"Poster for Le Voyage Dans La Lune, 1902"
The poster that was released with the movie, really shows the effects that were available at the time this movie was created. You can really see how Meilies has used his knowledge of film making and his experience in illusion to create a world that would probably have looked realistic around the time. It's the same feeling we had when we watched films like Total Recall or Alien for the first time. The directors were able to use the levels of technology they had at the time to create these amazing worlds full of spectacular effects that still amaze people to this day. Whilst "Le Voyage Dans La Lune" wont amaze people now, it definitely has the charm and personality to make people laugh and become engrossed in the world that Meilies created. " a work of pure, playful imagination, a picture book fantasy brought to life" (Axmaker 2012) Whilst watching the Movie many of my colleagues and myself were laughing and becoming engaged in what was happening on the screen. Not because of the "amazing" effects, but the charm and charisma that is shown in the set design, costume's and direction.
"Mushroom cave under the surface of the moon, Le Voyage dans la lune, 1902)
"Scientist defends his ship from alien attacker, Le Voyage Dans La Lune,1902"
This Film definitely shows the beginning of the science fiction genre of movies,"Cinemas first Science Fiction story" (Shwartz, 2009). It has an outrageous story of a group of scientists who devise a way to fly to the moon and explore its vast, untainted land. Not so dissimilar to some of the Sci-fi movies we come up with today, only this was created because no one else had ever created something like it, whereas today. film makers are all about trying to tap into the nostalgia of older movies and TV shows to gain a larger audience, Meilies didn't have that opportunity yet made a piece that would impress. "The primitive silent landmark has more charm and originality than many modern CGI-cluttered epics" (Hall, 2004)
Le Voyage Dans La Lune is an enjoyable piece of classic film making that whilst wont leave you amazed by its visuals and screenplay, but it will capture your heart with its creative charm and ridiculous plot that defies modern physics and will leave you wanting more.
Bibliography
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews, 2009
Phil Hall, Film Threat, 2008
Sean Axmaker, Seanax.com, 2012
Hi Lewis,
ReplyDeleteFirstly, well done in getting your first film review out there :) It is interesting to see you linking modern film makers 'trying to tap into the nostalgia of older movies and TV shows to gain a larger audience'.
Couple of pointers to be made at this stage; Firstly always make sure that your film titles and quotes are in italics. This would go for any films that you mention within your review.
Make sure that you embed the quote into your writing in such a way that it supports your discussion - so for example, you could say,
'Whilst "Le Voyage Dans La Lune" won't amaze people now, it definitely has the charm and personality to make people laugh and become engrossed in the world that Meilies created. As Sean Axmaker says in his review, it is " a work of pure, playful imagination, a picture book fantasy brought to life" (Axmaker 2012)
You need to have another look at the referencing guide, to make sure that you are including everything you need in your bibliography, and you also need to compile an illustration list to reference your images - full details of how to do both here -
http://community.ucreative.ac.uk/Harvard-Referencing