Cinema Essays Samples That Help You Write Better, Faster & with Gusto

The history of New Zealand Cinema is a fascinating and complex one, from its status as a major shooting location for big international films (e.g. The Lord of the Rings) to its vibrant indie film scene. In this respect, New Zealanders have a difficult time determining exactly what kind of cinema to appropriate as their own and consider truly ‘New Zealand’ films. According to Higson, "very often the concept of national cinema is used prescriptively rather than descriptively, citing what ought to be the national cinema" While no single discourse of national cinema has been accepted by the film Continue reading...

Chris Marker’s “Sans Soleil” as an Essay Film

In the recent past, essay films have come to be widely recognized as one category in the world of film practice, with their own history, as well as canons. Essay films have gained a description as being the most elastic of all film types. Indeed, there has been a proliferation of films of this type since the term was first identified. Whereas many scholars agree that it is almost impossibly difficult to give a definition for essay films, they do agree that these films have certain characteristics in common (Rascaroli 24-47). Scholars are divided on whether essay films are Continue reading...

Hollywood movie industry has gone through various stages of transition and modification. The classical period was most probably the most defining moment of the film industry as the movies centered on a particular theme. Hollywood was introduced top the film industry to redefine film by focusing on subjects that were considered to be of interest to the audience. It was just a period when the country was going through various economic and social changes and the need to communicate a particular message. Western civilization was taking shape in the continent and it was hence vital for the film industry Continue reading...

Film Has a Lot of Impact to the Society

In my years of growing up, I used to be filled with a lot of wonder and amazement after watching a new movie. Whenever we could meet in the city parks with other kids, we could spend hours talking about the movie we watched, how it was so nice and how it could have been. We could recount the scenes that were interesting and even tried to act those scenes. From that moment to date I have always known that movies have a lasting impression on our mind, and thus they play a very important role to us. I Continue reading...

Just the other day, I, Sergei Eisenstein, had a curious experience – I walked around a strange street corner and found myself in the year 2013, in front of a small arthouse theater playing something called Rashomon, by a young Japanese fellow named Akira Kurosawa. Intrigued, I decided to buy a ticket and watch the film. Ninety minutes later, I left the theater with a feeling of joy – I was absolutely inspired by this film. So much of what Kurosawa accomplished in this film follows along with the very principles I tried to instill in my own films and write Continue reading...

Introduction

This essay is purposefully written to make an evolution on the movie named ‘Gravity’ which is directed, produced and co-written by Alfonso Cauron. The movie has been released in 2013 and it stars Sandra Bullock as Dr. Ryan Stone, a biomedical engineer and George Clooney as a veteran astronaut named Lieutenant Matt Kowalski. In the movie it is shown that both Dr. Ryan Stone and Matt Kowalski have been left stranded in the space when their space shuttle has been destructed by the space debris in a routine space travel and followed by their subsequent attempt to come back Continue reading...

Introduction

In this essay article a review of the movie “The Passion of the Christ”, an epic biblical dramatically movie directed by Mel Gibson has been presented to show how the movie has delivered to the audience and what impacts have been made on the public after watching this sort of movie. At the same time the essay presents the directorial choices and skills that were implemented in the movie to reflect the ideas of the director, Mel Gibson through the portrayal of the movie. Also the impact of the creative directorial skills of the director has been critically discussed Continue reading...

Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino

Famous Creative Thinkers: Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino
There is no better test of genius than the test of time. 2013 and 2014 were the years when two cult masterpieces “Schindler’s List” and “Pulp Fiction” of two great directors Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino respectively celebrated their twentieth anniversary. The geniuses of stage direction, they have formed their own authentic styles and distinctive manner of shooting, due to which millions of fans distinguish Spielberg’s and Tarantino’s works among an endless stream of Hollywood movies. At the same time, artistic heritage as well as the directorial style Continue reading...

Transformers

Introduction
In Hollywood past few decades have produced many glorious and interesting films. There are several types of movies. Some of them are based on a few famous novels; some of them describes and shows human life and their emotions whereas some movies are completely based on science fiction. I always prefer the last one. The movie which has certainly left an impact on me is Transformers. In the year 2007, Transformers is released worldwide. The film is directed by Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg has served as executive producer (Egan and Matere, 2007). Transformers is an American science Continue reading...

Play One: Fences

Fences was written by August Wilson and studies the difficulties of one black man’s life in the 1950s, as he struggles to overcome prejudice and simply work though the same day to day issues as any other American Man.
Symbolism, or hidden symbols in the play are quite possibly the most interesting single element of the writer’s work. The playwright wanted to play on both the idea of the North versus the South and the idea of the American dream. Perhaps first and foremost, he introduces the idea of the North versus the South in giving Troy’ Continue reading...

The medium in which a particular story gets published is extremely critical for its success. A medium determines the manner in which a particular character from a story communicates with its viewers or readers. The effectiveness of the story as well as the cult status that a character enjoys in the public is also fully dependant on the media in which the story is first published. Each time a media remediation takes place; most themes from the original media are either completely changed or modified in order to fit a number of criteria. In case of Superman, the character Continue reading...

In the wake of World War II, the world was beset with two new and significant threats – the threat of Communist Russia (in keeping with the start of the Cold War) and the newfound terror of nuclear power and the atomic bomb. Given the world-destroying power that the A-bomb visibly inflicted on the people of Japan in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the impending threat of socialism on the newly-minted capitalistic superpower of the United States, the early 1950s was a time of great tension and apocalyptic fervor for both West and East alike.
This cultural and historical Continue reading...

The James Bond film series, ever since its debut with Dr. No in 1962, has maintained a strong status as one of the longest-running action-adventure film franchises in film history. With 23 official films in the series running from 1962 to 2012, the 52-year-old series has combined vicarious jet-setting thrills with a handsome lead star, stunning action, innovative production design, and gorgeous women. However, taking a look at a cross-section of the James Bond films from their beginning to their most current iterations, it is clear that their success also stems from a reflection of the historical and cultural Continue reading...

Vietnam War

The Quiet American novel and, movie provides a great story of the Vietnam War. The Quite American story revolves around two main characters, Thomas Fowler and, Alden Pyle. Both the movie and, the novel demonstrate the communists and colonialists ideals conflicts in the south-eastern Asian region. Both the film and movie, also illustrate American involvement in geopolitics. The book and the film assert America’s influence in foreign nation. Although the book and film focus on the same themes, there are many aspects where there are differences. This paper aims at examining the difference between the Quiet American film Continue reading...

“Leviathan”: Human Place in the Animal Hierarchy

Today, when the cinema industry is one of the most developed in diversity and high-tech solutions, it is not easy to surprise and inspire the contemporary audience. The genres transform and evolve so that the distinctions and boarders eliminate and new subgenres appear. The contemporary directors try new methods and approaches to find fresh ideas in order to conquer love and respect of the curmudgeonly and high-fed spectator. One of the bright examples of the directors’ chase after the new view of life in cinema is “Leviathan”, the result of the work of two talented people whose endeavors were Continue reading...

Proposal: Women as Weapons in Metropolis and La Femme Nikita

Women in science fiction and action-thrillers tend to explore a fairly limited set of character types and tropes – the strong warrior woman, the vulnerable damsel in distress, and so on. This is no exception in world cinema, either, as many prominent foreign genre films also explore this particular trope. The character type of the fragile, beautiful young woman turned into a weapon with little choice in the matter explores a number of fascinating ideas, including the patriarchy of modern capitalist society, images of virginity and sexuality, the dynamic between young vulnerable women and the tough men who train, surround Continue reading...

Basing on “Theory of Film: The Redemption of Physical Reality” by Siegfried Kracauer published in 1960, it is obvious that though the film grows out of photography, the realism is not the most important function of cinema. In his investigation of the qualities of the cinematic medium, Kracauer pays the reader’s attention to the importance of the “magic” factor in the motion picture.
Kracauer mentions that the properties of the film are divided into two types: basic and technical. While basic properties stand for revealing physical reality, the technical ones are represented by the editing. He compares the Continue reading...

Hollywood reflected and reshaped society before 1940, by providing an interactive entertainment experience to which society and studios fostered a reactive relationship displayed through the reception of films. Hollywood has influenced American history since it began. It boosted and shaped the morale of a nation for almost a century. Hollywood has not only been influencing the American society, it has been influenced by American society as well. Hollywood seemed to be the driving force that allowed American people to escape their everyday lives and partake in something that was not of the norm. As the film industry began to Continue reading...

What we have always called “mute” cinema, has never really been mute but what Michel Chion calls as “deaf” cinema since: “[] the reason for using the term ‘deaf cinema’ for films that gave the moviegoer a deaf person’s viewpoint on the action depicted.” (Chion 8). He even mentions that the characters in these films did speak, they even had to gesticulate a lot in order to be better understood by an audience who was not able to hear them. Chion also discusses that a phenomenon used to happen that allowed the audience to confer a voice to the Continue reading...

The art or the science of taking moving pictures by electromagnetic through materials such as film stock. It is the act of capturing objects in space by the use of controllable elements including the quality of fill stock, manipulating the camera lens, the framing scale and the movement. Duration may also be included in cinematography; the length of time taken to make a shot. Cinematography therefore is the functioning of the camera lens and the light source, length of the lens, the positioning of the camera and its capacity in relation.
Simon van Stamfer in 1830 contributed in cinematography Continue reading...