German Expressionism Research

Following the tutorial I think it’s about time I sat down and discovered some worth while material in which relate to the grand scheme of my project. The hidden source to the basis of my project lie’s within the research .The topic area I’ll be looking into and referring to is German expressionism. The attraction German expressionism has upon my work is how the movement was considered to be complex and diverse these factors will remain throughout the project and the diversity shall retain in the pipeline as well as the progression of my assignment.
When thinking about and trying to discover a purpose to my project the thoughts that play in my mind veer towards expressionism this is because it connects with the reasoning of my project the goals and targets set start to engage make sense, the physical reality of my world will be very expressive obtaining strong feelings having this deeper meaning. The quality of the work I produce will strengthen once this whole movement is understood along with the overall athletics.

In today’s movie industry the ‘film noir’ style which was born out of German expressionism has engulfed the films we see today a deep connection from the post war ear has brought us a new age of film, so with this in mind I think its vital I look at the films from the past and contrast them with current culture of film.

'You can tell that he takes a lot of inspiration from German Expressionism, which characteristically have amazing sharp bold shapes in their sets and lighting/shadows. German Expressionism portrays the emotion of a scene/situation with stylized cinematography, instead of it being portrayed through character or dialogue.'

http://heartofgrr.blogspot.com/2009/06/tim-burton-alice-in-wonderland-german.html
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=film%20noir
'a movie that is marked by a mood of pessimism, fatalism, menace, and cynical characters) "film noir was applied by French critics to describe American thriller or detective films in the 1940s"
http://www.filmnoirstudies.com/glossary/index.asp

I have come across a glossary of terms in which state the characteristics German expressionism contains it was really interesting to see some of the things suggested on this website things that can be taken in consideration when filming a kind of noir scene, some of the techniques described are noted here as I believe they could come in use further along the line for instance when filming.

'chiaroscuro'
'Literally, the combination of the two Italian words for "clear/bright" and "dark"; refers to a notable, contrasting use of light and shade in scenes; often achieved by using a spotlight; also referred to as low-key lighting or high-contrast lighting. This lighting technique had its roots in German Expressionism.'

'depth of field/depth of focus'

'The depth of composition of a shot where there are several planes: (1) a foreground, (2) a middle-ground, and (3) a background. Depth of field specifically refers to the area, range of distance, or field (between the closest and farthest planes) in which the elements captured in a camera image appear in sharp or acceptable focus.'

'Dutch angle'
A tilted camera angle that shows images obliquely slanted to the frame's vertical axis; also called oblique or canted angle.