Film Genre History: Action

The film I chose that was released before 1960 was Akira Kurosawa's 1954 iconic masterpiece Seven Samurai. It is about a village of farmers who are constantly attacked and pillaged by a group of bandits. They decide to pool their resources and hire samurai to protect them. It stars the legendary Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura who were both favorites of Kurosawa's to work with.

I chose Michael Bay's Transformers for the film released after 1990. It's about a high school kid who is caught between two rival alien robot factions that bring the fight to Earth. It is directed by Michael Bay and stars Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox.

I watched short excerpts of North by Northwest, Kill Bill Vol. 1, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and Skyfall.

The way films have evolved between these two films is that they've between much more fast-paced and a bigger emphasis put on explosions and fast cutting rather than tight choreography and succinct editing. In Seven Samurai, every set-piece is well-choreographed and naturally evolves out of the story being told with an emphasis on the conflict between the villagers and samurai characters. In Transformers, as is typical of modern action films, the story is nonsensical and the characters are ciphers that are just vessels through which we can get to the next set-piece that was thought of before the script was even written.

History of Action Films

The original action film ever made is considered to be The Great Train Robbery which was released in 1903. It was the original action film and was very innovated in its filming techniques which had never been seen and legitimized film as a piece of art that can be used to tell stories. The earlist action films were swash-buckling adventure with heroes like Douglas Fairbanks in period films. After that action was portrayed mainly in Westerns. In 1954, Seven Samurai was released and is considered the most influential action-adventure film. Some conventions of action films today are seen in Seven Samurai. Inter-cutting between slow-motion and regular motion shots were used for dramatic effect and not just as a cool effect as in today's action films. Roger Ebert wonders if the beginning scene in which the action hero goes into a dangerous situation to show the audience of their prowess even though it's unrelated to the main plot is first seen in this film. 

The contemporary action film wasn't a staple of cinema until the 1980's with Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Willis being some of the most famous action stars of the era. Before the 1980's, action scenes were utilized in thrillers or spy films which weren't really considered action films such as North by Northwest with the iconic dust-cropper scene and the Mount Rushmore final set-piece. In the 1970's with the rise of gritty, realistic films showing urban warfare and gang violence, action wasn't really a selling point of a film. 

Action blockbusters became the big thing in Hollywood after the tremendous successes of Steven Spielberg's Jaws in 1975 and George Lucas's Star Wars in 1977. Corporations saw the huge profit margins that were possible in the film industry so they started to buy up all the studios. They completely changed Hollywood from the director-controlled small profit film of the 70's to huge risk but exponentially bigger reward blockbusters in the 1980's.

The general convention of the action films are usually a male action hero being face with seemingly insurmountable odds. Female action heroes weren't a thing until just recently to keep up with changing demographics in cinema audiences. Females were usually the romantic interest of the action hero and weren't really characters other than usually being kidnapped and/or killed and having to be avenged by the hero.

Some directors famous for the action genre are James Cameron, Michael Bay, John Woo, Christopher Nolan, and Luc Besson just to name a few. Luc Besson usually writes the movies he's involved in recent years and doesn't get behind the camera much. He is famous for Le Femme Nikita and Leon: The Professional. 

Powerpoint Presentation

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1P4gLOUunYwQ1vwPQX_yHpBmA2t8Rp5XoiO4HHHQmXBM/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000

References

1. http://www.filmsite.org/actionfilms.html

2. http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-seven-samurai-1954

3. http://www.film.com/movies/whats-the-big-deal-seven-samurai-1954

Assignment 11: Casablanca & The Bicycle Thief

a) The cinematography in Casablanca is very beautiful in its simplicity. Like Roger Ebert say it's not a film filled with shots that would change the medium like Citizen Kane. The cinematography is one of Michael Curtiz's main ways to communicate the mood of the film to audience considering that he didn't speak a word of English. Ingrid Bergman is shot primarily from her left side and her isolated shot have a slight blurriness to them to make her look dreamlike.

b) The German anthem is played to represent the Nazis and is very militaristic to me. The French national anthem is sung and is very triumphant and brave considering the Germans were sitting in the same room.

a) It is shot in a very stark and realistic way compared to Casablanca. It is meant to show the realism of the situations of people in post-war Italy. One of the ways it challenges classic Hollywood narrative is that the hero is a poor person and it isn't a rags to riches so there isn't a "and they all lived happily ever after" ending.

b) The beginning of the film is very optimistic and the situation looks really good for Antonio. He has a job offer and method of transportation which is a lot in postwar Italy which was devastated by unemployment and poverty after World War II. The end of the film shows what can happen when unfortunate circumstances arise and the desperation that forces people to do bad things. All the optimism is long lost from the beginning and the future is looking really bleak.