The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (original title: Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari) is a 1920 silent film directed by Robert Wiene from a screenplay written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. It is one of the earliest, most influential and most artistically acclaimed German Expressionist films.
Shortly after World War 1, the art house production 'Dr. Caligari' hit the public with a new approach to film, and the way in which its viewed as a whole.
I have chosen to analyse this German expressionist film in order to gain further knowledge concerning technique and how this film has influence animators including Tim Burton and Brothers Quay.
Like brother's Quay the soundtrack consistes of string instruments only, creating an ominous atmosphere.
The film tells the story of the deranged Dr. Caligari and his faithful sleepwalking Cesare, and their connection to a string of murders in a German mountain village, Holstenwall. Caligari presents one of the earliest examples of a motion picture "frame story" in which the body of the plot is presented as a flashback, as told by Francis.
The main aspect i adore about this production is the set, which consists of painted canvas'. this relates to theatre, and enables the audience to percive the film from different view points. strange objects and fractured shapes connotes the state of mind Germany were in after the war. Having lost, Germany must of feltconfussed about their identity, therefore they were conveying this though the broken shapes and confussion of layout, which has been clevery set up by Robert Wiene.
The set of Tim Burton's 'Vincent', bares incredible resemblence to this film. The abstract shapes and fractured frames create a whole different approach to the film, but carry different meaning for Tim Burton.
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