Mowelfund Tour

Last September 27 this year, we had a great chance to visit the Mowelfund Film Institute. It was a really nice opportunity for us students to tour the school because we were able to see lots of things regarding the film industry in the Philippines. 

Now, let me tell a bit something about Mowelfund. Mowelfund, or the Movie Workers Welfare Foundation is an organization in the Philippines that provides for the welfare of workers in the film industry. As well as helping film workers in times of need, it provides support to various organizations including the Mowelfund Film Institute. It was established in 1974 by Joseph Estrada, the Mayor of San Juan at that time and also the President of the Philippine Motion Picture Producers Association.

Also, The actress and the president of the Mowelfund Institute, Ms.Boots Anson-Roa came to introduce the institute. She then talked about how difficult it is to be a celebrity and to be a worker OFF-cam. She also shared some of her experiences as a front liner or more known as the artists. It was really nice seeing her in person.

Then after her short talk, we started to tour the museum. We saw the remarkable costumes from the popular celebrities in the 80s to 70s. I've got to see also the awards Nora Aunor, Fernando Poe Jr. and Boots Anson-Roa won.

The horror room is quite creepy because of the sound effects when you go inside. I got so fascinated because the sculptures seem so real especially the 'Tikbalang'.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to bring a camera that time so I don't have many photos to show but maybe I'll just grab photos from my friends. :) So for now, here's our picture inside the museum.

(c) Maureen Rios

I had so much fun touring the museum with my classmates and I've discovered a lot of things too about the history of Philippine cinema which is very helpful to me as Mass Communication student. 

The French New Wave (1959-1964)

In the mid 1950s, a bunch of young men made a habit of attacking the most artistically respected French filmmakers of the day. And take note they wrote their criticisms on the influential french film magazine, Cahiers du Cinema.

We have Jean-Luc Godard who addressed the 21 major directors he asserted, "Your camera movements are ugly because your subjects are bad, your casts act badly because your dialogue is worthless; in a word you don't know how to create cinema because you no longer even know what it is". Francois Truffaut and Godard along with Claude Chabrol, Eric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette also praised directors considered somewhat outdated or eccentric.

"We were all critics before beginning to make films and I loved all kinds of cinema, the Russians, the Americans, the Neorealists. It was the cinema that made us or me, at least want to make films. I knew nothing of life except through the cinema" - Jean Luc Godard, director.

I really liked that quote from Director Godard. Giving criticisms aren't used just to insult but to bring out the best in you. Being criticized is not fun at all but at least, you'll know what you lack. You'll be aware since you've been told about the things you need to change. I believe that it's a very effective tool for us to be able to realize that we can be the best.

Writing criticism didn't satisfy these young men, they are hungry to make movies. They even started borrowing money from friends and filming on location to shoot their short movies. 

New wave films pushed further the Neorealist experimentation with plot construction. The films often lack goal-oriented protagonists. New Wave narratives often introduce startling shifts in tone, jolting our expectations. The New Wave films ends ambiguously. 

The New wave offered not only several original and valuable films but they also demonstrated that renewal in the film industry could come from talented, aggressive young people inspired in large part by the love of cinema.

The Italian Neorealism (1942-1951)

Italian Neorealism is a film movement by stories set amongst the poor and working class, using non-professional actors and filmed on location. Italian Neoralist films represents the economic difficulty in Italy during the world war II by portraying the conditions of everyday life and that includes poverty, desperation, injustice and oppression.

There is no definitive source for the term Neorealism but it was said that it first appeared in the early 1940s in the writings of Italian critics. Today most historians believe that Neorealist filmmaking was not a complete break with Italian cinema under Mussolini. The film White Ship (1941) by Roberto Rossellini, a pseudo-documentary prepared the way for more direct handling of contemporary events. The current trends that time such as regional dialect comedy and urban melodrama encouraged the directors and scriptwriters to turn towards realism and this trend later became known as the Neorealist movement.

Neorealism created a distinctive approach to film style. 

Shooting on the streets and in private buildings made Italian Camera operators skilled at cinematography that often avoided the three-point lighting system of Hollywood.

The movement exercised a strong influence on the individual filmmakers such as Ermanno Olmi and Satyajit Ray and on groups such as the French New Wave.

Before I end this post, this is the trailer of 'The Bicycle Thief'. A nice example of an Italian Neorealist film.

Soviet Montage(1924-1930)

(Screencap from 'The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the land of Bolsheviks)

Soviet Montage is actually an approach in cinema that relies heavily upon editing. 'montage' is the french word for 'assembly' or 'editing'. Minimizing the individual characters in the center of attention is one of the characteristics of Soviet Montage films. In here, single characters are being shown as members of different social classes and are representing a general type or class.

During the world war 1, there were a number of private production companies operating in Moscow and Petersburg. The companies did quite well making films for domestic marker with most imports cut off. These film companies resisted the movie made directly after the revolution to nationalize all private property. They just simply refused to supply films to theaters operating under the control of the government. The government's film section of the State Commission of Education put strict controls on the supplies of raw film stock and as a result, the producers started hoarding their stock and even the largest firms took all the equipment and fled to other countries.

But despite the shortages of equipment and difficult living conditions, some young filmmakers made their moves that would improve the development of a national cinema movement. We have Dziga Vertov and Lev Kuleshov that made their part to save what really has to be saved.

Dziga Vertov

Lev Kuleshov

The Soviet authorities encouraged all the filmmakers to create simple films that would be readily understandable to all audience. Stylistic experimentation or non-realistic subject matter was often criticized or censored.

Movie Review: Le Mepris 1963 (Contempt)

I'm here again to make some review about the film presented to us last week in our cinema class, Le Mepris. A french film based on the Italian novel Disprezzo (A Ghost at Noon), It is a story of a marriage that has come to an end just because the woman fell out of love.

In the start of the film, the couple Camille Javal and Paul Javal are both so in love to the point that they can sacrifice everything for each other but because of lots of misunderstandings because of the husband's job, problems between the couple started to rise. Paul Javal is a playwright who was hired to rewrite the script of Homer's Odyssey which is to be directed by Fritz Lang. His wife Camille is a very beautiful lady and he was so inlove with her husband but throughout the film she was expressing her hurt and change of heart. Paul had a slow grasp of the source of her contempt which is the main reason of their breakup.

It was a really nice film but I feel like there are some unnecessary scenes that were too long and it just made some parts of the film a bit boring and bland. There are also long pauses between the characters that I believe aren't that important to the film but nevertheless, the whole film was great. Camille's contempt was gracefully executed.

Movie review/Movie Recommendation: Letters From Iwo Jima

Konnichiwa! Let me introduce to you the film that made me admire so much the passion and determination of the Japanese people. A 2006 Hollywood film directed by the famous actor Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima. To be very honest, I'm not really fond of watching war films but this movie is just too precious to ignore. It is totally a remarkable masterpiece. 

Letters From Iwo Jima is the second of Clint Eastwood's themed movies that retells the battle of Iwo Jima from the Japanese perspective. I still haven't got the chance to watch the first film or the companion piece entitled 'Flags of our Fathers' which portrays the same battle from the American perspective. I'd love to see the movie some other time in order to comprehend both viewpoints.

The film started months before the United States' invasion of the Japanese Island, Iwo Jima with the soldiers digging trenches on the beach. Particularly Private First Class Saigo, a teenage baker but got no choice to participate in the war despite his youth and his wife's pregnancy. While digging, he complains to his friend that the tiny island they're protecting wasn't even sacred at all and that they should just give it to the Americans so they can go home but one of the captain of the troup, Captain Tanida overheard them and started beating them for "conspiring with unpatriotic words".

At the same time, General Kuribayashi arrives to take command of the Japanese armed forces stationed in the island and begins the inspection of the island defenses and there he sees Saigo being beaten by Captain Tanida. He immediately ordered him to stop beating them and deny their lunch rations instead. And I'll never forget the line the General said after that. "A good captain uses his brain not just his whip". 

While General Kuribayashi was inspecting the troops, he realizes they've got everything wrong. He was certain about that since he has traveled and studied in America and knows what is going through their minds. He believes that they can't count on outside support anymore, the navy has been already defeated. And with that, Kuribayashi made them redo everything from scratch. They only have one thought in mind at that very moment, Iwo Jima MUST not fall because it is the last line of defense before the Americans attack the Japanese mainland. The emperor sends all their assets to Iwo Jima to prepare for the last-ditch defense of the mainland.

When the battle began, it was already very clear that Iwo Jima will not win against the Americans. They're outnumbered and the weapons they have weren't enough to beat the American army. There was a scene in the film where the Americans are already entering the shores of Iwo Jima and the beach is filled with marines. I was all like "whoa, this is just impossible".

(The scene where the Americans are landing on the shores of Iwo Jima)

Starting with this scene, they were already fighting for a losing battle. But they are at least aware that they're going to die soon. And from there you'll witness how they sacrificed everything for their country. General Kuribayashi even told his soldiers that you are a useless soldier if you are dead. He desperately convinces his troop to learn when to withdraw and survive. They have to at least kill 10 enemy soldiers before they die, it was such a motivation for them to fight more and show the Americans what they can do to protect their land.

There was a scene that made me really fascinated with Saigo. The captain of his troop, Captain Tanida have decided to kill themselves because he believes that escape is the coward's way and the only way left for them is to die with honor. But Saigo didn't follow them since he believes that it is much better for them to continue fighting until the end rather than killing themselves inside the cave without even doing anything. I find that scene truly epic and beautiful. Towards the end, Private Class Saigo encountered the General for the last time and ordered him to bury him where the enemy will never find his body. Kuribayashi shoots himself with his pistol which was a gift from an American officer and he made sure that he was still in the Japanese soil. Saigo was weeping while he drags the General's body away for burial. 

The movie ends with the archaeologists finding the letters Saigo has buried and those letters contains individual stories of heroism as the Japanese soldiers prepare to die.

Actually, the person who portrayed Private First Class Saigo was non other than the lead vocalist of the popular Japanese boyband Arashi, Ninomiya Kazunari. When I started being a fan, I found out that he was part of a hollywood film (well not just a part, but he's one of the leading roles :D) I immediately downloaded the whole thing and everything was just wonderful. It was a heartbreaking, touching and beautiful story of a battle that will make you realize that for your country everything is worth fighting for. 

                 

          

You can watch the full trailer here

                                          

The New Hollywood and Independent Filmmaking

There was a time that the Hollywood industry struggled so much to the point that even the expensive studio projects failed to gain profits. American movie attendance flattened out at around 1 billion tickets per year and by 1969, the hollywood companies were already losing over $200 million annually. This created a huge impact because as we all know the Hollywood industry is one of the centers and main pillars in the whole film industry worldwide.

But then of course, the producers can't just sit around and watch the industry go down. They fought back and their strategy was to produce counterculture-flavored films aimed at young people. This is where the so called "movie brats" became significant. The young directors that changed the Hollywood industry. George Lucas, Brian De Palma, Steven Spielberg and Francis Coppola are just some of those genius directors that were able to lift the industry's fortune.

Most of the films of the New Hollywood were based on the Old Hollywood because the young directors were also admirers of the classical Hollywood tradition. Well not only that but some directors admired the European tradition too. During the 1980s, the fresh directors were able to win recognition as well that created a "New Hollywood". Many of the biggest movie hits came from George Lucas (Star Wars) and Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park). Directors from independent film managed to shift into the mainstream world with widely known celebrities making medium-budget pictures.

George Lucas (Star Wars)

Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park)

And at the start of the new century, many of the most thrilling Hollywood films were being created by a heavy-armed new generation from the 1960s and 1970s and brought up on videotape, video games and of course The Internet.

Source: Film Art by David Bordwell and Kristen Thompson (p. 463-468)

Movie Review: Un Chien Andalou (An Andalusian Dog, 1929)

We were able to see this 16-minute silent surrealist film entitled 'Un Chien Andalou' in our Cinema class last week. When the movie started, it was quite hard to understand because it seemed like the scenes are not related to each other at all. The time frame keeps on jumping to another time frame, and the flow of the whole story is not that clear to me. When a scenes comes up, I would be like "what happened? what's going to happen now?". There are a lot of actions in the movie that surely had meanings but I wasn't able to catch those up.

I find it difficult to understand the film because it feels like the film makes no sense at all not in a bad way though.  Everything going on with the film were dream-like and I think that it allows the audience to analyze the meaning behind it. The infamous razor eye slicing made me cringe, it was very disturbing and at the same time questionable because I really wasn't able to understand why it became like that.

Maybe because I am more exposed to films that has dialogue and everything that is why I find it hard to understand a film that is silent all throughout but nevertheless, I'm still convinced that this film is one of the most surreal film that was ever made in the film history.

You can watch the full movie HERE. :)

French Impressionism and Surrealism (1918-1930)

French Impressionism can also be referred as the 'first-avant grande' or 'narrative-avant grande'. Most of the impressionist filmmakers started out working for major french companies and some of their works proved financially successful. In Surrealism, the filmmakers relied on their own means and private patronage.

France had been one of the centers of the film industry but they had been traumatize from a serious blow struck by World War 1. French films were unable to compete with the American films on a large scale, their film exports were limited to those countries that had steady cultural exchange. And because of that, a door opened for them to imitate the typical Hollywood films and they thought that it's a way to recapture the market. French films often adapted from theater productions and focuses more on character psychology. The french industry concentrated on finding innovative ways to portray their characters' inner personalities and that is when French Impressionist Cinema movement started.

Abel Gance, Marcel L'Herbier, Germaine Dulac, and Jean Epstein are those directors who genuinely pushed the boundaries of cinema. They worked part-time and at the same time serving their studios with more conventional work. Impressionist directors were able to expand their movement while still being supported with commercial minded employers. The previous generation considered filmmaking as a commercial graft though the younger filmmakers wrote essays saying that cinema was an art comparable to poetry, painting etc.

Surrealism cinema produced films that are perplexed and shocked most of their audiences. It was more radical movement. We have discussed in our class that Surrealist cinema is overtly anti-narrative, attacking causality itself. Those are silent films and doesn't have dialogue but the visual being shown in the film will definitely attack its viewers.

The Star System in Filmmaking

While doing my research and some readings, I have learned that the star system is considered as one of the most controversial contributions of film to the long history of acting. It is the method of exploiting movie stars in Classical Hollywood Cinema. The agency or studios would select and glamorize promising young actors to the point where they create personas for them, inventing new names and even changing their backgrounds for them to fit the 'star' bubble.

Star system emphasize more on the image rather than the acting, although discreet acting, voice and dancing lessons were all a common part of it. I've also read that women were expected to behave like elegant ladies and they always have to dress up in a very stylish way while Men were expected to be seen in public as a total gentlemen, in that way people will recognize them as the perfect celebrity.

The studio executives and the staffs helps the actor to build a star persona. They work together to avoid things that would damage the image of their actor. They are also the ones in-charge in making up dates between male and female stars to stir up publicity. In show business, it is essential that the actors are well known because it will determine how long they would stay on the spotlight. If you want to be a total star, you have to be publicized. And their main goal is to help their actor boost its popularity. In short, it is their responsibility to protect the actor by covering up everything that would make him/her fall down. 

German Expressionism (1919-1926)

photo cr: http://www.spaightwoodgalleries.com

Notes

• Horror films and Film Noir are influenced by German Expressionism
• In 1916, film imports were banned except from neutral Denmark.
• Production increased rapidly, from a dozen of small companies in 1911.
• UFA (Universum Film Aktiengesellschaft) A move toward control of not only the German market but the postwar international market as well.
• German film industry concentrated on three genres.
• Popular adventure serial, Featuring spy rings and Clever detectives.
• As an avant garde movement, Expressionism had first been important in painting.
• German Expressionism depends heavily on mise-en-scene.
• Shapes are distorted and exaggerated unrealistically for expressive purposes.
• Actors often wear heavy make-up and move in jerky or slow patterns.
• Caligari is one of the typical examples of German Expressionism
• It was prevalent in the 1920s
• Remembered films are such as "The Cabinet of Dr.Caligari" (Robert Weiner, 1920), Nosferatu (F.W Murnau, 1922) and Sunrise (F.W Murnau, 1922).
• The story lines of German Expressionist films are matched the visuals in terms of darkness and disillusionment.

Source: Film Art Book by Bordwell and Thompson

Review Paper: The Film School Generation: Blockbuster Directors

Being a Director is one of the most important roles in a film industry. They considered as the eyes and ears of the whole film production.  As we define a “Director”  he or she is the one that controls the film’s artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizing the script. They create an overall vision through which a film gets eventually “born”.  Since he/she depends on a successful cooperation of a lot of different creative individuals with possibly strongly contradicting artistic ideals and visions, he also needs "to be a diplomat" in order mediate whenever necessary.
The five directors with magical minds who created the blockbuster movies in the 60s-70s represented what Hollywood did best with the works like E.T, The Godfather and the Untouchables. They are the filmmakers who thought they could change the world, and they actually did.  Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Francis Coppola, Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma are those five young directors who are also knows as the “movie brats” that made some of the most successful movies of all time.
They created the “phenomenon” of a blockbuster movie.

Steven Spielberg

As a movie fan, I consider him as one of the geniuses in the American film industry. He’s one of those directors that didn’t even go to a film school.  And in my opinion, Steven Spielberg thinks of his audience because he wouldn’t be able to create a blockbuster film if he’s just thinking of himself. He considers his audience as well but of course he gave his own touch in it.  When Steven Spielberg does a science fiction movie he can do no wrong but the line doesn't stop for him there he can do drama movies that touch just as well and sure we can list and talk about all of them but at the end of the day it’s about how he got his movie to speak to you.

George Lucas

He never imagined that he would end up in a film school because at first he wanted to be an illustrator. George Lucas is best known as the creator of the Star Wars saga. A common theme throughout Lucas's works is escape. His films tend to emphasize visuals and plot. They often include chase scenes of some sort, and are often edited to move along at a fast pace. Him being a director, I have this feeling that he thinks of himself because I've read some news articles about his involvement in the Star Wars Saga that until now he is still not endearing himself to the Star Wars fans.

Francis Coppola

As for this talented director, he’s that kind of director that thinks of his audience because his style is that his characters don’t always have to say what they are thinking, the audience knows it already and the music helps them feel it too. He’s the one who founded American Zoetrope, the production company that gave many film artists both a home and help their careers.  He thinks of his client/audience more than anyone else. He is such an inspiration because of his craft.

Martin Scorsese

This director has been acknowledged as the best filmmaker in his generation. His red-blooded canon has spawned a generation of copycats while his muscular style has become a template. In my opinion, he’s also one of those directors that think of his audience. He experienced failure in the past but still he was able to accumulate great deal of cultural prestige and power. He was able to make blockbuster films that changed Hollywood.

Brian De Palma

American director Brian De Palma has always insisted that he gained his fascination with all things gory by watching his father, an orthopedic surgeon, at work. It's more likely that the principal influence on De Palma's career was Alfred Hitchcock, a fascination he has claimed to have outgrown professionally. In my opinion, I think that he thinks of his audience. His film genres are thriller and horror that deals with love and obsession, in which the lead character is haunted by what he has seen or heard. In a way, all these films are about the human senses, and about cinema itself, which are the only means through which the characters make sense of the world around them.

A film is something that a person can relate on. That’s why I believe that if you don’t think of your audience while making a film, you won’t be able to communicate with them as a director. You should consider them first because they are the ones who will absorb the movie. The way your characters communicate with the audience is a big impact for the viewers.

You can watch the complete parts of the whole documentary here.

Reflection Paper: The Hollywood Style

Watching this documentary, I've learned that the "Hollywood Style" on filmmaking is very unique and extraordinary in my opinion. They are able to create films that are beyond our expectations because they have this sense of creativity in them that can be seen in the movies as results. Obviously there's a very big difference between the films in the past and those films today but we cannot deny that the quality just improved a lot. Discipline is a very important factor, from the director, staffs and of course the actors in the film. 

The history of American Film is greatly discussed in this documentary. The words by men and women who made those movies struck me, their talented minds and incomparable discipline are one of the main factors why their movie became a hit. They were able to tell the actors the right emotions and they give them this motivation to act out the scene perfectly. I am very impressed with the methods they used to motivate their actors.

And also witnessing the American production method will definitely help us to determine how different it is from their foreign compatriots. I've also seen the basic materials they used for production which is a big help because I am now informed and I am curious to know more about it. The directors also discussed here how they were able to achieve different film effects with the available resources or materials.

I believe that this documentary is a very helpful tool for us Mass Communication students because it will help us understand more how Americans produce their films that affects us as well.

Movie Review: Trainspotting

During our cinema class, we are able to get to see the movie “Trainspotting” starring Ewan McGregor as a drug dealer with his other friends. It is a black comedy/drama film that deals with substance abuse. In some western countries, using drugs for their personal satisfaction is just normal but in fact, they don’t consider what the result might be. According to the articles I have read about substance abuse, once you get addicted to it, it’s hard to stop. You won’t be able to control yourself anymore because the drug is already attached to your system. In this movie,  Mark Renton along with his friends Spud and Sick boy are addicted to heroin. Heroin is a highly addictive drug derived from morphine, which is obtained from the opium poppy. It is a “downer” or depressant that affects the brain's pleasure. They used heroin to satisfy their needs and to heal their emotional wounds. 
      
The movie had lots of great shots. We have discussed the different camera shots in this class and some of the examples are from this movie. I am so impressed on how they handled the different camera angles to emphasize each scene and for the viewers to appreciate the movie more. It’s very realistic, you can tell already what they are up to just with the dialogue and the way they speak. The facial expressions and how the actors portray their roles are superb. The close up shots that are seen in the movie, they emphasized the feeling of a person that is under influenced of substance abuse. The treatment of the whole film is quite ridiculous but the sound effects during the scenes made it so real like you’re really watching a bunch of kids wasting their life injecting heroin to their system. The close up shots are job well done because as an audience, I was able to tell the feelings of each character. I am so impressed with the whole film’s cinematography.  The way they focus each characters and the tracking shots are truly an art.

Watching Trainspotting is like a wakeup call to everyone who are using drugs and for those who wants to use heroin. In this movie, they will be able to witness what terrible things might happen to them when they use drugs. The character Mark Renton was able to escape from the horrible world of using drugs because he realized that there are more important things that he should be doing, he was able to overcome his addiction because he really wanted to change his self for the sake of his health and of course his family. He probably realized that he doesn’t want to die the same way his friends did. His other friend Tommy died because of the complications in his body due to substance abuse. It serves as a wakeup call for him to be a better person.  This movie might not be widely accepted because of the superb amount of violence and sexual scenes but it is inspiring for those people who want to change for the better and escape from the world of drug addiction.

I find the ending of Trainspotting very interesting and at the same time very crucial. When Mark Renton met up again with his friends because of Tommy’s passing, they started hanging out together again. They started drinking just like before Mark stopped doing drugs. That time Sick Boy suggested a heroin transaction but needs Mark to supply the initial £4,000. After they purchased the heroin, Renton injects himself with a sample to test its purity. The four were able to sell the heroin for £16,000. Early in the morning, Mark took all the money from Begbie’s arms and left the room where they were all sleeping. Spud saw him leave but he didn’t say anything at all. While Mark was walking away with the money, he vows that he will live a stable and traditional life just like the ordinary people then the next scene was Spud finding the £2,000 Renton has left for him.

It was a very nice touch of the ending, it makes people realize that if you want to change for the better you are very free to do it as long as you have the will and determination to escape from your dark side. Everyone has a second chance, even third, fourth, fifth and so on. You just have to believe and trust yourself that you can surpass and overcome everything as long as you’re aware that you are in the right path.

Konnichiwa!

This blog is made for our Cinema101 class and it will contain different entries regarding films including movie reviews and reaction papers. If you have some questions or just simply want to share something, feel free to comment. Have fun reading!