Sci-fi Films

Science Fiction is a genre of film that deals with imagined innovations in science and technology.

• The settings are usually completely different to known reality,
• They are most often set on spaceships, deep out of space and other planets,
• Technology contradicts the known laws of nature,
• they quite often are films of discovery.

a definition that was given to sci-fi by was "a handy short definition of almost all science fiction might read: realistic speculation about possible future events, based solidly on adequate knowledge of the real world, past and present"

examples of well known sci-fi films include star wars(trilogy started in 1977 with episode IV: a new hope) and Fith Element (1997)

Musicals

When Musicals were first made they went throught a faze of popularity from 1927 - 1931 with musicals coming out such as '42nd Street' directed by Lloyd Bacon.
MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) and RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum) were famous for making musicals such as:

• The Wizard of Oz (1939)
• Singing in the rain (1952)

Musicals are based on combinations of music, dance and songs, They were created to synchronise live music and film. At first many musicals were 'revues' programs of numbers with little or no narrative links.
Most were based on 'American ordeals' such as Love, success, wealth and popularity.
The subject of musical made it difficult to define iconography.
Iconography settings - Dressing rooms, studios, night clubs
Iconography costumes - Fred Estairs Top hat, John Travoltas White suit, the umbrella from singing in the rain.
Two plot patterns of the musical genre emerged in 1930

• The Backstage musical
• The straight musical

Musixals are brightly lit to highlight costumes and settings and the dancing is well placed on stage, crane shots are also used alot to get a full view of the cast.

Differences between old (stagecoach) and New Western Films (unforgiven)

Stagecoach (featuring John Wayne):

• The structure of the film is formal and divided into eight scenes, four scenes filled with high impact action and the other four were filled with character interactions. 
• The stunts that are performed in this film such as in the scene "stage to lordsburg" where a man jumps from the stagecoach onto the galloping horses to gain control. Are only filmed once as they where highly dangerous due to the lack of safety, ( no harnesses or green screens to keep the stunt men safe)
• The cinematography of this film is slightly more static and the light used it mainly natural due to when the film was made (1939).
• blood and gore is not over used and no matter how many people get shot, gun wounds do not show.

Unforgiven (featuring Clint Eastwood):

• The structure of this film is much more complex as more scenes are used and can have a variety of action and interactions combined.
• The stunts in this film are done by the stuntmen who are wearing harnesses and safety wear so that they can perform the stunts (more than once if need be) so that they can be perfected. As this is a modern film, special effects have also been used to impress audiences even more.
• The cinematography of the film is much more advanced due to artificial lighting and cameras that move more freely, Unforgiven was made in (1992).
• Blood and gore are used alot more often in modern westerns due to making things more reallistic.

In both films the same iconography has been used to promote the beauty of westerns such as the rolling mountains and countrysides, Isolated Forts, Tumble weeds and the iconic show downs.
Also in both films the theme of conflict between civilized order and the lawless frontier, good verses evil.

Paramount Pictures

• Paramount Pictures was founded in 1912.
• In 1916, Paramount’s history was changed forever.  The Jesse L. Lasky Company, which was producing films in Hollywood, merged with Famous Players to form the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation.
• Paramount is consistently ranked as one of the top-grossing movie studios.
• Paramount is America's oldest existing film studio.
• In 1927, Paramount received their first Oscar for their film "Wings" it won best picture, it is the only silent movie to ever pick up this title.
• John Huston who directed (the maltese falcon) and Olivia Hussey (who played juliet in the 1968 version of romeo and juliet) are among the many actors and directors who worked for paramount Pictures.

Citizen Kane Work

1. The film should have a variety of screen shots using (tracking and static shots), music to build tention and help to inform you on the type of scene that is upcoming, good actors- character portrail is important to the sucess of the film, and the use of cinematography and mise-en-scene.
2. At the start of the film 'Citizen Kane' the genre of the film looks like a 'film noir' as every shot is very dark and only some key features stand out. Because there is a lack of natural light.
3. In 'Citizen Kane' Welles uses the technique 'frame in a frame' to reverse our initial impression of the importance of characters in relation to their surroundings, for example the reflection of Kane dancing in the window of the newspaper factory, this helps to hint on the importance of kane to the paper.
4. The sequence where the camera goes throught the skylight of the El Rancho Nightclub is repeated a second time later on in the film, this is done as you know see the scene and characters in a different perspective, as you now know the whole story.
5. In the scene in which Susanne attempts suicide, Herrmans music contributes to the scene because the music used is the music she use to sings to, so it informs the audience that the opera music is in her head constantly as it is all she has been thinking about.
6. The scene i have chosen to describe is the scene in which Susanne trys to defie Kane, and the fact that at the moment she shouts back at Kane the film turns to the noir side, she is cast into a dark shadow, as this helps to show that she is in Kanes shadow no matter how much she argues and that Kane is the contrroller. When Kane shouts back she backs down to kneeling again she is now in the natural light of a window, helping to show that no-matter how much she believes he is wrong she will never succeed in putting her point across.