HUM1020 Chapter 4-8

Cinema

Aesthetic communication through the design of time and three-dimensional space compressed into a two-dimensional image.

Denouement

After the climax, the events of the play relax through a resolution called the denouement to the end of the play. The final resolution of the plot, ideally the denouement brings about a clear and ordered resolution

Director in a film

Film directors differ from theater directors in that while theater directors may control the movements & interpretation of the actor, once the curtain goes up in a performance, the director has very little control thereafter. The film director, however, has significant control over the final product. That degree of directional precision and control only occurs in cinema.

Woodwinds

Flute, piccolo, oboe, English horn, clarinet, bassoon.

Elements of the arts in dance

Genres of ballet, modern, world concert/ritual, folk, jazz, tap, and musical comedy.

Tragedy

A serious drama in which conflict between a protagonist and a superior force (often fate) concludes in disaster for the hero, who often has a tragic flaw that participates in his own downfall.

Bridging shot

A shot inserted in the editing of a scene to cover a brief break in the continuity of the scene.

Long shot

A shot taken with the camera at a considerable distance from the subject.

Close-up

A shot taken with the camera quite near the subject.

Bebop

A style of jazz characterized by fast tempo, instrumental virtuosity and improvisation based on the combination of harmonic structure and melody. It was developed in the early and mid-1940s.

Dance

one of the most natural and universal of human activities. In virtually every culture, regardless of location or level of sophistication, we find some form of dance. It is without a doubt that dance is part of human communication at its most fundamental level.

Track shot

Taken as the camera moves in the same direction and speed as the object

Shot

What the camera records over a period of time: the basic unit of filmmaking.

Folk Dance

A body of group dances performed to traditional music. As with folk music, we do not the artists who developed it. Folk dancing establishes an individual sense of participation in society, the tribe, or a mass movement.

Two shot

A close-up of two persons with the camera as near as possible while still keeping both subjects within the frame.

Jazz originated

A music created mainly by black Americans in the early 20th century through a combination of elements drawn from European-American and tribal African music.

Tragicomedy

A drama combining the qualities of tragedy and comedy, a mixed form that may have no happy ending, but at least catastrophe is avoided.

Modern

A form of dance developed by dancers interested in breaking from ballet traditions and expressing a more liberating form of movement. It expresses complex emotions and abstract ideas. It is known for: Freedom of movement Usually barefoot but can use shoes based on theme Costume related to dance theme Improvisation used in the development of choreography

Comedy

A genre that deals with the light or the amusing or with serious matters in a light or satiric manner. A farce is wildly active with a trivial theme; a satire uses ridicule and irony .

Establishing shot

A long shot introduced at the beginning of a scene to establish the relationship between time & place, which will then be elaborated upon during subsequent shots.

Jazz

American music marked by lively rhythms with unusual accents and often including melodies made up by musicians as they play. It's roots are in social dances and early musical theatre dance. It's known for: Stylized movement Accents in hands, head, hips and feet English/French terminology to describe movements Jazz shoes or boots Costume related to theme of dance Improvisation.

Reversal

Any turn of fortune. In comedy it often changes the roles of the social classes.

Scale

Arrangement of pitches played in ascending or descending order (think do, re, mi, fa, sol, la , ti, do)

Fugue

Based on one theme that, throughout the piece, is imitated by different melodic lines. (using polyphonic texture)

Syncopation

When accent is on the unaccented

Theme (Music)

Central musical idea that may be restated and varied.

Protagonist

Central personage, we journey through the workings of the play by the actions and decisions of the protagonist. This is not always clear, and may depend upon who the director chooses to focus .

Ballet

Classical or "formal" dance. Its rich tradition rest heavily upon a set of prearranged movements and actions.Basic principle in ballet is the reduction of human gesture to bare essentials, heightened and developed into meaningful patterns.

Dynamics

Degree of loudness or softness (size of the sound wave)

Tempo markings their definitions?

Determine how fast or slow the music should be played and is an Italian word meaning "rate of speed". Metronome marking, or accelerando and ritardando. adagio (slow) andante (moderate), allegro (fast) presto (very quick)

Concerto

Extended composition for a solo instrument and orchestra.

Beat

Individual pulses

Sonata

Instrument piece written in several movements for one to eight players.

Ragtime

Instrumental music popularized by African Americans with a strongly syncopated rhythm and a lively melody. Piano music.

Inciting incident

Introduces the complication. It is an action or decision that upsets the current state of affairs, and opens the middle part of the play or the complication.

Smooth Jazz

It's a genre of music that grew out of jazz fusion and is influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles (separately, or, in any combination).

Cool jazz

It's a style of modern jazz music that arose following the Second World War. It is characterized by its relaxed tempos and lighter tone, in contrast to the bebop style that preceded it. It often employs formal arrangements and incorporates elements of classical music.

Plasticity

It's the quality of film that enables it to be cut, spliced, and ordered according to the needs of the film and the desires of the filmmaker.

Dance communicates through three different ways

Narrative: It tells a story (Ballet) Abstract: there is a specific theme, but no story line the ideas relate to some aspect of human emotion or human condition. (Modern Dance) Divertissement: absence of any narrative or abstract communication in a work. For entertainment/amusement.

Homophonic

One melody played with chords.

Symphony

Orchestral composition, usually in four movements that lasts between twenty and forty-five minutes.

Title of the person who writes the play

Playwright

Opera

Purest integration of the arts. A drama set to music. It integrates drama, poetry, visual art, and architecture with music.

Pitch

Relative highness or lowness of a sound; measurable in sound waves (vibrations per second)

Leitmotif

Repeated theme that relates to a character or idea (jaws or when an evil character is coming in )

Motif

Short melodic or rhythmic idea around which a composer may design a composition.

Monophony

Single musical line without accompaniment. Voices or instruments playing at the same time with the same notes in unison.

Dissolves

Smooth Transitions

Percussion

Snare & bass drums, timpani, triangle, cymbal, xylophone.

Voice and 5 main voice type used in opera for both male and female.

Soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone, bass.

Plot

Structure of the play, the skeleton that gives the play shape and on which the elements are hung. How the play moves through time, from one moment to the next.

Choreography

The director of a dance that plans the patterns of movements for a dancer or a group of dancers.

Theme (Theater)

The ideas that comprise the intellectual content of the play; not necessarily the plot, which is what the play is about, but the thought behind the play which is for us to discover and develop .

Who are the various interpreters involved in a play and how do they differ from one another?

The playwright (the one who writes the play) and the audience stand the director, the designers, and the actors.

Main character

The psychological motivation of the persons in play; Interest in the drama lies in the exploration of how persons with specific character motivations react to the circumstances they find themselves in.

Tempo

The rate of speed of the composition.

Tonic

The root or the first note of a scale or key (ex. note of f flat scale is F Key.

Script

The written document that contains the dialogue used by the actors, with its language & tone.

Set props

These are part of the set design, such as furniture, pictures, rugs, fireplace accessories, etc. They identify the mood of the play and the character of those who inhabit the world they portray.

Hand props

These are used by the actors to help portray characters, such as cigarettes, papers, glasses, etc. Properties can be significant to our understanding of a play- if all is neat and in order as the curtain opens, but as the play develops the actors disrupt the properties, that transition can help illustrate what may have happened.

Absolute film

This film exists for its own sake, to record movement or form. There is no story and rarely runs longer than twelve minutes (one reel) and has no commercial intent.

Melodrama

This genre is characterized by stereotyped characters, implausible plots, and an emphasis on spectacle; for instanced, the forces of good and evil battling in exaggerated circumstances

Complication

This is something that frustrates the normally expected course of events, giving the audience a reason to be interested in the outcome.

Exposition

This is the necessary background information through which the playwright introduces the characters, their personalities, relationships, backgrounds, and present situation. This is often a recognizable section at the beginning of a play, and can be presented through dialogue, narration, setting, lighting, and/or costume.

Narrative

This technique tells a story, using the techniques of theatre. This type of film follows literary construction in that it begins with expository material, adds levels of complications, builds to a climax, and ends with a resolution of all the plot elements.

Documentary film

This type attempts to record actuality using either a sociological or journalistic approach. It does not use reenactment by professional actors and is often shot as the event is occurring.

4 main genres of theater

Tragedy, Comedy, Tragicomedy, Melodrama

Brass

Trumpet, horn, trombone, tuba.

Polyphony

Two or more melodic lines.

Blues

Type of music that appeared @ 1900 from rural African American culture, originally based on work songs and religious spirituals; expresses feelings of loneliness and hopelessness.

Strings

Violin, viola, cello, bass, harp.

Costume designers

Work with the entire body of the actor including hair styles and makeup to suit a specific purpose. Stage costuming has three functions: accents which actors are the most important, and shows the relationships between them; reflects- a particular era, time of day, climate, season, location, or occasion; reveals the style of the performance, the characters of the personages, and the personages' social position, profession, cleanliness, age, physique, and health.

Foreshadowing

preparation for subsequent action, it provides credibility for future action, and moves the play forward by pointing to events that will occur later.