The mood for love (2000)

French impressionism is a film movement which started in 1959 and ended in 1969. French films were mainly adaptations from tales published in books and adapted to cinema. French impressionism rejects montages and favors more on mise-en-scene

French impressionism can be seen in the film where Chow-Mo wan goes into his office after talking to Su Li zhen about marriage life. In that scene, it shows a shot of tobacco smoke rising from his body into the lights. This shows the dilemma of Mr.Chow as the smoke shows his mind is clouded with frustration.

Throughout the show, there were scenes showing Mr Chow and Ms Su walking or shot of them buying noodles with monotonous music playing in the background. This shows them being stuck and the time spent being alone despite being married. It shows they are living the life of a single despite being married.

 The slow motion used in the film where Ms Su was leaving the aunties while they were chatting shows that she was unhappy. This is because the slow motion shows that time goes very slow when we are unhappy or suffering as a min feels like hours.

There were two scenes in the film where they freeze it, the scenes are where Ms Su leaves Mr Chow and where Mr Chow leaves his room before heading to Singapore. The freeze of this scene shows that moment is embedded as a memory.

Dark City

By understanding German Expressionism that emerged in the film industry, I will attempt to determine the German Expressionism elements found in the film "Dark City" (1998). 

German Expressionism is a number of creative movements that began in Germany before the first world war. It was a part of the expressionist movement in the European art culture. German Expressionism began emerging in films from 1919 till 1926, this is because they were influenced by the Expressionist movement in modern art at early 1900s. However, they started to fade in the 1920s because the German film industry tried to imitate and compete with Hollywood films, which caused them to dilute their expressionist tendencies. 

German Expressionism includes themes like revolt, self-analysis, madness and primitive sexual savagery. This genre spreads into cinema in terms of narrative, set and mise-en-scene, this could be seen in the set design and low key lighting.  The style in German Expressionism are oblique camera angles, Distorted bodies and shapes, bizarre and incongruous settings, low key lighting and contents of surreal and Gothic, usually about unnatural acts. 

John Murdoch wakes up in a bathtub and alone in a strange hotel to find himself wanted for a series of brutal murders.Problem begins to arise as he can't remember whether he had committed the murders. For a brief moment, he was convinced that he has gone completely insane. Murdoch begins to find ways to unravel the twisted riddle of his identity. As he edges closer to solving the mystery, he stumbles upon a fiendish underworld controlled by a group of ominous beings collectively known as the Strangers.

German Expressionism could be seen throughout the film with their low key lighting, distorted bodies and shapes, bizarre and incongruous settings and it is about unnatural acts. First of all, the city in the film is always dark as the title of the film is after all "Dark city". This provides and generates the sense of mystery of the film to the audience, it also enhances the investigative nature of the film. 

Moving on, the mise-en-scene of the film are bizarre and incongruous, distorted bodies and shapes are seen on the set. This could be seen during the scene where the strangers begins their process of installing new buildings as buildings could be seen twisting out of the ground. The strangers movement are similar with the Somnambulist in Dr. Caligari.

Primitive sexual savagery was also seen in the film as it plays the role of showing how evil the strangers are. This could be seen at the scene where Mr.Hand kills its victim by stripping them half naked and carves symbols on them. 

In conclusion, Dark city is under the influence of German Expressionism as the elements found in Dark City determines that the film has used German Expressionism. 

Zootopia

This was the film that I have decided to watch during the raya holidays. Zootopia (2016), Disney's newest animated film. Zootopia features Judy Hopps, discovering that she is the first bunny cop on a police force of big, tough animals. Things did not turn out as easy as expected for her as she determines to prove herself. She jumps at the opportunity to crack a case, even if it means partnering with a fast talking, scam artist fox, Nic Wilde to solve the mystery.

The genres used in the film are Comedy, Action Film, Family Film, Adventure Film and Buddy Film. Comedy genre is a work intended to be humorous or to amuse by inducing laughter. One of the types of comedy used in the film is dark comedy, this is because dark comedy makes jokes out of serious or disturbing matter. Dark comedy is used at the scene where Judy Hopps and Nick Wilds needs to run a car plate with the help of Flash. In that scene, it shows all the workers as sloths to depict what people feel about the services in real life.  Comedy is used throughout the film, one example is in the end credit where they show Flash speeding in his high speed vehicle. 

Zootopia is also an action film, action film is films where the hero of the story faces a series of challenges that involve violence, close combat, physical feats and fanatic pursuits. Action film features a hero struggling against all odds which includes life threatening situations which in the end proves victorious for the hero. Action film could be seen in zootopia in the scene where Judy hopps and Nick wilde finds  Mr Manchas, Mr Big's limousine driver for an explanation of the incident. The scene shows Mr Manchas going berserk from the effect of the drug causing him to attack Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde. 

Family films is also considered as Children's film is films that contains children or relate them to home and family.Family films are made with a wide appeal with a general audience in mind which includes both parents and children. Zootopia is a family film because it is a Disney animation that appeals for children and yet making it entertaining for parents as well.

Adventure films are films which uses exotic locations in an energetic way. Adventure films mainly shows characters going on a heroic journeys into the unknown. Zootopia is an adventure film as it shows Judy Hopps leaving her home to be the first bunny cop in the police force in the heart of Zootopia, not only she is new to the city, she has to explore unknown continents to crack the case within 24 hours. 

Paranorman

Based on the film of Paranorman from Laika, I am going to discuss about the genres that are used in the film and plan to explain what the genres are. Before moving on to the types of genre found in this film, first is to understand what is the definition of genre and how it is used in categorizing films.

Genres is a form of classifying films or grouping of films and film type. According to Rick Altman, we can classify genres by using semantics and syntactic approaches as they could help in identifying a particular film. Semantics approach are based on visuals of the film, such as the mise-en-scene. Based on mise-en-scene, it can help in telling what sort of genre it is. For example, if the setting is taken place in a dark and empty house it may be a horror genre. Syntactic approach on the other hand is based on themes. For example, if the theme is romance, then the story will revolve around romance.

Paranorman tells a story about a boy, Norman Babcock who has an ability to speak to the dead. He prefers to be with the dead than to be accompanied by the living. One day, Norman receives a message from his uncle Prenderghast that a century old witch's curse on their town is real and is about to come true. and Norman is the only one who could stop it. When the zombies rise from their graves, Norman must summon all his courage and compassion and push his abilities to the limit to save his town.

The genres used in the film are Comedy, Horror, Action and Melodrama. Comedy is a genre that focuses on making the audience laugh, the main purpose of it is to entertain or amuse the audience with funny actions, characters, situations or behavior. There are many type of comedy, for example, slapstick, screwball, dark comedy and parody. In Paranorman, the comedy used is Screwball as it shows the main character "Norman" going through a unhappy life as he is always being bullied by others and being treated weirdly as he has an ability in seeing and talking to the dead. All the conflicts ended when he the witches curse brought the zombies to life and Norman is able to prove that he is not crazy, in fact showing that his ability is a gift by resolving the curse of the witch.

Besides that, Horror genre is also used in the film. Horror genre is one of the oldest genre from Hollywood, it focuses on scaring the audience and to cause panic as it aims to invoke our hidden worst fears while captivating and entertaining us at the same time with a cathartic experience. Horror has a few sub genres, which are Unnatural, Psychological, Massacre or Slasher Flicks. In Paranorman, unnatural horror film is used as the main theme is about Zombies, Witchcraft and Ghosts. This could be seen since the starting as Norman is able to see ghosts and communicate with them. Later on the story, Norman could be seen trying to solve a witch's curse of raising the dead, which are zombies.

Action genre is about showing the main protagonist going through a series of challenges that involve violence, close combats, physical feats or frantic pursuits, it also means showing the main character facing challenges and struggling incredible odds that include life threatening situations which in the end, the main character will become the hero. Action genre is used in the film as it shows Norman struggling through life as a challenge, as he has an special ability which makes people think he is crazy. He later has to face his fears of zombies as he is continuously being chased by the zombies of the witch's curse, and has to face the witch himself as he has to fight of his life and bring an end to the witch's suffering.

Melodrama is a genre that brings a sensational and dramatic story that excites and appeal to the emotions of the audience. Melodrama is used in the movie as it keeps using dramatic scenes that excites and keeps the audience entertained. Melodrama is used in scenes like where Norman is trying to battle the witch as he is constantly being thrown and pushed around, he is also seen getting up with determination as he jumps towards the witch to try to talk sense into her.

In conclusion, genres plays a vital role in making a movie interesting. As Rick Altman approach is true and important as the Syntactic and Semantic approach must go hand in hand to make all the film spectacular.