Saturday, July 9th, 2011
Action movies throughout the years have employed a variety of strategies to make the experience more exciting and realistic. However, martial arts and kung fu movies have often innovated in ways that affect cinema as a whole. These films have undergone several major changes. Audiences have rolled with these changes and come back wanting more.
One of the earliest martial arts and kung fu movies was the Burning of the Red Lotus Monastery, a silent film. This 27-hour-long saga was inspired by a serial that appeared in a newspaper. A series of motion pictures was released. In spite of its length, it was popular in its day.
Large fight scenes that incorporate many actors, martial artists and extras have become somewhat synonymous with the genre. Of course, filming scenes like this is not easy and directors make use of multiple cameras and dozens of skilled fighters. Now, directors can also use sophisticated computer programs to include more virtual fighters later on, which has made it somewhat easier to create the illusion of a large fight scene.
In the 1970s, films of this genre really came to the forefront, in part because of the career of Bruce Lee. He developed his own fighting style and applied that dynamic style to the silver screen. He worked in Hong Kong, where many actors working under him would get their initial inspiration. But it wasn’t long before the films gained traction in other parts of the world.
North American and European audiences came to love the fast-paced action. Also, Lee’s films occasionally included other martial artists, introducing the world to many new stars. The success of these films also drew other actors to try their hand at them as well.
Names like Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal and Jean Claude Van Damme came to prominence during this time. They used their skills to put on a show in Hollywood films that reached massive audiences. This breathed new life into the genre and gave it a different flavor. Hollywood used some of the typical elements of the genre and mixed them with new plots in a variety of locations.
One exciting recent development, though, is that much of the momentum is swinging back to Asia. Actors like Jackie Chan remain extremely popular in Asia and the rest of the world. Mainland China is also producing high quality movies now and several actors have risen to the industry’s top there. Even places like Thailand have an industry with a global reach. Tony Jaa is considered by many to be one of the next big stars.
Fashion and aesthetics change over time, which has a lot to do with how popular martial arts and kung fu movies at any given time. But behind the fluctuations in popularity, these films have something inherent in them that always strikes a chord with viewers from many different backgrounds. Whatever this something is, it ensures that fans will not have to worry about finding new motion pictures to watch, year in and year out.
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Wednesday, June 29th, 2011
Horror movies have a long and interesting history dating back to the 1890s. These films are designed to provoke fear from the viewers. Many scenes are intended to startle the audience through a combination of macabre and supernatural forces. These shows are intended to provide a safe outlet for hidden fears.
Plots often center around the occurrence of an evil force, event or person. Usually the central theme is based upon supernatural beings and happenings. Werewolves, ghosts, vampires, curses, haunted houses, disease outbreaks, zombies outbreaks and serial killers are common components in these films.
Georges Melies is regarded as the earliest pioneer of thrillers. His first silent film was The House of the Devil. This 1896 release is considered the world’s first thriller. His subsequent release was The Cave of the Unholy One, in 1898.
Gothic literature provided the themes for the early thrillers. The Phantom of the Opera, Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, Frankenstein and Dracula were among the earliest releases. A spine-tingling version of Frankenstein was released in 1910.
Producers in Hollywood started to release spine-tingling films early in the 20th Century. The 1923 release of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and the 1925 release of The Monster featured Lon Chaney, Senior. He was America’s first movie star from thrillers. Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff also created successful careers from their roles in thrillers.
The genre became more popular during the 1930s. There were several notable releases during this time-frame. A famous set-designer and make-up artist was Jack Pierce. He became an icon for his creation of masks and costumes for the monster characters.
The 1931 releases of Dracula and Frankenstein were hugely successful. A 1933 release, The Invisible Man, blended science fiction with Gothic fright. Many films from this time-period were inspired by the German expressionist films from the 1920s. These plots were designed to thrill audiences, but also incorporated more serious elements.
Along with the technological advances in the 1950s, the film themes also shifted. Two sub-genres evolved, those based on Armageddon and those based on demonic themes. Film-makers believed these themes were more relevant to contemporary audiences.
Japanese studios began releasing a stream of low-budget thrillers in the 1950s. Many experts believe they were influenced by the terrible after-affects from the nuclear bombing of World War II. These films centered on over-coming threats from alien invasions and deadly mutations of people, plants, animals and insects.
During the 1960s, film-makers continued incorporating monsters and ghosts, but they began to expand the science fiction components. The Haunting (1963) and Rosemary’s Baby (1968) were early examples of this shifting trend.
The notorious and prolific British producer, Alfred Hitchcock, began incorporating modern back-drops to films. Some of his early notable productions include Rear Window (1954), Vertigo (1958), and Psycho (1960). His 1963 production of The Birds is considered to be the earliest example of nature-gone-mad themes.
Contemporary horror movies have evolved from a rich and diverse history. While they tend to incorporate more modern themes with more advanced special-effects, they remain focused on providing thrills and chills to audiences.
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Sunday, April 10th, 2011
Martial arts flicks have swiftly become massive crowd pullers the world over, especially in recent years. Between these spectacular fast-paced karate movies prove to be very popular. Listed below are seven explanations why such cinematic attractions keep enchanting movie fans.
The first reason is perhaps the fact that movie lovers find high-octane action picture shows very entertaining, albeit rehearsed and stylized. There is also something satisfying about seeing the bad people getting what’s coming in the way of fast punches and ferocious kicks. The sheer artistry of the actors make these a pleasure to watch.
Such cinematic marvels are also being watched simply because western cinema lovers get the chance to visually experience a foreign culture. In a sense, it’s like taking an inexpensive voyeuristic tour and being enthralled by what one sees. So the cultural information exchange aspect is another motive for the popularity of the movie flicks.
When western film makers started producing these outside Asia about thirty years ago, this contributed greatly to its current fame. Many famous actors in the West from time to time star in martial arts flicks, thereby raising its profile to unprecedented levels. The rise in prominence of highly skilled female stars kicking the way to success added another alluring dimension of danger and beauty which proves highly addictive to onlookers.
The fourth reason for the instant spread of karate cinema has to do with the fact that its heroes have become idols to the fans. Many are household names today, and devotees continue to flock to see the icons on screen. Moreover, many youngsters have been inspired to the point of taking up the art form as well. In this way many hope to win respect just like the stars.
Reason number five has to do with the positive effects the films have on karate disciples especially. Those who take part in the sport because of what gets portrayed on film find there are ample good motivations to continue with it. Besides making new friends and having something to do after school or work, it also touches other aspects of one’s life. It’s a major health booster, instills discipline and shapes constructive character and mental sharpness.
The sixth reason why karate flicks appeal to the fans and practitioners alike relates to the magnetism of the extraordinary in life. Most of the basic story lines speak directly to the lives of many fans. Images of struggling heroes making it somewhere worthwhile through practicing martial arts help to lift the spirit from the realm of everyday drudgery to the fantastic. This is utterly confidence-inspiring stuff.
Though focused on spectacular fighting scenes, karate movies are many-faceted. This is another motive for its fame. Film goers get to watch the whole gamut of human social issues dealing with injustices, the tragic, heroic and the comical. Hopefully these seven reasons provide some insight as to the genre’s popular cult-status.
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Friday, January 21st, 2011
Film Studies is growing field of academic study that is focused on the critical appraisal and appreciation of cinema as a form of art together with its role in shaping contemporary society and culture. Scholars in the field concerns themselves with analyzing how best to view and appraise movies in order to understand all their many meanings and impacts. The discipline sits within the larger fields of media and cultural studies.
The discipline is a relatively new one dating back to the second half of the twentieth century. The growth of cinema studies as a discipline following the end of World War II has spawned a number of academic peer-reviewed journals. Examples include the influential British journal Screen, Cinema Journal and the Journal of Film and Video.
Academic journals have introduced many important concepts in cinema theory over the years and remain and important vehicle for the exchange of ideas. For instance Laura Mulvey, the leading cinema theorist and British university professor, published her famous 1975 article titled Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema in Screen. The article employed a Freudian psychoanalytic framework to analyze how women are portrayed in cinema. Her article was the first serios writing to tackle the issue in this way; it combined cinema theory with psychoanalysis and feminist thinking. Mulvey remains active today as professor of cinema and media studies at the Birkbeck College, University of London, Bloomsbury.
The Hollywood studio and star system have operated to dominate movie making and marketing in terms of its influence on pop culture. Given this commercial success, some people may perhaps be surprised at the prominent early historical influence that Europe and Russia have had on both the technical aspects of filmmaking and cinema theory. The clearest example of this point is perhaps the Moscow Film School. Founded as early as 1919, the school was the first organization to focus on the technical aspects of movie making.
Similarly, the first serious cinema theorist is widely acknowledged to be Frenchman Andre Bazin (1918-1958). He started writing on the subject in 1943, during the World War II, and was a co-founder of the prominent magazine Cahiers du cinema in 1951 (together with Jacques Doniol-Valcroze and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca). His writings remain a major force in cinema theory and criticism today.
A 4 volume set of Bazin writings was published and released after his death. Those volumes were titled Qu’est-ce que le cinema? (What is Cinema?) and released over the years 1958 to 1962. A selection of those essays was translated into English and published as two volumes, the first in the late 1960s and the other in the early 1970s.
These two volumes became key texts for many film courses in the English-speaking world, but were never updated or revised. In 2009, a specialist Canadian publisher of film texts, Caboose, spotted an opportunity to take advantage of the relatively favorable copyright laws prevailing in Canada. Caboose compiled fresh translations of many of the most important essays and published them as a new single-volume with annotations by translator Timothy Barnard. That text became the only corrected and annotated edition of the original Bazin writings.
Bazin argued that the best objective for films was to attempt to present an objective reality. He therefore favored documentaries and films in the style of Italian neorealism. From a technical perspective he argued that directors should seek to make themselves invisible; advocated the use of deep focus or large depth of field (favored, for example by Orson Welles) and wide shots (Jean Renoir). Bazin also supported lack of montage, that is, extended continuity through mise en scene rather than montage editing and special effects. All of these Bazin viewpoints are challenged by the modern film studies community. Bazin is nevertheless celebrated as having been an original thinker in his time.
Tarintino had to start somewhere. Film school can open the door to a lucrative and enjoyable career. The industry requires hard work and long hours so get started at a Canadian Art Institute. If film does not interest you then try taking web design courses or photography courses.
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