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Sembène’s film debut «Black Girl» (1966), the first black African feature film, even though it was shot mostly in France with a French crew. Later Sembène returned to Senegal and made a series of political, social realist, and period films that rank him among the era’s leading filmmakers.

A resurgence of Latin American filmmaking, beginning in the 1960s, had roots in both cinema and politics: neorealism and the French new wave on one hand and political changes such as the 1959 Communist revolution in Cuba on the other. The most prominent film movement, cinema novo (new cinema), occurred in Brazil with works that dramatized the nation’s social ills. Director Glauber Rocha made powerful films set in remote regions of the country, including «The Turning Wind» (1962), «Black God, White Devil» (1964).

After Fidel Castro’s government gained power in Cuba in 1959, it took nearly a decade before state efforts to promote filmmaking began to bear fruit. The most important Cuban filmmaker was Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, whose «Memories of Underdevelopment» (1968) was a reflective work contemplating changes in Cuba during the early 1960s.

The Mexican cinema had already experienced three important periods of filmmaking: the years around World War I, the 1930s, and Buñuel’s years in Mexico in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Although the country did not sustain a significant film movement in later decades, it did produce individual works of importance. They are Paul LeDuc’s «Frida» (1984), dramatizing the life of painter Frida Kahlo, and Alfonso Arau’s «Like Water for Chocolate» (1991), a highly popular work that blends realistic detail with elements of fantasy in a style called magic realism.

Notes:

1.to make films of daily life – делать фильмы ежедневной жизни;

2.a resurgence of the film industry – возрождение киноиндустрии;

3.incisive – острый, проницательный.

NEW AMERICAN FILMMAKERS

One important result of the turmoil among U. S. movie companies during the 1960s was an increasing emphasis on the importance of the director. With the breakdown of the old studio system, directors were no longer studio employees but functioned independently. The French critical emphasis on di-

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rectors as auteurs also helped, give filmmakers more power. A new generation of directors emerged in the 1960s to bring new artistry to American cinema and enhance its prestige.

Key figures of the 1960s generation included Stanley Kubrick, Arthur Penn, Sam Peckinpah, and Robert Altman. Kubrick, who moved to England early in the decade, made such important films as «Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb» (1964), a black comedy about nuclear holocaust, and «A Space Odyssey» (1968), a landmark work that revised the science fiction genre. Penn directed «Bonnie and Clyde» (1967), which dramatized the activities of 1930s outlaws and spoke to a 1960s sense of social alienation. Peckinpah’s most famous work was «The Wild Bunch» (1969), a Western notable for its graphic depictions of violence.

In the early 1970s a younger generation of filmmakers burst onto the Hollywood scene. They were called «movie brats» both for their youth and because most of them were film school graduates, prompting the movie establishment to say that these filmmakers knew more about old movies than about life. These figures included Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg. Coppola directed a huge hit of the early 1970s, «The Godfather» (1972), a film that gave signs of the industry’s revival. Lucas made «American Graffiti» (1973), a highly popular film about teenagers that looked back to the previous decade. Scorsese’s first important film was «Mean Streets» (1973). After directing several small films, Spielberg, the youngest of the group, directed the film whose enormous success was to change the American movie landscape, «Jaws» (1975).

Most of these figures continued as important filmmakers in the decades following Hollywood’s mid-1970s revival. A number of others joined their ranks as American cinema’s top directors. New York-based Woody Allen made wry urban comedies such as the Academy Award-winning «Annie Hall» (1977). Michael Cimino won an Academy Award for «The Deer Hunter» (1978), a critically acclaimed examination of the Vietnam War. British director Ridley Scott made two highly significant films, «Blade Runner» (1982), a futuristic film praised for its visual effects, and «Thelma and Louise» (1991), about two women on the run from a male-dominated society.

«Blue Velvet» (1986), directed by David Lynch, a surreal film set in a small American town, was ranked by critics as one of the top American films

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of the 1980s. Similarly ranked was «Do the Right Thing» (1989) by black filmmaker Spike Lee, who also directed a biographical film about a militant and controversial black leader of the 1960s, «Malcolm X» (1992). Lee’s film followed another controversial film examining recent history, «JFK» (1991), directed by Oliver Stone, which claimed that a conspiracy among government officials lay behind the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Ac- tor-director Clint Eastwood gained recognition as a major filmmaker with «Unforgiven» (1992), a Western that won Academy Awards for best picture and director.

Notes:

1.auteur – кинорежиссер, мастер авторского кино;

2.to enhance one’s prestige – повышать престиж;

3.social alienation – общественное отчуждение;

4.depictions of violence – изображения насилия;

5.Academy Award – премия «Оскар» (награда Американской ака-

демии кинематографических искусств и наук за лучшие достижения в области кинематографии; присуждается ежегодно, по различным номинациям).

BIG-BUDGET BLOCKBUSTERS

If any one film can be so designated, «Jaws» marked the turning point in the fortune of the American film industry. So-called blockbuster films had always been part of the Hollywood production mix, but «Jaws» rewrote the blockbuster formula and, above all, proved that in conjunction with new marketing strategies a single motion picture could produce unprecedented revenues. «Jaws» was the first film to earn more than $100 million for its studio.

Although it was based on a best-selling novel – in conformity with the earlier blockbuster formula – «Jaws» lacked big-name stars, but it did offer a fabulous, frightening special-effects mechanical monster shark. The waning significance of stars and the growing importance of special effects were aspects of the new blockbuster phenomenon that developed in the aftermath of «Jaws». These changes also indicated the studios’ intent to capture the attention of young adults and children, the most important segment of the movie audience. These trends were confirmed by the film that surpassed «Jaws»

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at the box office, George Lucas’s «Star Wars» (1977), a science-fantasy film that displayed the most spectacular special effects of space flight ever seen in cinema up to that time.

«Star Wars» shaped the blockbuster phenomenon over the next two decades. Blockbuster films tended to be fantasies based on comic-book characters or adventure heroes. Lucas and Steven Spielberg, the director of «Jaws» were involved in most of the biggest box-office draws. In the 1980s Lucas produced the next two films in the «Star Wars» series: «The Empire Strikes Back» (1980), directed by Irvin Kershner, and «Return of the Jedi» (1983), directed by Richard Marquand. During the same time Spielberg directed and Lucas produced three films concerning an intrepid archaeologist named «Indiana Jones»: «Raiders of the Lost Ark» (1981), «Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom» (1984), and «Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade» (1989). Spielberg’s other blockbusters included «E. T.» – «The Extra-Terrestrial» (1982), concerning an alien left behind on Earth by his spaceship, and «Jurassic Park» (1993), a work combining computer-generated animation of dinosaurs with human action.

Action stars such as Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger also participated in the blockbuster phenomenon, but some action films fared poorly at the box office. In the 1990s other types of films attained blockbuster status. In the same year as «Jurassic Park», Spielberg also released «Schindler’s List» (1993), a film about one man’s efforts to save European Jews from Nazi death camps during World War II. This work, shot almost completely in black-and-white, earned Spielberg his first Academy Award. «Titanic» (1997), directed by James Cameron, depicted the 1912 Titanic disaster, in which a luxury liner sank during its first transatlantic voyage. The film broke box-office records and won 11 Academy Awards. Action and fantasy films did remain popular, however. One of the biggest box-office draws of 1999 was «The Phantom Menace», George Lucas’s fourth installment in the «Star Wars» series.

Mega-blockbusters continued to rule Hollywood at the start of the 21st century. Director Ridley Scott’s action-filled «Gladiator» was one of the biggest successes of 2000 at both the box office and the Academy Awards, where it won for best picture and best actor. Remakes and sequels were wellrepresented among top money-makers, with box-office leaders including the

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remake «Planet of the Apes» (2001) and the sequels «Mission: Impossible 2» (2000), «Rush Hour 2» (2001), «Jurassic Park III» (2001), «Men in Black II» (2002), and the fifth «Star Wars» movie, «Attack of the Clones» (2002). Other major movies were based on popular fantasy books – «Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone» (2001) and «Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring» (2001) – and comic characters – «Spiderman» (2002) and «ScoobyDoo» (2002).

Notes:

1.in conjunction with new marketing strategies – вместе с новыми мар-

кетинговыми стратегиями;

2.to produce unprecedented revenues – приносить небывалый (беспре-

цедентный) доход;

3.to capture the attention of young adults – привлечь внимание моло-

дых совершеннолетних (в возрасте от 18 лет до 21 года);

4.intrepid archaeologist – бесстрашный археолог;

5.box-office leader – лидер кассовых продаж;

6.blockbuster – блокбастер; кассовый хит (фильм, которому за все время проката удалось заработать более 100 млн. долларов; фильм с бюджетом свыше 100 млн. долларов).

RECENT TRENDS

While the blockbuster dominated the economics of motion pictures screened in theaters in the years after 1975, the advent of home entertainment delivery systems had an equally profound effect on movie culture – perhaps the most striking impact of any technological change in the medium’s history. The first new system was the videocassette recorder (VCR), which could play prerecorded videotapes or record programs shown on television for later playback. At the same time, cable television systems vastly expanded the number of channels available to the home viewer along with access to recent movies. As these new technologies came into widespread use, on the horizon loomed the computer, offering possibilities for home viewing and as a tool in media production. The digital videodisc, or DVD, became one of the major techniques for viewing movies on computers and also began replacing videocassettes as the major format for home viewing.

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The VCR and DVD technology spawned an entirely new way of viewing movies on prerecorded cassettes or discs that could be rented or purchased at video shops. Despite the fears of the motion-picture industry, the new technology did not contribute to a decline in movie theater attendance. Instead, it fostered a much wider experience of movies for viewers who sought entertainment more frequently at home than in public settings. The consequences were numerous: The history of motion pictures, in addition to recent films, became available to the home viewer; cassette and disc rental and sales earned new revenue for motion-picture companies – in some cases, more than the theatrical release; and advance sales of video rights enabled small production companies to finance the creation of low-budget films.

With cable networks as additional sources of revenue, and functioning in some cases as producers themselves, one consequence was a substantial increase in independent feature-film production. Blockbusters coexisted with dozens of smaller films that helped to attract more mature viewers back to the medium. Motion pictures were not the dominant popular medium that they had been before the advent of television, but they still commanded a prominent place. Perhaps because of movie publicity and the impact of larger-than- life images on the big screen, movies took a central place in debates about the social consequences of presenting violence and sexual content in popular entertainment.

Other issues arose from the prospect of new technologies that could shape screen experiences or alter images through computer graphics. The motion picture «Twister» (1996), directed by Jan De Bont, attained new levels of special-effects spectacle in its scenes of rampaging tornadoes created through digital imaging. The special effects used in «Titanic» were designed to disguise the fact that most of the action was not filmed on location on an oceangoing luxury liner but in a studio. In «The Phantom Menace» and «Attack of the Clones», George Lucas used digital imaging to create scenes and characters that could never exist in real life.

At the beginning of the 21st century the motion-picture medium offered a study in contrasts. Popular blockbuster films, enhanced by computer graphic imagery, continued to attain unprecedented worldwide attention. «Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone», based on the young wizard character from the novels of British author J. K. Rowling, opened simultaneously on one-fourth of all

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movie screens in the United States and broke box-office records. At the same time, films of artistic and cultural interest from throughout the world were available in theaters and in a variety of home-viewing formats. Emerging cinemas, such as that of Iran and China, captured critical attention, and the Chinese-language martial arts film «Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon» (2000) became the most successful subtitled film ever released in the United States. Entering its second century of existence, the cinema appears more than ever to be in an ongoing state of transformation.

Notes:

1.to spawn an entirely new way of something – создавать совершенно новый способ чего-либо;

2.a substantial increase – существенное (реальное) увеличение;

3.low-budget films – малобюджетные фильмы;

4.scenes of rampaging tornadoes – (зд.) сцены буйствующих ураганов

(торнадо);

5.an ongoing state of transformation – непрерывное состояние преобра-

зования.

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II. THEORY OF MOTION PICTURES

WHAT IS MOTION PICTURE?

The motion picture is one of the newest of the generally recognized «fine arts» as legitimate as the theatre, literature, dance, music, or the visual arts.

Motion picture is a series of images that are projected onto a screen to create the illusion of motion. Motion pictures – also called movies, films, or the cinema – are one of the most popular forms of entertainment, enabling people to immerse themselves in an imaginary world for a short period of time. But movies can also teach people about history, science, human behavior, and many other subjects. Some films combine entertainment with instruction, to make the learning process more enjoyable. In all its forms, cinema is an art as well as a business, and those who make motion pictures take great pride in their creations.

The images that make up a motion picture are all individual photographs. But when they appear rapidly in succession, the human eye does not detect that they are separate images. This results from persistence of vision, a phenomenon whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been removed. Although we do not experience the images as individual photographs, we do notice the differences between them. The brain then perceives these differences as motion.

Motion pictures are recorded using specially designed cameras that capture the images on rolls of film. After being processed and printed, the film is run through a projector, which shines light through the film so that the images are displayed on a screen. Most movies have accompanying sound.

Notes:

1.to take pride – гордиться;

2.to appear rapidly in succession – появляться быстро в последова-

тельности;

3.persistence of vision – продолжительность (постоянство, инерционность) зрительного восприятия.

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TYPES OF MOTION PICTURES

There are many types of motion pictures, but the most significant categories are feature films, animated films, documentaries, experimental films, industrial films, and educational films.

Feature films are the movies most commonly shown in large movie theaters. They typically last at least one and one-half hours and tell a fictional story or a story based on real events but portrayed by actors. The list of prominent feature films is far too long to recount in this article, but some of the best-known include «The Birth of a Nation» (1914), «Metropolis» (1926), «Casablanca» (1942), «On the Waterfront» (1954), «The Sound of Music» (1965), «The Godfather» (1972), «Star Wars» (1977), «Gandhi» (1982), «Jurassic Park» (1993), and «Titanic» (1997).

Animated movies follow the same format as features, but use images created by artists. These films create the illusion of movement from a series of two-dimensional drawings, three-dimensional objects, or computer-generated images. The first animated feature was the German film «The Adventures of Prince Achmed» (1926). Other notable ones include «Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs» (1937), «Dumbo» (1941), «Sleeping Beauty» (1959), «Yellow Submarine» (1968), the Czech film «Alice» (1988), the Japanese film «Kiki’s Delivery Service» (1989), «Beauty and the Beast» (1991), and «The Lion King» (1994). In some films, animated characters interact with human actors, as in «Who Framed Roger Rabbit» (1988).

Another form of film is the documentary, which deals primarily with fact, not fiction. Documentaries do not often appear in theaters, but they are seen regularly on cable and broadcast television. Some well-known documentaries are «Nanook of the North» (1922), «The Silent World» (1956), «Hoop Dreams» (1994).

An experimental (or underground) film is a sequence of images, literal or abstract, which do not necessarily form a narrative. An experimental film can be animated, live action, computer generated, or a combination of all three. Five noteworthy experimental films are the French film «An Andalusian Dog» (1929), «Meshes of the Afternoon» (1943), «A Movie» (1958), «Eraserhead» (1978), and «Privilege» (1991).

Industrial films are made by companies that wish to publicize their products or generate a favorable public image.

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