Special Effects and German Silent Film : : Techno-Romantic Cinema / / Katharina Loew.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Amsterdam University Press Complete eBook-Package 2021
• VerfasserIn: Loew, Katharina,
• Place / Publishing House: Amsterdam : : Amsterdam University Press, , [2021]; ©2021
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Series: Film Culture in Transition
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (320 p.)

One of the most famous special-effects sequences in the history of cinema is the robot's anthropogenesis in Metropolis. The scene has become an emblem for the astonishing technical and aesthetic achievements of German filmmakers. Not only did special effects shape the look of many iconic films, they are also central to a comprehensive understanding of German silent film culture. Employed to visualize ideas and emotions in a medium-specific way, special effects demonstrated technology's creativity and ability to transcend physical reality. By so doing, they played a decisive role in the evolution of cinematic expressivity. Special effects embody "techno-romantic" lines of thought, a concept that describes efforts to harness technology, the epitome of modern materialism, for the purpose of accessing a spiritual realm. While special effects have been mainly considered as spectacles or practical tools to date, this book foregrounds their function as an artistic device.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: Special Effects and the Techno-Romantic Paradigm -- 1. Imagining Technological Art: Early German Film Theory -- 2. Modern Magicians: Guido Seeber and Eugen Schüfftan -- 3. The Uncanny Mirror: Der Student von Prag (1913) -- 4. Visualizing the Occult: Nosferatu (1922) -- 5. The Technological Sublime: Metropolis (1927) -- 6. “German Technique” and Hollywood -- Conclusion: Techno-Romantic Cinema from the Silent to the Digital Era -- Bibliography -- Index