Victor Epand asked:
Movie making is a work of art or a cultural show piece that reflects the cultural nuances of a certain generation and society. Compared to other forms of media, the film is a relatively new medium though it has already scaled great heights over the years. Films are a very powerful and influential means of educating people. A popular Chinese proverb says that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’. We can say that films are very effective in instructing and educating people.
The popularity of films easily spreads to their makers too. People identify certain films and the way they are made or the message they carry with that of the makers. Some all time favorite moviemakers are Alfred Hitchcock, D.W. Griffith, Orson Welles, Jean-Luc Godard, Sergei Eisenstein, Charlie Chaplin, Federico Fellini, Jean Renoir, Ingmar Bergman, and Akira Kurosawa.
The British born moviemaker *** producer, Alfred Hitchcock, is considered as the pioneer of suspense and thriller movies. He directed nearly sixty films whose time span ranged from the silent to the talkies era. Hitchcock is one of the best known and most popular of moviemakers of all time. The major elements of his movies are fear and fantasy where the protagonists are innocent people. They are shown as caught up in various circumstances that are mostly beyond their control and understanding.
In 1925 Alfred Hitchcock directed his first movie The pleasure Garden that was a major commercial success. Some of his other popular movies are Rebecca, Psycho, Dial M for Murder, The Man Who Knew Too Much, etc.
D.W. Griffith, often considered as the father of modern movie making, made over 450 short films. His movies consist of two parts. He was good at both story-telling as well as technical know how. He is best known for his controversial 1915 film The birth of a Nation. Through his mastery in editing, he invented and popularized the concept of cross cutting. In layman’s terms, this means alternating between different events with the aim of building suspense. His cinematographer, Billy Bitzer, shares a lot of the credit for cinematic innovations. Some of his commercially successful movies are Broken Blossom, Way down East, and Orphans of the Storm.
Sergei Eisenstein was a revolutionary Soviet Russian film director known for his ground breaking use of montage. He believed that editing could be used for more than just clarifying a scene or a moment, or for establishing a linkage of a related scene. Though his films were silent they are still noted for their innovations. Some of his masterpieces are Strike, Battleship Potemkin, and Oktober.
The silent movies of Charlie Chaplin have the strange ability of talking to the audience. Hence, he is counted as one of the all time favorite moviemakers. He was one of the first Hollywood superstars who drew a record number of audiences to the theatres. We can say that his movies stood between entertainment for children and the seriousness of adults. His movies talked about social, political, and economic injustice, all in such an appealing way that it seemed less didactic and more entertaining.
In the movies of Jean Renoir, one glimpses the world of art and film mingled into each other. He engaged masterful visuals with the help of lighting, location, focus and camera angle that added a new and exciting dimension to the film. The well-known films of Renoir are The River, Diary of Chambermaid, and The Woman on the Beach.
The above lists tell us that these moviemakers have dared to break all the rules and take risks. They are therefore remembered and respected for what they did without bowing down to established notions, and traditional norms of filmmaking. Their work is a blend of creativity and a daring attitude that transforms them into all time favorite moviemakers.
