Muybridge Sequential Photography
Glenroy
The Gardiner
The Kiss
Seminary Girls
The Whole Dam Family
Ben Hur, Book to Play to Film, Film, Epic
Voyage to the Moon
Great Train Robbery
San Fran earthquake
Little Nemo
Birth of a Nation
GWTW
Chaplin
Odessa Steps:
Eisenstein,
DePalma,
Woody Allen
Laurel and Hardy
Duck Soup
Bananas
Blazing Saddles
Ace Ventura
My Cousin Vinny
Metropolis – Young Frankenstein
Metropolis – Blade Runner
Snow White to Enchanted
Oz
Singin in the Rain
Life of Brian
Moulin Rouge
Hairspray
GWTW
Dirty Harry
Jaws
The Shining Johnny
The Shining Twins
Shawshank
Das Boot
Apocalypse
La Dolce Vita
Notting Hill
Deeds
Psycho
Bonds
Once Upon a Time in China
Fist of Fury sign break
Game of Death
Kill Bill
Shaolin soccer
Beauty and the Beast
Run Lola Run
Here is what is important about that viewing:
Muybridge set the precedent for creating motion pictures through his photographic sequences of animals and people in motion. Yes, he did answer the question of whether a horse completely leaves the ground when it runs, it does.
Themes that exist in motion pictures have existed since its earliest days. Plays, short comedy sketches and story telling existed long before the ability to record them and these are the traditions that underpin the content of motion pictures, in the early days and in the present.
The first motion picture story was a guy getting tricked by someone he knew and then delivering revenge to his tormentor. The Lumiere Brothers created this story about the Gardener and it looks a lot like something we might see on a Funny Video show or on YouTube today.
Sergei Eisentein created a distinctive grammar for storytelling with motion pictures. His classic scene the Odessa steps has been homaged in many other movies, seriously and humorously.
Much of the comedy we enjoy today has not changed a great deal from the earliest days.
Fritz Lang in Metropolis created a visual treat. The shots are beautifully composed and interconnected. Much of the acting is overdone and the story is very simplistic but the film is beautiful and has inspired many films after it.
Ultimately there are many ways to shoot many kinds of stories and all of them have not yet been tried. One of the most interesting trends in the past twenty years has been film-makers manipulating the timeline in films. The one piece I was able to show you, Run Lola Run or Lola Rennt, is a truly original film for its depiction of time and its mix of media that even includes sequential still photography.
Until the next time....
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