COMM 250 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Zhang Yimou, Shanghai Triad, Maya Deren
Document Summary
Reading: film art, 159-215 & deren, "cinematography: the creative use of reality" (critical visions) This week, we"re discussing cinematography-- the camera-based, image-acquisition- and- manipulation phase of film art. Shanghai triad is a genre film that is, a good representative of a film genre, in this case, the crime film, depicting the activities of a criminal gang, or. Genre films have a certain predictability of plot about them (formulaic format), and it is that predictability which is one source of audience enjoyment. Shanghai triad is an example of fifth generation chinese filmmaking. These filmmakers the fifth generation of graduates of china"s state film school came of age after the cultural revolution, and are cosmopolitan in their outlook. Creative choices in the film are therefore the result of a rich understanding of how other filmmakers have handled the narrative challenges of a typical genre film such as this.
