Film History Research Articles

Registers of the melodramatic mode: the 1980s heroic bloodshed cycle in the history of the Hong Kong crime film

Registers of the melodramatic mode: the 1980s heroic bloodshed cycle in the history of the Hong Kong crime film

Кинематограф в одном кадре

The article examines the status of the screenshot, a separate static frame, a fragment of the cinematic stream, its relationship to the “whole” of the film, its influence on the spectator’s perception, as well as everyday user practices involving the observation and creation of screenshots. The starting point of the text is an attempt to reconsider the common notion of the screenshot/one-frame as a particle in a subordinate position to the film (and more broadly to the history of cinema). On the basis of texts by Pascal Bonitzer, Sergei Eisenstein, and Roland Barthes, the basic thesis is formulated — the mutual relation between the frame and the film can be constructed differently than the logic of “the frame is a lower-order element nested within the whole film;” on the contrary, the frame and the film in some cases meet as equivalent phenomena or they are superimposed on each other according to the principle of palimpsest. The article deals with three common forms of using frames and screenshots advertising and illustrative shots, the use of film images in sticker packs for messengers, and albums of images in social networks. The question is raised about the communicative plasticity of separate images, the metamorphoses that occur with them when they are taken out of their original context, and their insertion into new artistic and research practices. As such practices, the text pays special attention to two cases — the screenshot project of French director Frank Beauvais and contemporary audiovisual film criticism (based on the works of Johannes Binotto, Carrie Griffith, Daniel McIlwright).

The Evolution of Film Genres: A Historical Analysis

Since its beginnings more than a century ago, cinema has undergone tremendous change as both an artistic medium and a cultural phenomenon. Changes and improvements to film genres are illustrative of this progression. looking back at the development of film genres from their inception all the way up to the current day. historical events, trends, and critical variables that have moulded cinematic genres. early film genres including silent comedies and melodramas emerged at this time, marking the beginning of cinema. Next, it explores how innovations in technology, such sound and colour, influenced the evolution of genres. Examining cinema history in chronological order, this study reveals pivotal epochs of experimentation and invention, such as the silent film era, the Hollywood musical heyday, and the blockbuster era.keywords:- Film Genres, Film History, Cinema Evolution, Genre Development, Silent Film Era, Sound in Film

Киноатлас СССР: «Далеко в Азии» Владимира Ерофеева

The proposed research paper serves two purposes. Firstly, it introduces the ethno-geographical documentary titled Far Away in Asia (1931) into scientific discourse. Secondly, it sheds light on the lesser-known theoretical works of the classic of Soviet cinema Vladimir Erofeev, who explored the Soviet/Marxist cinema language. This film is examined in the context of a comprehensive interdepartmental program of the late 1920s to early 1930s, known as the Cinema-Atlas of the USSR. The program aimed to create a 150-episode visual almanac about the diverse nationalities and regions of the Union. Its objective was to construct images in the public consciousness of a multinational, friendly, and progressively developing socialist nation, both for domestic and international film distribution. Methodologically, this article develops the application of the author’s approach to analyze films as cinematic texts: using the chosen example, it demonstrates how the film document can be read as a historical source. The findings highlight the significance of historical cinema documents as multi-layered evidence of visual history, offering informative potential for research across a wide range of humanitarian disciplines. Additionally, the retrospective study of the complex theoretical and practical developments of the early Soviet period is deemed relevant for contemporary screen projects, including scientific, cinematic, and television endeavors.

Кельтская триада: кинематографии британских национальных меньшинств и «внутренний колониализм»

The global success, both in viewership and expert community, of auteur feature films Belfast, directed by Kenneth Branagh, and The Banshees of Inisherin, directed by Martin McDonagh, and produced by independent Northern Irish companies in 2022–2023, prompts a closer examination of the challenges faced by the national minority cinemas of Great Britain. Specifically, we focus on the culturally and linguistically related regions of Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, collectively referred to in this article as the Celtic Triad, which represent a significant presence in the world cinema landscape. A number of British film historians and sociologists argue that national film industries are on the verge of survival, highlighting two main trends in the context of national cinema: inclusivity and sovereignty. From the perspective of the dominant ethnic group and its major production companies, inclusivity entails assimilation into the mainstream, while sovereignty involves preserving distinct national cultural characteristics. The representatives of national minorities are striving to safeguard these characteristics in the face of what American sociologist Michael Hechter termed internal colonialism—a policy implemented by the dominant Anglo-Saxon ethnic group towards cultures of national minorities and expressed in their marginalization and Anglification. A negative consequence of these dynamics, according to Hechter, is ethnocentrism, that is, the prevalence of one’s own culture in shaping perceptions of the world. Nevertheless, as this article demonstrates, the strategies employed by the Celtic Triad in pursuit of economic independence and artistic self-determination not only ensure the survival of national cinema but also establish its distinct sovereignty and success beyond the borders of Great Britain. Television broadcasting in national languages, which has gained popularity with the advent of digital broadcasting, plays a significant role in this process. An important contributing factor here is the economic and socio-cultural collaborations of these cinemas with both domestic and international partners, relying primarily on the influence of soft power and implying adaptation not only by adjusting to them, but also by active interchange and cross-fertilization of cultures.

Women Breaking into the South Korean Film World: A Study of Female Filmmakers in the 1990s

In the 1990s, four women made their debut as film directors in South Korea. Considering that there were only five female directors from the beginning of Korean film history in 1919 until the 1980s, their debut was a remarkable phenomenon. This change was due to the structural innovation of the South Korean film field that began in the mid-1980s. With the collapse of the apprenticeship system, networks of cinephiles such as the Munhwawon sedae functioned as a new source of relational capital. In order to deepen our understanding of the emergence of the celluloid ceiling in South Korea, this study focuses on the experiences of three women filmmakers who made their first feature films in the 1990s: Yim Soon-rye, Lee Jeong-hyang, and Byun Young-Joo. Compared to male directors who had equivalent cultural and academic capital, and who entered the field during the same period, these women directors were unable to acquire sufficient relational capital to promote their careers as directors. It was the authorities of the field, such as film festivals and the media, that acknowledged them and established their reputations, allowing them to release their first films in the South Korean cinematic field. In other words, even in the new system, women remained excluded from the benefits of relational capital in the South Korean cinematic field, and they could only find their place as directors by demonstrating exceptional individual abilities.

Toward a Feminist Montage: Reading for the Cut in Ana Mendieta's Sweating Blood

abstract: This article develops an alternate concept of the filmic cut with influences from both montage theory and feminist film history. Deriving this alternate concept of the cut from Ana Mendieta's moving image work, I examine Sweating Blood (1973) as it couples the cut with an aesthetic violence, producing a version of the cut that contributes to a feminist discourse on filmic manipulation, intermedia, and montage. This theory of the cut is informed not only by Mendieta but also by those who have inspired alternate ways of thinking about "the cut," including Yoko Ono, Maggie Nelson, Sergei Eisenstein, and Luis Buñuel.

MAPPILAPPAATTU AND OPPANA: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTE ON MAPPILA SONGS AND PERFORMING ART

The Muslim population of Kerala state is known as the Mappilas. The community is formed due to commerce between the Arabians and the Malabarians. Indigenous culture had a significant effect on Mappila's arts and ceremonies. The Mappilas created a distinctive cultural pattern that encompassed a variety of artistic aspects, including their traditional song, Mappilappaattus, and one of the most exquisite performing arts, Oppana. Most scholarly research on Mappilas is historical and ignores anthropological elements like arts and rituals. Thus, this essay aims to offer an anthropological perspective on Mappila songs, known as Mappilappaattu and the performing art of Mappila women, known as Oppana. While examining the nature of Mappilappaattus and its many genres, this research highlights that the secularised Mappilappaattus, which was primarily romantic in substance, drew people from beyond the Mappila community. Oppana also had a secular and romantic tone, which appealed to the public. The popularity of Mappilappaattus and Oppana can be explained, for example, by looking at the history of Malayalam films. Mappilappaattu and Oppana were staples of Malayalam film from the beginning of the 1950s.

MAPPILAPPAATTU AND OPPANA: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTE ON MAPPILA SONGS AND PERFORMING ART

The Muslim population of Kerala state is known as the Mappilas. The community is formed due to commerce between the Arabians and the Malabarians. Indigenous culture had a significant effect on Mappila's arts and ceremonies. The Mappilas created a distinctive cultural pattern that encompassed a variety of artistic aspects, including their traditional song, Mappilappaattus, and one of the most exquisite performing arts, Oppana. Most scholarly research on Mappilas is historical and ignores anthropological elements like arts and rituals. Thus, this essay aims to offer an anthropological perspective on Mappila songs, known as Mappilappaattu and the performing art of Mappila women, known as Oppana. While examining the nature of Mappilappaattus and its many genres, this research highlights that the secularised Mappilappaattus, which was primarily romantic in substance, drew people from beyond the Mappila community. Oppana also had a secular and romantic tone, which appealed to the public. The popularity of Mappilappaattus and Oppana can be explained, for example, by looking at the history of Malayalam films. Mappilappaattu and Oppana were staples of Malayalam film from the beginning of the 1950s.

Senarist Ayşe Şasa’nın Sinema Düşüncesi ve Örnek Filmlerin Söylem Analizi

Screenwriter Ayse Sasa, with her active role in the intellectual history of Turkish cinema, her ideas and determinations, and the theories of cinema she put forward, is the subject of this study. The general question addressed in the study is whether Ayse Sasa establishes her idea of cinema in her screenplays. Discourse analysis using the concepts of Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, and Karl Marx was used to answer this question. The two films that Sasa highlighted the most in the books she wrote and in the interviews with her were classified and analyzed according to the evolution of her cinematic thought. In her own words, Sasa's cinematic thought consists of two periods. In this study, Ayse Sasa's cinematic thought is traced through the films Ah Guzel Istanbul (1966), which she wrote in her first period, and Gramofon Avrat (1987), which she wrote in her second period. As a result of the research, it was determined that Sasa's thoughts existed in her screenplays within the limits of possibility.

A study on Bernard Herrmann’s science fiction film music

The early sound film and “classical-style” Hollywood film periods were important representatives in the history of Hollywood films, producing many classic films as well as many famous film music composers. Among them, Bernard Herrmann was a unique and distinctive representative with his own personal compositional style, and was also the representative composer for thriller, horror, mystery and science fiction films during this period. When analyzing film music, especially Bernard Herrmann’s works, using tonal music analysis, many harmonic progressions cannot be accurately expressed. Harmonic function analysis emphasizes the principles of tonality, while neo-Riemannian theory breaks away from the framework of tonality and harmonic functions, emphasizing the spatial progression between chords. For Bernard Herrmann’s music, using neo-Riemannian theory can reasonably analyze the characteristics and patterns of musical progression, and explain many chord progressions that harmonic functions cannot. One of the films that can be given as an example of this situation is The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). The Day the Earth Stood Still is a Hollywood science fiction film made in 1951. This work played an important role in the development of later science fiction films. Bernard Herrmann chose to abandon the traditional orchestral instrumentation and used a specific instrumental ensemble to form Herrmann’s unique science fiction film music space. Transformational analysis shows that the music uses modes, hexatonic scales and octatonic scales to form melodies and harmonies with ambiguous characteristics, and the use of these modes and scales also provides important color elements for film music of specific styles. Neo-Riemannian theory has been around for less than 50 years. As an emerging music theory system, it is not yet mature and complete, and is still expanding and improving. However, as an analysis tool for nonfunctional tonal film music, it can provide a brand new perspective. This researcher also believes that neo-Riemannian theory can provide theoretical basis for analyzing various styles of film music as an analytical tool.

Blindness Challenging Melodrama in Your Eyes Tell (2020) and Blind Massage (2014)

While blindness has been a recurring motif in melodramatic fiction films, this article argues that some contemporary East Asian films about blindness provide a template for challenging ableism and melodramatic conventions via textual analysis. Based on the work of Peter Brooks, Linda Williams, and other significant studies on melodrama and blindness, I first introduce three main characteristics of and gaps in melodrama (virtue, dichotomy, and the moral occult) while examining the connections between blindness and melodrama in East Asian film history. Then I explore how filmic representation in East Asian can question melodramatic conventions and disrupt the dichotomy between disability and non-disability by using the Japanese film Your Eyes Tell (2020) and the Chinese film Blind Massage (2014) as case studies. Your Eyes Tell begins to problematize the melodramatic dichotomy and ableism by attaching great importance to multiple senses, whereas Blind Massage emphasizes the diversity of blindness and challenges melodramatic patterns by representing the body, emotions, affect and sound in very specific ways.

Techniques and Poetics of the Submarine in Film

Water, whether surface or depths, recurrently appears in cinema as a motif and a material. The great symbolic importance this recurrence of the aquatic bears within film leads to calling its different uses into question, especially when it comes to the subaquatic. Addressing the question of the submarine allows going beyond water as a simple surface, and thus to move towards a real habitability of water. Making a history of underwater cinema that includes precinematic devices such as the public aquariums of the late 19th century enables the identification of an aesthetic community, as well as that of a common desire to stage a totalizing perceptive experience of the aquatic element and, in that way, of the image materiality. In line with the various cinematic underwater devices conceived to that end during the 20th century, virtual reality, as a total experience generator, also resorts to the subaquatic as a pretext to immerse the user in the work of art. The recurring fascination for the subaquatic throughout the ages, even more so with the rise of new media, demonstrates how water is a central feature to better define and archeologize the concept of immersion.

Tarihi-Mistik Karakterlerin Sinematografik Sunumu Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme

While historical and spiritual characters have been present in Turkish cinema history since the 1950s, recent developments in filming technologies, increased interest in television, and the rise in popularity of TV series have contributed these characters to also appear on television screens. They have gained an unprecedented audience and follower potential. Television series that depict the life stories of religious figures have achieved great success with modern possibilities, and visualizing the spiritual teachings of these personalities and conveying them to people through series has become exceptionally important. As a result, multiple religious characters have been featured in television series, and these characters, previously only read about, have now come to life on screen. This study focuses on the presentation of historical/religious characters on screen, with specific reference to Imam Ghazali, Tapduk Emre, and Mahperi Hunat Hatun, who hold great importance in Turkish-Islamic history, as exemplars. The universe of the study consists of religious/Sufi characters on television, while its sample comprises the listed names. The main objective of the study is to research how these figures are depicted on screen. Through narrative analysis, it is concluded that the examined characters are mostly successfully portrayed on screen, although at times, there may be discrepancies between the depiction and the historical reality.

Użyteczny wróg. Konflikty wojenne w filmie dokumentalnym na wybranych przykładach

Documentary films about conflicts are perceived not so much as historical films as propaganda films. This is often the case even against the intentions of their authors. It is difficult to break away from already deeply ingrained patterns of thought: the way in which the narrative is conducted and ready-made patterns of representation are incorporated into accounts of reality. We refer to the category of struggle, we use opposites to define our own position. An outstanding example of this strategy is the Why We Fight series by Frank Capra and Anatole Litvak pitting free nations (Allies) against slave nations (Germany, Japan). In the post-war document, the negative reference point was primarily fascism. Since the 1990s (the war in former Yugoslavia), films describing conflicts have again pitted nations against each other. Over the last century, documentary cinema narrating wars has improved its technique. The narrative and the ways of arguing one’s case have not become particularly enriched. At the same time, film archives are becoming more widely available. Filmmakers find in them arguments for their constructions of thought. The danger of misusing archive material and constructing a black-and-white picture of reality was noticed just after World War II. In recent film productions, however, we find examples of both the conscious and responsible use of archives and the avoidance of easy juxtapositions.

W jaki sposób filmowa forma uhistorycznia filmową narrację i ekranowy świat przedstawiony? Analiza zjawiska na wybranych przykładach

The article deals with the issue of aesthetic-formal strategies of historicizing the film narrative and the screen world presented in historical cinema. It shows by means of which strategies – formal means of expression – the film narrative and the world depicted are historicized. In the introduction, a key analytical concept – historicity – is introduced. The category of historicity is shown as heterogeneous, requiring each time a conceptualization relativized to the cultural context of its use. In the article it is conceptualized in various ways, e.g. as: variability/existence in time (a way of understanding time); repetition; past; chronological; linearity; layering; rhythmic; causal; development; progress; shift/turn to the past/references to the past; (futuristic) projection of the past; tradition; memory of the past; (historical) consciousness; scholarly (historiographical); momentousness; obsolescence/ anachronism/ archaicity/ antiquity; style of thought; narrative; discursive; documentary/source; meta-historical; genre. The strategies of historicizing the film narrative and the cinematic world presented are conceived in the text as the numerous ways of equipping the film with various kinds of formal/filmic signs of historicity, allowing to obtain in the act of actualization of the work by the viewer/researcher the impression of the effect of historicity of the narrative and the world presented. They form the film poetics of historicity. In the following sections of the article, signs of historicity in the function of historicizing the cinematic narrative and the depicted world are analyzed on the example of various films. They consist of (1) paratexts; (2) the composition of the film narrative.

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.

Exploring Time Travel Rules in Time Travel Films

Throughout film history, time travel has been an intriguing concept revisited time and again by film productions, creating a universe of time travel principles and becoming a discipline of scientific import. With some of the greatest minds and thinkers of our time contributing to the living discourse, time travel has gained global significance and has developed several rules films attempt to follow. Time travel theory postulates several theories concerning the effect of an individual traveling through time and coming into contact with themselves; some benign, some many catastrophic. This study reviews time travel films to determine the cinematic consistency of three of these rules; the grandfather paradox, time-traveling for self-benefit, and meeting oneself in an alternate time.

Representation of Teachers in Turkish Cinema Between 1940 and 1980

The film of the destruction of the Russian monument in 1914 is not only the history of Turkish cinema, but also of a country. The aim of this study is to reveal the representation of teachers in Turkish cinema, which is one of the professions that shape a nation, in films that reflect the effects of the periods spent in all its positive and negative aspects. The reflections of the political and social changes experienced in the historical process on the cinema, the emphasis in the representation of the teacher and the quality of the added value created in the society were analyzed in comparison with the periodical conjuncture. With the purposeful sampling management, the films in which the teacher was represented from 1940 to 1980 were compared with the conditions of the period in which they were shot, and their reflections on the society and the teacher were examined.