Development stages and representative works of world movies

The emergence and development of world movies

(1) In the 1930s, films began the technical preparation period before their birth, also known as the invention period.

As early as 1829, Joseph Prado, a famous Belgian physicist, found that when an object disappears from people's eyes, the image of the object will remain in people's retina for a period of time. This discovery is called "the principle of visual persistence". According to this principle, Prado invented the "magic disc" in 1832. The "special tray" can make the picture drawn on the zigzag cardboard box move because of the movement, and can also make the generated moving picture visually decompose into various images. The appearance of the "mysterious disc" indicates that the invention of the film has entered the stage of scientific experiment. 1834, the experiment of "removable video disc" in Halner, USA was successful; 1853, Austrian general von Utchetios showed the original cartoon by slide show on the basis of the above invention.

The progress of photography technology is an important prerequisite for the birth of film, and it can also be considered that the development of photography technology provides the necessary conditions for the invention of film. As early as 1826, French W Nieps successfully took the world's first photo, The Scene Outside the Window, with an exposure time of 8 hours. After the first silver plate photography appeared, a photo was shortened to about 30 minutes. Due to the continuous updating and use of photosensitive materials, the photography time has also been shortened. 1840 It only takes 20 minutes to take a photo. 185 1 year. After the wet tincture was made, the shooting speed was shortened to 1 sec. At this time, the shooting of "moving photos" has been successful in the experimental shooting of claudette, Dubosk and others. From 1872 to 1878, Edward Muybridge, a photographer in San Francisco, USA, took pictures of galloping horses with 24 cameras. After more than six years and countless shooting experiments, he finally succeeded, and then he successfully showed it on the slide. Is that I saw the horse running on the screen. Inspired by this, 1882, the French physiologist Male improved the method of continuous photography, successfully trial-produced a "camera gun", and created a "moving negative continuous camera" based on the "rotating camera" made by another inventor, Qiang Sen. 1888 September, he took moving photos with floppy film.

During the period of 1888- 1895, France, the United States, Britain, Germany, Belgium, Sweden and other countries had experiments of shooting and screening. 1888, the Frenchman Renault trial-produced the "optical film machine" to shoot the world's first animated film "A cup of delicious beer". 1889, American inventor Edison invented the film camera. After five years of experiments, he invented the film mirror. He released his movie images in new york, which caused a sensation in the United States. But his film Night Vision can only be watched by one person at a time, showing dozens of feet of film at a time, including horse racing and dance performances. His film Mirror uses the continuous rotation of film to create the illusion of activity. It can be said that the original film invention should belong to Edison. After his film The Mirror was introduced to China, it was called "the peep show".

1895, French brothers Auguste Lumiere and Louis Lumiere successfully developed a "movable film machine" based on Edison's "film mirror" and their own "continuous camera". "Movable film machine" has three main functions: photography, projection and printing. It shoots and shows movies at the speed of 16 frames per second, and the images are clear and stable. On March 22nd, 1895, their first film, The Gate of Lumiere Factory, was a success at the French Science and Technology Conference in Paris. In the same year, on February 28th, 14, they officially released a batch of short documentaries made by themselves to the public, including 12 films such as Train Arrives, Watered Gardener, Baby's Lunch and Factory Gate. The Lumiere brothers were the first people to show films on the screen. Historians believe that the filming and screening of the Lumiere brothers have been divorced from the experimental stage, so they set the first release date of the world film as1February 28, 895. As the birth date of the film, the Lumiere brothers naturally became the "father of the film".

(b)1896-1912. Film has rapidly become an art since childhood.

The early films, before leaving the traces of its birth, were novel with their juggling and magical gestures. Lumiere created the earliest film types, such as news films, travel films, documentaries and comedies. From the time the train arrives at the station, people kneel on the ground, to put out the fire with hoses, to put out the fire with hoses, to save lives and heal the wounded. The most prominent feature of Lumiere's films is documentary, which directly shoots real life, giving people an immersive feeling, becoming the pioneer of realistic naturalistic film style and forming the documentary tradition of films. After a year and a half of continuous screening of Lumiere's documentary short films about life, people's interest has obviously weakened, so that no one cares at last, which can't be said to be caused by the limitations of the times and naturalism. But the initial predicament did not affect the general trend of the film. Another French film pioneer, Georges May-Lea, appeared at the right time. He changed the film from a documentary "Moving Pictures" (also called movies) into an art film, and made many creative contributions to the development of the film.

As a mechanic, Mei Li 'ai made a whole set of organs, machines and stage props. As a painter, he made countless sets and costumes; As a magician, Mei Li Ai used his rich imagination to create many new stunts. As a writer, he constantly creates new plays; As an actor, he is an important role in his program; As a director, he knows how to design and mobilize a small troupe. George sadoul said in "The History of World Cinema": "The genius of Mei Li Ai is to systematically apply most drama methods, such as scripts, actors, costumes, makeup, scenery, institutional devices, etc., to movies." His experience in this field is still preserved in movies in various forms until today.

May Li Ai replaced the mechanical devices on the stage with photographic stunts. Similarly, due to the need of silent films, May Li Ai also invented a new performance technique for actors. Although this kind of performance is different from pantomime, it emphasizes exaggeration and gestures, because it pays great attention to action and not to facial expressions. Cinderella is the masterpiece of Mei's drama and film. This film, based on a famous European fairy tale, skillfully uses various stunts to turn pumpkins into cars. Turning a mouse into a coachman is a pioneering application of trick photography and another contribution of Mei to the film.

1902, Mei directed the famous sci-fi film A Journey to the Moon, which was adapted from two famous sci-fi novels by jules verne and Hg Wells. This is his masterpiece, which has far-reaching influence in the history of movies. This film describes the fantasy story of a group of astronomers who travel to the moon disguised as astrologers. They came to a strange machine factory, and several beautiful female sailors were carrying a big plane in the shape of a shell. When astronomers enter, they are reflected to the moon. Astronomers came out of the aircraft and enjoyed the wonderful scenery of the plain near the crater of the moon. It is also welcomed by the star gods played by beautiful women. After dark, they woke up from their dreams and went into a big cave, where they saw the moon god, huge mushrooms and all kinds of strange things. After many dangerous twists and turns, they flew back to the earth by cannonball aircraft, and ended the unveiling ceremony of the statue after a strange underwater trip. Mei's contribution to the film art has made the film a big step forward on the road of becoming an independent video audio-visual art.

In the meantime, I can't help but mention that Porter filmed great train robbery. In great train robbery, Potter made a movie with 14 scenes for the first time. Before that, Mei's film was a shot from beginning to end. Great train robbery is the first time to compose a movie with multiple scenes (strictly speaking, it is not a real movie, because there was no shot change at that time). There are close-ups in Potter's movies. A famous shot in the history of film is to aim a pistol at the audience, and there has been a preliminary attempt in the film. However, there is no conscious understanding of the aesthetic function of this lens, so it is only a spontaneous stage of moving towards film art.

In the silent film stage, Griffith, Chaplin and Eisenstein of the Soviet Union made great contributions to the film development.

1908, David Griffith joined Edison Company, first as an actor, then as a director. From 1908 to 19 12, he directed about 400 films. In Lonely Villa, he created a "parallel montage", which marked that the film completely got rid of the shackles of stage play and the time and space of the film were greatly expanded.

Brighton School, which appeared in the United States during this period, also played an important role in the development of film art. william paul, the representative of Brighton School, successfully used mobile phone photography in the motorcycle show of Peter Kadri Circus. Williamson also successfully used the dramatic scene of chase and rescue for the first time in The Church in China was Burned, which made the plot tense gradually by splitting the two ends, and set a precedent for later thrillers, especially American "westerns". Jia Smith, another representative of Brighton School, used the original and true montage of the same scene alternately in Grandmother's Magnifier and Scene in a Telescope. The alternate use of close-up and perspective promoted the development and application of film language. In addition, Collins and Harbridge of Brighton School have made films that truly describe real life, such as the life of miners, the tragedy of coal mine explosion and the escape of prisoners. During this period, France Wansong, known as the world's first film city, was known as the "world film capital", with two major film production companies, EMI and Gomon. From 1903 to 1909, it is also known as the "EMI period" in the history of world movies.

1908, Hollywood, the second cinema in the world, also began to take shape when filming "The Count of Sister Mountain". At that time, it was just a small studio built by photographer Thomas Bosens and director Francis Boggs. It was not formed until 19 13.

(c)1913-1926, silent films are maturing.

Mei quit the film industry on 19 13 after making her 430th film, and finally died in the street. After making great contributions to the development of film art, a generation of masters left this world. The decline of Mei and the rise of Hollywood indicate that movies have bid farewell to infancy and entered a mature stage.

Griffith filmed the classic silent film The Birth of a Country with the courage of an artist in 19 15, and also filmed the conflict with different parties in 19 16. These two classic films are regarded as the foundation works of film art, marking the beginning of film becoming an art, a milestone in the history of American film, the highest level of film at that time, and two classic films in the history of world film.

Griffith's immortal achievement is to break through some old habits in Merleay's dramas and movies. As the first person, he moved the camera in the process of filming, which greatly enriched the film language and creatively used the techniques of "close-up", "circle in" and "cutting", making montage an important means of film art. Griffith created an alternate montage of parallel montages on the basis of the early discovery of trick photography montage by Mei Liyi and British Brighton School. In The Birth of a Country, he made full use of his own special effects and montage language, and the film concentrated on the achievements of European and American film art exploration at that time. In the vast and magnificent historical scene, this film has played a good role in the free jumping of time and space of film art, and at the same time, it embodies the alternating role of montage and multi-line contrast. The whole movie consists of 1000 shots. The transformation of different scenes and flexible photography skills are Griffith's bold creations in the film history. In the film, close-ups, close-ups and other different scenes are combined and used harmoniously, and each has its own place. For example, "Great Vision" is used to show the war scenes of confrontation and exchange of fire between the two armies; He used close-ups to show the detailed movements of the characters. When shooting the scene of Ku Klan's galloping horse, Griffith installed the camera on the truck and tracked the galloping horse, which achieved a tense, realistic and vivid picture effect. A year later, Conflict with Different Groups is also a film that marks Griffith's lifelong achievement, which breaks through the limitation of "three unifications" in classical drama and creates a "pluralistic law" to open up screen time and space. The film concentrates the events of different times side by side, which greatly enriches the film language and enriches and develops the parallel montage language. This classic occupies an important position in the history of film, and promotes the development of film art with its dense rhythm, colorful pictures, aesthetic feeling of mobile phone photography and grand and open bold creativity.

During this period, film has become an art of public opinion; On the other hand, during this period, film has become an enterprise, and only then can film have a real work of art. American comedy movie master Charlie Chaplin was also an outstanding film artist in the silent film period. 19 14 directed the first film "Twenty Minutes of Love". Then, Between the Showers came out again. In this film, the image of wandering Charlot appeared for the first time. In 19 17, the image of Charlot shows a striking brilliance. Charlotte's joining the army marked the maturity of Chaplin's performing arts. 19 19 raised funds to build a factory and became the first real independent filmmakers in Hollywood. In the 1920s, he made a number of famous films represented by the Gold Rush. Chaplin had 80 comedy films in his life, among which The Revenge of the Prince, The Great Dictator, Mr. Verdun, Modern Times and The Gold Rush have permanent charm. The biggest characteristics of Chaplin's films are: a clear sense of reality and sharp satire, and the popular characteristics of appealing to both refined and popular tastes. Mr. sadoul commented on his works like this: "Chaplin's films are the only ones that can be appreciated by the poor class and the most naive people. At the same time, it can also be appreciated by the highest level audience and intellectuals. "

Shegai Eisenstein, a famous Soviet movie master, is an outstanding representative of the establishment and development of montage theory in silent film period. 1924, he directed the first film "Strike", and creatively used the montage of vaudeville to connect the scenes of Russian military police killing workers with the scenes of camera groups killing livestock, so that they appeared alternately, resulting in a shocking metaphor. 1905, he directed the most outstanding epic silent film battleship potemkin, which successfully represented the Russian revolution in 1905. This film won many awards at the International Film Awards. The scenes and passages of the famous Odessa steps in the film have become classic examples that have influenced several generations of film artists. 1927 also directed October. Eisenstein's contribution lies in the theoretical exposition and artistic practice of montage, making it a complete aesthetic system. Eisenstein's artistic feature is a big step forward in the parallel montage technique created by Griffith. Good at using close-ups to express the connotation of things; Use the intersection of shots to form a montage rhythm and reveal the inner feelings of the characters; Give full play to the metaphorical function of montage and form the tradition of "poetry film"

(D) 1927- 1945, the film has become mature as an art.

1927 is an epoch-making year in film history. The birth of the film "The King of Jazz" marks the arrival of the era of sound movies and the maturity of movies. Sound makes movies develop from a simple visual art to a screen art combining audio and video, realizing a revolution in the history of movies, greatly developing the essence of movies, and opening up a new world for movie art. It took about five or six years for the appearance and dissemination of audio movies for cognitive, economic and technical reasons. In particular, a group of well-known film artists are obsessed with the aesthetic principles of the silent film period and are too picky about some weaknesses of the newly released audio films. However, with the enhancement of film artists' ability to use voice control and the improvement of recording equipment and technical conditions, audio films can develop normally.

After sound enters the film, montage is not only a combination of pictures, but also extends to the counterpoint or opposition of sound and painting, thus enriching the connotation means of montage. It is in line with the objective law of film development that the sound film replaces the silent film, which has its objective inevitability, because the birth of the sound film marks the period when the film moves towards the real development of art. After 1933, due to the progress of technology, the synchronous recording in film production was changed to the later recording, and film photography became flexible and full of vitality. At the same time, the theory and technology of montage have also developed greatly. When movie master pudovkin of the Soviet Union filmed Deserted Soldiers, he used the voice-over method of counterpoint and opposition between sound and painting to enhance the film effect and make the audience feel refreshed.

1935, mammals produced the world's first color feature film, The Vanity World. The invention of color film has brought the film art into a new stage of development. Sound and color make movies closer to nature. Some filmmakers use color films and black-and-white films alternately in a film, thus receiving special artistic effects.

The appearance of color film marks the development of film from birth to a perfect and mature development period, and the film art has entered a new development stage since then.

(5) From 1946- 1959, the film art entered an important development period.

During this period, the world movies showed a long and tortuous development period. For some time after the war, American movies were given a cold shoulder all over the world. After the war, the Soviet Union and its eastern European countries formed a four-legged political party, which developed slowly along the traditional track of socialist realism. Artistic creation is influenced by dogmatism and vulgar sociology, and there are few breakthroughs and progress. During this period, some film workers in the Soviet Union produced a number of war films with emotional impact and biographies with certain image appeal. Such as the Young Guards, who conquered Berlin and joined the Elbe River, Michulin, zhukovsky and Admiral ushakov. After Stalin's death, under the influence of "unfreeze literature", Soviet films began to walk out of the rigid mode. 1957 After Carrato Zhuofu's Flying South, Soviet movies developed again. Western European film powers such as Britain, France, Germany and Italy formed the other pole of the four pillars at that time. Restricted by the shadow left by the war and economic difficulties, western films have entered a special period. Under the challenge of difficulties and opponents, they not only did not flinch, but stimulated the prosperity and development of realistic films in western Europe. In the East, Japanese, China and Indian films have made great progress and entered the ranks of world powers one after another. Japanese films started early in the East, went astray during World War II, and were reborn soon after the war. Especially after 1950 Kurosawa's Rashomon, Japanese films attracted the world's attention. Indian films also had a very good and narrow development in the 1930s. After entering this period, influenced by Italian, French and Soviet films, Indian films gradually turned from pursuing luxury music films to reality. During the period of 1953, films such as Wanderer directed by Raj Kapoor and Two Mu of Land by Bimeroye marked a new look of Indian films. 1955, India produced 285 films, ranking second in the world after Japan. At present, the annual output of Indian films is about 700, which is the largest country in the world.

During this period, Italian neo-realistic films had an important influence on the world film history. The representatives of the New Realism Film Center are the anti-fascist film critics Baba Rosantis and Chatini of Italian film magazines. Young directors from journalists and writers are their spokesmen, mainly including: Desika, Rossini, Visconti, Lisani, Mo Cerini, etc. They demanded the establishment of a realistic, popular and national Italian film. Their slogan is: "Give me back my people"; Take the camera to the street. They attach great importance to the authenticity of their works, try to make the scenes and details photographic and sincere, and basically shoot them on location and real scene; Pay little attention to grammar and montage editing; Advocate the use of non-professional actors, actors can improvise in the performance. Representative works mainly include: Rome 1 1: 00, Bicycle Thief, Guerrilla, Police and Thief, The Earth is Ups and Downs, No Peace Under Olive Trees, Miracle of Milan, etc. The characteristic of new realistic movies is that the material is mostly a documentary portrayal of real life in Italy. Neo-realism film declined in the mid-1950s, but it played an extremely important role in promoting the development of film art.

(6) Since 1960, the world's films have gone from breakthrough innovation to diversified development.

After Italian "neo-realism" movies, the third innovation movement appeared in the history of world movies. The film movement began in France. Since the new wave of 1959, a brand-new and effective way to break the monopoly of commercial films has appeared in French films. The slogan of the new wave is not to be a big star, to break the star system, not to spend a lot of money on luxury movies, but to make movies close to life. This wave has swept the world, and new waves have appeared in many countries. The "new wave" film movement is a film movement that has left many achievements and far-reaching influence in the development of world films. This film movement, with anti-tradition as the banner and irrationality as the basic feature, has a greater impact on drama films. The film movement began with the release of The Beautiful Sergey and Cousins directed by Chabrot, and the sensation caused by Trevor's Four Hundred Times and Allen Rey's Love in Hiroshima at Cannes Film Festival. Its film art features are: the film presents a brand-new style, the stream of consciousness and flashback shots are often used by some creators, the plot is loose, many life events are cut together without logic and skill, showing the subconscious activities of the characters and lacking structural integrity.

In the later period of the new wave, realism was completely abandoned, and the film fell into the quagmire of madness, mystery and decadence. Its irrational and non-plot tendency is getting more and more serious, which leads to its rapid decline. However, because of its great momentum and daring to break through and innovate, its influence in the history of movies is enormous. It not only established and strengthened the central position of the director, but also further explored the characteristics of the film, enriched the vocabulary of the film, promoted the global development of the film in this period, and truly formed the diversification of film themes, the enrichment of film styles, and the diversification and personalization of film trends and genres.

During this period, the world film industry has developed greatly. Even films in Latin America, the Far East, the Arab world and black Africa have made great progress, and in the past, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico occupied a place in the world film history. During this period, there have been new developments, as have the films of Chile, Cuba and Bolivia. During this period, Hong Kong films developed to flood the whole film market in Central and South Asia, and affected the situation in the whole continent. Therefore, in this period, the world film has broken away from the past four pillars and turned to global development.

There are two terms that must be discussed in the development of world movies, one is Hollywood and the other is Oscar.

As mentioned above, Hollywood Film City began to take shape in 19 13. In fact, when photographer Thomas Bossens and director Francis Boggs came here to shoot Mount Kiddo in 1908, it was just a small village on the outskirts of Los Angeles on the west coast of the United States. This small village is called Hollywood because of its beautiful scenery, which means evergreen oak forest.

Since the establishment of 19 13, there have been large production companies such as Paramount, MGM, Fox, Universal, Warner, etc., which have dominated the production and distribution of films worldwide. At the same time, it also attracts directors and actors from all over the world to shoot movies and perform there, making it a prosperous movie city in the United States.

Hollywood is the main base of American film production. According to statistics, the films produced can be divided into 75 types, including detective films, westerns, musicals, comedies, thrillers, science fiction films and lyric films that we are familiar with. These production companies have invested heavily in films, making the film industry a large-scale industry in the United States and achieving the hegemony of the world's films.

Hollywood movies are all guided by box office value income. Producers are concerned about how to make more money, demanding "put the lights where there is money" and "aim the camera at the faces worshipped by the audience". Therefore, Hollywood movies can generally achieve great success in business. These films are very dramatic, weaving all kinds of people's experiences in all kinds of lives, with compact and tortuous structures, complex and unique characters, and often misunderstandings and coincidences in the plot; Legendary and romantic, with great excitement and appreciation, it can meet the sensory experience and psychological needs of entertainment.

The first silent film The Count of Monte Cristo, based on Dumas' original work, was shot in a humble shed built in the wilderness of Hollywood in 1908. Some people regard 19 13 as the foundation year of Hollywood. At that time, Paramount set up a studio in Hollywood. At that time, the great American director Sibo Demir came here to shoot Marriage, and the studio expanded again, so people will remember this day as Hollywood's birthday.

The 1930s and 1940s were the golden age of Hollywood, during which many masterpieces were produced, such as Gone with the Wind, Butterfly Dream and Broken Blue Bridge, as well as the masterpieces of the comedy master Chaplin, such as Modern Times and The Great Dictator. These films are not only regarded as Hollywood classics, but also add a brilliant page to the world film history. As a result, the world audience began to get familiar with the stars who created distinctive characters on the screen: Chaplin, Bogart, Gable, Taylor, Lawrence, joan fontaine, Ingrid Bergman and so on.

With the abnormal development of capitalist economy, Hollywood has also encountered various crises, inflation, the sharp increase in production costs, the competition in the TV industry, and the changes in audience aesthetic standards, which once made Hollywood go to the bottom. Some companies lost money, while others simply diversified their operations and turned their studios into tourist and exhibition areas. It was not until the 1970s that filmmakers adopted the European producer system that Hollywood came out of the trough. At the same time, the producers also introduced new science and technology to create three-dimensional and wide-screen film forms; Some manufacturers have turned their enemies into friends with TV, making Hollywood a member of the TV industry, and thus making the film and television industry prosperous.

As for the Oscar, as we all know, every year in March and April, movie stars from the famous Los Angeles Music Center in the Pacific Ocean get together to attend the Oscar ceremony in Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This annual award ceremony is not only a great event in the American film industry, but also a great event in the world film industry.

In the United States, there are two most famous film art awards, one is the Golden Globe Award and the other is the Oscar Award. Comparatively speaking, the Academy Awards are talked about by people, because it is the highest honor in the American film industry. Once it takes the lead, it will be worth a hundred times. So the competition for this award is quite fierce.

Why is the Oscar named "Oscar"? This has to start with the design of the golden statue: the shape of the golden statue was originally conceived by MGM artist Cedric Jims, and later made by young sculptor George Stanley in 1928. The main body of this golden statue is a man standing on the film with a samurai sword in his hand. He is 34.5 cm long and weighs 3.45 kg, and is made of copper-based alloy. Because the statue is golden, it is called the golden prize. It was named Oscar in 193 1, and the award of the golden statue was purely accidental: on the eve of the award, members of the jury were commenting on the golden statue together, and Margaret Herridge, then librarian of the College of Arts and Sciences, could not help shouting: "Ah! He really looks like my uncle Oscar. " As a result, the staff of the college of arts and sciences called the golden statue Oscar, and this name became famous all over the world.

It has been more than 73 years since the Academy Awards were born. We can see the rapid development of the film industry in the United States and even the world. The selection of the Academy Awards was originally scheduled to be held every two years, and it was expanded from 1934 to once a year. At first, the scale was not too large, the activities were limited to the film industry, and the news of the selection was only published in the Los Angeles Times. It was not until 1953 that the whole process of awarding prizes was broadcast live to the whole country for the first time through TV media, and a foreign film award was added at the same time. At this point, the selection of Oscar awards has become a world-renowned event. Nowadays, with satellite as the media, the selection of the Academy Awards is a household name. 1On March 30th, 989, the 6 1 Oscar ceremony was held in Hollywood. The host announced on the spot that one billion viewers from 9/kloc-0 countries around the world, including those from the former Soviet Union who watched the live broadcast for the first time, watched the award ceremony via satellite.

In short, since the end of World War II, this film has been quite perfect in technology and mature in artistic expression. Shao, a film theorist in China, put forward in his book Introduction to the History of Western Films that films can be studied in four stages in the course of a century's development:

1. The formative period (1895- 1927), from the day when Edison and Lumiere invented movies in the United States and France, experienced a history of more than 20 years from short films to feature films, from single lens to multi-lens editing, thus forming a visual language.

The second is the development period (1927- 1945). In less than 20 years, the film has acquired sound and color, and has all the expressive elements necessary for the film art. People began to sum up the experience of opposing silent films, and conducted serious research and experiments in using sound and color and exploring the potential of film image expression.

3. Maturity (1945 till now), the film has reached the stage of technical perfection after World War II, and the technical development since then no longer has a significant impact on artistic expression. Since then, the film has entered the stage of artistic perfection, and its relationship with other arts has also changed from simple imitation and absorption in the past to the stage of giving and taking. In addition, it is more noteworthy that movies are no longer pure entertainment, but an art category with great social influence.