German expressionism

Core Components of Cycle

What does it mean to light like a dreamer?

In this cycle, we’re going back to post-WWI Germany, a moment in history when everything felt unstable: politics, identity, even reality. Out of all that chaos came one of the boldest film movements in cinema history, German Expressionism.

These filmmakers weren’t interested in showing the world as it was. They wanted to show what it felt like. They built crooked streets, painted shadows right onto walls, and lit characters from below to reflect their inner struggles. Meaning wasn’t in the dialogue. It lived in the mise-en-scène.

We’ll explore three major films that define this movement: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Nosferatu (1922), and Metropolis (1927). As we watch, I want you to pay attention to how Robert Wiene, F.W. Murnau, and Fritz Lang used light and space to communicate fear, alienation, and psychological depth, long before anyone said a word.

In our lighting lab, you’ll take these ideas and bring them to life. You’ll experiment with techniques like low key, high key, rim light, Halloween lighting, backlight, and colored gels. You’ll also create one special setup that represents your personal vision of German Expressionism. Your job isn’t just to light a subject. Your job is to design a mood.

Each of you will create a photo portfolio with ten distinct lighting setups. Every image should capture a specific emotion using contrast, shape, and negative space. This is hands-on visual storytelling, and it will help you build the instincts you need to express meaning before anyone speaks.

By the end of this cycle, you won’t just understand how to expose an image. You’ll know how to craft it with emotion.

And if you’re thinking about taking on the role of cinematographer in a future project, this is where you prove that you can take full creative control of lighting.

You’ll also be introduced to the Year in Review Project, where I ask you to prepare a short clip using at least 25 excerpts from films released in the previous year. These clips should be organized around three distinct themes, such as love, action, or fear. The focus is on theme and mood, not genre. That’s because genres often blur into one another, and I want you to think about how scenes convey feeling, not just label. This will be a great exercise to strengthen your editing skills, and past students have really enjoyed the creative challenge.

Assessments in Focus

Your Film of the Week is M (1931), and it connects directly to the visual language of German Expressionism. You will select a key scene and analyse how lighting, framing and set design are used to express emotion, theme or psychological state. Don’t forget to place your analysis within Germany’s cultural context at the time. This is your chance to write like a film student, using clear, purposeful vocabulary to explain how mood is constructed through visual choices, in your own words, not with the help of AI. 😉

Film Portfolio (FP)
This cycle’s lab gives you essential practice for your short film later this year. You will learn how to create tone through mise en scène, how to light with intention, and how to frame for effect. The instincts you develop here, how to communicate through visual design, will help you plan a film that feels deliberate and cohesive. The Year in Review project will also sharpen your editing rhythm, visual pacing and transitions, which are key skills for post-production in your portfolio work.

Comparative Study (CS)
German Expressionism gives you a rich visual and historical style to reference when comparing films across time, culture and genre. Directors like Tim Burton, Guillermo del Toro, Robert Eggers and Zack Snyder have all drawn from this movement. You will see how mood, distortion and exaggerated lighting continue to influence genre films today. The Year in Review will also help here. You will practice to rip and edit multiple clips to fit a shared theme will train your eye to identify stylistic patterns, aesthetic links and how to balance sound, tone and genre.

Collaborative Film Project (CFP) (HL only)
This lab sharpens your eye for lighting, atmosphere and composition. These are central skills in visual planning for the CFP. If you are considering cinematography, directing or production design, this cycle gives you a chance to experiment and refine your approach. You are learning to communicate without dialogue, to build meaning through visual design, and to think in terms of emotional impact per frame. The Year in Review helps reinforce this as well. It gives you a low-stakes space to practice editing, pacing and emotional shifts, which is valuable preparation for your final film.

Classroom Activities

Class 1: Introduction to German Expressionism
We’re kicking off this cycle with a look at one of the most stylised and emotionally charged movements in film history. I’ll walk you through the cultural and historical background of post-World War I Germany, a period of crisis, chaos and artistic experimentation. This is where German Expressionism was born, not from realism, but from a need to express something deeper.

We’ll watch iconic scenes from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Nosferatu (1922) and Metropolis (1927). Then we’ll compare a moment from Nosferatu with a modern Expressionist homage in Edward Scissorhands (1990). Our focus will be on how these filmmakers used distorted sets, harsh lighting and surreal imagery to express internal states and psychological tension. At the end of class, we’ll ask a big question together: Why distort reality?

You’ll also sketch out one dramatic lighting setup to develop in our lab. If time allows, I’ll introduce the Year in Review project today or first thing next class. This is a creative challenge where you’ll build a short video using 20 excerpts from films released last year, grouped by theme or mood. Think “grief,” “happiness,” or “fear,” something conceptual. It’s one of our most open-ended editing exercises, and it’s due before February Break, so keep it in mind as you start collecting clips.

Class 2: Lighting Lab Launch
Now it’s time to get hands-on. We’ll begin with a quick introduction to lighting gear, safety and the basics of emotional lighting. I’ll show you examples of techniques like rim lighting, chiaroscuro, silhouette, Halloween lighting and low key setups, and we’ll talk about how each one creates a specific emotional effect.

Then you’ll break into small groups and begin building your lighting labs. Each of you will need to take your own photos, even if you’re working in teams. You’ll focus on light, shadow and contrast, but also on strong composition. Think about what each image is saying, not just how it looks.

Class 3: In-Camera Visual Lab
We’ll continue refining your lab setups and adding the finishing touches to your scenes. For your German Expressionism photo, you’ll be encouraged to use practical elements like of mise-en-scène to give your shots that distorted, dreamlike quality.

You should be thinking like cinematographers now. What emotion are you trying to capture with your light? What is your composition saying? Does it feel like tension, madness, or loneliness? You’ll document your process as you go, and we’ll stop along the way for quick check-ins and creative feedback.

Class 4: Lab Wrap-Up
This is your last full session to complete the photo portfolio. You’ll finalise your lighting setups, re-shoot any missing or unclear images and check that you’ve hit all ten requirements. If something didn’t work, this is your chance to fix it. If something needs adjusting, do it now.

I’ll also check in with each of you to make sure your portfolio is complete and on track. If there’s time, you should start organising your shots into your final submission PDF document.

Class 5: Quiz and Reflection Review
We’ll start class with a short quiz to review the key concepts from this cycle: German Expressionism, lighting styles and mise-en-scène. This will help reinforce vocabulary and give you a solid foundation as we move forward.

After that, we’ll turn to your work. You’ll share your favorite photos, explain your lighting choices and get feedback from your peers. The goal is to reflect on what worked, what didn’t and what you might try differently next time. This final class ties it all together by combining your historical knowledge, your technical skills and your ability to tell stories through light.

Cycle 7 Assessments

Lighting Lab Submission
Your primary assessment this cycle is the Lighting Lab Portfolio, which requires you to submit ten labeled photographs of distinct lighting setups, compiled into a single PDF. These photos should reflect the techniques practiced in class, such as rim lighting, low key lighting, silhouette, chiaroscuro, and more. While these setups may have been created collaboratively, each student is expected to submit their own version, carefully selected, framed, and labeled to reflect their individual understanding of how lighting conveys emotion and tone.

Film of the Week (FoW)
This cycle’s FoW focuses on Metropolis (1927), Fritz Lang’s iconic vision of a futuristic dystopia shaped by industrial power and social inequality.

Choose a scene that uses lighting, set design, or framing to express a specific mood or idea—fear, control, rebellion, oppression, or hope.
How do the visual choices reflect the emotional or political tension of the story?
What does the architecture say about power?
How does shadow shape perception?

Your job is to break down the formal elements (lighting, mise en scène, shot composition, etc.) and connect them to meaning. Don’t just describe.

Year in Review (Project Introduction)

This cycle, I’m officially introducing the Year in Review project. All the information, expectations and sample videos can be found on the dedicated project page. You’ll have everything you need to get inspired and get started. The goal is to sharpen your editing instincts by crafting a thematic montage using scenes from films released last year. Once you finish this project, you won’t just be a student with editing software. You’ll be a real editor. It’s due before February break, so pace yourself and start collecting clips early.

Quiz on German Expressionism and Lighting
To conclude the cycle, you will take a short quiz covering the core concepts explored throughout this unit. Topics include the historical context of German Expressionism, key visual traits of the movement, and technical knowledge of lighting setups and cinematic composition. The quiz is designed to reinforce your understanding and prepare you for future visual analysis and production work.

Reflection and Growth

By the end of this cycle, you will have a stronger eye for how light and space work together to create meaning in film. You will no longer see lighting as just a technical tool, but as an essential part of visual storytelling. You will begin to understand not only how to light a scene, but why certain lighting choices evoke specific emotions, ideas or themes.

You have learned how the German Expressionists distorted reality to express internal states and cultural anxieties. You have practiced those same techniques in your own images, discovering how shadow, shape and negative space can transform a composition. These are not just stylistic choices. They are expressive ones.

More importantly, you are beginning to speak like a filmmaker. You can now describe your choices with clarity and intention. You are developing the language of mise-en-scène, referencing historical movements and applying your growing knowledge to your own projects.

Ask yourself:

• Did your light tell a story?

• What mood did you create with contrast, shadow or silhouette?

• How might you apply these techniques in your own short film?

Remember, light is more than visibility. It is emotion. And every shadow you place is a decision about what your audience will feel.

Teacher’s Notes

Cycle 7 is where style meets story. This is the moment when students stop simply capturing what’s in front of them and start actively designing the image. Expressionism invites exaggeration, symbolism and mood-driven choices. Let them lean into that.

Encourage them to get weird. Let the room go dark. Push students away from flat, stage-like setups and toward cinematic composition. Ask them to think like directors of mood, not just coverage. Sketching, storyboarding and creating a lighting plan for their specific German Expressionism photo will help them clarify and refine ideas before setting up the lighting rig.

This cycle is also a great opportunity to spot your emerging cinematographers, designers and visual stylists. Watch how students experiment with space, light and shadow. These instincts often carry into their Film Portfolios, Collaborative Projects and final productions.

Expect some creative chaos. There will be experimentation, last-minute fixes and technical hiccups. Let it happen. What matters is that students are learning to make intentional visual decisions, not just copying what they’ve seen but understanding why a shot looks and feels the way it does. If you feel one more class is needed for the lab, go for it. Mastering lighting gives a major advantage to anyone aiming for the cinematographer’s role.

For the Year in Review project, I recommend showing as many examples as possible. Students need to see that the heart of this assignment is, in many ways, a return to intellectual montage, as explored during the Soviet Montage cycle. They will be using disconnected clips to create emotional or thematic meaning, conveying an idea purely through juxtaposition.

Above all, remind them: every shadow placed is a narrative choice. Every light is part of a story.