9/3/2003 Minutes

The class started with a brief overview of some bits of German history from 1918 to the present to better understanding during the class in case some parts are unknown to some students.

The highlights came from an overhead put up with the following information:

Weimar Republic Period

1914-1918             First World War

1919-1924             Political Unrest, High Unemployment, Hyper Inflation

1925-1929             Normalcy, more prosperity, some economic growth

1929-1933             Crash, economic downturn, growing unemployment, clashes between political right and left

3^rd Reich

1934                                Nuremburg Party Conference

1935                                Berlin Olympics

1938                                Night of broken glass

1939-1945       Second World War

1942                                Wannsee Conference (Final Solution)

1943                                Stalingrad

Post War to Present

1945-1949             Allied Control of the 4 sectors

1949                                Creation of German Democratic Republic and Federal German Republic

1951-1958             German Economic Miracle

1961                                Berlin Wall is created

1968-1970’s    Radical unrest in Federal German Republic

1989                                Fall of the Berlin Wall

1990                                Unification

Similarly, we took note of some periods in German Film as well:

1919-1927             Golden Age of Silent Film

1945-1962             Pre Oberhausen Period

1962-1982             Oberhausen Period

1982-Present   Contemporary German Film

Though we did not go into detail, it was recommended that we become familiar with some of the German Film periods.

Next we looked at two German versions of “The Student of Prague”, one from 1913, and one from 1926, to see the development of German film during that time.

Though both were silent films, Germany became much better and wide known for their films in the later “teens” as we observed.

Some of the student comments on the first version were:

Primitive Lighting, No depth, Camera didn’t move, Camera stays at about the same distance/angle, and strong seems in the cuts.

Comments on the second version included:

More camera movement, better and varied angles, the special effects were better and increased in quantity, the lighting was much better and began to characterize, much more splicing occurred and the same angle was not seen throughout the whole scene, wind effects were used, the acting was better, and no titles were seen.

Dr. Reimer then began to show how the expressionist movement affected film in this way.

Things to look for in an expressionist film included

            Extreme Stylization of the Mise en Scene

            Chiaroscuro Lighting

            Surrealist Settings

            Stylized Acting

            Unreal/Surreal World

            Romantic/Gothic Themes

            Anti-Authority (Father/son Conflicts)

            Extreme pessimism or extreme optimism

Class then ended, to continue looking at this at the next meeting.