HISTORICAL PERIODS

Silent films

Man with a movie camera, (Chelovek s kino-apparatom)

This is the period between two technical inventions: the cinematograph in 1895 and in 1927 a system which allowed for the reproduction of dialogue, music and sound effects. The foundation of the art, the huge impact of a new means of expression and the spectacular business involved in making films all belong to the silent era. The years from 1895 to 1915 were essential in adapting the mechanisms of the literary narrative and the language of painting to the cinema. This period also saw the creation of a long list of audio-visual resources still in use today (montage through cutting, 180 degree rule, point of view shot, shot-reaction shot, etc.). Directors such as David W. Griffith (Intolerance, 1915), Wilhelm Murnau (Nosferatu, 1922) and Fritz Lang (Metropolis, 1926) produced ground-breaking works. Soviet cinema of the twenties, with directors such as Sergei Eisenstein (Battleship Potemkin, (Bronenosets Patyomkin) 1925), Vsévolod Pudovkin (Mother, (Mat) 1926) and Dziga Vertov (Man With A Movie Camera, Chelovek S Kino-Apparatum) 1929) is one of the most creative times in the history of cinema.

Avant-garde films

Code unknown (Code inconnu) | Man with a movie camera (Chelovek s kino-apparatom)

This is cinema searching for new forms of language far from the commercial codes, bringing together the different new trends in each era. This type of film tends to undermine the classical narrative, experiment with new image and sound combinations and connect with movements in the field of fine arts. The first great avant-garde cinema era was the twenties, with the emergence of various types of cinema that established the lines that would be followed later: abstract, expressionist and surrealist cinema and the entire block of Soviet filmmakers who with some hybrid pieces (Man With A Movie Camera, (Chelovek S Kino-Apparatom) 1929) wanted audio-visual to have a language far from literary drama. There was a second great wave in the sixties, at the same time as the New Cinemas like the Nouvelle Vague (New Wave) (Breathless, (A Bout De Souffle), 1960) and this gave rise to movements such as Fluxus, underground film and structural film. A third wave has been taking place since the late 1980s, during the digital era, in works in the format of video creation, the video clip and sometimes in the industrial feature film (Code Unknown, (Code Inconnu) 2000).

Classic cinema

M (M einen stadt sucht einen mörder) | The round dance, (La ronde) | Hellzapoppin' | Rear window | Sunset Boulevard

This cinema era ran from the early thirties to the mid-fifties and during this time the main audio-visual genres were crystallised, such as the musical, western, comedy, fantasy, thriller, adventure film and romantic drama. Directors such as John Ford (Stagecoach, 1940), Ernst Lubitsch (Ninotchka, 1939), Billy Wilder (Sunset Boulevard, 1950) and Alfred Hitchcock (Rear Window, 1954) shot some of their most important films in this period. It was probably one of the eras with the greatest confidence in the conventions of each genre, which manifest themselves as unalterable forms of power. "Classicism" refers to what has been considered the balance and perfection of the formal resources, of the plot content and even to the choice of the actors for all types of characters.

New wave cinema

This is cinema with a desire to innovate and react to the language of the fixed rules of the classical period, violating the visual grammar established until then and attacking narrative formulas that had previously seemed untouchable. It emerged in the late fifties with the French New Wave (Hiroshima, My Love (Hiroshima Mon Amour) 1959) and the new film movements in different parts of the world, from Eastern Europe (Daisies (Sedmikrásky) 1966), to Brazil and all of Latin America (I Am Cuba (Soy Cuba) 1964). It found its most energetic manifestation in the sixties, although the spirit of breaking conventions persisted into the seventies (Apocalypse Now, 1979), emphasising elements such as sex and violence, and still continued into the years of postmodern cinema and the current digital era.

Postmodern cinema

The tree of life | The assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford | Fireworks (Hana-Bi) | Léolo

This is a type of film that reacts against the willingness of the new cinema of the sixties to break the rules. The reaction is relatively weak, recovering both traditional formulas but using the resources that come with modern times, or mixing both lines of work, and even others, in the same product. Postmodern cinema is subjective, eclectic, metalinguistic and deconstructive (Deconstructing Harry, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), ironic and transgendered (Fireworks, Léolo, Pulp Fiction) and unlike classical cinema often favours double or multiple readings and open outcomes (Open Your Eyes, (Abre Los Ojos)). The term is usually applied to the cinema of the 1980s onwards, although its antecedents can be found in films from previous eras.

The digital era

Up | Cloverfield

The digital era began at the end of the 1980s when analogue video gave way to the digital world. Since then the digital revolution has changed every part of the audio-visual production process, gradually changing the whole landscape, from the ways of storing and viewing information to virtual sets, all kinds of special and postproduction effects (Cloverfield), and adding new narrative creation concepts such as interactive language and the transmedia story. Mainstream cinema feeds off the new developments taking place on a regular basis, with animation (Toy Story, Up) and fantasy special effects (Avatar) being two of the fields most sensitive to the new possibilities for audio-visual entertainment.