Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema
As told through clips from 183 female directors, this epic history of the cinema focuses on women's integral role in the development of film art. Using almost a thousand film extracts from thirteen decades and five continents, Mark Cousins asks how films are made, shot and edited; how stories are shaped and how movies depict life, love, politics, humour and death, all through the compelling lens of some of the world's greatest filmmakers -- all of them women.
Overview
As told through clips from 183 female directors, this epic history of the cinema focuses on women's integral role in the development of film art. Using almost a thousand film extracts from thirteen decades and five continents, Mark Cousins asks how films are made, shot and edited; how stories are shaped and how movies depict life, love, politics, humour and death, all through the compelling lens of some of the world's greatest filmmakers -- all of them women.
Clara Glynn
Creator / EP
John Archer
Producer
Episodes
1. Openings, Tone
"Openings". With examples from 1943 to 2013, from China to Iran, Australia to Finland, we look at how to open a film: from mysterious, direct, floating, foreboding beginnings to plunging straight in. All are instructive in how to create an immediate world. "Tone". What's the tone of a film—not its story or theme, but what its world feels like? This chapter looks at the myriad ways in which directors set the tones of their films: delight, anger, poetry, double tones, moral seriousness, caring, edginess, and violence.
2. Believability, Introducing Character, Meet Cute
"Believability". It's easy to spot, but not so easy to understand. Believability is about simple human stories, the truth about life, real emotions, and responding to the world. How do directors create a reality without it feeling fake? True stories can help. But what's the trick? "Introducing Character". Going to a house, overhearing people, witnessing bizarre action -- there are many ways to meet people and be introduced to characters in films. "Meet Cute". The classic Hollywood trope of a "meet cute" invites a variety of interpretations, from intimate glimpses to worlds colliding spectacularly.
3. Conversation, Framing, Tracking
"Conversation". A basic human interaction -- how to make it cinematic? "Framing". Frames describe and paint the scenes. They shape the cinematic world. "Tracking". Tracking shots are to many an essence of filmmaking magic. They can ask questions and speak when hardly anyone else in the film is talking. Kinetic in nature, tracking can help dynamically show and express a desperate escape.
Cast & Crew
Tilda Swinton
Narrator (voice)
Adjoa Andoh
Narrator (voice)
Jane Fonda
Narrator (voice)
Sharmila Tagore
Narrator (voice)
Kerry Fox
Narrator (voice)
Thandiwe Newton
Narrator (voice)
