Metropolis

Metropolis delivered a story with a very deep meaning, for example showing how the workers were being treated by the aristocrats, based on the idea that the society is split into two factions. As it was back then. The upper class taking advantage of the lower class

Metropolis is a beautiful city with highly developed areas, however, beneath its tall towers and bright lights was a another city under it  which was dark, dreary and controlled. Most of the story takes places in this city as the upper city was mostly for show until its importance during the climax of the movie. The story revolves around Joh Fendersen and his son Ferder, Joh's partner the genius mad scientist Rotwag and a preacher girl Maria and the evil robotic version of Maria, on how easy we can be easily manipulated and controlled by many different means such as men can be easily intoxicated by the movement of a semi nude lady.

Fig.1  The most famous robot transformation

The special effect and the set was very establishing despite that they may seem very old but dont let that fool you as the set it self led to the film as it matches the story and its effects. Metropolis seems to have taken influences from art especially from the shape and designs of the buildings and the aesthetically pleasing lights and designs of the city.

 

Fig.2. Metropolis Movie poster

The worker city has also have the same design and style as the city above however it follows a plainer and simpler design and structures especially their houses apart from the lever and statue in the middle of the city. The worker city was dyed with the color grey and black to present uniformity of the workers unlike the ones in the upper city with multicolored design this was just to show that the workers are treated less and that they have to live in a terrible living conditions. As I explained earlier The film deals with Marxist and political issues what was explained very well in this movies such as the separate living of the upper people and the workers as well as their standards. One of the main influences of this film in Germany was because it was after WW1 and the had to suffer of the loss as well as to deal with most of the Germans which are now poor workers which they involved in the influence of the film. Roger Ebert commented on the workers in the film by saying, 'What their doing makes no logical sense, but visually the connection is obvious; they are controlled like hands on a clock.'

All in all Metropolis maybe an old movie but it has set the standards to all of the sci-fi movies.

Illustration list

Lang, F. (1927) Figure.1. http://www.ottens.co.uk/gatehouse/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/Metropolis.jpg

Lang, F. (1927) Figure.2 http://www.doctormacro.com/Images/Posters/M/Poster%20-%20Metropolis_10.jpg

Bibliography

Hall, M, (1927) http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A05E2D8143BE13ABC4F53DFB566838C639EDE (accessed 31/10/2014)

Anderson, k (30/10/2014) http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A05E2D8143BE13ABC4F53DFB566838C639EDE (accessed 10/11/2014)

Voyage to the Moon

Fig.1

Le Voyage Dans La Lune (Trip to the Moon) (1903) is one of the cinema's most iconic movie releases; but not just the movie itself, the cover art of the movie see Fig.1 - the bullet to the the eye of a smirking moon became one of the most recognizable image in cinema history. The film is a weird combination of imaginative and interesting aspects, and by using trick photography which resulted in a short movie about a group of scientists/wizards planning to explore the depth of the moon which they encounter bizarre terrain and mysterious creatures in order for them to reach their ship to go back.

During the showing of this film, some people do get the opinion that this movie wouldn't be any good or it might be too boring. However, you can't judge a book by its cover, so you can't judge this film from its cover. Despite the movie being over 100 years old, being black and white and a silent movie, by just watching their acting and performance was entertaining enough. This movie can't be compared to recent movies due to it being an old movie, however, it was the start of the development of the movie industry.

Méliès the magician moves from his stage recording to the dazzling voyage he went through was the first ever narrative sequences made. This movie was described as a 'Trick film' by using things such as card, paints and yarns to create fantastic structures for the set and using elaborate costumes to create the feel that they are in a different reality, and by using amazing special effects such as dissolving, fade away and superimposition had great effect to the audiences for example see Fig.2.

Fig.2 Still from the Movie

The film was structured with a lot of tableaux, which in turns contained a lot of trick photography as well as chaotic scenes and multiple camera trick,all of this effect can be seen a lot on Méliès films, however audiences adore all the special effects and easy to follow narration about the film.

Rotten tomatoes talks highly about the film as well as its narrations, however, Rotten tomatoes describe the story as, "Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery rode a slightly more sophisticated narrative to greater success" This tells me that despite how good everything is if the narration wasn't in league with everything else.

In conclusion, This film is a form of film memorabilia and is a worth a watch, that is in order to experience the old school movie world as well as to see the development of movies throughout the years. 


Illustration
Méliès, Georges, Fig, 1,  http://i.ytimg.com/vi/7JDaOOw0MEE/hqdefault.jpg

Méliès, Georges, Fig, 1, http://thealeaneyhorror.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/936full-a-trip-to-the-moon-poster1.jpg

Bibliography.

Wootton, Jacky (2014), Blogger, http://wootton217.blogspot.co.uk/

Mark Pittillo, Rovi, (unknown), Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/le_voyage_dans_la_lune/