New Zealand Cinema

The Darker Side of New Zealand Cinema

Map of the World - New Zealand circled bottom right.

The New Zealand Film Industry is one of the latest starting film industries to develop, and since the 1970s have only released just over 300 feature films. The population in New Zealand at the beginning of the 1970s, 2 million, (compared to 46 million in England, and 205 million in America), was too small for the film industry to be sustainable, and therefore was not highly valued as a profitable industry, and any early examples of film to come from New Zealand were made by independent filmmakers who self-funded their works, such as John O’Shea. The National Film Unit however, was a government funded producer of short films and documentaries who’s aim was to create publicity material for the country, using the picturesque scenery and untouched environment as one of its main assets.

A successful and popular example of the material created for this purpose, is the short documentary film, This Is New Zealand (directed by Hugh Macdonald, 1970), which showcased the landscape and scenery of New Zealand and used breakthrough film technology of the time, requiring three separate but synchronized 35mm film projectors to create a wider screen.

Captures from This Is New Zealand, 1970

Due to its popularity, and the result of other documentary shorts all showcasing the same elements of New Zealand, the possibility of film opened up, and in 1977, the New Zealand Film Commission was established, and aimed to encourage and promote a national film industry which would draw the attention of an international audience. “The government has subtly supported films expected to be commercially successful, along with films offering leverage for other sorts of commercial exploitation, especially tourism” (New Zealand Cinema: Interpreting the Past, 2011). At this point, audiences only perception of New Zealand was of that shown in the short documentary style adverts, which created the idea of a magical undiscovered land, but a completely juxtaposing theme of the darker side of New Zealand and the negatives of living there began to show in some of the films produced by the commission. 

One of the first films which attracted larger scale audiences in New Zealand was Sleeping Dogs (1977). In which New Zealand suffers industrial disputes and violence, similarly to how the 1981 Springbok Tour caused protests and clashes with the police.

Goodbye Pork Pie (1981) was one of the first New Zealand films which was financially stable, as well as appealing to an international audience. Although entertaining, the film shows issues of youth and adolescence, and that growing up in New Zealand can lead to delinquency. 

Once Were Warriors (1994) is another key film which shows New Zealand is not always the pastoral paradise it is portrayed to be, and that horrors such as poverty, delinquency, alcohol abuse, physical abuse and rape still exist. “There is, in a way, two New Zealand's - the pastoral paradise promoted by the image-makers looking to add value to our primary products and our tourist industry, and the ‘other’ New Zealand characterised by the unseemly and sordid” (New Zealand: A Pastoral Paradise? 2000)

This misconception about New Zealand is commented on at the beginning of the film. “Iconic colonial images of New Zealand are demolished and reconstructed beginning with the billboard hoax in the pre-credit sequence, of a landscape imagined as a pastoral paradise which turns out to be an advertisement” (New Zealand Cinema: Interpreting the Past, 2011).

'Billboard Hoax' opening of Once Were Warriors, 1994

In the late 1990s New Zealand director Peter Jackson began planning his film adaptation of The Lord of The Rings Trilogy. Released from 2001-2003, the films brought a new sense of fame and recognition to New Zealand, and again portrayed the landscapes and scenery as its most valued asset. The films also helped to further develop the New Zealand film industry and created a huge skill by using largely Kiwi production crews, and investing in massive special effects facilities, Weta Workshop and Weta Digital.

New Zealand locations used in the
Lord of the Rings Trilogy, (2001, 2002, 2003)

A film which combines both elements of showcasing the unique New Zealand scenery which also inhabits some darker themes in Taika Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople, (2016). In the film the tranquil and empty scenery represents the loneliness felt by both Uncle Hec and Ricky, showing how the isolation of the country has trapped them. This also explains the causes of Ricky’s crimes, and that the untouched surroundings of New Zealand mean's there is not much for young people to do, similarly, the cause of the delinquent acts seen in Goodbye Pork Pie.

German Expressionism

German Expressionism: A Horror Movement?

'Nosferatu',1922

German Expressionism is a movement which originated in Germany, and was popular from the end of the First World War until the 1930s. The movement first manifested itself in art forms such as painting, sculpture, architecture and theatre before also being applied to film.

'Café (Hotel de l’Europe)' - Max Beckmann, Sculpture - Ernst Barlach,
'Church on Hohezollernplatz'

German Expressionism’s popularity was due to it allowing citizens of Germany to ‘escape’ from the troubled times they faced during the aftermath of the war. Although often considered an artistic movement, I believe the films to come out of the German Expressionist era should primarily be viewed as the birth of the horror film genre. 

A definition of what horror is, can be taken from Sigmund Freud’s essay titled, ‘The Uncanny’. Freud suggests in the essay that horror narratives inhabit elements of ‘The Uncanny’, a “belonging to all that is terrible - to all that arouses dread”. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, (1920), is a notable German Expressionist Film which clearly shows elements of Freud’s ‘Uncanny’, making it definable as a horror.

The consideration of mise-en-scene can clearly be noticed in German Expressionist films, and shows the first understanding of the value it can hold. It is through the mise-en-scene that films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari begin to show these elements of horror. The sets used mimic real-life environments but with the addition of stylised and exaggerated shapes which creates a sense of unease. As the film plays out, the audience discovers the murderous intentions of Dr. Caligari and it becomes clear that the twisted setting illustrates the psychological state of the character, an example of Pathetic fallacy.

'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari', 1920

The final twist reveals Francis is an inmate in an insane asylum, and the events of the film are a figment of his imagination. The final setting used for the asylum is ‘normal’ compared to the rest of the film, showing the twisted version of the world was inside Francis’s head all along. The combination of setting, and other elements of mise-en-scene, accompanied by the haunting music and the dark themes of death, madness and insanity, keys themes commonly explored in German Expressionisn, proves that the film is an early example of horror.

'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari', 1920 

Nosferatu, (1922), is another German Expressionist film which should be defined as horror.

One way in which the film creates an atmosphere of horror is by playing with the movement of the actors and the camera as well as using a range of camera angles. This is an early example of utilising the visual power that could be won from using the camera in a certain way to create a sense of fear, particularly of Count Orlock. “The hideous form of the vampire approaches with exasperating slowness, moving from the extreme depth of one shot towards another in which he suddenly becomes enormous…in addition to his gigantic proportions, a kind of obliqueness which projects him out of the screen and makes him into a sort of tangible, three dimensioned menace” (The Haunted Screen, 1974). 

Count Orlock presented through a Low-Angle Shot
to evoke audience fear - 'Nosferatu', 1922

Nosferatu also utilities elements of mise-en-scene to create a sense of fear and horror. In contrast to the extreme sets used in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu takes place in locations which replicate normal surroundings. “The horror film is more closely related to the terrors of everyday life”, (The Horror Genre from Beelzebub to Blair Witch, 2001). This adds to the horror as it shows a monster, Count Orlock, invading normal life. This sense of threat and invasion acts as a metaphor for Germany’s fears in the 1920’s. “The history of the horror film is essentially a history of anxiety in the twentieth century”, (The Horror Genre from Beelzebub to Blair Witch, 2001) and was a core theme found in German Expressionist films. A sense of fear is also created through Count Orlock’s imagery. Examples of this include through his costume and make-up, shadows, and vampire-esq actions and movements.
 

It can be argued that German Expressionism marks the birth of the horror film genre. “It represents a style and a vision and the beginnings of a genre” (The Horror Genre from Beelzebub to Blair Witch, 2001). German Expressionist films have clearly inspired the global horror genre even after the height of expressionist era began to come to an end, “It remained highly influential on the films which emerged later in the 1930s” (The Horror Genre from Beelzebub to Blair Witch, 2001). Many techniques and styles first explored in German Expressionist Films can still be seen throughout the horror genre since it’s rise in popularity, to present day. The video below shows clear links between German Expressionist films and the influence they have had on films made by Tim Burton.