Eng 280 Big Quiz - finished
there are wide angle and telephoto lenses... and zoom define all 3 how does it differ from rack focus= focus pull?
Lenses run in a spectrum from WIDE-ANGLE TO TELEPHOTO. A wide-angle lens has a wide depth of field, which means that objects in the foreground, middleground, and background are all in focus. A telephoto lens, on the other hand, has a narrow depth of field, as it appears to bring distant objects closer. A lens that is capable of shifting from wide-angle to telephoto and back is called a ZOOM LENS. a rack focus shot (sometimes called a focus pull ) changes the plane of focus within the shot by way of a change in focus, rather than by way of a zoom. For instance, a character in the foreground is in sharp focus; he hears a noise and turns to look at the far background; the focus then shifts Notice the difference between a zoom and a rack focus: in a zoom, all the depth planes remain in focus, whereas in a rack focus only one plane at a time is clear and sharp.
continuity editing depending on matches of 3 sorts; what are they
MATCHING ON ACTION occurs when a piece of physical action in the first shot continues in the second shot. ex = baseball shots of pitch and ball the batter then where ball goes EYE-LINE MATCHING works on a similar principle, but instead of using the direction of a physical action to determine the way that shots are set up, filmed, and edited together, it's the direction ofcharacters' gazes that determines where the camera is placed, in which direction the actors are looking when they're filmed, and how the two (or more) resulting shots are edited together. graphic matching may be the most difficult to describe. It refers to matching made on the basis of a compositional element—a door or window frame, for example, or any prominent shape. Graphic matches are made by cutting (or dissolving, fading, or wiping) from one shape in the first shot to a similar shape—in the same relative position in the frame—in the second shot.
what is post production
Much of the work of creating the soundtrack is done during POST-PRODUCTION, the period after the images have been shot. In a way, the term postproduction is something of a misnomer, precisely because the production process goes on long after the photography has been completed. This is certainly the case with the soundtrack.
Long take vs Sequence shot
The first shot of Boogie Nights—and any such shot—is called a LONG TAKE, meaning that the shot continues without a cut for an unusually long time. he chose to unify both space and time by filming it in one continuous take—a long take. A single shot may serve, somewhat paradoxically, as its own sequence or scene; the term for this is a sequence shot. The opening of Hawks's Scarface --> fight scene in revenant = one scene, one shot, long duration of time What makes this a sequence shot is that the single shot comprises the entire scene. The next shot takes place in an entirely different setting
What does frame mean in film = 2 types
1) that the word FRAME has two distinct meanings. The first, described above, refers to each individual rectangle on which a single image is photographed as the strip of celluloid runs through a projector. That's what we're talking about when we say that film is recorded and projected at 24 frames per second: 24 of those little rectangles are first filled with photographic images when they are exposed to light through a lens, and then these frames are projected at the same speed onto a screen. 2) the word frame also describes the borders of the image onscreen—the rectangular frame of darkness on the screen that defines the edge of the image the way a picture frame defines a framed painting or photograph. Sometimes, in theaters, the screen's frame will be further defined by curtains or other masking. Your television set's frame is the metal or plastic edge that surrounds the glass screen.
6 types of off screen space = list
1. offscreen right 2. offscreen left 3. offscreen top 4. offscreen bottom 5. behind the set 6. behind the camera
how did the advent of WW2 affect the making of hollywood movies
WW2 = depression time, Germany use to be the leader in cinema but people pissed about Holocaust. therefore, Germany film declined and film in the US began to increases and new technologies also were introduced around the 40's and the US became the front runner and people started to move to US to make films types of film, war and soldiers returning, and pro US films came out also Billy Wilder = jewish and fled for survival and made movies in the us
what are some historical precursors to the movie musical? how did musicals change between the advent of talkies and the production of technicolor extravaganzas like singin in the rain?
first jazz singer was music and film. music and sound was paired from the begining and transitioned to big holleywood productions and stuff. guessing people ate up live music on screen, single songs became musicals as the tecnhologies advanced
what is surrealism? what does that word mean? what can you day about un chein anadalpou, the first surrealistic film?
black and white french film, lady in dressing room putting on makeup and earrings. film depicting life from many angles. note= after WW1 spontaneous/ freudian/ dream --> under reality dream like / the ideal/ making film look better reality/
Silkov offers a "philosophical point" about time in films, something only film of all the art forms does --> what is it?
capture the changing of time? film is an art of both space and time. There is a philosophical point to film's technical apprehension of time. Unlike any other art form, motion pictures capture a seemingly exact sense of real time passing. As the great Hollywood actor James Stewart once described it, motion pictures are like "pieces of time." Then again, a distinction must be made between real time, the kind measured by clocks, and reel time—the pieces of time that, for example, Spike Lee manipulated by editing to create Malcolm X, a film that covers the central events of a 39-year-old man's life in 202 minutes.
Ch1 Camera distance: What is the effect os a closer shot, relatively speaking? how about a longer shot?
closer shots put emphasis of importance on the person/ object/ thing being filmed longer shots build the scenery or try and show audience broad setting to build understanding "the closer the camera is to the subject, *the more emotional weight the subject gains*. (To be more precise, it's really a matter of how close the camera's lens makes the subject seem to be; this is because a camera's lens may bring the subject closer optically even when the camera is physically far away from the subject" if you cant tell where the sound is coming from in a scene then it must hold little importance -->
like several of our films, sunset blvd mixes some actual, historical figures and spots into its fictions. who and what
demille = real director Hedda Hopper Buster KeatonAnna Q. Nilsson H.B. Warner Ray Evans Jay Livingston silent film stars scene -->cameo
what does depth of focus mean? deep focus?
depth of field—the area of the image between foreground and background that remains in focus. deep focus, which means that objects near the camera, midway, and far from the camera are all in sharp focus. In a deep focus shot, we can see objects and/or characters in all three planes in equally clear focus. A number of shots in Citizen Kane are in deep focus;
Ch4 why are movies edited - composed of numerous separate shots?
to shorten time, and make cohesive ? camera can only hold a certain amount of celluloid film = not enough for a whole movie so the film had to be edited together . narrative film = compresses time by leaving out the boring parts of the stories. -to inc interest -dec unnecessary scenes -to make expressive shots = close up/ low/ high angle
Camera Angles: eye level low angle high angle bird's eye dutch tilt / canted 2 shot 3 shot master shot
they place the camera at the level of an adult's eyes, which is to say five or six feet off the ground when the characters are standing, lower when they are seated. This, not surprisingly, is called an EYE-LEVEL SHOT. When the director shoots his or her subjects from below, the result is a LOW-ANGLE SHOT; (the camera is physically low and looking up a subject) with a low-angle shot, the camera is in effect looking up at the subject. And when he or she shoots the subject from above, the result is a HIGH-ANGLE SHOT; the camera is looking down. An extreme overhead shot, taken seemingly from the sky or ceiling and looking straight down on the subject, is known as a BIRD'S-EYE VIEW. The terms close-up, low-angle shot, extreme long shot, and others assume that the camera is facing the subject squarely, and for the most part shots in feature films are indeed taken straight-on. But a camera can tilt laterally on its axis, too. When the camera tilts horizontally and/or vertically it's called a DUTCH TILT or a canted angle. When a director sets up a TWO-SHOT, he or she creates a shot in which two people appear, generally in medium distance or closer, though of course there can be two-shots of a couple or other type of pair walking that would reveal more of their lower bodies. The point is that two-shots are dominated spatially by two people, making them ideal for conversations. A THREE-SHOT, of course, contains three people—not three people surrounded by a crowd, but three people who are framed in such a way as to constitute a distinct group.
ch2 Mobile framing?
this is how film is different from other art forms The camera can move from side to side, up and down, backward and forward, all of the above, and more. Editing from shot to shot or scene to scene changes the position of the spectator from shot to shot or scene to scene, but camera movement shifts the spectator's position within the shot. No other art form is able to accomplish this feat. Film and video are different. Films offer shifting positions and perspectives.
what is continuity editing
to efface themselves—to render themselves unnoticeable. The overall term that describes this formal system is CONTINUITY EDITING, also known as INVISIBLE EDITING. Continuity editing is a set of editing practices that establish spatial and/or temporal continuity between shots—in other words, any of the various techniques that filmmakers employ to keep their narratives moving forward logically and smoothly, without jarring disruptions in space or time, and without making the audience aware that they are in fact watching a work of art. Continuity editing strives not only to keep disruptions to a minimum but to actively promote a sense of narrative and spatial coherence and stability in the face of hundreds or even thousands of the discrete bits of celluloid called shots.
Intro how about the assertion that Hollywood movies are both too real and too fake?
we don't see the art - we see the representation of reality that has been photographed -discuss that fake lighting and make up that build up false realities about the people and scenes that they are in is indeed fake but everything that is filmed is reality therefore every movie regardless of has done up and glammed out, is completely real.
what general aspects of hollywood studios and particular film types are mimicked and lampooned in hail caesar? what can you recall of the ex. I screened for and discusses with you?
western film bollywood religious movie water accroybats eddie mannix -- even poke fun at communism
What's the distinction between a scene and a sequence? How do montage and crosscutting figure in the latter?
• A scene is everything that happens in a period of time and same place. A sequence does not meet one of those requirements. • Crosscutting- editing that alternates two or more lines of action occurring in different laces or times, connecting them.
What do we mean when we call an actor a star? How is that different from character actors?
• A star is a performer with a national or international reputation who appears in major roles and has great box office appeal. • Character actors are not stars, but rather secondary performers who specialize in playing similar, recognizable character types.
Ch 9 What is figure behavior?
• Actor's gestures and expressions are no different from the props they use and the costumes they wear.
What is method acting? How does it relate to naturalism in acting?
• Actors used their own emotions and backgrounds to inform the characters they played. • This creates the feeling that the actor is acting in attempt to appear not to be performing.
What does camera stylo mean? How does it relate to auteurs?
• Camera stylo- the camera is used as an expressive instrument. • Auteurs use visual elements that will relate to a moral view.
Ch 7 What are conventions (opposed to rules)? What's the key structural convention in narrative screenplay?
• Conventions- An artistic practice or process or device that is commonly accepted and understood within a given culture. There are no rules only conventions that tell people how to respond. • Three act structure is the key structural convention = beginning/ middle/ end
Transitions are usually made with cuts, but also fades, dissolves and wipes. What are these?
• Cut- goes from one scene to another without any kind of transition technique • Fade- image gradually disappears until the screen is all black • Dissolve- one image fades out at the same time another is fading in • Wipes- one image pushes another image off the screen
The French critics who founded auteur theory: what, in sum, did they value?
• Directors are authors • They valued not only the director's style, but also the perceived moral quality of his or her worldview.
ch8 For the most part, directors don't write films: screenwriters do. What reasons do we have then, for thinking of directors as authors of films?
• Directors are responsible for most of the major decisions. They help us put a film into a single thing. Convenient. make their visions some to life and take creative liberties at the expression of emotions with editing and scene decision = act as coach
There are the luminere brothers and then there is george melies. speak on the difference between them in what they did and what they represent
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Ch1 extreme close up close up full shot long shot
A close-up is a shot that isolates an object in the image, making it appear relatively large. A close-up of a human being is generally of that person's face. An extreme close-up might be of the person's eyes—or mouth—or nose—or any element isolated at very close range in the image. a FULL SHOT is of the entire human body. A LONG SHOT appears to be taken from a long distance.
What effect can be acheived by changes in amplititude (volume)
AMPLITUDE, otherwise known as volume, refers to the loudness or softness of the sound we hear. As always in film studies, it's the effect of amplitude that counts toward plausibility, not its strict realism. ex) in movies, the amplitude of the background drops out and the amplitude of the dialogue increases so that what the actors are saying can be heard. Amplitude is often used to *establish and fortify the audience's sense of distance*. An extreme long shot of a cowboy on horseback, for instance, may be accompanied by the sound of wind and dust blowing on the soundtrack, but if the director were to cut to an extreme close-up of the horse's hoofs, thelikely accompanying sound on the soundtrack would be the sound of hoofs hitting dirt. Variations in amplitude may also* indicate a character's subjective awareness of the world around her*. Amplitude is an important *signifier of closeness or distance*, but it is not the only factor.
ch3 aspect ratio why is it an offense to watch a movie in an aspect ratio other than the one it was made in?
ASPECT RATIO is the relation of the width of the rectangular image to its height. silent pictures had an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, a rectangle a third again as wide as it was tall. And while the so-called ACADEMY RATIO, standardized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1932, is usually referred to as being 1.33:1, in point of fact the Academy ratio is 1.37:1—a very slightly wider rectangle than that of silent films. changing the ratio = changes the look of the MES and what the director was intending for the film
whop directed these movies scarface - birth of a nation- citizen kane- sullivans travels- sunset boulevard- 8 1/2- vertigo- what are the directors known for
Brian De Palma known for his suspense, psychological thriller and crime films. --> starwars D. W. Griffith style already emerging: crosscut editing to build tension, acute observation of details to heighten reality, and the use of the camera as a vehicle for expounding his views on society -- eyeline matches / cross cutting Orson Welles film noir Preston Sturges Billy Wilder noted for his comedies and film noir type drama Federico Fellini Known for his distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness Hitchcock suspence/ thrillers Blackmail is said to be the first British talkie.--> style
who's the greatest bloody actor in film history, IMHO? what made him so great?
Carry Gant multi talent, music, dance, actor, versatile
Technicolor started ? required?
Color cinematography began, in a way, in 1903, when a French film company, Pathé, began hand-stenciling colors onto each frame of film. Color film stock, however, was not commonly used in commercial filmmaking until the 1930s and 1940s, when a famous company called Technicolor began to put its three-color processing system to wide use. calling Technicolor film "color stock" is inaccurate; the process originally used black-and-white stock with filters for each of three colors, and release prints were made on blank, black-and-white stock on which color dyes were stamped.
There are four factors that make film acting different from stage acting. What are they?
Four factors: 1. Theater is live and film is recorded 2. The exaggeration of performance elements 3. Acting in front of an audience vs. acting in front of a small crew 4....
Ch1 what is mise- en-scene? what is the point of scrutiniging it?
MES- describes the primary features of cinematic representation. = first step to understanding how the film was produced and the reflected meaning "that which has been put into the scene or put on stage" "expressive totality of what you see in a single image" specifically= all the elements in fron of the camera to be photographed = setting, props, light, costumes, makeup, and figure behavior = actors; camera angle, cinematography -- because this is the what is scene on screne it is analyzed because it is the creative aspects of the film that is controlled by the director and "by analyzing MES we begin to see what those meaning might be" --> director makes the script come alive through MES film director creates mise-en-scene according to the impression he or she wishes to create.
motivated and unmotivated camera movement
MOTIVATED AND UNMOTIVATED CAMERA MOVEMENTS. It's the film's characters who determine whether the movement is motivated or not. For example, if a character begins to walk to the left and the camera tracks with her, the camera movement is considered to be motivated. If the character stands perfectly still but the camera tracks forward toward her, it's unmotivated. This is a useful distinction to the extent that it defines the characters' world as being separate and distinct from the filmmaker's commentary on that world. Motivated camera movements are those that are prompted by the characters and events in the film; unmotivated camera movements are those that pertain to the filmmaker's commentary on characters and events. At the same time, the term unmotivated is a poor choice
2 types of camera movement from a station camera
Pan = pivots on an axis from side to side --> like turning your head Tilt / verticle pan = tilts up and down --> like nodding up and down
most film sound is synchronous but some is nonsynchronous, used for sound bridges. what is a sound bridge?
SYNCHRONOUS or NONSYNCHRONOUS. Synchronous means occurring at the same time, which in cinematic sound terms means that a sound is heard at the same instant as its source appears on the screen. We see a woman's lips move, and we hear the matching words. A visitor presses a doorbell, and we hear the bell. A high school kid turns on a car radio, and music begins to play. These sounds and images are temporally and spatially matched: synchronous sound. Nonsynchronous sounds, in contrast, are sounds that occur at a different time and/or in a different space than what appears onscreen. Directors and editors often use nonsynchronous sounds to make cuts from scene to scene smoother, less jarring. These are called SOUND BRIDGES.
The first Talkie = title, date, how was it done
The Jazz singer 1927 Warner Brothers with synchronized sound. recorded previously then played with the film. recorded with a phonograph (records) then cured to play are the precise moment to match the images on screen =process called "sound on film"
scenes are typically shot in 3 point lighting --> what is that what are the 3 points
The most basic lighting setup is known as three-point lighting, which consists of a key light, a fill light, and a backlight. The key light (A in fig. 3.9) aims directly at the subject—most likely the main character or object in the shot—and is the brightest light source for the shot. The fill light (B) is a softer light, and is usually placed opposite the key light; the fill light cuts down on shadows created by the bright key light. And the backlight (C) shines behind the subject or object, separating him, her, or it from the background—in other words, enhancing the sense of depth in the shot. Backlighting sometimes creates a halo effect around a character's head, particularly at the edges of the hair. A= in front of face B= off to the side of the body C= behind person. - get rid of shadows. illuminates set **** camera is usually similar angle as B the fill light
what was the french new wave, in brief? what did they react to ? how about italian neorealism?
The movies featured unprecedented methods of expression, such as long tracking shots Many of the French New Wave films were produced on tight budgets; often shot in a friend's apartment or yard, using the director's friends as the cast and crew. Directors were also forced to improvise with equipment At the heart of New Wave technique is the issue of money and production value. In the context of social and economic troubles of a post-World War II France, filmmakers sought low-budget alternatives to the usual production methods, and were inspired by the generation of Italian Neorealists before them. Half necessity and half vision, New Wave directors used all that they had available to channel their artistic visions directly to the theatre.
the entire camera ca move in different ways, resulting in these types of shots: Moving Tracking Crane
The simplest way of moving a camera is to place it on a moving object, such as a car or a train or a ship. That's called a MOVING SHOT. The camera can also be placed on its own mobile device. When the camera moves parallel to the ground, it's called a TRACKING SHOT or a DOLLY. If it moves up and down through space it's called a CRANE. For a crane shot, the camera is mounted on a kind of cherry-picker, which enables it to rise very high up in the air—to ascend from ground level into the sky or descend from the sky to ground level. With both of these devices, tracking shots and cranes, the camera moves physically through space.
Ch 6 What's diegesis?
The world within the film
what is the usual effect of a low angle shot? --> exception is in Citizen Kane
Typically, directors use low-angle shots to aggrandize their subjects. After all, "to look up to someone" means that you admire that person. And high-angle shots, because they look down on the subject, are often used to subtly criticize the subject by making him or her seem slightly diminished, or to distance an audience emotionally from the character. In Citizen Kane, for instance, Welles chooses to film his central character in a low-angle shot at precisely the moment of his greatest humiliation, and a technical device that is often employed to signal admiration achieves exactly the opposite effect by making Kane look clumsy and too big for his surroundings, and therefore more pitiable and pathetic.
VO is short for what? where have we encountered it?
VO is Voice Over we have seen voice overs a lot in adaptation and also in Hail Ceaser and in sunset BLVD. " Sometimes in a narrative film, a character seemingly speaks directly to the audience without appearing onscreen."
how was TV responsible for changing the typical aspect ratio of feature films
all Hollywood films were made in the Academy ratio of 1.37:1 until the advent of television in the 1950s. Although TV provided a new market for old movies, it also gave audiences the opportunity to enjoy audiovisual entertainment without leaving their homes. So as a way of offering people something they could not get for free in their living rooms, Hollywood emphasized the enormity of motion picture screens by developing technologies that widened the image far beyond the 1.37:1 Academy ratio.
what does desire have to do with narritive?
as the narrative continues the desires of the main characters usually changes showing progression in the story. in class: we looked at "analyzing conflicts" which tracked the desires of characters as they change --> called segmentation Film studies tends to describe the central character's pursuit of a goal with the word desire. desire is met with conflict which builds the narrative.
what is the gist and upshot of the Kuleshov experiment?
conducted an experiment involving the effects of montage on an audience's perception of emotion. He filmed the great Russian actor Ivan Mozhukin in medium close-up, with a sincere-looking but neutral expression on his face. Kuleshov then filmed a shot of a bowl of soup, a shot of a coffin, and a shot of a little girl playing. Audiences are said to have marveled at the great actor's extraordinary range and subtle technique. Mozhukin could express great hunger! Mozhukin could express extraordinary grief! Mozhukin could express exactly the kind of pride and joy a parent feels when watching his child at play! What a great actor! In fact, of course, it was the same shot of Mozhukin, and he wasn't expressing anything other than neutrality. It was the audience members who provided the emotional content of the sequence simply by making associations in their own minds from one shot to the next. - we make associations with the help of editing
there are 3 analytical categories of sound, what are they
dialogue - spoke words in film btw 2 or more or with self = monologue music = 2 diegetic - part of the scene = see people playing music, live band ect. nondiegetic = soundtrack, music on top of film story sound effect = foley artist make step sounds, "effects are all other noises, including both diegetic and nondiegetic sounds. The crash of ocean waves, birds chirping, a cannon's boom, comical honking sounds—every noise that isn't spoken words or music is considered a sound effect, whether it's diegetic or not."
2 types of off screen space =
diegetic and nondiegetic diegetic= they are important/ are a part of the world with in the film = off screne right, left, top, and bottom non diegetic = not part of the film's world/ reality--> the directors reality = behind the set and behind the camera
how did edisons moving pictures differ from those of the lumineres brothers
edison = large camera, couldnt move around, in studio, staged, accroubates, actors ... Luminere= smaller camera, can make more documentaries like film, people, realism
Intro: how does the example of student film makers at a ball game express this?
ex= 3 3 directors film baseball scene have camera and dont leave seats 1 uses footage for rom com, 2nd a drama about a boy who loves baseball and has autism, and 3rd = unknown topic, but wants film of baseball see same event from 3 different perspectives discusses how the framing, sound, and edits can cause the genre of the movie to be shifted. describes 3 different types of shots, including framing and talks about how each portrays different emotions and fits different genres "same game + same scene + same action = 3 different film and how? because each filmmaker has made a series of choices, and each of those choices has artistic, expressive consequences
what are some genre conventions of classic screw comedies
from notes: fall in love differently subtle jabs witty verbal comedy physical humor online: Screwball comedy is more a style and attitude and historical happenstance than a genre - a distinctly American class of battle-of-the-sexes romantic farce. The word screwball denotes lunacy, craziness, eccentricity, ridiculousness, and erratic behavior. Screwball comedies combine farce, slapstick, and the witty dialogue of more sophisticated films. In general, they are light-hearted, frothy, often sophisticated, romantic stories, commonly focusing on a battle of the sexes in which both co-protagonists try to outwit or outmaneuver each other. The couple is often a fairly eccentric, but well-to-do female interested in romance and a generally passive, emasculated, or weak male who resists romance
what was the hays code? when did it start and end? what was it succeeded by?
governing rules on film in 1930 - 1934 can say bad stuff about laws, aspects of religion are off limits, kissing rule on screen --> hitchcocks kissing scene that tried to break the rule rules on sex, murder scene, topics ect. -very strict A Code to Govern the Making of Talking, Synchronized and Silent Motion Pictures "The Motion Picture Production Code" 1934-1968 little more lenient
difference from high key and low key lighting? movies associated with both
key light is the source of two commonly used adjectives: low key and high key. To call something high key is to say that it's intense, whereas low key means subdued. The overly cheerful atmosphere of a television game show would be described as high key, whereas the smoky mood of a jazz club would be called low key. The lower key the light, the more shadowy the effect. The distorting, spooky nature of extremely low-key lighting is perfectly illustrated by a trick almost every child has played: in the dark, you shine a flashlight up at your face from below your chin. That flashlight was your key light, and since there was no fill light at all, the proportion of fill to key was as low as you could get. Bright, even high-key lighting is often used in comedies and musicals to enhance a sense of liveliness and high energy. Conversely, the shadows created by low-key lighting work so well in mysteries and horror films that they have long been an important convention of those GENRES.
what does a Foley artist do
make the sound effects like steps, door opening sounds, rain on roof top sound effects creator who duplicates certain sounds in a special recording add realism
Montage? in America sense? French sense? Russian sense?
montage describes the various ways in which filmmakers string individual shots together to form a series. In France, the word montage simply means editing—any kind of editing. As described in the example of a simple cut, above, the filmmaker takes two pieces of exposed and processed celluloid, trims them down to the length she wants—decisions made on the basis of the expressive and/or graphic content of the image, or the dialogue, or a combination of both—and literally tapes them together. the United States, the term montage refers more specifically to a film sequence that relies on editing to condense or expand action, space, or time. The effect is often that of a rapid-fire series of interrelated images. Imagine that a director is telling the story of a rock band that forms in Omaha, and he needs to move them quickly to Hollywood, where they will perform live on a television show. American-style montage sequence, the band has moved all the way from the Midwest to L.A. in less than a minute. This montage condenses time and space—a 1,700-mile trip that would take several days in real time shrinks down in screen time to about 45 seconds. American-style montage can expand time and space Russian = 3 people Pudovkin believed that shots were like bricks that were carefully placed, one by one, to form a kind of cinematic wall, and that montage was effectively the cement that held them together; the resulting film, like a wall, was more meaningful than the simple sum of its bricklike parts because montage added meaning to the individual shots' content. For Eisenstein, montage meant a kind of dynamic editing used both to expose and explore the dialectics, or oppositional conflicts, of a given situation, and to create in the mind of the viewer a revolutionary synthesis.Eisenstein, shots were meant to collide; his style of montage was the opposite of smooth, apparently seamless continuity editing
I showed some videos from a youtube outlet called Every Frame a Painting: one using Japanese dirctor Akira Kurosawa on composing movement, another using steven spielberg to discuss long takes. what do you take from these
movement and framing were discussed. director directs the audience attention the lighting/ forground/ what is closest to the screne/ who is speeking and spoken to triangle and square made moving eyes shaping/ framing ----------------------------------------------------- spielberg use of long shots what the long shot to go unnoticed keep things interesting <4 ways> 1. move actors around 2. follow movement and swing around 3. breakdown shot and angles with wide or over shoulder shots = multiple compositions 4. special effects in the background or wide shot. --> doesnt like green screne
How (in brief) have film-acting styles changed over time?
over the top and theatrical performances transitioned to more realistic and notions of what constitutes naturalism chanced and in the 1950s performances were naturalistic and straight from the heart more than 40 years later there performances are still electrifying but they seem much more stylized and less naturalist then they originally did
what is the shot/ reverse-shot pattern? what is the 180 system or rule?
premise: 2 people talking on screen, look like they are facing each other but in reality one is facing and the other is turned so camera 1 is face on one person and camera 2 is face on the other Imagine a scene taking place in a living room; there are two chairs set at three-quarter angles to one another, and in these chairs sit two women. The 180° system suggests that the best way for a director to establish and maintain spatial coherence in this scene (or any scene) is to draw an imaginary line across the axis of the action (the middle of the set), dividing it in two. the 180° axis is represented by a dotted line. If the director keeps the camera on one side of the dotted line for the duration of the sequence—and she would probably choose the side that includes the characters' faces—when the film is edited and projected onto a screen, the woman on the left in the illustration will always be on the right. This seems simple. shot/reverse-shot means that the shots alternate not between the two characters but between the two camera positions, one pointing right, the other pointing left. The shot/reverse-shot pattern can be used to reveal both characters in both shots—the camera pointing over the shoulder of one to the face and upper body of the other—or we can see them as individuals appearing to look at each other by virtue of eye-line matching. Or the shots can be imbalanced: in shot 1 we might see over the shoulder of one character to the face and shoulders of another character, while the so-called reverse shot might only be an angled close-up of the first character. The point is that the director shoots an apparent reverse angle while maintaining the 180° axis system, thereby showing both characters from more or less equal but appropriately reverse angles.
Intro: Representation and Reality what does that suggest about film?
representation = a sign or symbol that communicates meaning with a combination of content and form; horse = reality, sclupture of horse = representation All film and photography is a representation no matter how realistic they seem In all films there are real things represented but they are only a representation of reality and try and imitate reality. ex. can paint a landscape without seeing it. not the same liberties with film medium.
Ch1 What is a shot? what is a scene? difference
shot = the basic element of filmmaking - a piece of film run through the camera, exposed and developed; an uninterrupted run of the camera, or an uninterrupted image on film the scene scene = a unit of dramatic action that takes place in one location during a single time period shot = raw footage scene = one location during defined time, with action the content not only of a sequence of shots but of an individual shot. A shot is a unit of length or duration—a minimal unit of dramatic material; a scene is a longer unit usually consisting of several shots or more.
Ch 6 what is the difference between story and plot
story refers to the events the tale tells, while plot refers to its structuring. The story, in other words, tells what happened The plot, on the other hand, is the order in which the filmmaker reveals these story elements to the audience. ex. how I met your mother = plot is how each show is a flashback but the story starts from college to the wedding
What does editing the camera mean? What's its advantage for directors? What directors are cited as masters at this? What director have we watched is denied auteur status and why?
• Editing the camera—people managed to make movies despite constraints. They only shot what they want to see in the final cut. • The directors do not provide them with extra footage to mess with, forcing studios to use their version of the film. • Howard Hawks was cited as a master • Hitchcock's underlying worldview was largely ignored.
Here's an example of a type: the good guy. What are his characteristics?
• Friendly, but never aggressively so • Masculine • Easygoing, but not lazy • Smart enough, but not overly brainy • Good-looking—handsome but not pretty • Honorable • Able to display a sense of humor
How does publicity lead to extra filmic meaning with performers?
• Not the roles in which they appear on screen, but the magazines, television shows, and websites they appear on off-screen. It works as the creation and maintenance of a stars persona.
What does casting against type mean?
• Putting an actor in a role that they wouldn't normally play
What is segmentation? Does it deal with storyline or plot?
• Segmentation- a formal analysis of a film's story and plot • Segmentations are about plot it revels not only its formal structural patterns but also implicit political argument about race and perception or misperception as the case may be.
What are some prime examples of women as types?
• The blonde bombshell- Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield • The Femme fatale- Glen Close, Kathleen Turner
What are three dramatic unities? Which one do films mostly observe?
• The three dramatic unities are: 1. The unity of action 2. The unity of place 3. The unity of time • Films mostly observe the first unity- that of action
What can you say about the Hollywood film studio system—what it was, what problems it created for directors as auteurs?
• There was a writing department with a staff of screenwriters whose job it was to crank out filmable screenplays for commercial films. • The studio system operated under a mass production model, thre was not a lot of room for individual directors to put their personal stamp on the films they made.
In characters there are types and there are stereotypes. What's the difference?
• Types- a shared, easily grasped image, of how people are in society. • Stereotypes- an oversimplified and sometimes demeaning type.
What do producers do anyway? What do they do now that they didn't do under the studio system and vice versa? (David o. Selznick is a prime example of a studio producer- how so?
• Under the studio system producers were in charge of making sure their films stayed on schedule, or as close to schedule as possible. They looked at dailies, which was the developed footage and either approved it or asked for a retake. • In today's filmmaking world, producers are much more independent, they must often arrange for the financing of each picture they make. • David O. Selznick- began as a studio employee but ended up becoming an independent producer. Created gone with the wind. He supervised the screenplays production.
