This paper will provide a far-ranging analysis of the relevant aspects of the filmmaking process as it pertains to the development and production of the thesis project, The Good Killing. This analysis will include both a detailed, biographic overview of the making of the film, as well as an in-depth critique of the creative decision-making and practical methodology that guided the production. In this regard, special attention will be first be given to how the project was initially conceived, and, broadly speaking, what was originally intended. Secondly, proceeding sections will examine key elements of the filmmaker’s technical planning, performance, and working philosophy, specifically citing directing style, cinematography, sound and editing. Through this evaluative process, the film will be judged from the standpoint of both concept and execution in order to determine overall success.

Esta dissertação apresenta os resultados de uma análise do filme La terra trema (1947), dirigido pelo italiano Luchino Visconti. Considerando a feição política da obra, procuramos evidenciar o modo como Visconti articula temática e formalmente em seu filme as contradições históricas da Itália do pós-guerra. Para refletirmos a concepção de realismo na cinematografia de Visconti, analisamos alguns artigos que Visconti, Mario Alicata e Giuseppe De Santis publicaram na revista italiana Cinema, no início da década de 1940. Por meio desses artigos, apresentamos o empenho dos autores em retomar a narrativa de Giuseppe Verga para a criação de um novo cinema. Também apresentamos uma leitura do ensaio Alguns temas da questão meridional (1926), de Antonio Gramsci. Com essa leitura, indicaremos linhas de convergências entre pensamento do marxista sardo, e os problemas figurados pelo filme. Através do diálogo com a crítica italiana, e da análise de algumas cenas do filme, refletimos a forma como essa constelação de problemas se configurou no filme La terra trema. / This dissertation presents the results of an analysis of La Terra Trema (1948), directed by Luchino Visconti. Considering the political particularity of the movie, we tried to underline how Visconti articulates in his films thematically and formally the historical contradictions of the post-war Italy. In order to speculate the idea of realism in Viscontis filmography, we analyze articles written by Visconti, Mario Alicata e Giuseppe de Santi published in the Italian magazine Cinema, in the early 1940s. Through these articles, we present the effort of the authors to resume Guiseppe Vergas narrative for the creation of a new cinema. We also present a reading of Antonio Gramscis essay Some Aspects of the Southern Question (1926). With such a reading, we will indicate lines of convergence between Sardian Marxist thought and the problems figured by the film. Through the dialogue with the Italian criticism, and the analyzes of some scenes from the movie, we speculate the form how this constellation of problems have been set in the film La Terra Trema.

Esta dissertação apresenta os resultados de uma análise do filme La terra trema (1947), dirigido pelo italiano Luchino Visconti. Considerando a feição política da obra, procuramos evidenciar o modo como Visconti articula temática e formalmente em seu filme as contradições históricas da Itália do pós-guerra. Para refletirmos a concepção de realismo na cinematografia de Visconti, analisamos alguns artigos que Visconti, Mario Alicata e Giuseppe De Santis publicaram na revista italiana Cinema, no início da década de 1940. Por meio desses artigos, apresentamos o empenho dos autores em retomar a narrativa de Giuseppe Verga para a criação de um novo cinema. Também apresentamos uma leitura do ensaio Alguns temas da questão meridional (1926), de Antonio Gramsci. Com essa leitura, indicaremos linhas de convergências entre pensamento do marxista sardo, e os problemas figurados pelo filme. Através do diálogo com a crítica italiana, e da análise de algumas cenas do filme, refletimos a forma como essa constelação de problemas se configurou no filme La terra trema. / This dissertation presents the results of an analysis of La Terra Trema (1948), directed by Luchino Visconti. Considering the political particularity of the movie, we tried to underline how Visconti articulates in his films thematically and formally the historical contradictions of the post-war Italy. In order to speculate the idea of realism in Viscontis filmography, we analyze articles written by Visconti, Mario Alicata e Giuseppe de Santi published in the Italian magazine Cinema, in the early 1940s. Through these articles, we present the effort of the authors to resume Guiseppe Vergas narrative for the creation of a new cinema. We also present a reading of Antonio Gramscis essay Some Aspects of the Southern Question (1926). With such a reading, we will indicate lines of convergence between Sardian Marxist thought and the problems figured by the film. Through the dialogue with the Italian criticism, and the analyzes of some scenes from the movie, we speculate the form how this constellation of problems have been set in the film La Terra Trema.

La modernité cinématographique désigne une remise en cause de la représentation classique au moment de la Seconde Guerre mondiale qui se manifeste par un retour au documentaire. Celui-ci se traduit de deux manières : au sein du cinéma hollywoodien, comme en témoignent la fin du Dictateur de Charlie Chaplin et le début de Citizen Kane d’Orson Welles; et dans l’Europe de l’après-guerre avec le néo-réalisme italien. Dans ce contexte, la critique cinématographique définit l’essai comme une des finalités du cinéma moderne alliant ontologie et langage comme en témoignent les textes d’Alexandre Astruc, André Bazin ou Jacques Rivette. Au milieu des années 1950, le cinéma moderne propose une épure de ces formes cinématographiques avec, d’une part, Nuit et Brouillard d’Alain Resnais, film emblématique de « l’école française du court métrage » et, d’autre part, Voyage en Italie de Roberto Rossellini, affirmation d’un « néo-réalisme plus pur », selon les termes de son auteur. En 1963, deux films français sont à la fois les héritiers du cinéma classique américain et le point de départ d’une réflexion plus approfondie sur l’essai cinématographique, il s’agit de La Jetée de Chris Marker et du Mépris de Jean-Luc Godard. C’est à travers l’étude comparée du parcours de ces deux cinéastes que nous nous proposons de définir l’essai cinématographique comme une forme liée à l’histoire d’un art à un moment particulier. C’est ainsi que l’essai qui connaît ses premières grandes réussites dans les années 1960 se développera dans les années 1990 autour du centenaire du cinéma. De nouveaux enjeux associés à la modernité cinématographique se dessinent alors entre le Nord et le Sud, l’Est et l’Ouest, dans ce passage d’un siècle à l’autre du cinéma. / In the field of cinematic studies, modernity refers to the attempts to challenge classical modes of representations at the time of the Second World War, which take the form of a return to the documentary. This process takes two expressions: one runs through Hollywood productions, for instance the opening scene of Chaplin’s Great Dictator and the conclusion of Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane; the other is apparent in post-war Europe with Italian neorealism. In this context, film criticism defines the essay as one of the objects of modern cinema, joining ontology to language, as described in the works of Alexandre Astruc, André Bazin or Jacques Rivette. In the middle of the 1950s, modern cinema offers striking examples of these cinematographic forms with, on the one hand Alain Resnais’ Night and Fog, a film which is typical of “the French school of short films”, and on the other hand Roberto Rossellini’s Journey to Italy, which its author has described as the expression of “a refine form of neorealism”. In 1963, two French films are at once heirs to the tradition of classic American cinema and the start of a deeper reflection on the cinematographic essay, Chris Marker’s The Jetty and Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt. By comparing the evolution of both these directors we will attempt to define the cinematographic essay as form closely linked to a certain moment in the history of cinema. Thus the essay, after producing its first major works in the 1960s will develop during the 1990s around the time of the hundredth anniversary of cinema. New stakes arise at that time to define cinematographic modernity between North and South, East and West, as cinema enters a new century.