Question One
The film industry of China is one of the vastest in the world. Despite this, a lot of the films they make receive little acclaim or success outside of China. My aim at the beginning of this research task was to study why some directors receive both critical, and financial success in the west, focusing on the work of Zhang Yimou, the director of such films as House of Flying Daggers, Hero and Curse of the Golden Flower. I chose this topic because I already had a fondness for Asian cinema, and specifically Zhang Yimou so I was enthusiastic to learn more about his views on his films and their success and also explore the views of different theorists of Chinese cinema. I thought it would be a good idea to keep a record of the research I did in order to get support from my teachers, and easily correlate it at the end of the project. I used www.Blogger.com and my address was http://latymermediacriticalresearch09nathan.blogspot.com.
I started my research with primary research. I decided to watch all the films that I wanted to focus on (House of flying daggers, Hero, Riding alone for thousands of miles and Curse of the Golden Flower) in order to refresh my memory of the ones I had already seen and have a primary viewing of the ones I hadn’t. By doing this I felt that I could start to form my own opinions of why the films had received relatively high success levels, and therefore give my self a starting point for my research and a line to take in my answer to the question.
After watching these films I decided to start on my secondary sources of research. I read extracts from several books including Sinascape: Contemporary Chinese Cinema by Gary G. Xu, Chinese National Cinema (National Cinemas Series.) by Yingjin Zhang and Out of Asia: The Films of Akira Kurosawa, Satyajit Ray, Abbas Kiraostami, and Zhang Yimou; Essays and Interviews by Bert Cardullo. These books were interesting, especially Out of Asia, as it contained an interview with Zhang Yimou in which he spoke in some detail about why he felt his films had been successful in the west. One problem I had, however, is that I had bought the books from www.Amazon.co.uk, which is a useful site as it provides a list of recommended books, however it is hard to gauge how much relevant information each book will have. Because of this I found some books held little relevant information. It was at times also tedious to read long bodies of texts that in many ways overlapped in content. I would probably have been better off buying fewer books and reading each in more detail. I also took a visit to the British Film Institute Library which had several magazine articles and periodicals about the work of Zhang Yimou.
I then decided to do some primary research.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
my questionairre
Name
Age
What is you favourite film genre?
What do you look for in a film?
e.g Comedy, violence...
Would you describe yourself as a fan of chinese cinema?
Why?
Have you seen any of these Zhang Yimou films-
House of flying daggers
Hero
Curse of the Golden Flower
Riding alone for thousands of miles
What other chinese films have you seen
Have you seen any you particularly remember
why?
Have you seen any you did not enjoy
why?
WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN WATCHING THE REST OF ANY OF THE FILMS YUO HAVE JSUT SEEN.
why#
Thank you
Age
What is you favourite film genre?
What do you look for in a film?
e.g Comedy, violence...
Would you describe yourself as a fan of chinese cinema?
Why?
Have you seen any of these Zhang Yimou films-
House of flying daggers
Hero
Curse of the Golden Flower
Riding alone for thousands of miles
What other chinese films have you seen
Have you seen any you particularly remember
why?
Have you seen any you did not enjoy
why?
WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN WATCHING THE REST OF ANY OF THE FILMS YUO HAVE JSUT SEEN.
why#
Thank you
Film Club
I did film club the other day and about 4 people turned up? maybe thats a record!!!!!!
apart from the low people count it went pretty well, i got some good stuff from questionairres to use and i can also talk about how if focus groups arnet propperly organised they can go wrong/people not turning up
also interesting that people were much more interested in the martial arts and action parts than the slower paced bits.
im about to post the quesitonairre
apart from the low people count it went pretty well, i got some good stuff from questionairres to use and i can also talk about how if focus groups arnet propperly organised they can go wrong/people not turning up
also interesting that people were much more interested in the martial arts and action parts than the slower paced bits.
im about to post the quesitonairre
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
BLK
Targets agreed Weds 11th March:
1.bulk up proposal, fill gaps
2.bring films in Thurs, choose clips for analysis
3.book film soc session with mike c
1.bulk up proposal, fill gaps
2.bring films in Thurs, choose clips for analysis
3.book film soc session with mike c
Hero
This is one of my favourite scenes from the film
the Aesthetics of the scene are very important but so are the thoughts and philosophy behind it. i think this scene would have quite different meanings for an eastern and western audience. both would find the actual fight exciting, however i think that all the stuff that they are saying might have more weight with a chinese audience as all the interviews I ave read with ZY he's mentioned that chinese people are brought up with chinese myths an mythologies. (perhaps this is why the historical groundings of his films have more of an impact on the popularity with chinese audiences than western audiences)
This scene is very stylised and the use of colour is emphasised, in the film each telling of the story is drenched in a different colour to convey the emotion pinned to that version (although im not really sure what this one is all about its colour scheme is grey)
Old fashioned chinese films of the 50s and 60s used these sort of 'flying' but actors such as bruce lee and directors such as Wei Lo in the 70s started using a lot more of a western realistic style, this is when asian cinema first started growing in popularity in the west.
I think that Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and ZY were the first directors to contemparise the style and bring to a western audience in a big way in the late 20th/early 21st century.
The fact that these types of films are having renewed success shows the skill and artistry of the directors as the films truly do feel contemporary despite their being set in the distant past. this may be to do with technology, budget and better acting aswell.
the Aesthetics of the scene are very important but so are the thoughts and philosophy behind it. i think this scene would have quite different meanings for an eastern and western audience. both would find the actual fight exciting, however i think that all the stuff that they are saying might have more weight with a chinese audience as all the interviews I ave read with ZY he's mentioned that chinese people are brought up with chinese myths an mythologies. (perhaps this is why the historical groundings of his films have more of an impact on the popularity with chinese audiences than western audiences)
This scene is very stylised and the use of colour is emphasised, in the film each telling of the story is drenched in a different colour to convey the emotion pinned to that version (although im not really sure what this one is all about its colour scheme is grey)
Old fashioned chinese films of the 50s and 60s used these sort of 'flying' but actors such as bruce lee and directors such as Wei Lo in the 70s started using a lot more of a western realistic style, this is when asian cinema first started growing in popularity in the west.
I think that Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and ZY were the first directors to contemparise the style and bring to a western audience in a big way in the late 20th/early 21st century.
The fact that these types of films are having renewed success shows the skill and artistry of the directors as the films truly do feel contemporary despite their being set in the distant past. this may be to do with technology, budget and better acting aswell.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Hes Also doing a film to celebrate 60 years of ppls republic of china
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/04/zhang-yimou-peoples-republic
He started out making sorta anti govmnt films and this article from the guardian talks aobut how hes changed.
He started out making sorta anti govmnt films and this article from the guardian talks aobut how hes changed.
Nev Pierce
Nev Pierce did a review of the film which wasnt particularly complimentary
http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2004/09/17/hero_2004_review.shtml
He also said
'It is also a strikingly communist picture, suggesting people should submit to a murderous state.'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2004/09/17/hero_2004_review.shtml
He also said
'It is also a strikingly communist picture, suggesting people should submit to a murderous state.'
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