THE TREE OF LIFE (Terrence Malick, USA 2011, 1. & 5.10.) Leaving room for the unplanned, the unexpected, and the mysterious was the starting point of this collaboration between special effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull and directorial maverick Terrence Malick. The two of them found the desired freedom in a sort of alchemy laboratory, where experiments were carried out a wide range of different substances and liquids and chemical and physical processes were recorded in extremely fast motion. The result was what Trumball appropriately dubbed "organic" effects. They form the basis of the 22-minute "big bang" sequence, which functions as a reference point for the plot of the film. Malick sketches out the tensions within the family of young Jack, who grows up in provincial Texas in the 1950s, torn between a tender, benevolent mother (Jessica Chastain) and a strict father (Brad Pitt). The family structure is thrown off kilter when Jack’s brother dies in the Vietnam War.
BLACKMAIL (Alfred Hitchcock, United Kingdom 1929, 2. & 7.10.) It can be put down to the turbulent transition period from silent film to sound film that both a silent and a sound version of BLACKMAILexist. After the silent film version was presented at Arsenal at the start of the year, now it’s possible to make the comparison with the sound version, which shows both Hitchcock’s love of experimentation and his understanding of how to use sound in shaping dramatic structure. The key scene in both versions is the chase sequence through the British Museum, which could only be achieved via a special effects procedure known as the Schüfftan process. Hitchcock had met cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan and his mirror-employing special effects techniques during his time at Ufa and combined museum interiors projected via mirrors and large-format exhibits with the studio settings almost seamlessly. The showdown revolves around a petty criminal called Tracy, who attempts to blackmail the young Alice (Anna Ondra) and her boyfriend, a Scotland Yard policeman.
FAUST – EINE DEUTSCHE VOLKSSAGE(F.W. Murnau, Germany 1926, with a live piano accompaniment by Eunice Martins, 6. & 12.9.) Pyrotechnics, superimpositions, additional elements copied into the image via double exposure, animated apocalyptic figures on horseback that plague humanity, and not least Faust's ride on Mephisto’s coat through space and time – Murnau's first German adaptation of the Faust story is shot through with a large number of special effects and uses them to create an entirely appropriate visual correspondence for this demonic tragedy about magic, deception, illusion and reality. In order to prevent the ranks of the dead increasing further, alchemist Faust (Gösta Ekman) asks the devil (Emil Jannings) for help. He holds out the prospect of an end to the plague, but demands Faust's soul in return. He declares himself willing and is tied from that moment on to Mephisto, who takes the suddenly rejuvenated Faust with him on his journey and deliver him the most diverse of pleasures.
CITIZEN KANE(Orson Welles, USA 1941, 8. & 15.10.) "The meaning of the film is not in its resolution, but rather in the manner of its representation." Welles's suggestion can be read – even more so in the context of the Magical History Tour – as an appeal to take a closer look at the visual design of his puzzling film debut, which stands very much under the banner of depth of field. The piercing sharpness in all areas of his compositions, which repeatedly jut out from the depths, was largely created using an optical printer, that is, during post-production via a combination of matte paintings and real footage. The psychogram of press tsar James Foster Kane (Orson Welles) is boldly narrated with a combination of intricacy, multiple perspectives and fragmentation, and is just as bold in its large-scale use of special effects.
Z32 (Avi Mograbi, Italy/France 2008, 9. & 13.10) A young Israeli elite soldier remembers: in dialogue with his girlfriend to begin with, then directly to camera, he gives an account of his involvement in the killing of Palestinian policemen. It's about guilt, responsibility, repression, and forgiveness, but also about the position of the filmmaker and the search for a suitable form of representation. Before this backdrop, Mograbi chooses to digitally mask his protagonist to create a distancing effect – an interventional as effective as it is eerie and disconcerting, which "conceals in order to reveal" (Avi Mussel, Special Effects).
WATER AND POWER(Pat O'Neill, USA 1989, 14.10.) O'Neill's portrait of Los Angeles and the powers that move the city was made over a period of several years without a script based around the random coming together of places, people and situations, continually processed on an optical printer and framed by animations, computer graphics, and found footage. Key shots show the city traffic, the desert area that surrounds the city, and the huge pipelines that make clear how the right to water and political power are intertwined. A film about water in all its aggregate states and movement cycles: those of the planets, the tides, the camera around its own axis, and the repeating actions of the actors.
ROYAL WEDDING (Stanley Donen, USA 1951, 14. & 23.10.) Playful, confident in style, gravity-defying – the unparalleled Fred Astaire danced his way through the classic Hollywood musicals of the 30s, 40s and 50s as if floating on air. It was only when he needed to overcome gravity entirely that he needed support from the special effects department, such as in Stanley Donne's ROYAL WEDDING. With the help of a room that could be rotated 360 degrees, screwed-down furniture, and a camera that moved along with his movements, it was possible to create the impression that Astaire was dancing on the walls and on the ceiling. "You are all the world to me!" is the title of the spectacular central number of this musical, which makes loose reference to Astaire's life. At the heart of the film are a singing and dancing brother and sister on tour in England. Both of them meet the love of their life there, which puts their joint career to the test.
L'ANGLAISE ET LE DUC(The Lady and the Duke, Eric Rohmer, France 2001,16. & 25.10.) "I am convinced that the use of an extremely visible artistic device generates authenticity." (E.R.). Numerous large-format painted background scenes – Paris street life, views of small alleys, castle squares and landscape panoramas – form a backdrop that elaborately flaunts its artificiality, while a "revolution drama" plays out in the foreground, revolving around Scottish courtesan Grace Elliot, whose loyalty to the French King and deep friendship with a revolutionary duke leads her to be ground up against the cogs turning the wheels of the French revolution. A hugely fascinating take on history that shows great reserve despite the lavishness of its decors.
LUNCH BREAK(Sharon Lockhart, USA 2008, 19. & 25.10.) 42 workers at the historical shipyard Bath Iron Works in Maine during their lunch break, a short moment to catch their breath during the company’s routines. A locker-lined corridor that doesn’t just seem to be a hub for different stages of the industrial process. It is here that the workers come together, eat, read, talk, and sleep. Slowly, in extreme slow motion, the camera moves along the corridor, creating both a precise observation of the protagonists as well as a reflection on the representational strategies for working processes.
THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (Berger, Powell, Whelan, Korda, Menzies, United Kingdom/USA 1940, 21. & 30.10.) A film of visual appeal, opulent production design, picture-book colors, and Oscar-winning special effects, including a huge genie that rises up from a bottle, a flying carpet, and a horse that gallops through the air complete with rider. No effort was deemed too big in the area of special effects, with the travelling matte procedure being perfected along the way, which covers certain parts of the image with "wandering masks" so that other partial images can be edited into them later. The directorial squad of five (!) filmmakers also gives an impression of the scale of the production and the centrifugal force of this grand-scale project about a caliph who is betrayed, imprisoned, and blinded by his grand vizier, but is still able to embrace his beloved princess in the end with the help of a young thief and a cascade of miracles, tricks and, providences.
METROPOLIS (Fritz Lang, Germany 1926, 22. & 28.10., restored version with the music by Gottfried Huppertz) The enslaved workers in a dark underground city and a society living in luxury in the city above form the structuring opposition of Lang's early science fiction film. The visualization of this gigantic, utopian city of machines was achieved with the help of a technique developed by Eugen Schüfftan, whereby models of skyscrapers, airplanes and street constructions were reflected on to real scenes with mirrors. The sophisticated special effects didn’t just make Schüfftan famous and revolutionized the techniques used to this end in film, they also played a big part in the huge production outlay: a 17-month shoot, 1.3 million meters of exposed film, 36,000 extras and a total budget of six million marks.
Films by Ken Jacobs (26.10.) The films by American experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs explore the mechanics of the moving image, the relationship between depth and surface in cinema, and different experiences of looking, perception, and cinema. Many of his early films were created using an optical table, while for several years now he has also embraced the possibilities of digital image processing, in which he also shows snapshots of "things that move in depth and never repeat their movements, but continue them into space; without doubt, a depth without 3-D technology, which anyone can grasp with just one eye." We are showing four of his works from over two decades: OPENING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: 1896 (USA 1990), THE GEORGETOWN LOOP (USA 1995), CAPITALISM: CHILD LABOR (USA 2006), SEEKING THE MONKEY KING (USA 2011). (mg)
