Formal Traits of Expressionism
What traits characterize Expressionism in the cinema?
1)Historians have defined this movement in widely differing ways.
2)Some claim that the true Expressionist films resemble The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari in
using a distorted, graphic style of mise-en-scène derived from theatrical
Expressionism.
3)Of such films, perhaps only half a dozen or so were made.
4)Other historians classify a larger number of films as Expressionist because the films all
contain some types of stylistic distortion that function in the same ways that the
graphic stylization in Caligari does.
5)By this broader definition (which we use here),
6)there are close to two dozen Expressionist films, released between 1920 and 1927.
7)Like French Impressionism,
8)German Expressionism uses the techniques of the medium
a)mise-en-scène,
b)editing, and
c)camerawork—in distinctive ways.
Contrasting to French Impressionism mise-en-scene
1)While the main defining traits of French Impressionism lay in the area of camera-work,
German Expressionism is distinctive primarily for its use of mise-en-scène.
2)In 1926, set designer Hermann Warm (who worked on Caligari and other Expressionist
films)
3)was quoted as believing that “the film image must become graphic art.”
4)During the 1920s, descriptions of Expressionist films often referred to the sets as “acting”
or as blending with the actors’ movements.
5)In 1924, Conrad Veidt, who played Cesare in Caligari and acted in several other
Expressionist films, explained,
“If the decor has been conceived as having the same spiritual state as that which governs
the character’s mentality, the actor will find in that decor a valuable aid in composing and
living his part. He will blend himself into the represented milieu, and both of them will
move in the same rhythm.”
6)Thus, while the setting functioned as almost a living component of the action, the
actor’s body became a visual element.
Perfect Composition
1)In practice, this blend of set, figure behavior, costumes, and lighting fuses into a perfect
composition only at intervals.
2)A narrative film is not like the traditional graphic arts of painting or engraving.
3)The plot must advance, and the composition breaks up as the actors move.
4)In Expressionist films, the action often proceeds in fits and starts,
5)and the narrative pauses or slows briefly for moments
6)when the mise-en-scène elements align into eye-catching compositions.
7)Such compositions need not be wholly static.
8)An actor’s dancelike movement may combine with a stylized shape in the set to create a
visual pattern.
Stylized Surfaces & Symmetry
1)Expressionist films had many tactics for blending the elements of shots.
2)They used stylized surfaces, symmetry, distortion, and juxtaposition of similar shapes.
3)Stylized surfaces might make disparate elements within the mise-en-scène seem similar.
4)For example, Jane’s costumes in Caligari are painted with the same jagged lines as are
the sets.
5)In Siegfried, many shots are filled with a riot of decorative patterns.
6)Symmetry offers a way to combine actors, costumes, and sets so as to emphasize overall
compositions.
7)The Burgundian court in Siegfried uses symmetry, as do scenes in most of Fritz Lang’s
films of this period.
Siegfried (Fritz Lang, 1924)
I come, King Gunter, to ask you for your sister Kriemhild's hand in marriage!
King Gunther too, has designs on marriage and has his heart set on a mighty, and bold, maiden.
Brunhild is her name and she sports the crown of Isenland.
Flames blazing around its perimeter, her castle loftily projects itself,
Why must you speak of Brunhild, when you know that thrice the most powerful suitor
best her in feats of strength?
Siegfried, the worthy hero, has come to Worms at an opportune moment!
ALSO I DON'T SEE A LOT OF STAGE)
Intertitle:
He might help us win Brunhild for you!
Intertitle:
Twelve kings are my vassals.
Never was I a king's vassal
Nor shall I ever be!
Prepare for your bridal quest, King Gunther - for the Siegfried, the mighty hero,
who shall win you Brunhild!
In The Golem, texture links the Golem to the distorted ghetto sets: both look as if they are made of clay.
The Golem (Paul Wegener & Carl Boese, 1920)
A symmetrical shot in Algol shows a corridor made up of repeated abstract black and white shapes and lines.
Algol (Hans Werckmeister, 1920)
Intertitle in green: The Hall of Eternal Energy.
Maria Obal is working the night shift. If you want to see her, Peter Hell,...
I'll take you to her.
Distortion and Exaggeration - Most pervasive trait
Perhaps the most pervasive trait of Expressionism is the use of distortion and exaggeration.
In Expressionist films, houses are often pointed and twisted, chairs are tall, and staircases are crooked and uneven.
Take for example the old, sagging house in G. W. Pabst’s Der Schatz.
Der Schatz (G. W. Pabst, 1923)
Leaning Buildings & Lampost
The leaning buildings and lamppost in Wiene’s Raskolnikow, an adaptation of Crime and Punishment.
Raskolnikow (Robert Weine, 1923)
Intertitle: To Alena Ivanovna, the moneylender of the neighborhood.
She goes back to her dresser and counts out some pennies
He goes outside - he looks devastated
Deliberate exaggerations acting
1)To modern viewers, performances in Expressionist films may look simply like extreme
versions of silent-film acting.
2)Yet Expressionist acting was deliberately exaggerated to match the style of the settings.
3)In long shots, gestures could be dancelike as the actors moved in patterns dictated by
the sets.
4)Conrad Veidt:
“blend[s] himself into the represented milieu” in Caligari when he glides on
tiptoe along a wall, his extended hand skimming its surface. Here, a tableau involves
movement rather than a static composition.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Exaggeration & Stylized composition
1)This principle of exaggeration governed close-ups of the actors as well.
2)In general, Expressionist actors worked against an effect of natural behavior,
often moving jerkily, pausing, and then making sudden gestures.
3)Such performances should be judged not by standards of realism but by how the actors’
behavior contributed to the overall mise-en-scène.
4)In Kriemhild’s Revenge, Marguerithe Schön’s wide-eyed stare, her heavy makeup, the
abstract shapes in her costume,
5) and the blank background create a stylized composition completely in keeping
with the rest of the film.
Kriemhild’s Revenge (Fritz Lang, 1924)
You court a dead woman, Rudigen
flaunts the green sparkling sword
that he stole from the dead man.
-Lord Attila would know how to avenge you!
Lord Margrave, swear this unto me
in your and in King Attila's names!
Intertitle:
Not on the cross, Lord Margrave,
My lady! Lord Hagen has stolen the treasure!
You have my word, Lord Margrave Rudiger!
Hagen Tronje, where is the treasure?
Thus spake loyal Hagen.
Somewhere, my lady, where no-one
might use the gold to forge arms
Juxtaposition in composition
1)A crucial trait of Expressionist mise-en-scène is the juxtaposition of similar shapes within
a composition.
2)Human figures, for example, are often posed beside distorted trees to create similar
shapes.
3)Along with Robert Wiene and Fritz Lang, F. W. Murnau was one of the major figures of
German Expressionism,
4)yet his films contain relatively few of the obviously artificial, exaggerated sets that we find
in other films of this movement.
In Murnau’s Tartuffe, the title character’s pompous walk is set off against the legs of a huge cast-iron lamp.
Tartuffe (F. W. Murnau, 1925)
Send Dorine to bed early tonight
Lighting
1)For the most part, Expressionist films used simple lighting from the front and sides,
illuminating the scene flatly and evenly to stress the links between the figures and the
decor.
2) In some notable cases, however, shadows were used to create additional distortion.
In Nosferatu, the vampire creeps up the stairway toward the heroine, but we see only his shadow, huge and grotesque.
Nosferatu (F. W. Murnau, 1922)
Expressionist Film Techniques
1)Although the main traits of Expressionist style come in the area of mise-en-scène,
2)we can make a few generalizations about its typical use of other film techniques.
3)Such techniques usually function unobtrusively to display the mise-en-scène to best
advantage.
4)Most editing is simple, drawing on continuity devices such as
a)shot/reverse shot and (What's this? internet Shot/Reverse Shot. shot in
a sequence that is taken from the reverse angle of the shot previous to it.
Eyeline Match.) or
Shot reverse shot is most often used for dialogue scenes, and will often use
over-the-shoulder shots)
(I think they're reaction shots)
b)crosscutting.
5)In addition, German films are noted for having a somewhat slower pace than other films
of this period.
6)Certainly in the early 1920s they have nothing comparable to the quick rhythmic editing of
French Impressionism.
7)This slower pace gives us time to scan the distinctive compositions created by the
Expressionist visual style.
2)Many Expressionist sets used false perspective to form an ideal composition
when seen from a specific vantage point.
3)Thus camera movement and high or low angles were relatively rare,
4)and the camera tended to remain at a straight-on angle and an approximately
eye-level or chest-level height.
5)In a few cases, however, a camera angle could create a striking composition by juxtaposing
actor and décor in an unusual way.
In Tartuffe, a high angle places an actor against a swirl of abstract lines created by a stairway.
Tartuffe
Starts with the coy lady getting ready for bed
Intertitle:
Hullo, Pierre, Jean, Jacque!
Clear out all this rubbish!
Mr. Tarftuffe does not approve of luxuries!
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