LECTURE NOTES:FILM THEORY THREE//ITALIAN VERNACULAR CINEMA//OUGD401

Fellini is taken seriously as an auteur 
-comments on the superficiality of middle class existence
films=style and sophistication, seen as worthy or critical appraisal.
'La Dolce Vita' (1960) Fellini, 8 1/2 (1963)


ITALIAN CINEMA:
-audiences
-historical and social content
-economics (low budget)

there is more to Italian cinema- Audiences, historical and social context, economics 
Italian cinema separated: Prima visione and Seconda visione: attracts a more sophisticated, middle class audience, usually in major cities.
Terza visione: less populated areas, cheaper tickets- more like a television audience, arriving without respect to start time, often using the outing as a social event, talk during the film, meet friends etc.

Wagstaff notes that the terza visione audience was more like a television audience, going to the cinema after dinner, without any particular film in mind, arriving without respect to start time, and often using the outing as a social event, to talk during the screening, meet with friends, etc.

Filone/Genre: Similar to genre but not quite the same, based on the idea of geology, examples of Filone:
-Giallo
-Spaghetti Westerns 
-Mondo/cannibal film
-Poliziottesco- Police procedural 

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY: Sergio Leone (1966)
-use of sound
-use of music
-differences in scale
-use of camera to tell a story
-fragmentation of body
-catholic references
-lack of dialouge
-use of eye line and cutting scale

Focus on Giallo:  Italian for yellow- stems from yellow cover on the crime novels
-Mario Bava, Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci (Giallo directors)
Death walks on high heels (Lucio Fulci)
The girl who knew too much (first Giallo- Mario Bava)

TYPICAL STEREOTYPES OF A GIALLO FILM
-Amateur detective as tourist, the protagonists are usually American or British
-cosmopolitan aspect, sophisticated
VISUAL STYLE: very expressionistic - lighting, colour, always references to religion and the church are always woven into these films
visually very unusual

BAROQUE Cinema: art that is very expressionistic, heightened emotions
GIALLO KILLER:
-Black gloves, black hat, black over coat- disguises gender
-priests often used as part of gender confusion
MYSTERY, AMBIVALANCE

Dario Argento- The Italian Alfred Hitchcock
-places himself in the film as the killers black gloved hands
-visually stunning set pieces
-shot without sound so all the films can be dubbed
-worked with Sergio Leone on 'Once upon a time in the West'

Subjective P.O.V
-Killer cam-eye line shot-set pieces-art and cultural references-dubbing and heightened sound-
JB whisky represents a modern, jet set, sophisticated life style, shown in shots in films.

Dubbing and heightened sound
• Like Leone, Argento shot his films without sound then added dialogue and sound effects later.
• This allows the film to be dubbed using many languages
• Often sold to America and Britain as ‘B’ movies – drive in movies 

Is Vernacular film dead?
-more expensive going to cinema is a special event, DVD and digital formats mean audiences watch in own home.


FELANI - LA DOLCE VITA (1960)

CITY SCAPE: ROME, MILAN

La Dolce Morte: Vernacular Cinema and the Italian Giallo Film by Mikel J. Koven

• An in-depth study of giallo 

THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (DARIO ARGENTO 1970)

TYPICAL BEGINNING ON AN AEROPLANE:

PROTAGONIST IS AN AMERICAN WRITER:

CHANGING POV:

THE BEGINNING OF THE SET PIECE:

CONNECTION TO ART:

FAST CUTTING USING EYE LINE SHOTS:

 END OF SET PIECE:

Product placement :J&B brand evoking a sophisticated life style 

Works of art in gialli are often subverted and associated with the madness of the psychopath and regularly provide a conduit into the past and into the mind of the antagonist. 

American/Canadian Giallo 

• Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky,2010)
• Death Proof (Quentin Tarantino,2007) 
• Dressed to Kill (Brian De Palma, 1980 ) 
• Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978)
• Black Christmas (Bob Clarke, 1974)