Mowelfund

Last September 30, Sunday, together with our Cinema Professor, Datu Ashley Jammal Abbas, we went to Mowelfund at Quezon City to experience and also to remember how rich the Philippines’ Cinema industry back then.

I’m sorry. this is the only picture I have from the tour. (The result of a not-a-camera-friendly) Hahaha

Mowelfund is a short term for Movie Workers Welfare Foundation Inc. It is a non-profit social welfare program that established in 1974. It was founded by Joseph E. Estrada for the welfare of workers in the Philippines’ Cinema Industry. It provides private insurance and SSS benefits who work on a per picture basis like stuntmen, technicians, cameraman, propsmen and other film crew members. And also, Mowelfund also have a film training center, it is called Mowelfund Film Institute (MFI), they mold an individual to help and also learn about the need of mainstream film industry and independent cinema. Mowelfund also helped to rationalize the movie industry, because some of the costumes or important props from the past movies are still in the museum, it gives life again though it still over decades ago.

 

Early Philippine films

Set aside from the American colonialism started in 1903, the Father of Philippine Movies, Don Jose Nepumuceno, launches his career as the first Filipino to make a film. His film was based on a higly-acclaimed musical play of that day, Dalagang Bukid in 1919. It starred by Atang de la Rama.

1930’s to 1940’s

The standard formula offered by genres like melodrama, comedy, action, horror, musical even cowboy films came and made in the thirties.

Wartime Films

On December 8, 1941, the four year Japanese war caused Philippine Cinema industry to come to  a standstill. The Japanese military took the control of film studios and theaters. All movie houses closed down. But during this era, there are Filipino stars shined,  including Fernando Poe Sr., Leopoldo salcedo, Norma Blancaflor, Ely Ramos and Carmen Rosales.

The 50’s (Golden Age)

Into this era, it is the rising of star system, studio system and the genre classification of films here in our country.

Studios kept stars under contract making them appear only for their own films. LVN had Nida Blanca and Nestor De Villa, Sampaguita had Gloria Romero and Luis Gonzales, Premiere had Fernando Poe Jr.

Genre films classified films into types providing identifiable formula for each of the films made whether it is melodrama, comedy, action, horror, fantasy, musical and cowboy films.

The stars were identified by audiences according to the movies they were typecast. For example, Charito Solis was a dramatic actress, Fernando Poe Jr and Joseph Estrada are action stars, Nora Aunor was first knows as a musical talent and Dolphy was famous as a Comedy King

 The 60’s

In the period of the sixties, all of the star system and studio system as well as the Tagalog and Cebuano films are went down and declined. Because of the labor problems and financial difficulties, the big studios could no longer sustain producing films and that’s how Independent Filmmaking came and emerged.

One of the leading Independent films was the Tagalog Ilang Ilang productions that hired stars came from big studios. On the other hand, some of the movies stars from the 50’s put up their own production like Fernando Poe Jr with his FPJ Films, Joseph Estrada with his JE Productions, Amalia Fuentes with her AM Productions.

In this era, the sixties saw the rise of Susan Roces, Amalia Fuentes, Charito Solis, Lolito Rodriguez, Marlene Dauden, Luis Gonzales, Ric Rodrigo, Leroy Salvador, Dolphy and FPJ.

By 1966, former Manila Mayor Antonio Villegas set up the Manila Film Festival to give boost to the National popularity of tagalong films.

Seventies

During the martial law, former president Ferdinand Marcos and the government tried to conrol the film industry while keeping it in “good humor” so that the government continued

However, some of the stars said that this era is really deserved to be called as Golden Age than the 50’s. Because during this period, most of the great films of all time in the Philippine are made into this era. During that year, the greatest film directors Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal put up their names in to the limelight because of their great films.

The 80’s to present

Through the works of Lino Brocka, the 80’s are still continue to produced good films like Bayan Ko: Kapit sa Patalim. But up to present, unlike to the past era, the number of films being produced is far way different from the big numbers of films that they produced over so many decades ago.

It is sad to imagine that over from a different changes in to the era of Philippines’ cinema the richness of the industry is slowly and slowly gone through the years.

 

 

 

 

Eastern Promises

One thing that I noticed in David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises is the movie just don’t give the plot away to audience.

What does it mean? Though the plot of the movie is linear which started from this 14 year old girl who died by giving birth at the hospital where Anna Khitrova worked there as a midwife but still, the director put up a twist into a linear story by a hidden scene.

When I first watched the movie, I already predicted that this Anna Khitrova has a big part of the movie, I already predicted that this girl will fix the puzzle of the story.

At the start of the film, the director want to bear in mind on the audience to put up curiosity and the question “why’s?”. The director used that technique to attached more the audience into the film, because when people have something they don’t understand, they tried and tried until they get it. That’s the thing I noticed, first, when Nikolai and Kiril slashed the throat of this guy into a barbershop. I was shocked because the film had started it with violence already and I was also thinking who the hell is this guy and why these two evil guys slashed his throat. That’s my first question as I’ve watched the film.

Until the movie keeps playing, there’s this 14 year old pregnant who suddenly slap at the floor and then she took her into the hospital and while she was taking into the emergency room, the midwife got her diary from her bag.

“Who is this 14 year old pregnant?” “Is she connected to the guy in the barbershop?” “What’s with the diary?”

In that time, there are many questions that pops in my mind. My 1st question did not answered yet and here is this another questions that made me curious about.

Like what I’ve said earlier, the director put some hidden scene just not to give the plot away. In the 1st part, Nikolai and Krill, didn’t mention who is this guy. 2nd, who is this girl. 3rd, what’s with this diary is all about. The director hide these parts just to put twists in the story.

Noticed, if the director started the story into the rape scene of this 14 year old and Simyeon? Do you think it’s more effective? Do you think you will still watch the entire movie up to an end?

The director really want the audience to think. And for me, it is a good technique to have an impact in the story. And also the movie has this “contrasting character”, which is even add spices to the twisted part of the story. In the first movie, Nikolai was introduced as bad guy because he killed this one guy in the barbershop. And this Simyeon, his character started as a good guy, because when Anna first met him, he is generous and lovable to the kids, like they teach the 2 kids in how to play a good music in violin. Then there’s this baking, he make cakes..etc.that added to his character as a good man. But can you imagine that this old man Simyeon, who love to bake cakes  was an antagonist in the film and this Nikolai who had several tattoos in his body is really the good man? Their character in  the 1st part of the story are opposite into their real character.

 

Though this movie doesn’t have fanciful edits or doesn’t have a unique shots unlike any other movie that have point of view shot, wide shot etc. The film is way good because of the simplicity on it. The film rely onto the storyline rather than the shots and the edits.

The Movie Brats

There are two kinds of Directors, one who considers Public, and one who considers themselves in making film. 

Directors who considers public

George Lucas

Steven Spielberg

Directors who consider themselves

Francis Coppula

Martin Scorsese

Brian De Palma

Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg is the one of the industry’s most successful and influential filmmakers. There’s no doubt about it, he made an amazing contributions to the world of film. Steven Spielberg was been an early adopter of innovator of computer generated images. The three of his great films are Jaws, ET and JurassicPark. Spielberg is also one of the co-founder of Dreamworks movie studio. Based from his success, it is pretty obvious that Steven Spielberg made movies because he wants to moved the audience through his own films.

George Lucas

George Lucas was known for his Star Wars legacy. Without a doubt, Star Wars has given the cinema world a different direction. The way visual effects have been executed and portrayed is not something one can see in any ordinary movie.  However, his contributions to the craft of filmmaking have forever altered the industry. From the groundbreaking special effects of Star Wars  to the innovations of Industrial Light and Magic which he founded. George Lucas has forever upped the barre on our expectations of the movie going experience. He sets us a standard to see a great film. Like Spielberg Lucas wants to move us, being an audience by all his films.

Francis Coppola

Coppola has tasted extraordinary success and failure in his career at the same time. He attempting to make personal films with Hollywood’s money, he has tried funding some ambitious artistic ventures by himself, which eventually resulted in his bankruptcy. Coppola devised puppet shows for his own entertainment. He is known primarily for his successful “Godfather” trilogy.”

 

Martin Scorsese

Whether making gangster films, period films or biopics, Scorsese explores aspects of masculinity, identity and violence.  He is a type of director that he wants to express himself by his film. The one of the greatest movie he directed is Bloody Mama.

Brian de Palma

He is the master of the psychological thriller. De Palma was known for violent films.  Although De Palma works primarily in the genre of the psychological thriller, elements of romance, horror and gangster melodramas are explored as well.  De Palma’s most important contributions to contemporary cinema lie in his own visual style. He frequently employs such techniques as to his own point of view. He doesn’t mind what can his film be like to audienec, like in his movie: Carrie, many says that this film is kind a boring but De Palma is still willing to direct a film such like that.

 

 

 

The New Hollywood and the Independent Filmmaking

The Hollywood industry around the mid of 1950’s to 60’s was still in shape because of the blockbuster films that gained their huge profit. But by 1969, the industry of Hollywood was in ruins. Hollywood companies lost $200 million every year because of the expensive production costs of studios.

Because of that unhealthy situation of the Hollywood, producers came to a point that they will produce counterculture flavored that suits for the taste of the young audiences. Some of the most popular films are Easy rider and MASH. But the most successful films that really turned Hollywood to a boom are: Godfather, Jaws, Star wars, Obsession and Taxi Driver.

Francis Coppola, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Brian de Palma and Martin Scorsese are the directors who really worked out to make Hollywood industry to be well conditioned again and to become a New Hollywood.

These directors who are involved in New Hollywood are called movie brats. Most of these directors are gone to film schools, so they didn’t also master the mechanics of production but they learned the aesthetic to a film they produced. But all of these New Hollywood directors get an idea on the Old Hollywood, like De Palma’s films are based from the films of Hitchcock. And also at the same time, some directors are inspired by making complex art films by the European tradition.

During the 1980’s, Lucas and Spielberg proved that they’re the most continuously successful of the era engaging them into a New New Hollywood. Through 1990’s, Lucas and Spielberg and other movie brats directors didn’t put their reputation into nothing. Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, De Palma’s Mission Impossible and Lucas’ Phantom of the empire are in the big wave of Hollywood during that decade.

From the success of Hollywood, some filmmakers tried their luck to produce and invade Hollywood. And also, several directors of Independent films switched into the limelight of Hollywood but still, other directors decided to stay into Independent film than to the shift into the shine of the Hollywood industry during that days.

Most of the young directors of mainstream films were still based from the continuity style of classical Hollywood. Though they add some highly technical visual techniques but the narrative storytelling was still in there. While young directors including the independent filmmakers adapted the classical Hollywood style, they came to a point that independent films overthrow the Hollywood Industry. Independent films began to have a broader audience than the Hollywood.

As the film industry welcomed the new century, most of young directors keep classical cinema style to be alive. They maybe give a new form or orientation of what classical cinema has but they still used that style to have a larger audience.

Surrealism

Surrealism evolved in 1924 and took the idea of Dadaism. Dadaism was an intellectual movement against the World War I, it has humorous ad shocking style. Though, Surrealist films’ are in the concept of Dada cinema, Surrealism is differed from humorous style of Dada.

Surrealist film is known in a no plot films and a film that will escape you from reality, literally reality. All of the surrealist films are in a way different from real life, it’s like creating an imagination to a big screen. The flows of surrealist films are similar when we were dreaming; there’s no linear story and eventually inserting a weird characters or scenario that’s not related to the events.

Best example of Surrealist film is Un Chien Andalou by Luis Bunel.

If you watch the Luis Bunel’s short film, it is clearly a surrealist film. Un chien Andalou has no linear narrative story. The film opens where Luis Bunel sharpens his razor and saw a cloud crossing to a moon. Then he saw a girl and he razor the woman’s eye and suddenly cut again into a overcome clouds to a moon. If you look closely, when the man slit the woman’s eye and the overcome clouds to a moon are in similar scene, moon symbolizes eye and the razor is the clouds. There are many weird scenes in the film just like that. First, is when the young man’s hand has hole where ants came through. Second, is a slow transition focusing on the armpit hair of the young woman as she lies on the beach and a cut of a sea urchin, which kind similar in a physical aspect. Third, there’s a young woman keeps hitting at a severe hand by his cane in to a crowd. Fourth, when the young man touches the young woman’s breast there’s a slow cut of a big bottom. Fifth, when the young man corners the young woman, he pulled a rope with a 2 grand piano, dead donkey and two young men. Sixth, the 2 books suddenly become 2 guns. Seventh, the young man wipes his mouth off in his face by his hand. Seventh, the young woman puts lipstick and suddenly she saw that the color of lipstick is in the mouth of the young man, and realizing that the mouth of the young man is in the armpit of the young woman. And Lastly, when the young woman exits the apartment the location is change into a beach.

Even though this film has no narrative story to catch up to, still, it was very entertaining.

French Impressionism

In the end of the World War I, the French film industry is not in the limelight anymore in the cinema industry. However, in the first half of 20’s, they developed a style which become mainstream and still define films that we have today.

While the French Industry is in ruins and completely lost its name in the film industry. France tried to restore their reputation in the industry of cinema. France found critics and directors to help them, and Louis Delluc is one of them. In his view on why French film industry got down is because the French School of directing is simply outdated.

So, French filmmakers decided to switch to an idea which is focusing on the character’s point of view to create an impact to the audience, this idea is known by French Impressionist Cinema. French Impressionist Cinema is also known as the narrative avant-garde

Over the ten years of this French filmmaking period they focused to their style that which distinguish themselves in the rest of the world. French film industry developed a concept of creating an emotional impression to the viewers through the movie. Impressionism developed this theory of photogenie, it focused the framing to the screen than the narrative story itself.

The director was able to shot the character’s point of view to translate their emotion impression to the audience. For example, when the character finds his clothes in the closet, the camera is focusing in the character’s closet. So it is basically like the camera is the eye of the character. Another common example is, when the character is dizzy or drunk, you expect that the camera’s angle is a little bit shaky, because it translate the body movement when the character is drunk.

If you want to get a character’s point of view, the camera should move. This idea is expanded. So, some movies before used camera tripods were attached to cars, wheels, roller skates or anything that gives an illusion to the character’s point of view.

But in 1929, the lights are gone to French Impressionism. Over 10 years of shining in to the mainstream production, audience feels that the style of French Impressionism was not unique anymore, for them it’s already common by the 10 years of the style. And also, Impressionism films are too expensive but filmmakers still creating elaborated productions without thinking the production costs.

Maybe French Impressionism put them out in to business during their period but the style of Impressionist films are still living in the film industry today.  French Impressionism takes a gigantic step in the cinema history. Impressionist style gives a stronger connection between audience and the movie, which is the important aspect in appreciating a movie; you are moved because of the film.

 

Here’s an example of French Impressionist film

Studio and Star System

Studio   system

During the 1930’s, the studio system before are producing a movie primarily in their own filmmaking lots. Generally, the directors, writers, staffs, production crew, actors or actresses or even the janitors are under the contract of one studio itself. In a simple case, they shoot and produce their film on their studio lots, which is sometimes they don’t need to change a location for other scenes to shoot. And also, studio system is in charge in distributing their films into the movie outlets.

But the studio system before is somehow similar from the today’s system. Because some of the studios has still contacted to actors/actresses and directors but the different from before and now is, studio lots are gone. So, most of the films today are shoot from different locations unlike before.

 

Star System

The star system before was like a owning a property. They create, promote and exploit movie stars, in other words they develop a simple person into a star. Before, actors and actresses gave importance to their image and appearance to the public, they treated themselves as exclusive. From the power of the contract and as a property of the studio, the actors or actresses follows what the studio or directors wants for them. So, if a director wants his comedy actor to be in a horror film, the actor should adjust to that genre.

Unlike today, movie stars didn’t care about their name and reputation to the public. For example, some of the popular stars today are involve to a scandal. And most of the stars are not that good in acting skills; today, as long as you have look, you can be a star.

 

Film Noir

If you love watching sweet romantic movie, or you’re a great fan of comedy type of movie, I’m sure this isn’t the kind of film you would love to watch. There were rarely happy or optimistic endings in noirs.

In the early 1940, there has been a deeply complex genre has appeared—Film Noir. Film noir is a literally black film or black cinema. By this genre you would expect to see a stark angular shadows and narrative themes of ambiguity and violent deaths.

Putting together, there are still many characteristics of Film noir that we can define. So here are some characteristics that may help in identifying a noir

Mood and Style

Others contend that film noir is not a genre but it is more of a tone or mood in the film.

Film noir of this era is associated with a low key black and white visual style that has roots in German expressionist cinematography.  Their main influence in film noir is with aesthetics. They brought along expressionist lighting, which used artificial studio lighting to create shadows, oblique and vertical lines, and irregular light patterns.

Film noir films were marked visually by expressionistic lighting; using the lights to create a dramatic mood to the scene. Lights and shadow is the symbol for goal against evil. And also, through lightning, it is a quick way to create interesting psychological effect to the audience.

The primary moods of classic film noir were melancholy, ambiguity, moral corruption, evil, guilt, desperation and paranoia. Aside from shadowy characters, some of the desperate ways to do in Film noir are gambling, dying and detective kind of stories.

Urban Setting

Story locations were often in murky and dark streets, dimly-lit and low-rent apartments and hotel rooms of big cities, or abandoned warehouses. Exteriors were often urban night scenes with deep shadows and low key lighting.

This means cities played a significant part in creating the texture and dark mood of film noirs.

Femme Fatale

 

The females in film noir were either of two types – beautiful, innocent, charming, young lady or powerful sexy woman, smart and extremely sexual and this woman called as a “Spiderwoman”. The characteristic of being a Spiderwoman in Film noir are having a long nails and often smokes. They become more deadly when they are obsessed and passionate.

The psychological phenomena of Film noir is the guy is in danger in the hands of strong and violent woman; male and female change their position.  To show the visual dominance of the woman against men, some of the female shots in film noir are comes from low angle while the men are in high angle shots.

 

 

Trainspotting

“I chose not to choose life. I chose to choose something else,” says the film’s narrator and main character.

There have been plenty of films about the drug culture but there have been none quite like Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting.

The director of the movie shows his own style on making this movie a different one. Danny Boyle starts the movie by the first person point of view of the main character (Mark Renton). To that style, the movie looks like more realistic and serious.

And also, why this movie is light there are a lot of an oddly humorous gruesome images. For example,  Renton’s headfirst dive into the “worst toilet in Scotland” or Spud’s reaction when he wakes up in soiled sheets. By these weird reaction it portraying the cycle of addiction — using drugs, then normal, then give it again.

You may also notice in the film, the director uses different angle shots. Like in the first part of the movie where he use tracking shot; the director wants to see the audience that Mark Renton is wild and adventurous person by using a shot which camera is mounted on a camera dolly which it follows what’s the subject does. And also, the director used point of view shot whenever Mark, Spud, Sick boy and Tommy is in their midst of the effects of the drugs. The director elaborated and illustrated what can their eyes saw whenever they took drugs. Like when Renton inject the drug to himself, the movie seems like to tells in the audience: “this is what it looks like when you take this drug, there are no worries about the problems and concerns of everyday life, just where the next hit is going to come from”. The giddiness of heroin addiction is well-illustrated during some of the film’s early scene because we can only see what Renton can see when he uses it. This is a kinetic movie, where everything, including the camera, keeps moving.

(Watch this!)

In the end, Trainspotting has an anti-drug message, but it presents its case through character studies, not preaching. The whole film shows the pleasures of drug-taking both for itself and for the joy of escaping for a time from the kind of life its characters are likely to have without it. The movie has been attacked as pro-drug and defended as anti-drug,

Classical Hollywood syle

When we hear the word “Hollywood” what is the first thing that comes in your mind? American motion-picture industry? Great actors, concepts and story? Yes all of them are true,  but aside from that what are the vital points that we can figure about Hollywood now from way back before.

They called classical Hollywood style as invisible storytelling. Though all mainstream films based only from  the plot or narrative idea but in the classical Hollywood it can be sum up to a shot and the cut. There’s a particular style of shooting and editing geared towards making film narratives easier to understand developed. This became known as the continuity style  become the moving image’s most conventional and dominant mode of visual storytelling.

The most important aspect of this particular style is that it encourages you the viewer to become captivated by a story but actively discourages you from consciously noticing the editing and camera techniques that are being used to tell it.  This is the key to the continuity style; its ability to tell a story whilst at the same time hiding the storytelling mechanisms themselves.

For the filmmakers today, some of the Hollywood film we’ve seen now is only a replication of the classical Hollywood style because the classical style is still evolving and evolving. And as an audience, we must engage in the storytelling and great film making that we can really make us feel as if we are actually in the film. All of the techniques are identified to affect precisely the emotional attachment of the film to audience.

We must remember that Hollywood, is not only an industry, it is an art.