1. IB FILM
Asian Cinema

2. Hong Kong Cinema Asian Cinema
BBC 2 documentary on the History of Kung Fu
Other documentary – but some not subtitled properly

3. Hong Kong Cinema Objectives
Who: Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Xiyi, Maggie Cheung
What: Martial Arts Genre, Action
Where: Hong Kong
When: 70s-90s. Triads, Crime.

4. Asian Cinema
Asian cinema in the 70s rose to international recognition in part, through the popularity of Kung Fu.
This is the genre we will focus on, but it is not the only aspect of Hong Kong Cinema.

5. Star Theory
What are the audience expectations of Stars?

6. Star Theory
We have learned already that a Star’s Personality is closely associated with the characters they play.
Research how your Star’s personality contributes to their image and the audience expectations.

7. Stars of Asian Cinema Masculinity theory Success Criteria
Jackie Chan
Bruce Lee
Jet Li
Success Criteria
Brief history
Films they’ve been in
Type of character they play
Star’s ‘Personality’
Masculinity theory
How does your star represent masculine traits?

8. Stars of Asian Cinema Feminism theory Success Criteria Brief history
Michelle Yeoh
Zhang Ziyi
Maggie Cheung
Success Criteria
Brief history
Films they’ve been in
Type of character they play
Star’s ‘Personality’
Feminism theory
How does your star represent feminine traits?

9. Presentation of findings
Bruce Lee
Jackie Chan
Jet Li
Maggie Cheung
Michelle Yeoh
Zhang Ziyi
Can you establish the timeline of Hong Kong Kung Fu through the actors as your peers present?
Are the connected through any works?
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010

10. Star Driven Cinema
Sometimes people might have said ‘Let’s go and see ‘a Jackie Chan’ film. To what extent does the star relate to the Genre?

11. Realism
Stars of Hong Kong cinema showed a realism in their action. Compare Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee - how were they realistic to their audiences?
Verisimilitude: The appearance of realism – making it believable.

12. Hong Kong Gunplay Tsui Hark (Producer) John Woo (Director)
Ringo Lam (Director)
Chow Yun Fat (Star)
Fast forward 20 years, Hollywood has adopted the gunplay genre: (MI2 trailer)

13. Influenced by
What similarities in genre can you find in Wuxia and Gunplay?
Narrative
Iconography
Characters
Style
What is different?
Chinese films had previously been in the Wuxia (Martial Action) genre
Swordplay was common
Hong Kong brought it into a modern setting exchanging the weapons for new ones.

14. Key Films and Influences Can you match them up?
A Better Tomorrow City on Fire The Killer Infernal Affairs
Reservoir Dogs
The Departed
The Matrix
Once upon a time in Mexico

15. Key Films and Influences Can you match them up?
A Better Tomorrow City on Fire The Killer Infernal Affairs
Once upon a time in Mexico
Reservoir Dogs
The Matrix
The Departed
What links these films in terms of Influence?
TOKQ: In terms of Socio Political Context, Do you think Hong Kongs position as a British Colony has helped it’s acceptance into Western Mainsteam?

16. Who do you think you’re fooling?
City on Fire
Reservoir Dogs
bad language
Compare the narrative of City on Fire and Reservoir dogs using the synopsis
on IMDB. The plot isn’t the only thing that’s similar by the way…

17. John Woo’s Hollywood Departure
Face off
Mission Impossible 2
In terms of Auteur theory – how do you KNOW these are John Woo Films?

18. Stylistic Features of Gunplay
Lots of camera movement
Slow Motion
Front Angle Medium Shots with Gun

19. Chase Scene
Creative Piece

20. Choose one of the examples and come up with a shot list.
Reading a Chase Scene
Choose one of the examples and come up with a shot list.
Casino Royale
Mr Nice Guy
District 13
Inception
Men In Black
Hot Fuzz
Matrix
Ong Bak
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Memento
Point Break
28 Weeks Later
Enemy of the State
Insomnia
New York Rising
This week you will create a chase scene – one of the more complex sequences in terms of directing and editing. Look at the top 10 examples:
TOP 10 movie on foot chases (plus Casino Royale)
Mad max fury road chase
Mad Max crosshair editing
Example

21. Rubric for your Shot List
Camera Angle
- High vs Low
- Birds eye vs Worms eye
- Front vs Rear
- Three Quarter/Three Quarter rear
-Profile
Camera Framing
- Long Shot
- Medium Shot
- Close up
Camera Focus
- Shallow depth of field
- Deep focus
Camera Movement
- Pan (rotate)
- Tilt (up down)
- Track (move side)
- Dolly (move forward back)
More info on camera angles

22. Showing the chaser
Medium Shot, Front, Pan
Close up, Rear Pan.
Full shot, High, Pan

23. Passing over obstacles

24. What is this type of insert called?

25. Fight Scene

26. More fight, hitting with objects

27. How would you shoot these?
Joining two locations together that are not next to each other in real life
Falling from a significant height
Showing the relationship between the chaser and the one being chased
Jumping over/under an obstacle

28. Using Portals
Using Portals means cutting between two separate locations, using the screen edge, a door or other portal as a way of passing between them (even if they aren’t next to each other in real life)
TOP 10 movie on foot chases (plus Casino Royale)
Mad max fury road chase
Mad Max crosshair editing
Example

29. The Window Jump
You can simulate falling from a height with a sequence that shows the person on the edge of a jump, a close up of falling (which can be simulated by filming someone jumping) and then a close up of feet landing.
Jackie chan actually did complete a jump
between the two buildings though!

30. Planning the chase scene
Reason for the chase
Outcome of the chase
Characters
Locations
Sequence of events
This is a scene that could fit into a feature length film.
What genre is the story?
What step of the heroes journey would this scene be part of?
What influences from Hong Kong cinema are you thinking of incorporating?

31. Fight Scenes
Your chase needs to incorporate fights

32. Centre Framing

33. Japanese Anime
Asian Cinema

34. Japanese Anime Objectives
Who: Studios – Ghibli, Gainax and Toei Animation
What: Animation
Where: Japan
When: 1980s and 1990s
One Punch Man has a funny title.

35. Institution Study Who What Where When Why
Choose one of the institutions and create a studio profile
Who
What
Where
When
Why

36. Institution Study
Choose one of the institutions and create a studio profile
Set your own inquiry question relating to the influence of the studios on the films.
A profile of the studios should include:
- Key Directors
- Key Films
- Style
- Themes/Socio-Political
- Finances/Studio System

37. Studio vs Director Auteurship
To what extent does auteur theory apply to the Japanese Anime studios? Is there such thing as a studio auteur style?

38. Reading the scene Compare the STYLE, (film language) choices
Choose two of the following Anime Scenes: Toei Animation – Dragonball Z (Episode ) Studio Ghibli – My Neighbour Totoro (1988) Tokyo Movie Shinsha – Akira (1988) Production I.G. A Ghost in the Shell (1995) Compare the style (film language choices)
Style Checklist
Camera Framing
Camera Movement
Camera Focus
Camera Angle
Colour
Lighting
Sound
Editing
Also consider:
Animation realism
Visual Art style (research it!)
Check out my Neighbour totoro recorded in vr for occulus rift
Also check out Gainax – Neon Genesis Evangellion (1997 feature following the successful series)

39. Verisimilitude (Realism)
TOKQ
How is verisimilitude realism (looks like something believable) achieved in Anime?
Soundscape
Animation style
Camera-like framing angle and movement
etc
S L I M F I R E. How do we know?

40. Influences
Linking to Digital, our next chapter, animation became CGI (computer generated images) orientated.

41. Comparing Animation
How is United States animation (Disney, Pixar) different from Japanese Animation?
Some potential ideas, style, realism, auteurship,
Consider
style, auteurship, genre, narrative, themes, realism, representation, film language

42. Pixar
Every studio has it’s own style Now called Disney-Pixar, they created the first feature length CGI animation. Toy Story 2.

43. Oriental Dreamworks
In Shanghai, Oriental Dreamworks (a branch of dreamworks) is focused on a unique selling point… the most realistic movements possible, especially in facial animation.

44. Programming in Animation
Animation is now driven by computer animation. Complex coding languages like Python and Maya are used to create the CGI scenes in the likes of Kung Fu Panda
In production terms, the same rules of film language apply. They still need cinematography, direction of the ‘actors’ and so on.
Kung Fu Panda process
From storyboard to finish:

45. Recreate the scene… using programming
You can give it a go with some basic programming instructions in Scratch. Free to download…
- recreate the Dragonball Z fight in Scratch.

46. My Neighbour Totoro in VR!
Potentially the future of animation as well as film in general, VR lets the audience explore and sometimes even interact wit their world.
How does this change the film language used?
What might the future of film look/sound/feel like?

47. Objectives

48. Creative Piece… using flash animation
You can create your own short animations, often useful inserting into your scenes.

49. The Flash Window Label the following: Timeline Stage Layers Tools
Properties
Can you explain the purpose of each of these parts of the Flash Interface?

50. Step 1: Creating the Elements
You might want to make each mountain in individual layers, so you can fade them in later.

51. Step 1: Drawing the Bird Drawing the Bird using the drawing toolbar.
Of course, you can use a stylus tablet or a real drawing scanned in too. Why not work with an Art student in your final film to create something really special?

52. Step 2: Keyframes
The timeline is crucial to the edit – and the keyframes work just like cuts in editing software. What considerations do you need to give to rhythm and pace of the keyframes?

53. Step 3: Tweens
Tweens are the biggest time-saver in animation using flash. You can use them to move or zoom objects.
How can you zoom?

54. Step 4: Fade in/out
You can time it so that elements fade in, including text, again using the keyframes for the timing.
In the properties panel under the 'color' section set one frame of the object to a desired alpha and change it in another keyframe

55. Over to you
As with many digital tools in the Film world there are so many tutorials out there to teach you the things that you want to do, absolutely free. Find and share a technique tutorial on Moxtra.

56. Animation Wrap up
Animation is a diverse genre in Film with origins in the West and East, heavily impacted by the use of technology. What are the conventions of the animation genre? How do you know?

57. Chinese Melodrama
Asian Cinema

58. Chinese Melodrama Objectives
What: In the Mood for Love, A Touch of Sin, Ju Dou
Who:

59. Japanese Horror
Asian Cinema

60. Japanese Horror Objectives

61. Korean Drama
Asian Cinema

62. Korean Drama Objectives