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Films: Vampyr (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1932) The Vanishing Lady (Georges Melies, 1896) Le Melomane (Georges Melies, 1903) El Hotel Electrico (Segundo De Chomon, 1908) Reading Due :    1. Tom Gunning, “Now You See It, Now You Don’t”: The Temporality of the Cinema of Attractions (TSCR) 2. “Approaches to Early Cinema” (EC)  This week's film  Vampyr  (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1932) was an interesting one. Adding on the past week's discussion about how silent films have the ability to add narrative through visuals, I found a hard time doing that with this film. This mostly silent film had great visuals, great sound effects, but I still had a difficult time distinguishing between a dream and reality. The film makes great use of shadows and imagery to give the viewers a distorted, dreamlike feel.   It seems like whenever the film is shot from inside the house, the visuals are pretty clear to make out but once it shot from outside the house, t...

Films: View from an Engine Front Barnstaple (Unknown, 1898) The Kiss in the Tunnel (George Albert Smith, 1899) The Kiss (William Heise/Edison Studios, 1896) What Happened in the Tunnel (Edwin S. Porter/Edison Studios, 1903) Reading Due: 1.Frank Gray, “ The Kiss in the Tunnel (1899), G.A. Smith and the Emergence of the Edited Film in England” (TSCR) 1.                2.   “The ‘Uses’ of Cinema” (EC) When watching all the films in the order that it is posted, I was able to see a continuous progression between them even though they weren't created within the same year or with the same filmmaker. The first film  View from an Engine Front Barnstaple  (Unknown, 1898),  set the scene of the train and the train tracks as we move with the train, it is as if we are physically on a train and am experiencing first-hand the scenery. The second film  The Kiss in the Tunnel  (George Albert Smith, 1899), ...

Films: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligeri (Robert Weine, 1920) The Firemen of Folies-Bergere (with Josephine Baker) (Unknown, 1928) Blacksmithing Scene (William Heise/ W.K.L. Dickson, 1893) Sandow (W.K.L. Dickson, 1894) Reading Due : 1.      Charles Musser, “At the Beginning: Motion Picture Production, Representation and Ideology at the Edison and Lumiere Companies” (TSCR) I was most intrigued by the film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari this week. The set design for this film is visually very compelling, I've never seen anything like it. The shading of color that is selected for each frame is also interesting as it sets the tone for the film and also goes hand in hand with the sound choices. The use of shading, the black corners narrowing in also adds something to the film that I can't explain, almost a claustrophobic feel. All together it fits the themes of eeriness, illusion, and the distortion of reality that the film tries to create. I found the ...

Films : The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Lotte Reiniger, 1926) Arrival of the Train at La Ciotat Station Lumiere Brothers, (1895) Danse Serpentine Lumiere Brothers, (1896) Danse Serpentine (In a Lion’s Cage) Alice Guy Blache, (1900) Chiens Savant (Luimere Brothers, 1896) Explosion of a Motor Car Cecil M. Hepworth, (1900) Le Voyage dans la lune (Georges Melies, 1902) Reading Due : 1.      “Cinema 1895-1914” in Popple, Simon and Joe Kember. Early Cinema: From Factory Gate to Dream Factory .  New York: Wallflower, 2004. (EC) 2.      “Introduction” in Grieveson, Lee and Peter Kramer, eds. The Silent Cinema Reader .  New York: Routledge Press, 2004. (TSCR) I think it goes without saying how different it feels watching a film with absolutely no sound, at least for me. Most films now that are considered silent film still have some sort of sound with it to give the viewers a projected feeling. Because I am not used ...

My name is Christa Zhang, I am a junior majoring in Psychology with the hopes of minoring in Film Studies. I am currently residing on campus. I took my first film class fall term of my junior year and it was the best class I had ever taken. It helped me establish my interest in making my own films and how to read and analyze a film in a way that I never did before. I have decided to take this course simply because I want to continue learning since I am so few to this field. One of my favorite things about FIST100 was that each week we got to watch a new film, a lot of which I would've never chosen to watch on my own. I want to continue to challenge and immerse myself in a large variety of films outside of what I am used to. While in quarantine, I am actually still working part-time at two different jobs (don't worry, I am being safe about it though). Aside from work, I am trying to take a walk or do some sort of physical exercise every day and I am also watching a ton of movi...