January Mock Exam Question 2021

Question

' The director is the most important creative influence on the production and content of a film '. 

 How far do you agree with this statement when applied to both of your chosen films ?  

Films chosen:

-Casablanca

-Apocalypse now 

Answer:

I somewhat agree with this statement as Directors are seen as the lead role off-camera when a movie is in production. Michael Curtz (Director of Casablanca) and Francis Ford Coppola (Director of Appocolypse now) are the main reasons why both of the films recieved the attention and criticism it deserved. 

An introduction to this point is the era of film making, 'new hollywood'. Links to our point as one of the most controversial films out of the 2 chosen was made in the middle of this era; Apocalypse Now (1979). In fact this film was released 1 year before 'New Hollywood' started to end, however it was in production for 3 years and it was set to release on Coppola's 38th birthday, April 7 1977. Compared to this, the classical hollywood produced a film called. Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, and starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid. Originally the film was slated for release in early 1943, but the film premiered at the Hollywood Theater in New York City on November 26, 1942. 

One reason why Directors are seen as the most important influence was because of the fact that there was an introduction of 'new Hollywood' in the 1960's.  This is significant as during this 'new era' of films the generation of new direcors started to show off new influences, especially those from european countires. For example in this era, one of the films chosen, Apocalypse now was produced. the director, Coppola made this film what it is due to his creative infulence. coppola's power and influence over the financial and production elements of the film and his control of or by the studio mad the film gain a lot of attraction from the public eye. In New Hollywood films, the film director, rather than the studio, took on a key auteur  role. This is one of the main ways that directors gained more power and influence in films during this new era, another reason to back up the main statement.

However, a way this statement may not be true is the fact instroduction of the studio system era. The era of  the studio system was a time where once audiences could hear actors speak, listen to pre recorded musical scores and enjoy sound effects, film solidified its place as the main medium for mass communication, art and commerce. This was known as the Golden age of Hollywood. In the 1930's at the height of the 'golden age' 1 studio that was at the top of their game and had the most power was the film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer o (mgm). Louis b. mayer, who was the 'savy' business man of this studio ran it with his business partner Irving Thalberg, who was a former producer and was the mind behind the stories and actual production of their films. Together they made big budget musicals, comidies, mellow dramas and literary adaptations. Films like, The wizard of oz and gone with the wind, clearly they had great creative influence in this time period. All these films were mainly successful because of the fact that studios started to introduce factors of colour, better sound and overall better production and as crowds were amazed by this new technology the film would be seen as a hit even if the director made an impact on the way the film played out, this goes against the main statement.

Another reason why the main point is significant is because of the Auteur of both these directors of my chosen films. Coppola's creative signature always seems to create a powerful narrative, and its almost inevitable. We can see examples of this from, Apocalypse now, The Godfather trilogy and The conversation. One of the tricks that Francis Coppola uses to create the sense of 'inascapable fate' is a technique called 'waiting the dolly'Francis stated in an interview that in the studio when he did film he would use this technique by using every sandbag in the studio and would lay them on the dolly as they did slow push-ins. This added an inertia to the camera movement and this also gave a great sense of gravity to the slow push-in shot. It give the shot a real sense of 'fate' when coming to an conclusion.A dolly movement is markedly different from handheld because it contains none of the camera operator’s small movements, their sense of humanity. This is neither good nor bad but is, rather, a stylistic choice on the part of the director. Some films use handheld movement to a great effect — Coppola isn’t one of them.This backs up the main point as Francis' creative signuture has a massive influence on the important bits of the film, as the way the camera moves and what shot it takes has a greater impact on the audience as it engages them, makes them feel more involved in the film and lets them know how important the scene is. Coppola's dolly effect had a big impact on the production of the film and made the content more meaningful. 

Now Curtiz gave us some of the greatest films in the history of cinema, Casablanca, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sea Wolf, Mildred Pierce, Captain Blood, Yankee Doodle Dandy and more. Michael Curtiz can be classed as an auteur when working with a team of filmmakers to produce a film in the Warner Brothers House Style that had fast paced dialogue to advance the plot which had a three act structure.

Anothe positive point is the topic of film .Casablanca is an example of a film made in the Classical Hollywood style, A factor of this style may be something like, the environment looks realistic and believable to viewer. Curtiz used techniques like 'Continuity editing.' This is preferred style of editing during this time.  it may also be known as invisible editing, this makes sure the  story makes sense and looks smooth. This technique makes the scene look smother as the location and eyelines are clear and the shots move the narrative forward. The reason why te director was the most creative influence to the production of films was because of techiques like this. This style is predictable and consistent. It seems that Time is linear. And In development of plot and story each scene is motivated it has a beginning, middle and end. This was known as cause and effect.

Overall i agree with this point because of the fact that Casablanca came from the influence of Curtiz rather than the influence of the warner brothers studio who he worked with, his influnce was the use of: Cinematography, mise-en-scene, sound, editing and performance. His creative signature of making the scenes look natural and making the audience feel like they were involved in the film pushed the film to success, for example, in the intro to the bar, the way it was shot made the audine feel as if they were walking through the bar. However during this era, the studio system was starting to take over and would be successful as colour, better sound and better technology would be introduced and that would take over from the focus on how good a director would be. But further down the line in the 'New Hollywood' era directors picked up the spotlight again, for example, one of the most popular films that came out from that time period, apocalypse now, was popular because of the director, Coppola's creatve influnece and all of te techniques he used, such as the 'waiting the dolly' and more. This is why directors gained more power and where the most important fator to a ffim, because of their techniques and creative influence