The Story of Film: An Odyssey - Season 1
Season 1
Episodes
Birth of the Cinema
The first two decades of cinema, 1895-1918; its invention in New Jersey and Lyon and its development from a gimmick to a language through the innovation of many technicians and artists.
The Hollywood Dream
1918-1928; the establishment of Hollywood as an industry that produced optimism, romanticism and happy endings; the filmmakers in America and Europe who defied Hollywood fantasy to show a harsh reality in cinema.
The Golden Age of World Cinema
1918-1932, the great rebel filmmakers around the world. Novel and remarkable experiments in silent cinema; French impressionism and surrealism, German expressionism, Soviet, Japanese and Chinese cinematic innovation.
The Arrival of Sound
The Story of Film looks at the films of the 1930s and the development of "talking pictures". Sound requires the use of sound stages and this effects lighting and cinematography. It looks at Rouben Mamoulian's musical Love Me Tonight. It looks at the development of film genres in Hollywood: horror films, gangster films, musicals, westerns, comedies, and animated cartoons. It then looks overseas to look at the work of French filmmakers, South American filmmakers, Poland, Germany, and England.
Post-War Cinema
1939-1952 looks at film-making during and immediately after World War II.
Sex & Melodrama
The Story of Film examines cinema in the period of 1953-1957. It looks at the growth of movie-making around the world and examines how sex and melodrama dominated the period.
European New Wave
The Story of Film examines European cinema in the period of 1957-1964.
New Directors, New Form
The Story of Film examines world cinema in the period of 1965-1969 when New Wave Cinema swept the world and gave rise to a whole new generation of filmmakers.
American Cinema of the 70's
The Story of Film examines American cinema in the period of 1967-1979 also known as New American Cinema. Films of this time generally fell into three types: satirical films that mocked society and the times, dissident films that challenged the conventional style of cinema, and assimilationist films that rework old studio genres with new techniques.
Movies to Change the World
The Story of Film examines world cinema in the period of 1969-1979.
The Arrival of Multiplexes and Asian Mainstream
A look at the development of mainstream film in the 1970s and examines how such films were innovative.
Fight the Power: Protest in Film
Cinema of the 1980s and how directors used movies to protest and speak truth to those in power.
New Boundaries: World Cinema in Africa, Asia & Latin America
World cinema in the period of 1990-1998 the waning days of the celluloid era and the birth of the digital age.
New American Independents & The Digital Revolution
The Story of Film looks at American and Australia cinema in the 1990s and examines the rise of digital film-making which allows for the crafting of scenes that would otherwise be impossible. It looks at the innovative effects work of Ridley Scott, James Cameron, and Steven Spielberg and discusses the popular CGI animated film Toy Story (1995).
Cinema Today and the Future
The Story of Film looks at film in the 2000's and considers innovations that will drive film forward to the future.
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