January In 2012

  FINALLY, this is my last blog for whole project, I am focus on my reflection and essay writing, i meet a large amount of questions and troubles during the two mouths, anyway I overcome all of my "enemies". Especially for research, it is really hard to understand English Bibliography. Hope everything will be smoothly in the end.

January In 2012

  This should be the last section of my movie material collcetion, today's main character is world's famous Chinese director ZHANG Yi Mou. Recently a film named “ THE FLOWER OF WAR" is really hot and popular in China and even the whole world, it is a typical ZHANG YI MOU'S film, depth, artistic literature, powerful and impressive. I do a research about the famous Chinese director as follows:

  " ZHANG'S film career is synonymous with the globalization of Chinese cinema. His films have been big winner at major international film festivals. In receiving the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 1988, Red Sorghum marked the beginning of the integration of Chinese national cinema in global film culture."

  " In 1991, Ju Dou became the first Mainland Chinese film to be nominated for Best Foriegn Picture in the Academy Awards in the United States. One year later , Raise the Red Lantern was also nominated for the same award. Large number of ordinary Americans moviegoers, not just China specialists, went ot art house movie theaters to watch this film. Ever since, Chinese " national cinema" has had a share of hte international film market." 

  There are two typical movies directed by Zhang Yi Mou, one is " Flowers in the War", the next one is ” Curse of  The Golden Flower," both of  the two films are representive project from him. 

     " The international popularity of Zhang's films conveniently thematizes a set of interrelated main concerns of current cultural debates in China : the fate of Chinese national cinema in the condition of transnational capital, " cultural critique" and " cultural exhibitionism" in Fifth-Generation cinema, Third World cinema and Third World criticism, Orientalism, and postcolonialism in Chinese style."

Bibliography:

  1. Sheldon Hsiao-peng Lu ( 1997), Transnational Chinese Cinemas: National Cinema, Cultural Critique, Transnational Capital: The Film of Zhang Yimou. University of Hawai'i Press.

January In 2012

 " Issues related to film art form can be understood from there perspectives: the unique characteristics of film; the sourses of material or the way life is reflected; adn its techniques, commonly known as rhetoric." In my project, i select the unique characteristics of film and the sourses of material or the way life is relected to have a deeply anlysis in Chinese movies " colour". 

  “ Whether it is Japanese, Pakistani, Indian, British, or American, we don't need to look at the subtitles, we don't need to listen to the sound, we can tell approximately, sometimes quite clearly, their characteristics and difference. But the differences are the results, not the causes, of the way reality is manifested on screen." After reading this charpter, I found the Chinese Characteristic should be perfect explaination of the " colour" in my work, it is a good harvest today -- Nationalization.

Bibliography:

 1. Zhong Dianfei (1990), Chinese Film Theory : The Debate on the Nationalization of Film. Praeger Publishers, Greenwood Press.

January In 2012

  Finally I confirm the way I do my project, I will write a text essay and offer all of the films sources I have mentioned in my work, tutor can find my sample and watch each of them in a individual memory stick, it is better than a video essay, and I can focus on present Chinese " colour" in my work. Meanwhile I can solve the problem of the language and culture difference.

January In 2012

  Recently, I am really confused to do a essay or a video essay, cos I found it is difficult to intergrate all of my idea into a video, if each point need combine with the video, it will be a huge project, I am in trouble now.

January In 2012

 

Fortunately, I confirm the way to show "colour" of Chinese movie, I take it conclued to two aspects:  one is based on Chinese historical epic stories, another is related to Chinese traditional thought and concept. It is a good improvement during my work, it seems like I find the chain to collecting all of my diamonds I have got, now I can make a beautiful necklace.

December In 2011

  I am really confused for arranging the start order of my whole project, mainly I have two ideas: one is sort by the developing time of Chinese movie; or I want to divided into three parts: mainland, Hong Kong and Tai Wan. It is really hard to make a decision. Whatever I choose to do, it should have a quite strong  logicality. I searched a lot of books, majority of them follow with the timeline of movie developing histroy. However my work is just an essay, I cannot include all of the details and contents, in my opinion I prefer to choose the second one-pick up the most representive and typical sample from the three area of China.

December In 2011

  According to Chinese movie, Taiwan is always an inseparable part of Chinese movie. In the 1980 s, the rise in Taiwan "new movie" movement on the development of modern movie interrelations has a far-reaching influence.

Although Tai Wan movie develop independent  in a different political environment, Taiwan is still own an important force in the field of China's national cinema movie, both Taiwan and mainland movie contain Chinese tranditional elements. 

  Taiwan's new movie and Hong Kong New Wave are quite different in the shooting technique, Taiwan's new movie is opposed to Hollywood, promote the localization, instead of Taiwan, Hong Kong New Wave is praise highly to Hollywood movies. According to  theme and content, Taiwan's new movie presents the development of  Taiwan over the years of vicissitudes. But the Hong Kong new wave lack of history, and history are loading the vicissitudes of life. In addition, the Hong Kong new wave film and failed to build a new model of the traditional thought self-sufficient. And Taiwan's new film directors own a kind of unity and cooperation of the collective consciousness.

  In Taiwan's movie, " history is not narrated but evoked, it emerges not a logical, univocal sequence of events but as a complex Benjaminian " constellation" that brings together fragments of individual life stories into  a monad that remains open, ambiguous, and " pregnant with with tensions". 

 

 

  In my project, I will show some of the new movie in Taiwan history, there is a favourite one named " GoodBye May", it will be my represent sample in Taiwan movie field.

Bibliography:

  1. June Yip (1997), Transnational Chinese Cinema: Consturcting a Nation: Taiwanese History and the Film of Hou Hsiao-hsien Page 144. University of Hawai'i Press.

 

December In 2011

  In my tutorial, my supervisor Ivan gave me a lot of related books and it helped me a lot during the whole process. I found a book related to films essay-" Film as philosophy-Essays on Cinema After Wittgenstein and Cavell," it offered amounts of successful and excellent essay samples to me. I found write a good quality essay should follow these steps: firstly, gather your thought, for example record in blog is really a good way to reach this point; secondly, form a solid thesis statement, at the first moment I have confirmed my essay scope, it should be related to films, take my advantage into consideration, Chinese movie should be more easier to me; the next should be support your topic thoroughly, no matter what topic the eassy is, we always need find plenty of envidence to support our opinion; Thirdly, reiterate your point with a conclusion, it is quite important to statement my own opinion as a conclusion, whatever I did for the whole essay is related to the result; fianlly combined with my actual situation, I though the photos and videos must attend in my essay.

Bibliography:

  1. Rupert Read & Jerry Goodenough ( 2005), FILM AS PHILOSOPHY: Essays on Cinema After Wittgenstein and Cavell. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN press.

December In 2011

  After collect all of those basic material and theory frame, I start to take my work into consideration. Combine with the tutorial and advises from Alan and Ivan, video should be the best choice to me , it is directly to show my subjective opinion and the envidence can be more impressed and powerful. It is called a " video essay" contains video, picture, text and audio. I did a similarity work in my degree final project, and it lasted around 30 minutes, however my supervisor suggeted me to do a video around 10 minutes, though the time is more shorter, it means I need select more seriously and accurately. I search a lot of videos in youtube, finally I found a target to be my sample, it is about the inception of movie editing, though it is a quite different topic from mine, it give a lot of inspiration in my work and editing , absolutly for the profession skill of editing.

November In 2011

 Chinese mainland movie is always famous for costumes and the classic flavour. “ Farewell My Concubine" is a typical and quite successful movie in Chinese film history. " Farewell's twists and turns defy summary, but one character stands at the corn of the film, a complex character divided twice-over into two parts: the little boy Douzi, given up by his prostitute mother to a training school for young actors, and the man he grows up to be, the famed female impersonator, Cheng Diyi- boy and man, male and " female"," It is the story summary, the whole movie created under the background of Chinese tranditional opera, no matter from the character modelling, make-up to the costumes, it is filled with Chinese classic flavour, and moreover feudal  tranditional and class concept was fully manifested in the whole movie, in my opinion, this movie is quite successful to show Chinese tranditional culture and concept, it will be one of my selected video clip in my project.

Bibliography:

  1. Jerome Silbergeld ( 1999), China Into Film: Frame of Reference in Contemporary Chinese Cinema. Reaktion books Ltd.

November In 2011

 " In Chinese, shadowplay ( ying xi) is a word group consisting of modifier and the word it modifies. Its key word is play, which means a drama; shadow, which means the image on the screen, is only the modifier of play. The basic understanding of the relationship of shadowplay to film is that play is the origin of film, but shadow is its means presentation."

  Shadowpaly is the core concept of Chinese movie aesthetics, it is hard to explain or understand just from the words itself, it is a traditional culture and treasure in Chinese history, I just select a video from Youtube to show about it. What is a shadowplay. Actually it is the earlist play in history, it is not played by actual person, it is just controlled by people, and dubbed by people. " Shadowplay aesthetics, as an ideology, is an expression of the Chinese culture-spirit. For a long time, it led the concept of film and filmmaking of China. It took shadowplay as its key concept, and developed a set of theoretical ideas about filmmaking, criticism, and appreciation, which influenced most artists, critics, and audiences, and became a powerful system and network covering all aspects of film theory and aesthetics in China." Based on the theory, I will start my project with shadowplay and represented for Chinese mainland movie.

Bibliography:

  1. Chen Xihe (1990), Chinese Film Theory: Chinese Film Aesthetics and Their Philosophical and Cultural Fundamentals. Praeger Publishers, A division of Greenwood Press.

Novermber In 2011

  In the early 1980s, some young directors and screenwriters who came to film through televison began to address the city's tensions in several Hong Kong films that conveyed a strong sense of the city's contemporary rthythms. Beginning in 1979, the impact of these young people on Hongkong's Cantonese cinema was powerful. Young critics used a  borrowed label and began debating the existence of a New Wave cinema in Hong Kong. Even though this new cinema has changed its contours, the directors associated with it, such as Tsui Hark and Ann Hui, have continued to play a significant role in it s subsequent development. To the extent that the New Wave filmmakers helped turn Cantonese cinema into a modern cultural entity with a comopolitan outlook, their contribution bears further discussion and analysis.

  Chinese movie is divided into three part: Mainland Hong Kong and Taiwan, Hong Kong is the earliset origin one and the first one to be well known by all of the world, it is a remarkable "milestone" in Chinese movie history. In my project, I will  select the early films of Hong Kong's, especially three filmmakers who modernized Cantonese Films. In the mid-1960s, Hong Kong cinema was dominated by studio productions and two major film genres: the Cantonese " youth" films and the Mandarin Wuxia pian ( swordplay movies). 

  " Youth film" director: Chan Wun & Wong Yiu 

   ( On the fashionable trends inspired by American popular culture, particularly the Beach Boys.)

                                   Chor Yuen

   ( The film shot in color for wide screen, responded to increasing youthful restlessness in Hong Kong by playing on young people's feeling of repression and their hatred of the bourgeoisie.)

                                   Lung Kong

   ( A talented diretor who sometimes acted in his own films, responded to film theory and practice in a more systematic way.)

   Between 1967 and 1971, these three directors and their remarkable efforts lit a beacon for a modern cinema to come, even though they could not stem the immediate decline of Cantonese cinema at the time.

Bibliography:

1. Law Kar (2001) , At Full Speed : Hong Kong Cinema in a Borderless World , Unversity of Minnesota Press.

November In 2011

                                                                       Hong Kong Film:

  During my research, I found a special case in Chinese movie, it should be Hong Kong Film. It showed a complicated phenomenon in Chinese film developing road. " While the New Hollywood directors were revamping American films, a young generation of directors in Hong Kong found footing in their industry and recast its traditonal genres and creative methods. The result was not exactly a unified film movement, but a local cinema with a robust identity. Hong Kong's innovations in cinematic style and stroytelling vigorously influenced world filmmaking well into the twenty-first century." ( David Bordwell, Film Art).

  Because of the historical reason, Hong Kong was under British rule for one hundred years, not matter from politic, economy, culture or education, it is quite different from that in mainland of China. Especailly for people's mind and creative, it is obviously shown in Hong Kong movies. It is a combination of Chinese and British culture. 

  Masterpiece:

  

  YES MADAM (1985)

  Easter Condors ( 1987)

  Drunken Master (1978)

  The Killer (1989)

  The Longest Nite (1998)

  A Better Tomorrow(1986)

  A Chinese Ghost Story ( 1987) 

  Above from the film list, as a conclusion Hong Kong film industry is famous for three typical films: Action films,  copsandrobbers film and Fantasy film.

November In 2011

 

From the above two music videos, I found the relationship and what I want to show in my project, you cannot find any common point to outward seeming, and also the first one is Chinese classic opera, and the next one is a modern love movie produced by Taiwan in 2011, however could you imagine the words of the songs are show the same story and emtion, it is a story about " The butterfly Lovers". No matter from the technoloy or the scences, you cannot find any relations, but the amazing and magic is for the lingering charm, it is called " colour", which is I want to present in my work.

November In 2011

dExample:

  Two Stage Sisters/ Wutai Jiemei ( The People's Republic of China 1965 p.c-Shanghai Film Studio; d-Xie Jin)

   This film is one of the most famous and entertaining socialist realist films. Shot in a glossy Chinese Technicolor and set in the 1930s, it opens during a village opera. An escaped child bride called Chunhua hides backstage. The troupe leader's daughter, Yuehong, takes pity on her, and they give her rufuge. The class status of entertainers is not as pure as that of workers, farmers or soldiers, who were the preferred protagonists of socialist realist cinema. But the opera world does provide more colourful stories. After they grow up, Yuehong and Chunhua become stars, licensing a glimpse into the glamorous lost world of pre-revolutionary Shanghai. But while Yuehong is corrupted by their manager's gift of furs and jewels, Chunhua is introduced to left-wing culture by a Communist journalist she meets at an exhibition. Eventually, political differences cause the sisters to fall out. But after the revolution, when Chunhua has become the leader of a revolutionary song and dance troupe, they are reunited. In the final scence, the sisters float downstream on a riverboat. Chunhua puts her arm around Yuehong's shoulder and says: " Let us remould ourselves earnestly and always perform revolutionary operas." Throughout the film, shot and reverse-shot sutures the audience into identification with Chunhua, as do devices such as superimpositions rendering her memories. Highly coloured melodramatic devices such as exaggerated villainy and urgent music elicit the appropriate emotions and underscore every point. This is pedagogical cinema writ large. Yet it was banned at the outset of the cultural revolution in 1966 because it was not pure enough, and it waited to b discovered in the late 1970s.

Different from the Ding Jin Shan, it is another series opera which is famous in Hennan Province, it is called " Shaoxing Opera," it happens that there is a similar case, it is also changed to be a film with the same name, however the most different point is moving from stage to screen.

 

November In 2011

After I confirm the what I will do for my project and the topic, the following step is collecting information and preparing enough materials for the work. In Chinese language movie filed, the most popular and recommendation series should be related to tranditional culture and history. Firstly, I start to do a research of Chinese film history:

The first film screenings were in 1896, when China was a declining dynastic realm that had already ceded Hong Kong to Britain and Taiwan to Japan. And they took place in Hong Kong and Shanghai, new cities that had grown up with the arrival of the west and went on to become main centres of film production.However, the first Chinese production was not until 1905, and neither in Shanghai nor in Hong Kong, but in Beijing. Conquering Dingjun Mountain/ Ding Jun Shan was named after the famous Chinese opera episode it recorded- making the modern Chinese. Furthermore, as a scene of martial arts films and the beginning of a long tradition of operatic cinema. ( CHRIS BERRY, Cinema Book: Chinese Cinema, 2007)

Based on this Chinese opera, in commemoration of the centenary of the birth of Chinese film, another movie with the same name was produced. It is based on the original Chinese opera, it is a really good example to show the process of Chinese movies's improvement, meanwhile it is the existence of the unqiue of the world. To my work it is a perfect comparison to be my envidence.

                                              

November In 2011

Finally  I select to do a project of films in Screen Culture area, in my opinion it is the most attractive and interesting part in screen culture area. Movie is a comprehensive art collected by literature, painting, drama, music, and some other artistic elements, and resort to visual auditory and sensation in an integrated art. With the rapid development of film technology, the audiences' ornamental taste and requirement is also increasing to a higher sublimation point. People on the appreciation of a film no longer tied to the story, but gradually expanded to the music, the movie picture quality, colour, modelling and smooth shadow and other art performance details. " Colour" plays an important role in today's movies. The first inspiration to my mind is about Chinese movies. It is the most familiar part to me in film field.