today’s film industry, playing a transformative role in shaping feminist film history and American society. This article explores pioneering American women in the silent film industry who ventured into technology, film culture, marginalized communities, and social movements. Despite the prevalence of racist and sexist propaganda, American silent films were a frontier for innovation, filmmaking, and exploring the New Women concept. This study examines 23 American silent films that have often been overlooked and rarely studied, whereby film analysis generally aligns with established feminist silent film theories. By shedding light on a previously overlooked film directed by May Tully, this study challenges the widespread belief that there existed “no women directors in 1925”. The examination of databases reaffirms American women directors’ contributions to silent films, especially during the early years of the silent film era. The results modify the previous scholarly notion that “influential women directors’ involvement was over by 1925”. Following an initial surge in their active leadership during the early years, influential women directors’ participation was over after 1922, rather than 1925.

Frame Design in the Visual Culture of Modern Author’s Directing. Part 2. Projecting the Objective World in Films by Author-Directors

The purpose of the article is to determine the artistic and aesthetic toolkit for designing the objective world of the frame in the visual culture of the author's film by the director, artist, cameraman. Research methodology. An integrated approach was used in the development of the topic, in particular, methods of systematisation, comparison, verification, comparative, and textual analysis. The analytical method and the method of figurative and stylistic analysis in their unity were used to consider the art historical aspect of the problem. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that the director's creativity is investigated in the context of the visual culture of frame design and for the first time it became the subject of a special study. The appropriateness of using the systematic method in studying the features of the author's plastic film language has been proven. A comprehensive analysis was carried out and the features of frame design in the author's film creativity were revealed. Conclusions. The materials presented in the study expand the arsenal of knowledge about the specifics of the visual culture of the author's directorial film language in various worldview models and enable their application in educational courses, the creation of educational and methodological literature on the theory and history of cinema and television, directing. Keywords: fine art, artist, audiovisual art, director, shot, design, image projection.

“Ready to fly with a lust for life”

The Cultural Schoolbag (TCS) is a national programme designed to provide all school pupils in Norway access to professional art and culture. On average three times a year, in their school time, children and youth get to experience art and culture in various forms, spanning literature, film, music, visual arts, cultural heritage, theatre, and dance. To build and maintain Norway as a democracy is an explicit aim of the programme. Securing all children and youth equal access to professional art and culture regardless of geography, economy, religious or cultural background is but one aspect of its democratic scope. Also important is the belief that being exposed to art and culture is instrumental in educating future citizens who are able, ready, and willing to take active part in a democratic society. Reflecting this rather utopian vision of TCS, the county municipality of Vestfold used to launch their TSC programme under the motto: “Livslysten og flyvedyktig”, in English; “Ready to fly with a lust for life”.In what sense, however, do these utopian rationales influence the programme that is offered in the schools? How, exactly, may performance events and theatre experienced in TCS contribute to bringing up citizens that are “ready to fly with a lust for life”?Presenting an outline of current ideological, cultural political, and educational discourses surrounding TCS, this study addresses how, and to what extent, political and educational guidelines have an impact on its artistic programme. Offering two recent TCS productions as examples, I discuss how the utopian spaces provided by these theatre and performance events prepare the grounds for enactment and reflection that may take performative effect in influencing the lives and futures of the participating children and youth.

The Empire Symphony Film: Fascist Documentary, Infrastructure, and the Avant-Garde

The article focuses on Corrado D’Errico’s The Path of Our Heroes (Il cammino degli eroi), a 1936 compilation documentary comprising footage shot by the Istituto Luce’s East Africa Film Unit operators. By reconstructing the production history of the film, it draws attention to the integration of cinema into the Second Italian-Ethiopian war (and later the empire) and the influence of cinematic and artistic avant-gardes in the making of the imperial documentary. Through a formal analysis, the essay proposes the notion of “empire symphony film” to examine how the film strives to render visible, while being fully integrated to, the infrastructure of the empire. In doing so, it invites a reconsideration of 1930s Italian documentary cinema in light of the reconfiguration of militancy, film culture, and aesthetics prompted by the Ethiopian war.

Review: Cinema’s Original Sin: D. W. Griffith, American Racism, and the Rise of Film Culture, by Paul McEwan

Review: <i>Cinema’s Original Sin: D. W. Griffith, American Racism, and the Rise of Film Culture</i>, by Paul McEwan

The Occurrence of Cross-Media and Cross-Cultural Anxiety: Two Stars in the Milky Way from the Perspective of Meta Film

Abstract The 1920s was a period of exploration for the development and innovation of Chinese films, providing a direction for the localization of Chinese film creation and the reflexive thinking of film culture. Additionally, it paved the way for films that were created with a spontaneous “meta film” consciousness, such as Two Stars in the Milky Way (Yinhan shuangxing, 1932) and The Romance on the Screen (Yinmu yanshi, 1931), which appeared in the early 1930s. Released in 1931, The Romance on the Screen has been endowed with important historical value. Notably, Two Stars in the Milky Way was created earlier than The Romance on the Screen; understood as a “meta film,” the exploration of its media characteristics, narrative structure, audio-visual language, and national consciousness deserves further attention, in relation to the process of film’s change from silence to sound. From the perspective of the social perspective of the time, the context of the early film industry, and the meta film consciousness of the film workers, it is possible that Two Stars in the Milky Way may be the first “meta film” in the history of Chinese film. Moreover, it is also an expression of the value of observing cross-media and the cross-cultural anxiety of the early Chinese film.

Deepfakes in documentary film production: images of deception in the representation of the real

ABSTRACT Deepfakes are a technological innovation that might be understood to violate the documentary film’s relationship with the real. Yet documentary makers have been among the first screen producers to adopt this technology, using it to swap the faces or voices of people they present to their audiences, further disrupting the already complex relationship between the filmmaker and their subject. This paper investigates the growing practice of documentary deepfakes, using two case studies of documentary films from the period 2019–2022 that have used varied forms of deepfakery, examining the intentions of the filmmakers, the technical processes and the ways in which creative choice is both expanded and limited by the technology. An interview-based research methodology provides original insights into filmmakers’ rationales when creating deepfakes. The paper reveals the contradictions inherent in deepfake practice, as described by one documentary filmmaker: ‘I'm looking at deepfake as a way of telling the truth’ (Benjamin Field, producer). A central theme is the ethics of documentary practice using manipulative AI. This paper contributes new insights to theoretical discourse around the digital manipulation of the moving image, discussing the growing disruption caused by deepfakes to documentary film culture and audiences.

Research on the Impact of Parental Movie Choices on Children in China

In the context of growing global awareness regarding the influence of media content on young audiences, this paper focuses on the significant subject of film rating systems. Specifically, it explores the intricate landscape of these systems, their implementation across various countries, and the unique absence of such a system in China. Through an extensive analysis of existing rating systems, including those in the United States, the UK, and India, the study illuminates their influence on global cinema and cultural perceptions. Focusing on China, the paper employs a detailed survey of parents experiences and opinions regarding movie selection for children in the absence of a formal rating system. Findings reveal that a majority of parents acknowledge that movies have an impact on children. Notably, parents express a strong desire for the implementation of a movie rating system in China to guide their choices and prevent the exposure of their children to adult or violent content. However, the study also uncovers potential challenges and complexities in designing a system that balances protection, choice, and cultural relevance. The paper concludes by advocating for a well-considered film rating system in China that aligns with international norms yet is sensitive to local values, aiming to foster a responsible and diverse cinematic culture.

Exploration of Chinese Film and Television Paths under the Influence of the Globalization of Japanese Film and Television Culture Taking Hachi: A Dogs Tale as an Example

In the background of globalization, the development of the Internet and media has brought countries around the world closer together, and cultural communication has become more frequent. Japanese film culture is also playing a more important role around the world. This article takes the Chinese version of the film Hachi: A Dogs Tale adapted from the Japanese screenplay as an example, combines the relationship between structure and events, globalization theory and localization theory, and takes the localized adaptation of this film as the starting point to discuss the enlightenment of Japanese film and television culture to the development direction of Chinese film and television from multiple perspectives such as casting and location. It will talk about relevant policies, cultivating talents, and maintaining innovative practices from the aspects of government, enterprises and individuals, as well as the importance of maintaining cultural uniqueness in the process of localization, and finally provide new ideas for the development of Chinas film industry.

Utilizing YouTube for The Local Film Culture Expansion

This article explore the role of YouTube in developing local film culture. The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted various local short film festivals and screenings. Local filmmakers are trying to find alternative channels to show their short films via YouTube. Using the media industries studies perspective, this research offers two cases, Tilik and Loz Jogjakartoz, to study the role of YouTube for local film the promotion and distribution. Based on in-depth interviews, Ravacana Films and Kebon Ijo Studio implement specific strategies such as film upload timing, social media promotion and audience attention management so that their films trend on YouTube. This research reveals that YouTube can play an important role in connecting local filmmakers with audiences and the national film industry.

Kung Fu Panda: The Value of Chinese Culture in Digital Films

The digital film Kung Fu Panda, produced by DreamWorks Animation of Paramount Pictures, has immediately become a hotspot worldwide since it was released in 2008. The essential reason for its bloom lies in that the film integrates Chinese culture with the spirit of the age; more specifically, by using digital film technology professionally, Chinese culture is embodied in the elements of the film, such as characters, dialogues, actions, music, scenes, etc. In a word, digital film technology brings out eye-catching brilliance when fused into Chinese culture; at the same time, Chinese culture presents immeasurable artistic and market value in digital films.

“Bardo, or the Mexican digital diaspora”

ABSTRACT Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Bardo, falsa crónica de unas cuantas verdades/Bardo False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths (2022) raises important questions about the nature of national film culture in the age to global film commerce. The product of a collaboration between the Mexican filmmaker and Netflix, the US-based global streaming service, Bardo crystalizes long-simmering concerns about digital technologies that have shaped film production and distribution and their impact on contemporary Mexican movie-going audiences. The film’s narrative rhetoric is directed to ‘Greater Mexico’, a cultural community beyond traditional territorial borders. With the objective of calling into question the effects of digitally-driven globalization, the film focuses on the crisis of conscience of creative artist Silverio Gama (Daniel Giménez Cacho), whose symbolic cross-border journey has blurred the lines between the Mexican identity instilled in him by cultural tradition and politics and the post-national environment which, through globalized mass media flows, has since reshaped his outlook. This odyssey to his intimate past eventually leads Silverio to recognize the falseness of his assumption of his own Mexicanness and to acknowledge the progressive evolution of an emerging Mexican culture forged in the borderless, unbounded spaces formed by transnational commerce.

Film(i) Culture after Film: Lip-sync Media and the Expanded Archive of Hindi Cinema

This article considers the remediation of Hindi cinema’s filmi culture in the citational practices of digital media. Foregrounding a case study of the lip-sync video on platforms such as Dubsmash and TikTok, it traces the formation of an expanded archive of Hindi cinema, one which reveals this cinema as less a canon of films than a repertoire of gestures, expressions and style offered up for use to a non-traditional cinephiliac public. The article argues, however, that such an archival view of a historical filmi culture is possible only because of the recession of a filmi culture organised around the sign of cinema to one organised around the sociality of platforms. Among other things, it attributes this shift to the passing of the masala film. The article then pays particular attention to this form as an assemblage of detachable parts primed for circulation. It finally addresses the emergence of a new industrial reflexivity in response to the currency of filmi style in an age of platforms.

Cinephilia, take three?: Availability, reliability, and disenchantment in the streaming era

This article proposes a modified reading of Thomas Elsaesser’s theories of cinephilia, taking into account the new viewing practices established by the rise of online media streaming. Elsaesser characterised early film culture (labelled as ‘take one’) as rooted in celluloid and marked by a longing to view films that were not always easily available. By contrast, his characterisation of the later ‘take two’ era is one in which each new distribution technology (television, VHS, and so on) promises greater abundance and convenience, to the point where this new generation of cinephiles – in response to the widespread success of DVD – were perceived as having to deal with the ‘anachronisms generated by total availability’. Amanda D. Lotz argues that streaming services appear to provide an extension of the ‘take two’ ideal, offering assurances of ‘ availability (on-demand libraries with many choices) and reliability (you don’t have to watch it now or it’s gone)’. I suggest, however, that the underlying impermanence of streaming has prompted fears related to both access and ownership, marking a break from the expectations surrounding the DVD (as well as its successors Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD). The impact of content migration – fracturing access between a greater number of paid platforms – and particularly content delisting – the outright removal of access to a given text – can place certain works in a form of limbo. This article proposes the dawn of a new generation of cinephilia – a potential take three – marked by a newfound concern of ephemerality, albeit much more potential and localised than the widespread unavailability of the take one era. In essence, then, take three wrestles with the anachronisms of loss in a media landscape that, in many other ways, offers unprecedented levels of access to film and television content.

Resurgence of Cinema as Cultural Laboratory in Malaysia: Design Exploration on Cinema Architecture to Manifest Film Culture in the Community

Resurgence of Cinema as Cultural Laboratory in Malaysia: Design Exploration on Cinema Architecture to Manifest Film Culture in the Community

Research on Film Cultural Communication in the New Media Environment

Film culture has been a popular form of entertainment since the 1890s, and it has changed with the progress of technology and times. At the same time, the popularity of the Internet has ushered in the era of new media, and peoples demand for entertainment is gradually increasing. Film and new media have become important ways for people to entertain and obtain information, and are also of great significance for social and economic development. This research mainly studies the characteristics and transmission channels of film culture in the era of new media. The purpose of this study is to enable the audience to enjoy the current era and adapt to the changes in the era of science and technology, so as to obtain better perception and experience while ensuring the quality of the film. This paper adopts the literature analysis method. Through the research, this paper finds out that the propagation of films can be improved by increasing the transmission channels and improving their quality.

비교의 공동체

Contrary to the perception that the social contexts of post-war Korea and Japan were completely different, there are also aspects of the country that were reorganized in a similar way, because post-war Japan and Korea each concealed colonialism and its legacy through aspects of complicity between the nation-state and American imperialism. In addition, the nation-states of the United States, Korea, and Japan deny this similar collusion and abandon their responsibility to respond to colonial victims. In film culture, these phenomenon are explicitly visible in the genres of liberation melodrama, idea picture, and educational documentaries produced under the US military government control in both Japan and Korea. However, at the same time, there were film cultures in Korea and Japan that expressed alternative, or “colonial differences,” and by comparing them, this article focuses on comparative film studies that emphasizes differences based on the binary opposition of Japan = empire and Korea=colony. Inotherwords,thisshowsthat“colonialdifference”andmemoryare not based on the totality of the nation, but lie on various layers such as gender, diaspora, class, and transnational local. This would be a restoration of contemporaneity between Korea and Japan, where they have responsibility to respond to each other.

Modernity and consumer culture in Visconti's early films

AbstractLuchino Visconti is widely recognised as a high-culture director. However, in his films of the period 1943–63 there was a firm engagement with consumer culture and modernity in terms of themes, characters and references. This article explores this often overlooked dimension in Visconti's films by analysing a number of key sequences and moments that relate directly to consumption, consumer culture, leisure, modernity, Americanisation and youth culture. The analysis shows how these representations related to the ongoing changes in Italian postwar society and to incoming Americanisation in particular. My research is informed by the work of Gary Cross, Victoria De Grazia and Emanuela Scarpellini on consumer culture and contextualises how Visconti's referencing of consumer culture and modernity was received by the PCI (Partito Comunista Italiano or Italian Communist Party).

Cinematic Culture During the War in Ukraine: Surviving the Year of Brutalities

&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; Russia’s war against Ukraine has brought a humanitarian catastrophe to Europe and disrupted previously established cultural practices and rituals. One such practice has been the making and watching of films, constituting a further blow to the Ukrainian film industry, which has already experienced modifications caused by the VoD (video-on-demand) business mode and the coronavirus crisis. This study intends to highlight how the culture of cinema changed in the cities of Ukraine in 2022 that suffered and are still suffering from shelling and fighting. Its findings are based on ethnographic observations, oral history, and secondary research of public data.&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D;

A novel drying film culture method applying a natural phenomenon: Increased carotenoid production by Haematococcus sp

Low productivity and high cost remain major bottlenecks for the large-scale production of Haematococcus sp. This study explored biomass production and carotenoid accumulation in Haematococcus sp. (KCTC 12348BP) using drying film culture. The broth-cultured strain (3.2 × 106 cells/mL, 0.83 ± 0.02 mg/mL for a 21 d culture) was cultured under various conditions (different inoculum volumes and mist feeding intervals) in waterless agar plates at 28 ± 0.5 °C, under fluorescent light (12 h light–dark cycle) for 1 month. The maximum biomass obtained was 17.60 ± 0.72 g/m2, while the maximum astaxanthin concentration was 8.23 ± 1.13 mg/g in the culture using 1 mL inoculum and 3 d feeding interval. Drought stress in drying film culture effectively induced the accumulation of carotenoids from β-carotene, facilitating the production of canthaxanthin via the astaxanthin biosynthesis pathway. This cost-effective culture system can increase the biomass and carotenoid pigment production in Haematococcus sp.