German Expressionist Film vs New Stagecraft

ドイツ表現主義映画 / 新舞台芸術

German Expressionist Film comes from Cinematic Visual Styles and New Stagecraft from Stage Design. Both are read here as style. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.

German Expressionist Film

German Expressionist Film — 『カリガリ博士』スチル 1920 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainGerman Expressionist Film — 『カリガリ博士』ポスター 1920 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainGerman Expressionist Film — 『カリガリ博士』スチル 1920 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Warped sets, painted shadows and extreme contrast turned a character's inner state directly into landscape, bringing a scenery of the mind into cinema.

New Stagecraft

New Stagecraft — アッピアの舞台デザイン『小さなエイヨルフ』 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainNew Stagecraft — Adolphe Appia《ワルキューレ》舞台デザイン 1892 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainNew Stagecraft — Jacques Copeau の舞台《La Carosse》— Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

The stage reform that dropped painted realism for light, levels and simple volumes shaping space for music and the body. Appia's living light and Craig's moving screens created the very profession of lighting design.

German Expressionist FilmNew Stagecraft
Era1919–19271890s–1930s
FamilyCinematic Visual StylesStage Design
KindStyleStyle
CuesWarped sets / Painted-on shadows / Oblique compositions / Extreme chiaroscuroForm made by light / Abstract space of steps and ramps / Painted flats banished / Compositions of simple volumes
Best used forTelling a character's dread through warped space rather than dialogue · Horror and thriller teasers that establish fear with light and shadow aloneOpera and music theatre where light and levels alone change the scene · Lighting plans that stand performers in abstract space for small houses
TypeSharpen the lettering too, break verticals to match the buildingsKeep lettering minimal and let projected titles follow the light values
CompositionAbandon the horizon, cut the frame obliquely, press ceilings toward the figureCarve the floor with steps and ramps, cut depth with hanging planes
MaterialPaint the shadows into the set, push tones toward two polesPlain grey surfaces and drapes, with color carried only by light
CautionTilting the set alone does not produce interiority, the distortion becomes background decoration, and the frame stops having anything to do with the character.Assuming that light alone makes abstraction leaves the step heights and the performer's paths undecided, and the stage becomes merely a dim room.

Put these two together

Cinematic Visual Styles ／ Stage Design

IndexStyle