"Le Voyage dans la Lune" by George Méliès
CREATIVITY & CINEMA
"Le Voyage dans la Lune"
BY GEORGE MÉLIÈS VIA ECOWORLDREACTOR
Director: Georges Méliès
Stars: Georges Méliès, Jules-Eugène Legris, Victor André , etc.
Producer: Georges Méliès
Language: French
Creative Commons license: Public Domain Mark 1.0
"The trick, intelligently applied, today allows us to make visible the supernatural, the imaginary, even the impossible." Georges Méliès
An internationally popular success at the time of its release, it is the best-known of the hundreds of films made by Méliès, and the moment in which the spaceship lands in the Moon's eye remains one of the most iconic images in the history of cinema. It was named one of the 100 greatest films of the 20th century by The Village Voice, ranking at #84, and in 2002 it became the first work designated as a UNESCO World Heritage film.
"By being afraid of getting hurt, you increase the chances that you will get hurt. Like a tightrope walker. Do you think they can afford to wonder what will happen if they fall? No! They enjoy the thrill that braving a danger pumps through their veins. If you spend your life avoiding getting hurt, you'll probably die of boredom first." - Georges Méliès (Jack and the Cuckoo Clock Heart)
INSPIRATION
When asked in 1930 what inspired him for A Trip to the Moon, Méliès credited Jules Verne's novels From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon. Cinema historians, the mid-20th-century French writer Georges Sadoul first among them, have frequently suggested H. G. Wells's The First Men in the Moon, a French translation of which was published a few months before Méliès made the film, as another likely influence, with Sadoul arguing that the first half of the film (up to the shooting of the projectile) is derived from Verne and that the second half (the travelers' adventures on and in the moon) is derived from Wells.
In addition to these literary sources, various film scholars have suggested that Méliès was heavily influenced by other works, especially Jacques Offenbach's operetta Le voyage dans la lune (an unauthorized parody of Verne's novels) and the A Trip to the Moon attraction at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York The French film historian Thierry Lefebvre hypothesizes that Méliès drew upon both of these works, but in different ways: he appears to have taken the structure of the film—"a trip to the moon, a moon landing, an encounter with extraterrestrials with a deformity, an underground trek, an interview with the Man in the Moon, and a brutal return to reality back on earth"—directly from the 1901 attraction, but also incorporated many plot elements (including the presence of six astronomers with pseudo-scientific names, telescopes that transform into stools, a moonshot cannon mounted above ground, a scene in which the moon appears to approach the viewer, a lunar snowstorm, an earthrise scene, and umbrella-wielding travelers), not to mention the parodic tone of the film, from the Offenbach operetta.
GEORGE MÉLIÈS
Georges Méliès (8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938), was a Frenchillusionist and filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. Méliès, a prolific innovator in the use of special effects, accidentally discovered the substitution stop trick in 1896, and was one of the first filmmakers to usemultiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, and hand-painted color in his work. Because of his ability to seemingly manipulate and transform reality through cinematography, Méliès is sometimes referred to as the first "Cinemagician".
Two of his best-known films are A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904). Both stories involve strange, surreal voyages, somewhat in the style of Jules Verne, and are considered among the most important early science fiction films, though their approach is closer to fantasy. Méliès was also an early pioneer of horror cinema, which can be traced back to his Le Manoir du diable (1896). He was also featured in the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret as well as its film adaptation Hugo, where he was portrayed by Ben Kingsley.
Two of his best-known films are A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904). Both stories involve strange, surreal voyages, somewhat in the style of Jules Verne, and are considered among the most important early science fiction films, though their approach is closer to fantasy. Méliès was also an early pioneer of horror cinema, which can be traced back to his Le Manoir du diable (1896). He was also featured in the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret as well as its film adaptation Hugo, where he was portrayed by Ben Kingsley.
"I must say, to my great regret, the cheapest tricks have the greatest impact." Georges Méliès [Filmmaker and magician, b. 1861, Paris, d. 1938, Paris.]
In popular culture
The work of Georges Méliès has been referenced a number of times in film, television and fiction, including:
-
- Le Grand Méliès (1952) - The life of Georges Méliès is told in this biodrama, directed by Georges Franju. André Méliès plays the part of his own father.
The 1956 film version of Around the World in Eighty Days features Le Voyage Dans La Lune at the Introduction.
-
- In Jean-Luc Godard's 1967 film, La Chinoise, Guillaume (Jean-Pierre Léaud) prefaces a lecture on current events with a discussion of who, in French cinema, was the true originator of the filming of current events, the Lumière brothers or Méliès. Guillaume makes the argument that Méliès, rather than the Lumières, was the true originator of current event films in French cinema.
Queen's 1995 music video "Heaven for Everyone" features clips from Méliès' Le Voyage dans la Lune and The Impossible Voyage.
The music video for "Tonight, Tonight" by The Smashing Pumpkins is a tribute to Méliès and A Trip to the Moon. It has been called one of the greatest music videos of all time.
In the last episode of the HBO miniseries From The Earth to the Moon, Méliès was played by Tchéky Karyo.
In 2003 The New York Guitar Festival commissioned the jazz composer/guitarist Bill Frisell to compose scores for five early films by Georges Méliès, including A Trip to the Moon(1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904). Bill Frisell's Trio presented the world premiere of the scores in January 2004 at two concerts taking place at the New York Guitar Festival. The performances were later broadcast on WNYC New York Public Radio.
The contribution of Méliès to cinema history is the subject of the 2007 illustrated novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, and Martin Scorsese's 2011 film adaptation of it as Hugo with Ben Kingsley playing Méliès.
The production of Katy Perry's performance of her song Wide Awake at the 2012 Billboard Music Awards was based upon Méliès' A Trip To The Moon.
On August 10, 2013, as part of the on going Return of Moon Maid saga, the Dick Tracy strip introduced Méliès whose head looks like the Man in the Moon seen in A Trip to the Moon.
In popular culture
The work of Georges Méliès has been referenced a number of times in film, television and fiction, including:
- Le Grand Méliès (1952) - The life of Georges Méliès is told in this biodrama, directed by Georges Franju. André Méliès plays the part of his own father.
The 1956 film version of Around the World in Eighty Days features Le Voyage Dans La Lune at the Introduction.- In Jean-Luc Godard's 1967 film, La Chinoise, Guillaume (Jean-Pierre Léaud) prefaces a lecture on current events with a discussion of who, in French cinema, was the true originator of the filming of current events, the Lumière brothers or Méliès. Guillaume makes the argument that Méliès, rather than the Lumières, was the true originator of current event films in French cinema.
Queen's 1995 music video "Heaven for Everyone" features clips from Méliès' Le Voyage dans la Lune and The Impossible Voyage.
The music video for "Tonight, Tonight" by The Smashing Pumpkins is a tribute to Méliès and A Trip to the Moon. It has been called one of the greatest music videos of all time.
In the last episode of the HBO miniseries From The Earth to the Moon, Méliès was played by Tchéky Karyo.
In 2003 The New York Guitar Festival commissioned the jazz composer/guitarist Bill Frisell to compose scores for five early films by Georges Méliès, including A Trip to the Moon(1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904). Bill Frisell's Trio presented the world premiere of the scores in January 2004 at two concerts taking place at the New York Guitar Festival. The performances were later broadcast on WNYC New York Public Radio.
The contribution of Méliès to cinema history is the subject of the 2007 illustrated novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, and Martin Scorsese's 2011 film adaptation of it as Hugo with Ben Kingsley playing Méliès.
The production of Katy Perry's performance of her song Wide Awake at the 2012 Billboard Music Awards was based upon Méliès' A Trip To The Moon.
On August 10, 2013, as part of the on going Return of Moon Maid saga, the Dick Tracy strip introduced Méliès whose head looks like the Man in the Moon seen in A Trip to the Moon.
This content is under a Creative Commons license (CC BY SA).
Source: "George Méliès" by Wikipedia (CC BY SA)
"Le Voyage dans la Lune/ A Trip to the Moon" by Wikipedia (CC BY SA)
"Le Voyage dans la Lune" by George Méliès via Archive.org (CC0)
Public Domain by CreativeCommons.org (CC BY)
Source: "George Méliès" by Wikipedia (CC BY SA)
"Le Voyage dans la Lune/ A Trip to the Moon" by Wikipedia (CC BY SA)
"Le Voyage dans la Lune" by George Méliès via Archive.org (CC0)
Public Domain by CreativeCommons.org (CC BY)
Except where otherwise 
0 comentarios :