Film 1
William Cameron Menzies
"Father of production design". First person to be called production designer, Gone With The Wind. His design sketches and storyboards provided the unifying visual structure that helped give the movie its stylistic coherence. Given the title by producer David O. Selznick. He was a brilliant visual artist whose work has inspired generations of production designers.
What are three positions in film that are involved with the visual design?
Cinematography, Director, Production Design
Easy Rider (1969)
Example of a 360 degree panning shot.
Late Spring (1949), Equinox Flower (1958)
Examples of films that showed Yasujiro Ozu's choice to use frontal compositions (instead of over-the-shoulder framings) in dialogue scenes, in which characters look almost into the camera lens which draws the viewer into the scenes in a singular fashion.
What is the ratio of an IMAX film?
1.33:1
What is a film where matte paintings are used?
Black Narcissus, North by Northwest, True Lies, Raiders of the Lost Ark.
In what stage of production are the recording of scenes done?
Production
In a shot of extreme depth of field, where near and distant objects are in focus, what type of lens is being used?
Wide angle lens
Angle of view
How much a lens can see; is directly related to the focal length of a lens. At shorter focal length, the angle of view increases, allowing to film a wider area. At longer focal lengths, the angle of view decreases, limiting filmmakers to photographing a more narrow area.
Stop pulls
Changes in the lens aperature setting that determines how much light the lens is letting into the camera. Stop pulls maintain light continuity as the action of a shot moves from bright exteriors to dim interiors. -Seen in The film Short Cuts, Walt Lloyd (cinematographer)
Rack Focusing
Changing the len's focal plane within a shot. It can make a dynamic contribution to the composition. It creates a kind of editing within a frame as the filmmaker racks focus instead of cutting to a new shot. i.e. seen in Finding Neverland
Chracter Arc
Character development
The Immigrant
Charles Chaplin was the complete filmmaker. He did every aspect of film production and would have played every role if it were possible. He preferred to build a set, dress it with props, then explore its comic possibilities. Performance, not camerawork, was the centerpiece of his films. In the Immigrant, Charlie and his companion have no cash to pay for the meal they've just eaten. The hulking waiter suspects the worst.
What is cinema's dual capability of seeming real?
Cinema corresponds with and transforms the viewer's visual and social experience. Correspondence and transformation establish a very complex relationship between movies and viewers. -Correspondence furnishes the ground that make film intelligible -Transformation unerlies much of the delight that the medium provides.
The Maltese Falcon
Cinematographer Arthur Edeson; expert of shadows and moody tones. This is an example of light-source simulation. The table lamp seems to be casting the light but it is actually provided off camera.
The Last Emporer
Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, legend known for his use of color as a form of communication and was a master of lighting.
Gregg Toland
Cinematographer for Citizen Kane. Known for deep focus compositions, it was his signature as a artist.
Who is the key influence on the deign of a film?
Cinematographer have a key influence on the visual design of a film
John Alton
Cinematographer who was considered radical during the Classical Hollywood period. Did many film noir movies that involved a single lighting source and would be shot with wide screen with huge areas of the frame in shadow. The Big Combo was a key example of this.
How has digital grading changed cinematographers work?
Cinematographers will now be found helping in the post production process a lot more because of the image control that digital timing affords. -they used to be done at the completion of principle photography.
ENR
Complementary process to the photochemical technique of flashing. Named after the creator Ernesto N. Rico. ENR retains a portion of the silver in film emulsion, which is normally removed during developing. This has the effect of making shadows blacker, de-saturating color, and highliting the texture and edges of surfaces. Used in Saving private Ryan
Alfred Hitchcock
Considered a consummate showman and entertainer and a serious artist who used film to explore dark currents of human thought and behavior. -Thrived in the classical Hollywood Studio system because his films were popular with audiences and enjoyed considerable critical respect. -One of the few to be known by name during the time. -He grew up "terrified of the police, of the Jesuit Fathers, of physical punishment, of a lot of things. This is the root of my work". -1920 he entered the British film industry as a scriptwriter and set and costume designer, then became an assistant director and then a director in Germany. -He studied and absorbed the style of German Expressionism, and after that he used it in his films and relied on expressionistically distorted images to suggest an unstable world. -Became popular in British industry with elegant spy thrillers: The Man who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps (1935), The Lady Vanishes (1938). -He moved to the US after this for more creative freedom and technical resources. -Rebecca (1940) was his first US film and won the award for Best Picture. -Suspense was his method of drawing the audience into the fictional screen world. He concentrated on stories of crime, madness, and espionage in which ostensibly innocent characters confront their guilt and complicity in unsavory or villanous activities. -1950's Hitchcock reached the height of his powers and zenith of his career with -Rear Window (1954), where he explored the theme of voyeurism, applying it both to characters int he narrative and to audiences watching the film. -To Catch a Thief (1955), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) a remake -Vertigo (1958) a complex tale of detection, murder, and madness, was Hitchcock's most intensely personal, romantic, and poetic creation. Considered his masterpiece. It's hypnotic, dreamlike, wth a depth and feeling and an uncompromisingly bleak ending. -North by Northwest (1959) - made after he was disappointed with Vertigo's commercial success. It's a fast, witty, hugely entertaining summation of the espionage and chase thrillers he had perfected in his early career. -Psycho (1960) was his most influential film. Story of murder, maddness, and perversion, he manipulated the audience and wanted to them to scream (they did). The coldness, savage brutality, and merciless attitude toward the audience, this film anticipated and introduced the essential characteristics of modern horror. -The Birds (1960) - was basically his last hit After The birds the brutality and cynicism of modern film swept by him. He felt unable to relate to a wold in which extraordinary acts of violence were becoming increasingly commonplace. -Frenzy (1972) he had a brief comeback, Died April 29, 1980. -Genius of self promotion (seen in his cameo appearances in films and his witty introductions on his tv show), his brilliance at frightening viewers made him one of the most popular and famous directors in screen history. -He was a serious and sophisticated artist who made brilliant use of cinema as a vehicle for expressing the forces of darkness and chaos in human life.
Widescreen ratios
1.81:1. 2.35:1. These are wider and more rectangular than classic Hollywood ratios. 2.35:1 is good for westerns, historical dramas. 1.81:1 is better for depicting tall objects
How can the 180-degree line be crossed?
A director can slow bring the camera near the line or on the line before crossing it. A moving camera can cross the line without any cuts.
Realistic Lighting Design
A lighting design that distributes light to simulate an explicit source on screen, whether is be the sun or a table lamp indoor, is realistic lighting. -It suggests the light on screen is cast by one or more specific sources. -i.e. in a exterior scene, the light source would be the sun -These are called "effect" lights, it appears this is where the source of light is coming from
Jump Cut
A method of editing that produces discontinuity by leaving out portions of the action.
Pan and Tilt
A pan shot is lateral movement on screen. A tilt shot is vertical movement on screen. Pans and Tilts tend to establish linking movements, which can be used to connect objects or establish relationships between them or to call attention to new areas of a scene. -Pans can be used to readjust the frame due to character movement.
Who is credited with being the first production designer?
William Cameron Menzies's was given the title for his work on Gone With The Wind. His design sketches and storyboards provided the unifying visual structure that helped give the movie its stylistic coherence. Given the title by producer David O. Selznick.
Design Quotations
With film being over 100 years old now, there are certain established visual conventions that have emerged. -1940s crime movies used hard, low-key lighting; crime movies set in that time period will copy this convention. -Certain styles will be copied/quoted by other filmmakers: --saving private Ryan's unsynchronized shutter was copied by the borne ultimatum. --JFL had the "Richardson Aura" copied by Spike Lee's Clockers. -In Vertigo: Hitchcock and cinematographer Robert Brooks created a highly influential shot- the zoom and tack in opposite direction. This has endured as a lasting visual metaphor used over and over as a symbol for emotional disorientation.
Costumes
Worn by the actors on the set in front of camera. -They give detail of period or setting -provide opportunities for color and spectacle. -provide commentary on the characters, suggesting or revealing essential aspects of their personality or function in the story.
Were there production designers during the studio era of Hollywood?
During this time the title of production designer barely existed. Studio's had an art department that employed illustrators, model builders, set decorators, prop men and prop women and costume designers, all of whom worked under a given production's unit art director
Narration and Point of View
Editing permits filmmakers to control the flow of story information and point of view as it is established through changing camera positions. Editing determines the way in which a scene's story information is conveyed.
Linear system
Editors who work directly on celluloid film, you have to manually search through all the footage to find a desired shot or segment. -This is an older approach usually only seen prior to the 90s. -Linear because the editor could only search for one shot at a time and had to do so by viewing footage sequentially, from start to finish.
Eyeline Match
Establishes that two characters are indeed looking at each other and that the spaces they inhabit, though seen in different shots, are connected.
King Kong
Example of DI with Power Windows. Peter Jackson used power windows in the DI to make subtle alterations which included emphasizing Naomi Watts eyes.
Atonement
Example of Depth of field. the area in focus makes all of the foreground objects a blur and thereby concentrates the viewer's attention on one character, as her face is reflected in a mirror.
Rashomon
Example of Exaggerated performance style. Director Kurosawa liked exaggerated performances that were seen in the silent film era.
Out Of The Past
Example of Film Noir. Low-key lighting in a sophisticated, complex design typical of 1940s film noir. Small portions of the frame are selectively exposed using hard light, leaving other areas to fall quickly into shadow. The effect is moody and ominous.
Schlinder's List
Example of Key Lighting. Janusz Kaminsky. A strong key light on the face of Liam Neeson makes his gaze seem especially intense. Lighting defines space and character and can convey mood, psychology, and emotion.
The Silence of the Lambs
Example of Pictorial Lighting. The officer hung on the cage in the cross position is lit from behind to create a pictorial effect, it's a visual flourish designed to give impact to this moment of horror.
Harry Potter
Example of Super 35 and use of scope extraction
Inception (2010)
Example of anamorphic widescreen.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2004)
Example of close-up shot. Unreal faces in fantasy films can have special expressive power. Gollum's bulging eyes and snarling mouth accurately convey his greed for the ring and his anger at those who stand in his way, but he emotions are conveyed with some exaggeration.
Casablanca
Example of continuity of editing.
Natural Born Killers (1994)
Example of film stock. Oliver Stone and Cinematographer Robert Richardson used 12 different types of stock to create vivid changes in color, contrast, grain, and resolution.
An American in Paris
Example of high-key lighting. This was a famous musical. The high key lighting suited the optimism of the Hollywood musical.
The Godfather
Example of how cinematography helps establish look, mood, and tone on a production.Cinematographer Gordon Willis. Used amber color palette to unify the story across all the films. He was the first to not light the actors eyes, he'd place deep shadows on their faces.
Bonnie and Clyde
Example of jump cut. The jump cut shows Bonnie standing and looking down at her bed, then reclining on the bed. The intervening action is omitted. The result for the viewer is a brief moment of perceptual disorientation.
Saturday Night Fever
Example of mise-en-scene. Production designer Patrizia von Brandenstein "wanted to make a world where people came alive on Saturday night, lived for Saturday night, expressed their true selves on Saturday night (the rest of the week was putting in time)" -The flamboyant suit expressed the dreams and desires of Travolta. His famous white suit became the enduring emblem for the movie.
The Duchess
Example of production design. Filmed at more than a dozen historic homes across England, chosen by the production designer to enhance the realism of the film's setting and costumes.
Gone With the Wind (1939)
Famous example of a crane/boom shot. The final scene shows the camera start close to the women, then pulls back and booms up to a high angle that shows the surrounding field of dead soldiers the tattered flag of the confederates. -The change in perspective creates a powerful dramatic effect by revealing the scale of the carnage surround Scarlett, a scale that the initial framing of the shot concealed.
Why do filmmakers regulate the expression of actors?
Filmmakers regulate the expression to integrate the actor into the design structure of a shot.
What director was known for preferring relatively emotionless acting?
French director Robert Bresson who preferred that his performers be empty vessels. He thought of performers not as actors, but as models who should pose in an emotionally flat manner, whose facial expressions and gestural styles projected specific emotions.
POV Shots
Gives perspective and emotion
What did director Carl Dreyer feel was the most cinematic element?
He felt that the human face was the most cinematic element of all, and he composed his film Joan of Arc almost entirely with close-ups.
Method Acting
It grew out of acting teacher Lee Strasberg's workshops and exerted a powerful influence over a generation of actors starting in the 1950s. The method involves using emotional recall to play a roll. When needing to show emotion, they will search their personal experience for moments when they had these emotions and try to internally recreate the feelings. Method acting enables one to feel the acting
Steadicam
It has revolutionized camera movement in contemporary film. It is a mechanical system that produces a very steady, jitter-free image from hand-held camerawork. -Consists of a vest worn by the camera operator, a stabilizing support arm connecting the camera to the operators vest, and a monitor through which the camera operator views what the camera is seeing. -Used to move the camera through space in a completely smooth and fluid way. -The operator can extend his arm to create a "dolly" shot. -The operator can walk or run along a street to create a "tracking" shot. -Introduced in Bound for Glory and Rocky, famously used in the Shining.
Back Light
It illuminates the rear portion of the set to establish a degree of separation between the actor and the rear of the set.
Who is one of the most famous technical actors?
James Cagney, he had incredible range and just act. He created a role from the outside and not from emotional experience. He would just go out an do a scene, he wouldn't have to psyche himself up.
Famous Cinematographers
James Wong Howe, Janusz Kaminski, Roger Deakins, Haskell Wexler, Nestor Almendros, Gordon Willis, Sven Nykvist, Tonino Delli Colli, and Gordon Willis
What are alternatives to continuity editing?
Jump cutting and montage
Shutter
Located inside the projector, this blocks the light for a fraction of a second while the next frame is pulled down into place.
What is an important quality for any star?
Magnetism of the actor's personality before the camera is what counts most in acting and star quality.
3D Digital Mattes
Mattes that can be manipulated to simulate the perspective of a moving camera.
Cinematography
Pertains to the use of light and color. Cinematographers create the images that viewers see on screen, manipulating their elements to establish unified and memorable design. -Film stock, aspect ratio, the lenses, and camera positions, lighting and color design are all apart of how the visual elements look.
Matte Paintings
Printed into the shot in the laboratory or, more often today, digitally composited as part of the background of a setting. Mattes very effectively extend the scale and depth of the represented scene. When done well, the viewer shouldn't be able to spot it. -They extend the size and scope of sets. -Seen in North by Northwest, Fight Club, Black Narcissus
Reccs
Pronounced "wreckies"; are trips the production designer will take to scout locations. Their objective is find places that are economical to use and also will fit with the evolving look and feel of the film.
Realism
Realistic principles of light-source simulation
Motif
Reoccurring image or sound
Structural Design
Results from the creative choices made by filmmakers, who confront a range of options as a project moves into production. -The position of the camera, angle, lens, use of camera movement, lighting, choreography, how the sound is recorded, dialogue is balanced, music and sound effects all make up the structural design. -results from a filmmaker's inevitable need to choose one or more sets of techniques and tools, based on an organizing design concept.
Visual Design
Results from the way the filmmakers arrange elements before the camera; sets, costumes, actors, props, light, and color
Art Director
Second in command to the production designer, oversees the translation of sketches into sets
Psychological Typage
Seen in expressionist style of filmmaking.
In a shot where the depth of field seems shallow, with a compression of distance so that an object that definitely is very far off looks close, what type of lens is being used?
Telephoto lens
How many shots are in the shower scene of Psycho?
The 40 second scene has 34 shots.
What was Buster Keaton called?
The Great Stoneface
Persistence of vision
The ability of the retina of the eye to retain an image for a fraction of a second after the source is gone.
Perceptual Transformation
The ability to show things in ways that differ from ordinary visual experience. -telephoto or wide-angle lenses cannot be mimic'd by the human eye. -A crane shot cannot be duplicated by the human eye. -Viewers accept the unusual images, characters and stories established in these films as a representational reality that is true on its own stylized terms.
Aspect Ratio
The dimensions of the screen image.
Dramatic Focus
The editor cuts the footage to find or emphasize the dramatic focus of a scene. They can improve an actor's performance with this.
Rough Cut
The first task for the editor, it is done by eliminating all the unusable footage containing technical or performance errors. Errors include out-of-focus shots, unstable camera movements, flubbed lines by an actor, inaudible sound recording, or lighting problems. -Once removed, the editor assembles the remaining footage in scene and sequence order.
Supervising Art Director
The head of the art department during the studio era of Hollywood.
Stars
The indelible feature of motion pictures. Audience go to the movies in large part because of ht stars who appear in them, and this has been the case for decades. -They get the biggest salary, top billing, and is foremost in the minds of viewers.
What is the most common use of color design in film?
The most common use of color design in film is probably to augment and intensify the emotional mood and tone of a scene
Cut
The most commonly used transition, the straight cut. It is visible on screen as a complete and instantaneous change of one image or shot to another. -Typically used to join shots where there is no change of narrative time or place involved.
Editing
The single most important creative step in determining the look and shape of the finished film. The work of joining shots to assemble the finished film.
Empathy
The willingness to understand a character's feelings, and even under the right circumstances, to feel similar emotions.
What are the tools of an Actor's craft?
Their face, voice, and body are their tools. The actor is the human element in film. When an actor seems so honest that they don't seem to acting at all, they are considered great.
Costume Designer
They design what the characters will wear.
Set Decorator
They dress a set with curtains, lamps, furniture
Why must the director, cinematographer, and production designer organize the visual design for a film together?
They must work together to facilitate a unified mise-en-scene in which all the elements-costumes, sets, lights, color, and performance- work together to advance the narrative and to represent mood and atmosphere on screen and to evoke appropriate interpretive and emotional responses by the viewer.
Scenic Artist
They supervise matte paintings and other backdrop portions of a set
Prop Master
They supervise the design and construction of props
Open Range (2003)
This Western, directed by Kevin Costner, has slow pace because he wants to concentrate on the characters and their situation rather than rushing over these for action of special effects. Costner also believes that a slow pace works well in Westerns where characters travel by horse or wagon.
Subtractive color mixing
This replaced additive color systems. It removes various wavelengths from white light. Filters are used of magenta yellow and cyan.
Letterboxed
To reproduce proper aspect ratio for home video viewing, a 2.35:1 ratio is letterboxed. the image is hard matted for video to give a proper screen ratio
Zooms
Used a lot in the 90s, it emphasized surfaces (because it magnifies an image) rather than depth and perspective, as camera movement does.
Hard-matted
Used in letterboxed video, frame bars will mask the top and bottom of the image displayed on the monitor, producing a wide-ratio picture in the center of the screen without removing anything form the top and bottom of the image.
Real Women have Curves - Scene
We see shot, reverse shot used during dialogue. Goes from medium shots to close shots as the drama builds. -Close up shots show reactions of the workers and sister -As girls undress we see the mother's reaction shot -Scene shows great comic timing with the chronology of the undressing and showing of marks on body. -We go from levity and confidence to quick intimacy of seeing her scars
What was the aspect ratio used in classic Hollywood?
1.37:1; nearly a square photo which approximated the dimensions of the TV screen.
Coverage
After the master shot is taken, the actors recreate bits of the action for inserts and close-ups. The editor will intercut with the master shot to create the edited scene. When filming coverage, an actor typically will deliver all his or her dialogue that is recorded from a given camera position, regardless of when it may appear in the scene.
Power Windows
Apart of the Digital Intermediate, it allows you to use a select and mask function to work on one part of an image and leave the rest unchanged.
White Heat
Example of technical approach acting. Jame Cagney exemplified this approach. Here he goes berserk after learning of his mother's death. The scene is a classic and Cagney simply went for it without psyching himself up.
Red Beard (1965)
Example of telephoto lens. Akira Kurosawa. In this scene he cuts between two cameras whose line of sight form a 90-degree angle. The first camera setup uses a telephoto lens and makes the characters seem very close together, the second setup reveals they are actually far apart.
Flagging
Flagging a light source means blocking a selective portion of it. Flags are used to control where light will fall within a frame.
Angle in Context
Not all angles have meanings, sometimes a slow angle is used because people are sitting on the ground and not because they are trying to add to the scene
Dissolve
One shot fades out as the other fades in. When changes of time or place need to be specified, a dissolve can be used. -Used for poetic effect
Matched cut
The composition of the master cut and the medium close-up of the scene match.
How are lighting and camera placement interconnected?
The lighting of each shot is a function of where the camera is positioned.
Camera Position
The most basic way of classifying camera usage. It refers to the distance between the camera and the subject is it photographing. Camera-to-subject distance is a contiuum with an infinite series of points. -The basic positions are the Long Shot, Medium Shot, and Close-up. -Each has its own distinct expressive functions in the cinema.
Gray scale
The range from white to black through an intermediate shade of gray. It determines which colors are used or avoided in costumes and sets during filming of Black and White film. -colors must be separated by brightness in black in white.
Long Shot
-Can be referred to as establishing shots -typically used to stress environment or setting and to show a character's position in relationship to a given environment. -i.e. in Titanic the shits enormous size is conveyed with a series of long shots that contrast the huge ship with the tiny passengers. -look at the back of the book for more maybe
Parallel Editing
2 or more events happening at the same time. -adds suspense -give more plot coverage in an efficient way.
Production Design as Character and Story Design
A production designer creates sets and while doing this also imagines the characters that will be in these sets. What will be hanging on their walls or what books are in their house. This is thought of as character design. -Items in a set help to create a subliminal presence for viewers as well as provides motivation for drama, setting and character.
Tempo and Mood
By varying the length of shots, the editor establishes rhythm, tempo, and pacing. Brief shots will produce a faster pace, and longer duration typically produce a fuller, more measured pacing. The length of shots is never constant. The editor may also cut to establish mood. In a horror film, the cutting can create suspense and shock. If a character goes into a dark room where the monster is lurking, we will see a close-up of the character so that we can't see much of the room and this feeling of not knowing what's coming creates suspense, then a cut to the monster will cause you to jump.
Composition
Can visualize a scene's emotional content through a careful arrangement of objects in the frame.
Aliens
Example of Production design. The dark, grimy interior of the ship and its low-key lighting, helped establish "future noir" in science fiction films for years to come
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Example of Production designers working from a detailed visual concept that organizes the way that sets and costumes are built, dressed, and photographed. -Example of miniature models being used, like we see with Minas Tirith.
Terminator 2
Example of Real locations being used. Through some basic manipulations of light and color, an abandoned steel mill comes to fiery life.
The Passion of the Christ
Example of actors dealing with effects work. Jim Caviezel's performance helps lend credibility to this special-effects scene in which none of the pictured action happened on camera. The whip and the wounding were digital effects added in postproduction. Film actors today increasingly must do their work in relation to nonexistent props, sets, and even other characters.
Vertigo (1958)
Example of correspondence and transformation used in film to make it seem like what we see is real. Hitchcock films a city street from an extremely high angle and combine a zoom and track in opposite directions to suggest the feeling of falling through space. The resulting image deforms normal visual reality, but viewers readily accept this in the interest of style and for the delight that it provides.
On the Waterfront (1954)
Example of shooting out of continuity and acting. In the two-shot, both actors are present and each can build a performance by playing off the other. In the close-up, Rod Steiger had to deliver his lines while Brando was absent from the set. The angle of Steiger's eyes make it seem as if he is looking at Brando, but he had to create his character in the scene under highly artificial conditions.
Seven Samurai
Example of wipe. Akira Kurosawa frequently used the wipe. He liked the aggressive, decisive way that it replaced one shot with the next. A wipe traveling from screen right to screen left erases the shot of an old farmer and reveals a crowded town square. The wipe is visible as the hard bar or line bisecting the frame and dividing the two shots.
What was film traditionally made out of?
For much of history, film was strips of celluloid that run through cameras and projectors.
Production design
Involves the creation of sets, locations, costuming, and all visual environments that are depicted on screen.
Color Design
It extends, sharpens, heightens, or, conversely, minimizes, mitigates, or contrasts with the existing narrative, dramatic, or psychological material of a given scene.
Pictorial Lighting Design
Lighting that stresses purely pictorial or visual values that may be unrelated to strict concerns about source simulation.
Additive
During black and white days, colors were achieved by being added in varying proportions of RGB, by use of filters
Pre-visualization
During pre-production, the cinematographer and production designer consult with the director to discuss and define the film's design. -The three will often will for references in such visual fields as architecture, painting and photography. i.e. 1)The Passion of the Christ's look was based on Renaissance paintings, especially the work of Caravaggio. 2) The Lord of the Rings look was based on book covers and the watercolor paintings used to illustrate the novels and hired two of the illustrators to serve as conceptual artists 3) L.A. Confidential used photographer Robert Frank's 1958 book, The Americans, visual elemtns of high-intensity light that "burns out" in photos, high contrast, and the incorporation of light sources within photos and a 1950's narrative. 4) The Matrix used Japanese manga to supply inspiration to the look
Continuity
Fundamental principle of filmmaking. The story must move along in an orderly and organized fashion. -if a character grows a beard, then shots must be carefully selected to establish the proper continuity of growth.
Beta Movement
The phenomenon of us seeing moving images in movies. If the intervals between a series of illuminated lights, or the positions of a galloping horse captured in a series of ilm frames, are small enough, the eye's motion detectors encode this information as movement.
Thematic Montage
Montages can create ideas in the mind of the viewer. The arrangement of shots cues intellectual, and sometimes emotional, associations by the viewer -Seen in modern times opening with the sheeple.
Typage
The manipulation of a screen character's visual or physical characteristics to suggest psychological or social themes or ideas. A third way in which performance style becomes apart of mise-en-scene. Actors and their performances are visually stylized, often in extreme terms, to suggest that the character embodies a particular social or psychological type or category. The visual encoding of social or psychological information often predominates in a film's mise-en-scene.
What is the most common type of movie star?
The personality star has been the most common type. Since the beginning of cinema, viewers have been attracted to personality stars, and their appeal continues undiminished.
Is continuity important in the lighting of a movie?
Yes, continuity of lighting allows the viewer to accept the world he is watching due to reference and correspondence. Without it, we won't accept the world. It's important to having lighting continuity within a shot and across shots.
The Untouchables (1987)
Example of Wide angle lens that allows for a very large depth of field that keeps all things in focus
The Polar Express (2004)
Example of close-up shot where the expressions seem real. To date, most digitally created faces have involved cartoon or nonhuman characters because their expressions can be rendered in broader terms. In this movie, motion capture techniques converted the performances of live actors (Tom Hanks) into cartoon figures. The results were disappointing. The faces look stiff and do not show the range of expression of a real person.
Dr. Strangelove
Example of low angle shot. The psychotic General Jack Ripper launches a nuclear war because he feels his "precious bodily fluids" are being drained by communist spies. The low camera emphasizes Ripper's looming presence and his madness. The oversized cigar points to his sexual anxieties.
Profile Shots
Used to show weakness like we saw in whiplash where the conductor's full face is shown but not he drummer
Hand-held camera
The camera operator physically holds the camera, either on their shoulder or on a harness strapped to their body. -Long, medium, and close-ups can be filmed in this fashion. -It enables a filmmaker to cover the action of a scene in a more flexible and spontaneous way, while trying to make the image steady and smooth.
Four Parts of the Editing Process
1) Continuity 2) Dramatic Focus 3) tempo, rhythm, mood 4) Narration and point
What does a cut from an establishing shot to a close-up do?
It adds dramatic focus
What are three basic types of visual transition?
Cut, Dissolve, and Fade. They help establish important relations of time and place in a story.
What is Robert DeNiro's characters known for?
He is known for his psychopaths in such film as Taxi Driver and GoodFellas.
What is Dustin Hoffman's characters known for?
He is known for more introverted, withdrawn characters who can't express themselves like in The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, Hero, and Rainmain
Film Editors in the Hollywood Era
Historically and even today, women are not represented in the film industry. During the Hollywood studio era, many women were film editors. -Margaret Booth was one of the most famous, she worked with D.W. Griffith and then became chief editor for MGM, the biggest studio around. She did Mutiny on the Bounty and Camille. --She was promoted to head of all film editing operations in 1939 and was influential in Hollywood's classical continuity editing. She held this job till the 1960s when she became a freelance editor. -Barbara McLean was her counterpart at 20th Century Fox.
Film Stocks
Identified by their manufacturer and stock number (e.g. Kodak 5298). Selecting one of more stocks for a production enables the cinematographer to control a large number of image characteristics. -They vary in terms of their sensitivity to light, color reproduction, tolerance for diverse lighting conditions, amount of grain (tiny specks or dots in the image), contrast levels, sharpness, and resolving power (ability to discriminate fine detail) -Cinematographers select film stock depending on how it handles these characteristics for each project
What are examples of symbolic meaning with the use of color?
In Thirteen, color is slowly drained out as the girl's life spirals out of control. -In Pleasentville, Color enters the film as characters become more self aware.
When does the process of editing being?
In post-production, with the completion of filming or cinematography.
Boom and Crane
Shots that move up or down through space. A camera is mounted on a crane which allows for this movement. -The change in perspective creates a powerful dramatic effect
What is a disadvantage of the nonlinear editing system?
Since the editor is looking at a digital image, the resolution is poor and this can bias editors toward close-ups because they look better on the monitor. Since the image quality is bad on the monitor compared to what film would show, the editor has to rely heavily on their notes about the footage.
Miniatures
Small models that stand in for a portion of the set. Often needed when a very large set, such as a castle or city is needed but cannot be built to scale.
Continuity Editing
Style of cutting that emphasizes smooth and continuously flowing action from shot to shot. Shots are joined so that the action flows smoothly over the cut. -The goal is to emphasize the apparent realism and naturalness of the story and to minimize the view's awareness of film technique and presence of the camera. -The system emphasizes visual coherence and ease of comprehension. -The use of the master shot is used to organize subsequent cutting within a scene, matching shots to the master, the shot-reverse-shot series with the eyeline match, and the 180-degree rule.
Normal lens
A focal length of 50 mm designates a normal lens for a 35-mm film. The most common film format
Space in Cinema
Cinema simulates an illusion of three dimensional space on a flat screen: -Cinematographers control the light on the set to accentuate the shape, texture, and positioning of objects and people to create this illusion. -Film editors join shots to establish spatial constancies on screen that hold regardless of changes int he camera's position and angle of view. -Sound designers use the audio track to convey information about physical space. 1) Frame: the dimensions of the projected area on screen; also refers to the individual still image on a strip of film. 2) Composition: the art of framing (job of the cinematographer.
Digital Grading
Color timing to achieve proper color balance in images that is done digitally. Used to adjust and balance color and tweak other image elements. Enables you to selectively remove or alter individual colors or sections of the image. Aka digital timing
Image Grading
Color timing to achieve proper color balance in images that is done using traditional lab methods. Enabled you to make color adjustments in the entire image overall. Makes gross adjustments to RGB -AKA lab timing
Whiplash
Composition of shots, how sound effects the edits, and the edits themselves. Scene has a mini arc, the shots are slowed down to start to give a sense of dream like state and to build anticipation -Oblique angle used to show things are off kilter -
Crimson Peak
Directed by Guillermo Del Toro 3 things: 1) lighting source and color; green and red colors signify the ghosts 2) editing - focus and speed; first scene has 17 cuts in 29 seconds, the seconds scene has over a minute long cut 3) costume and set design First scene had 17 cuts in 29 seconds
Methods of directors
Directors work in different ways. Some welcome input from the production team. Others are autocratic (Chaplin & Hitchcock). Some will take an active role in editing (Spielberg, Woody Allen, Kubrick). Some think the most important part is the script (Eastwood)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Example of high camera angle. Camera angle can visualize point of view, even one that cannot literally exist. When Clementine and Joel lie on a frozen pond and look at the stars, the camera looks down on the characters as if rom the heavens. The stars cannot be gazing at the characters, but the camera angle creates an effect that suggests something like this idea. The angle adds a moment of visual poetry
Finding Neverland (2004)
Example of rack focusing. We see Kate Winslett and Johnny Depp talking about her children in a scene where rack focusing and the focal point bring first one and then the other character into focus.
First Assistant Director
Deals with extras
Deep focus
Deep focus establishes great depth of field within shots. Gregg Toland used this in Citizen Kane. -Crisp focus of foreground, middle-ground, and background. -used to respect the wholeness of time and space, the shot's duration and depth of field are really accentuated.
The Exorcist (1973)
Example of close-up. Facial close-ups can be a very powerful way of eliciting negative emotion from viewers. When the possessed Regan stares into the camera, as here, it is difficult to avoid flinching. The camera's proximity to a dangerous or frightening character can generate in viewers a sense of being threatened.
Psycho (1960)
Example of high camera angle. Hitchcock solves a narrative problem in Psycho by using this high camera angle. The bizarre, distorting perspective conceals the fact that Norman's mother is dead as he carries her down to the fruit cellar.
Where is the water refill station
In the junk room, I mean vending machine room
Picture of Two Bridges
One shot is taken with a normal (55-mm) lens and the other with a telephoto (205-mm) lens. The photo on the left is shot with the normal lens and looks that way because of camera position. The photo on the right looks that way because of the magnifying effect of the telephoto lens.
High Noon
The length of the film was the length of the movie
Inglorious Basterds (2009)
Example of wide angle lens. The low camera angle shows Aldo after carving a swastika and is a pov. The camera itself is not tilted, the extreme wide angle lens creates parallax distortion, making the characters seem tilted and the tree behind them to lurch at an angle. The tilted composition is achieved with the lens rather than the camera's position.
Whats the difference between cinema and theatre?
In theater, the spectator views a play from a single fixed vantage point. In cinema, viewers watch a shifting series of perspectives on the action, and their ability to understand the story requires synthesizing the shifting points of view as the filmmaker moves from one camera position to another, from shot to shot.
What is the main element of comedy?
Incongruity is the main element. i.e. Charlie Chaplin in the industrial factory.
Montage
Series of quick edits to give a sense of the times
Foley
Sound recordings for effect. Done in postproduction
Structure and the Camera
The camera's position angle, lens, and the camera's movement have major impact on the visual structure of every film.
Titanic
Titanic's production design evokes a now-vanished early-twentieth-century world. Detailed costumes and sets are an essential part of the films structural design.
Once a filmmaker chooses a camera position, the camera is typically locked down on a ________ or other type of platform to produce a _______ image without jitter.
Tripod Steady
Production Design
Gives a sense of realism
Gaffer
Handles the lighting
Emulsion
The light-sensitive surface of the film
Charlie Chaplin
-He understood the emotional implications of camera position. -He used a formula to guide his camera placements: long shot for comedy, close-up for tragedy. -He knew the long shot was best for comedy because you could see the Tramp interact with his environment when causing chaos. Laughter depended on seeing these relationships and having sufficient emotional distance from the character. The long shot provided this distance. -He knew the close-up, by emphasizing a character's emotional reaction, could invite tears rather than laughter. He used close-up's sparingly so that they would have more dramatic intensity. -This use of the close-up is seen in City of Lights (1931) where he is courting a blind flower girl who believes he's a millionaire. When the girl gets he sight back, we see a close-up of charlie's emotional reaction of being caught in a lie and we see a mixture of hope, love, fear, embarrassment, and humiliation. Considered one of the most perfect close-ups in movie history because it emphasizes the complex feelings between the characters, magnifies the emotions on screen, and intensifies them for the film's viewers.
Who are actors with unique and famous body language?
-John Wayne is one of the most famous for nimble walk and his unique body language. -Charlie Chaplin had unique and expressive body language. A pantomime performer. Costumes added to him. -Denzel Washington has a centered, rolling gait that projects calmness and power.
There Will Be Blood (2007)
-This movie shows a medium shot, in widescreen, that preserves the intimacy of the moment between the orphan and Daniel Plainview. The widescreen enables the viewer to see a great deal of the train compartment in which they are riding. -Medium-shot compositions can stress the relationship among characters while integrating them into their environment.
Properties of color
1) Hue: refers to the color itself. Red, blue green, and yellow are hues. 2) Saturation: refers to the strength of a color (red is more saturated than pink 3) Intensity (brightness): refers to how much light a given colored object reflects.
Stages of work for Production Designer
1) Reads the script, visualizes the look of the film. "how do you want the movie to feel?" 2)Break down the script in terms of budgeting issues; sets needed, how much should be in studio vs on location, total cost, find ways to keep costs low. 3)They will explain to the producer how the film can be made for its allotted budget. "they address the script, and the amount of money available and offers the producer a viable way of making the film" 4) After breaking it down into budget issues, they break it down in visual concepts expressed in sketches. 5) These sketches of the proposed sets are the first indication of how the film will look and feel. usually done in only pencil at first before moving on to color drawings 6) They consult with the cinematographer and use pre-visualization software to plan sets. 7) Go on recces to scout locations 8)Their sketches are then turned into models and then full-scale sets which they supervise. 9) They oversee the art director, prop master, scenic artist, and costume designer while the sets are being built
Akela Crane
A Crane with a 72-foot arm. Example of modern technology
Master Shot
A camera position used by filmmakers to record the entire action of a scene from beginning to end. Filmmakers reshoot portions of the scene in close-up and medium shot framings. Editors cut these into the master shot to create the changing optical viewpoints of an edited scene. When used to establish the overall layout of a scene or location, the master shot can double as an establishing shot. -Shows the spatial layout of a scene, all the characters' positions in relation to each other and to the set.
What does a cinematographer add to a film with color?
A cinematographer who works in color can use it to add to the tone, atmosphere and give symbolic meaning to a scene. By choosing film stocks with an understanding of the sensitivity to color, by employing color gelatin over the lights to intensify a dominant color motif within a scene, and working closely with the production designer to establish the range of colors to be employed in sets and costumes, he helps organize the color design.
Iris
A circular pattern appears on screen and gradually closed over the image. Much like fades are used to signal the end of an important chapter, It directs the viewer's attention to a selected portion of the frame, providing visual emphasis. When used to conclude a scene or film, it does so with great finality. -Iris-out to close a scene -Iris-in to open scene.
Design Concept
A series of sketches that illustrate the basic organization of the film, usually done by the production designer. -Done in preproduction -Set and costume designers take this and work to produce settings and costumes that embody the concepts outlined int he production designer's sketches. -This is turned into storyboards and miniature models to plan camera and lighting positions
Zoom lens
A lens with a variable focal length, it can shift from wide-angle to telephoto within a single shot. -Used to create the appearance of camera movement even thought the camera is stationary: -Zooming in will magnify all objects evenly -Zooming out will shrink all objects evenly
Burnout
A lighting effect that refers to an overexposed portion of an image in which details are lost. -i.e. used in the English Patient which takes place in the Sahara Desert; the sunlit areas were over exposed to make the desert appear hotter
Social Typage
A major feature of class Soviet filmmaking in the 1920s. Actors were cast whose physical appearance could be made to suggest the more abstract characteristics of social class. -Segei Eisenstein was known for this -Rocky 4 is a good example of this; soviet communist society dehumanizes its people and the Russian in it is robot-like
Translite
A photograph, blown up to huge proportions, mounted on a translucent screen then lit from behind. Another common way of creating a distant background for a scene or set.
Homage
A reference in a film to another film or filmmaker
Nonlinear Editing System
A system, such as Avid, that works with digital video and gives the editor instantaneous access to any frame, shot or edited sequence distributed anywhere in the existing footage. -Notes are used to describe the characteristics, strengths, and flaws of particular shots.
Rear Projection
A technique simulating location Cinematography by projecting photographic images of a landscape onto a screen. Actors are photographed standing in front o the screen as if they were part of the represented location.
Structure
AKA Film Form: refers to the audiovisual design of a film and the particular tools and techniques used to create that design also referred to as structural design or formal design
Film Form
AKA Structure: refers to the audiovisual design of a film and the particular tools and techniques used to create that design also referred to as structural design or formal design
Star Persona
AKA on screen personality. The collective screen personality that emerges over the course of a star's career from the motion pictures in which they appear. It's a collective creation generated by many films and is greater than any single performance in an individual film.
Parallel action
AKA parallel editing. Two or more things happening at the same time in different locations. It enables the story to weave together several lines of action. Editing that interrelates multiple lines of action helps to create complex narratives.
Long Take
AKA sequence shot. Refers to a shot of very long duration, which can last for the entire length of a scene. In long takes, it becomes the foundation of the scene, not editing.
Hitting the mark
Actors hit their mark when they move in precise accord with the constraints imposed by lighting and depth of field. In a complex and highly specific lighting setup, if an actor misses his mark by taking one extra step crossing the set, he may deliver his line from an unexposed or out-of-focus area of the frame. Hitting the mark without letting the audience see this dimension of performance requires tremendous skill from a performer.
Anamorphic widescreen
Aspect ratio of 2.35:1, used in movies like Momento because the shallow-focus lenses typically used in this format can isolate the main character. In Momento it was effective because the main character is confused and suffering from memory loss. -it produces it's image through a process of squeezing and stretching. -Referred to as 'scope' films.
Snorkel Lens
Attached to a camera at the end of a long flexible tube, or snorkel, the lens can be maneuvered through the very small and tight spaces of a miniature model, and it has a pitch-and roll mechanism that enables it to move in an acrobatic fashion, as if the camera were mounted in an airplane. This produces a convincing illusion of elaborate and extended camera moves.
ADR
Automated Dialogue Replacement. Done in postproduction.
What is one thing used to achieve soft light?
Bounce cards are used to bounce light off a reflective surface to create soft light.
Medium Shot
Brings viewers closer to the characters while still showing some of the environment. -It can stress the relationship among characters while integrating them into their environment. -These shots can be referred to by the number of people in the frame; two-shot (two people), three-shot, four-shot
Why do filmmakers vary camera placement?
By varying camera placement, they can call attention to significant expressions and gestures and thereby help viewers understand the meaning of the relationships and situation depicted on screen. -the effects of camera position are context-dependent, a matter of how a given position is related to the dramatic or emotional content of a shot or scene. -Camera position can enhance or inhibit the viewer's emotional involvement with a character or situation and can elect both positive and negative emotions. -Each position gives the viewer a unique perspective on the action
Camera Angle
Camera angles are classified as variations of three essential positions: low, medium (eye-level) and high. Angles are used for expressive purposes. -They include conveying information about a character's view of the world and accompanying emotions. i.e. in Citizen Kane, the boy is show with a very low angle to show the boy's helplessness with this man towering over him. -It can complicate emotional responses by playing against the visual relationships viewers want to have with characters. i.e. Hitchcock uses high angles in moments of extreme emotional crises like we see in Psycho. -Angle can add a moment of visual poetry
City Lights (1931)
Chaplin's sublime expression in the final image of City lights showed how he understood the emotional implications of camera position, and he reserved the close-up for special moments of pathos and sentiment. His extraordinary face, the tentative gesture of his hand, the rose it clutches - these emphasize his romantic yearning and his pained embarrassment at being revealed as a tramp and not a rich man.
Children of Men
Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki; Example of using as few lights as possible to make the action seem harsh and real instead of the glossy look conventional film lighting creates. Example of practical light simulating a lantern.
What was D.W. Griffith known for?
D.W. Griffith erected a mammoth set as a Babylonian palace in Intolerance. The set was so huge it could accommodate scores of extras, and its most famous feature was six fabukous white elephants, statuary atop glistening marble pillars. Griffith introduced the set to viewers with a dramatic crane shot, with the camer aslowly descending throught he vast open space of the set.
Performance Styles
Deal with the actor's contribution to the film and how filmmakers incorporate actors as visual elements within the frame. -Use of actors can be quite realistic or extremely stylized and pictorial.
Film Gauge
Designates the width of the film; the wider the film, the higher the resolution because the frames are larger. -35mm gauge film is the most conventional for theaters. -65mm gauge is used for IMAX, super high resolution
Super 35
Digitally shot films use this, it uses the full aperture of the 35mm negative frame, including the area normally masked for a soundtrack. This allows the film to be formatted for different screen sizes with ease using scope extraction
The Terminator
Example of Color design to convey mood and tone. Cinematographer Adam Greenberg used hard, blue lighting to bring out the violence and savagery of the title character. Color and lighting design intensify the dramatic and emotional impact of the film's narrative. `
Barry Lyndon
Example of practical light being used. Normally electric lights are used for candlelight but Kubrick and John Alcott used real candles and a super-light-sensitive lens to capture the candle lit effect and diminished the depth of field which was acclaimed
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Example of Composition. Krueger is back-lit making him a silhouette. His face is lit from below, reversing the normal way that shadows are distributed on a human face. The camera angle is low, making him into a looming figure. And he looks directly, and threateningly, at the camera and there us, the viewers.
There Will be Blood (2007)
Example of Composition. We see the two characters who might be long lost brothers placed on either side of a wide screen shot to emphasize the emotional gulf between the men. The visual distance between them corresponds to their emotional state.
My Fair Lady
Example of Costume Design. When we see the main women make her high-society debut, her effect is electric, due in no small part to the eye-catching attire costume designer Cecil Beaton provided. Her hat is beyond words.
Angels of America
Example of Meryl Streep's impressive range. She is equally adept ad comedy and drama, there is no role she cannot play. In this film, she plays four roles including an elderly rabbi.
Last Tango in Paris
Example of Method Acting. In this single, lengthy shot, Marlon Brando used details from his own childhood to create his character in Last Tango in Paris. The raw emotional candor of this performance remains unsurpassed in his career.
Touch of Evil (1958)
Example of Orson Welles use of wide angle lens and deep focus. Used extremely short lenses to emphasize his hero. -Welles fills the camera's wide angle of view with numerous characters and gives them dynamic staging in deep focus. Note the strategic positioning of characters at four planes of distance from the camera.
Bram Stocker's Dracula
Example of Pictorial lighting design. It suggested purely visual effects unconnected to issues of realism. Dracula's shadow disengages from him and creates a pictorial and poetic effect
Seven
Example of Pictorial lighting effects. We see a scene with morgan freeman holding a flashlight in his armpit and it can't even illuminate the room to signify the film's world which is full of moral and spiritual darkness.
Apocalypse Now
Example of Pictorial lighting. Vittorio Storaro. The lighting design stresses the moral conflict between good and evil within each character and suggests an essential equivalence between both men.
Battleship Potemkin
Example of Social Typage. Eisenstein made the soldiers big, hulking, handsome men and the sailors thin, and unappealing. These roles spoke about he social norms they lived in
The Graduate (1967)
Example of a creative and imaginative sequence that uses associational montage to show the hero spending his days floating in his parent's backyard and nights making love to Mrs. Robinson in the hotel room. -Continuity principles, such as matching action, create this disorienting, dreamlike effect in which times and places are indistinct and melt into one another. -The thematic montage allows thee viewer to draw associations across the cuts. They include psychological associations having to do with Ben's alienated frame of mind. He is in a daze, disconnected from his environments, barely conscious of his connection either to his parents or to Mrs. Robinson.
The Social Network
Example of a digitally shot movie. Cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth shot this David Fincher film with the Red camera at 4k, which enabled him to shoot in low light levels, and get rich, luxurious-looking images. Digital capture facilitated color and image correction in the DI (digital intermediate).
The General
Example of acting in cinema and how it amplifies gesture and expression. Minimalist acting styles can be highly effective in cinema because the camera is so sensitive it sees everything a performer does, not matter how tiny. Buster Keaton was another star of the silent comedy. He avoided expressing emotion, the "Great Stoneface". He would stay stoic in moments of mayhem, this ability to underplay his characters offers the purest example of the general rule in art "less is more"
Chinatown
Example of brilliant production design. The design evokes the period setting with exceptional concentration and metaphoric suggestiveness.
Atonement (2007)
Example of camera movement. Camera movement here reveals details and vistas by enlarging perspective. The camera move reveals the horror gradually in the scene as it pulls away.
The Earrings of Madame De...(1953)
Example of camera movement. It's movement reveals decor, simulate character perspective, vizualize social connections among groups of people, and create a series of fluid framings that are exacting int heir focus and design. The tracking shots are used as a vehicle for narrative theme.
The Dark Knight (2008)
Example of camera movement. Rapid movement by objects or by the camera produces motion blur. Even digital effects sequences simulate motion blue because it is so characteristic of the camera's way of seeing. The Joker takes a ride through Gotham, the fast-moving camera makes the background appeared blurred
Pleasentville (1998)
Example of choice of lenses. The film started the movie out with short lenses that were seen during the 50s, as the story progressed, the focal lengths increased which gave the film a feel of an evolving history.
Malcom X
Example of color design in a film. Cinematographer Ernest Dickerson used changes in color to define the film's three narrative sections. The start using bold, saturated colors to characterize an era of excitement, energy and recklessness. In the final third, a balanced palette emphasizing earth tones typified the mature and settled phase of his adult life.
Titus
Example of continuity in editing. In this scene, the reverse-angle shots were photographed in two different locations months apart. The editing joins the locations as if they were one. The continuity that editing creates may be very different from the reality of what the camera actually has photographed.
The Matrix (1999)
Example of correspondence and transformation used in film to make it seem like what we see is real. The illusion of high-speed moving camera shots in The Matrix was created without any actual camera movement. Sophisticated digital software supplied the motion perspective that created the effect. Because 3-D motion cues in the images were realistic, viewers found the effect credible.
The Graduate
Example of costume design. Mrs. Robinson wears a leopard print coat, providing a visual commentary on her predatory behavior. Show how costume design can have subliminal messages.
Star Wars Episode I
Example of costume design. Queen Amidala's costumes create an exaggerated futuristic spectacle. They blend a variety of ethnic and regional elements into a series of outlandish designs. The viewer never know in what flamboyant manner she will appear.
Bram Stokers Dracula
Example of costume design. The imaginative design of Dracula's suit of armor evokes a body flayed of its skin. The helmet it batlike, with horned ears and menacing slits for eyes. It is both angel and devil and is rust colored, a variation of red.
Out of Africa
Example of crossing the line of action and visual continuity. Continuity of movement is maintained despite a change in its right-left orientation. We see a shot of Karen riding toward the camera to erase the line of action and establish new left-right coordinates
Apollo 13
Example of cut being used as visual poetry. Separated by thousands of miles, Hanks and his wife "see" each other across the cut. Their matching eyelines and the camera angles imply that they are looking at one another, despite the literal impossibility at this point in the story for them to do so.
Lawrence of Arabia
Example of cut. This famous cut goes from a closeup of Lawrence blowing out a match to a long shot of the Arabian desert with the sun just below the horizon. This startled viewers with its radical change of scale and with the poetic association that motivates the cut, one that links the burning match with the fiery desert.
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Example of depth of field and composition. The depth of field used created powerful compositions. We see characters framed on left and right and a figure riding up in the middle from extremely far away, drawing out attention to him. The extreme depth of field and the way the shot is held on screen without cutting create remarkable tension of what is going to happen next.
The Matrix
Example of depth of field and composition. We see Neo reflected in the glasses of Morpheus, making morpheus the dominant visual element in the shot, it stresses his power and wisdom compared to Neo's lack of knowledge about he world he has entered.
A Very Long Engagement
Example of dissolve being used for poetic effect. The way the scene plays in a single frame containing a series of shots that dissolve in and out as split-screen effects is very fluid and poetic in manner.
Annie Hall
Example of dramatic focus. Intensive collaboration between Woody Allen and editor Ralph Rosenblum drastically rearranged the design of Annie Hall. During the editing process, Annie became a major character and a stronger narrative emerged. The end of the film includes a montage that was not apart of the script and only came out of the editing process which gave the film dramatic focus.
Rear Window
Example of editing to help with narration and point of view. In cross cutting shots of Jeffries looking off frame with shots presenting views of the apartment courtyard, the editing gives the shot series a point of view structure. Viewers infer the courtyard view is what Jeffries sees
The Seventh Seal
Example of famous cinematography. Sven Nykvist, known for his sensitive and bold use of light made his films 'paintings in motion'. He use deep shadows and chiaroscuro (an effect of contrasted light and shadow created by light falling unevenly or from a particular direction on something.) lighting enhanced the brooding nature of this film.
Seven (1995)
Example of film stock. Shot on Kodak 5287 because this stock gives exceptionally dark blacks, suitable for the mood and theme. Cinematographer Khondji used ENR to add silver and increase the levels of the blacks.
Clockers (1995)
Example of film stock. Spike Lee and Malik Sayeed. first people to use Kodak 5239, which was used for NASA and the Air force. It made the film look raw and accentuated the primary colors to make them pop on screen. This was copied by other famous directors and is commonly used today.
All That Heaven Allows
Example of flagged light to give a pictorial effect. Flagging a light source means blocking a selective portion of it. Flags are used to control where light will fall within a frame.
American Beauty (1999)
Example of great cinematography. Normally first time directors need help from their cinematographer to make decisions on camera placement and lighting. In this film Sam Mendes had a strong visual style in mind and very precise ideas about framing, lighting, and camera placement. It won1999 Best Cinematography.
Erin Brockovich
Example of how films are vehicle's for stars. This film provides Julia Robert's a way to show her screen personality and charisma. She commands the camera's attention with her beauty and force of personality.
The Circus
Example of iris. Contemporary films seldom use the iris. It directs the viewer's attention to a selected portion of the frame, providing visual emphasis. When used to conclude a scene or film, it does so with great finality. At the end of the Circus, Chaplin's melancholy tramp walks away from the camera as an iris slowly closes down around his figure. Visually poetic, it makes fora splendid exit and conclusion to the film.
The Bourne Ultimatum
Example of nonlinear editing. Director Paul Greengrass has developed a style that many have called "shaky-cam". It marries jerk, unstable camerawork to super-fast editing, creating an explosive style for action filmmaking. Shot lengths are extremely brief, and the film as a whole becomes an aggressive montage.
The Great Train Robbery (1931)
Example of pan and tilt. After the robbery, the camera pans and tilts to follow the robbers away from the train and down into a gulch.
Do the Right Thing
Example of production design. The white actors hanging on the wall motivate characters, drama, setting and theme and stimulates actors to do their best work. The pictures illuminates the film's core theme, the role blacks entrepreneurs can play in transforming the city.
Training Day
Example of range of stars. Playing against type can be very effective but also risky. Denzel Washington has tended to play very courageous and moral characters. In Training Day, he plays an evil, corrupt cop and give the role a savage intensity. Washington's daring switch of character, and the brilliance of his performance, had a sensational effect on the film's critical and box-office performance. For won an Oscar for this risky role.
Psycho Shower Scene
Example of rapid montage editing. Editor George Tomasini. Rapid montage editing creates the sensation of a violent murder in Psycho by assembling flash cuts of murderer and victim. The violent pace of the editing intensifies the brutal nature of the scene.
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Example of set design. Ken Adam visualized the Pentagon war room as a big poker table that was a metaphor for the how the men were gambling with the lives of the world. Illuminated maps against the back wall track the flights of bomb-laden planes. The hanging circular light panel supplied the source lighting in the scene.
The Searchers
Example of stars who are type-cast. John Wayne, Western Star, achieved stardom in Stagecoach and over the next 40 years he projected a powerful masculine image characterized by physical strength, moral dignity, fair play, and stubborn independence. His physical power on screen was essential to making a good Western. His physical presence dominates the frame.
Blade Runner
Example of stellar Production Design. It's influential production design concept followed the social realities depicted in script and novel. The visual clutter evokes a ghettoized urban future marked by social breakdown. The film's production design brilliantly embodies the novel's themes of entropy and decay.
Tombstone (1993)
Example of telephoto lens perspective. Used to isolate, emphasize, and intensify a point of dramatic climax.
Casablanca & The African Queen
Example of the evolution of the star persona. Humphrey Bogart's career went from the romantic leading man in his early star career with Casablanca, and evolved to a grizzled, quirky, neurotic characters like in the African Queen
Fightclub
Example of translite. The dramatic skyline at the climax is a translite, a enormous photographic image mounted on translucent screen. A thin netting hung in front of the translite, and as it is moved in the air currents on the set, the distant lights of the city seemed to twinkle
Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
Example of unique structural design in film. Emphasized a digital approach to achieve it's structural design. Clint Eastwood used digital methods of color correction for the first time on this production. The film's severely monochromatic design verges on black-and-white. The film footage was shot and processed normally but then converted to digital video for manipulation to achieve the extremely de-saturated look that Eastwood wanted.
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Example of unique structural design in film. Emphasized traditional photochemical methods. The intensity of this film's battlefield sequences resulted from highly stylized manipulations of cinema technique. In cinema, there is no one "right way to shoot a scene. Structural design results from creative choices made by filmmakers.
Silence of the Lambs
Example of visual design of performance. The lighting of Hannibal Lector reverses the normative distribution of shadows on the human face to give him an eerie and unnatural appearance. The lighting and composition enhance and intensify the performance integrating the actor into the shot's visual design.
On the Waterfront
Example of what good acting can add to a film. Good acting conveys the emotion of a scene with truth and honesty. Good actors can be so "in the moment" that they create new, unscripted material in their performance that adds to and improves the scene. Brando's brilliant gesture with the glove reframes all the scene's dialogue with this spontaneous expression of his character's attraction to Edy.
How the West Was Won (1962)
Example of widescreen process called Cinerama. Offered a huge, curved screen onto which three projectors cast an image. It stimulated your peripheral vision giving a feeling of immersion
Gladiator, The Lord of the Rings, The Aviator, and Cinderella Man
Examples of films shot in Super 35 and given scope extraction for theatrical release
Early Summer (1951; Late Spring (1949)
Examples of films that showed Yasujiro Ozu's camera style of keeping it just a few feet off the ground whether is was indoors or out.
What is a universal aspect of acting?
Facial expression is the universal aspect of acting, the camera's ability to emphasize it, is a major reason why cinema appeals throughout the world and across cultures.
Low-Key lighting
Features a relatively bright key light in comparison with a small use of fill light. This creates abundant shadows. -The frame is usually under lit, while small portions are properly lit. -Usually employs Hard light for the high-contrast fast fall-off effect -Popular in Crime movies.
How do filmmakers treat actors as design elements?
Filmmakers can treat actors as design elements in several ways: by emphasizing a performer's unique body language, by choreographing performance and regulating its intensity, by transforming the performer into a visual "type", and by relating the performer to additional structural design elements.
How does visual design add to a performance?
Filmmakers use elements of visual design in ways that affect how a viewer understands a character at given moments in the story. -Can be seen in Citizen Kane when Kane is saying he wants to help the poor but as he's saying it he leans into shadows suggesting he doesn't mean what he says.
Establishing Narrative Organization with Color
Films use color design in an overt way to establish narrative organization, which often overlaps with providing symbolic meaning. -Ray we see his childhood well let and his adult life with desaturated color -Traffic: Washing DC is shown in cold blues, Mexico with a tobassco filter causing browns, other locations are normal filter. quite striking -Blow: Spans from the 1950s to the 1990s, each decade gets a distinctive color characterization. -Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan open with natural color and then shift to be either black and white or desaturated.
What sets motion picture acting apart from theater acting?
Five characteristics of the motion picture medium make the actor's task different from what it is in theatre: 1) lack of rehearsal 2) out-of-continuity shooting 3) amplification pf gesture and expression by the camera and sound recording equipment 4) the effects of lighting, lenses, and green screening 5) The absence of an audience.
Producer
Generally they have administrative control over a production; making sure the production stays on schedule and within budget. -Big name producers will be actively engaged with the director's creative decisions
How are hard and soft lighting designs achieved?
Hard and soft lighting designs can be achieved by using high-key and low-key lighting setups.
What kind of shadows does high-contrast lighting create?
High-contrast lighting creates very strong shadow definition.
Key Light
In the traditional three-point lighting employed in Hollywood films, is the main source of illumination usually directed on the face of the actor.
The Last Laugh (1924)
In this film, F.W. Murnau was limited by the technology of the day but still produced camera movement by getting creative and attaching the camera to a trolley, scaffolding, and to the stomach of a cameraman while he rode a bike. -people thought they used sophisticated equipment but he was just creative
Internal Structural Time
Internal structural time arises from the structural manipulations of film form or technique. If a filmmaker edits a sequence so that the lengths of shots decrease progressively, or become shorter, the tempo of the sequence will accelerate. A rapid camera movement will accelerate the internal structural time of a shot. -It never unfolds at a constant rate. It is a dynamic property, not a fixed one. -Filmmaker modulate internal structural time to maintain viewer interest by changing camera positions, the lengths of shots, color and lighting design and the volume and density of the soundtrack. -Viewers experience it as a series of story events held in dynamic relations of tension and release. -It creates a narrative rhythm that alternately accelerate and decelerate. -While Internal structural time results from a filmmakers manipulation of cinema structure, the viewer experiences it subjectively and has different effects on different people. i.e. someone might find Monster's Ball to have dramatic intensity and others feel it's too slow.
What are the cognitive judgements that influence emotional responses?
Interpreting the performance, a viewer asks whether the character's response is plausible, likely, convincing, and/or proportional to the situation.
Postproduction
Involves the editing of sound and image, composition and recording of the music score, Foley, ADR, creation of visual effects (can occur during production too), and color timing (digital/lab) to achieve proper color balance in the images. Digital video or prints are made of the film for exhibition after this.
Fill LIght
Is used to fill in undesirable areas of shadow that are created by the positioning of the key light and back light.
High-Key Lighting
It employs similar, bright intensities of key and fill, producing an even level of illumination throughout the scene with low contrast and few shadow areas. -Popular with musicals; Singing in the Rain, An American in Paris, The Band Wagon -MGM was known for high-key lighting to showcase their sets and costumes
What was Ken Adam known for.
Ken Adam is one of cinema's most imaginative production designers; he did two Kubrick films and seven James Bond films. He established the essential feature of a villain's huge futuristic headquarters seen throughout the series.
What is the main source of illumination usually directed on the face of the performer in a film?
Key light is the main source of illumination.
What are the three sources of light in traditional lighting employed in film?
Key light, fill light, back light.
Telephoto lenses
Lenses with focal lengths greater than the normal range -in relation to depth of field: a telephoto lens will tend to give filmmaker a s hallow depth of field, an inability to hold near and far points of focus. -causes distant objects to appear much closer than they really are. -Used famously by Akira Kurosawa, Robert Altman, and Sam Peckinpah
Wide-angle lenses
Lenses with focal lengths less than the normal range. -AKA short-focal-length lenses -in relation to depth of field: The distance between near objects in focus and distant objets in focus can be very great -Used famously by Orson Welles, Scorsese and Tim Burton
What does light do for a film?
Light organizes and defines space in a film. The distribution of light and shadows conveys physical properties of depth, distance, and surface texture, expressed by the ways light falls across objects in a room or scene. This creates the 3D effect on a 2D screen. -Can be very directional
Soft Light
Light that is diffused or scattered by filters or reflecting screens. Soft light creates low-contrast image. -Envelops the actors and set, it's not directional like hard light. -Can be used to create a sense of a happier time
Hard Light
Light that is not scattered or diffused by filters or reflecting screens. Hard light establishes hard contrast. Typically creates high contrast and fast fall-off. The areas in lit and dark places have high contrast, they are sharply defined. The rate of fall-off (change between light and dark) is rapid. This creates high contrast between light and dark areas as they are distributed throughout the frame. Seen in film noir
Who are the most famous female editors?
Margaret Booth (MGM), Barbara McLean (Fox), Adrienne Fazan, Anne Bauchen (Paramount), Dede Allen (worked with Sidney Lumet: dog day afternoon, serpico), Verna Fields (worked with Wexler, Jaws, George Lucas), Anne V. Coates (one of the greatest, Lawrence of Arabia, Murder on the Orient Express), Thelma Schnoonmaker (worked with Scorsese, a famous duo, on Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, Departed)
Who is one of the most famous method actors?
Marlon Brando, one of his greatest jobs was Last Tango in Paris, he uses his own childhood memories to sell the role.
Film Noir
Meaning "black film"; a term designating the low-key lighting setups these film employed as well as the moral darkness of their stories and characters. -Usually crime films, popular in the 1940s and 1950s
Tromp l'oeil
Meaning to fool the eye. Matt paintings are based on this technique which is designed to fool the eye into seeing three dimensions on a flat surface.
What actress has unlimited range?
Meryl Streep has extraordinary range. She's played a country-western singer, a distraught Australian mother accused of mudering her baby, A polish women who has survived a concentration camp, a Danish author who moves to Nairobi, a whitewater adventurer, and many more roles.
Errors of Continuity
Mismatched details in a series of shots. -Seen in the Waterboy and Pretty Woman
Digital Video
More film is shot on high-end digital cameras like the Red (4K), Viper or Sony's CineAlta.
Francis Ford Copola
Most acclaimed for the Godfather I & II and The Conversation. Masterful storytelling and ambitious visual design. Also did Apocalypse Now, III, and Bram Stocker's Dracula; his most ambitious and artistically successful work. Known for his conflict between grandiose artistic ambitions and budgetary limitations and the need for box office success.
Where does all film acting derive from?
Nearly all film acting derives from the tradition of naturalism established by Constantin Stanislavsky, a Russian teacher, actor, and director who emphasized that performance should be anchored in the emotional reality of the script and story, the characters, and their situation.
What was the first film to be entirely digitized and color corrected using digital grading?
O Brother, Where Art Thou? was the first feature film to be entirely digitized and color corrected using digital grading.
Cinerama\
Offered a huge, curved screen onto which three projectors cast an image. It stimulated your peripheral vision giving a feeling of immersion -aka Smilebox
Real Locations
Often times real locations will be doctored to make it seem more authentic. Sometimes real locations are used to double as another place.
Sergei Eisenstein
One of the greatest Soviet filmmakers working in the silent and early sound period. -his ideas of editing have exerted tremendous influence over filmmakers throughout the world. -For him editing was decisive. He thought cinema was an art of montage. -said film depends far more on editing than on their content on what is photographed. Montage determines meaning. -Psycho's shower scene was influenced by Eisenstein dialectical montage style
The 180-Degree Rule
One of the most important codes of the continuity system. It establishes continuity of screen direction. The right-left coordinates of screen action remain consistent as long as all camera positions stay on the same side of the line of action. Crossing the line entails a change of screen direction.
Dialectical montage
Ordering shots according to principles of conflict. like conflict of Marxist ideas vs the individual.
Expressionist film
Originated in 1920s German cinema: german expressionist style. it presents grotesque characters, pathological emotional states, and fantastic settings in which the visual distortions were indicators of twisted minds or spirits. -Expressionist styles elicts the anxieties associated with the supernatural, madness, or psychological disturbance.
If a table lamp in the set is rigged to be a real source of lighting for the camera, what type of lighting is it?
Practical, it is a visible light source on that set that actually works for exposure of the film. -these lights are known as practicals
Sets
Physical locations on which the action occurs. They can be outdoors or indoors in the studio.
Why do filmmakers employ pictorial designs?
Pictorial designs are employed to visually symbolize the thematic content of a scene or film. Pictorial designs do this better than realistic designs because the light and color can be manipulated in ways that don't need to look realistic and can relate to underlying social, psychological, or emotional themes of a scene. It enables filmmakers to use light and color to visually embody the significance of a scene or movie.
What is a famous large-scale set design in contemporary film?
Saving Private Ryan. The climax battle takes place in Ramelle. The set was built from scratch, spanned three blocks, had multistory buildings, a bridge over a canal, and massive buildings constructed in different states of destruction to simulate the look of the war. Since it was built from scratch, cables could be hidden under the rubble and which allowed for complex lighting setups.
Editor
Selects the best shots from the large amount of footage the director and cinematographer have provided, assembles these in order, and connects them using a variety of optical transitions.
Meryl Streep
She holds the record for most Academy Award nominations. She has won numerous Golden Globes, Emmy's, and Screen Actor Guild Awards. -She is considered one of the best ever and with films not normally featuring women, this is all the more impressive she's done so well. -She has exceptional command of language, dialect, and diction. -She will even play roles where the audience will not find her endearing, like The Devil Wear Prada or The Manchurian Candidate
Dailies
Shooting on film requires waiting for footage to be developed and printed by a lap, a process that came to be known as waiting on "dailies" -Digital footage has eliminated this inconvenience.
What are the three categories of actors?
Stars, supporting players, and extras.
Content
Story or narrative
Perceptual Correspondence
The ability to show things in ways that reference and correspond with the viewer's visual and social experience. -For example, close-ups emphasize facial expressions. Social experience has taught viewers how to interept these as signs of a person's thoughts, feelings, adn intentions.
Technical Acting
The actor plays the script and creates the character by performing the behavior or dialogue called for in the scene. Actors of the 1930s and 1940s represent this approach.
Convention
The agreement shared by filmmaker and audience about what will be valid and acceptable in a film.
Depth of Field
The amount of area from near to far that will remain in focus; varies with the focal length of the lens. -A wide angle lens can capture much greater depth of field than a telephoto lens. -Wide angle lens: The distance between near objects in focus and distant objets in focus can be very great -Telephoto lens: a telephoto lens will tend to give filmmaker a shallow depth of field, an inability to hold near and far points of focus.
Cross-cutting
The editor goes back and forth, typically with increasing speed, between two or more lines of action. i.e. cross cutting between a speeding train and a bus stuck on the train tracks. The cross cutting will show each, with increasing speed to build tension.
Shot
The basic building block of film. During production, a director creates a film shot by shot. A shot corresponds to the amount of film footage exposed by the camera form the time it is turned on until it is turned off. Films are composed of many shots that are joined together int he process of editing. A shot is the interval on screen between edit points.
Camera movement
The camera can move in virtually any fashion through space. It can reveal information or give a mood. Moving the camera creates a fluid perspective, unlike a static shot with its fixed framing. 4 types of camera movement: 1) Pan and tilt 2) dolly or tracking 3) boom or crane 4) steadicam All of thee shift the boundaries and coordinates of the frame.
Shot-reverse-shot
The camera is positioned over the shoulder of one character and then, in the reverse position, over the shoulder of the other character. The series of alternating compositions is a standard method of filming dialogue scenes.
Final Cut
The competed product of an editor's work. After the rough cut is pruned, refined, and polished, it yields a final cut.
Time and Space in Cinema
The elements of cinematic structure, organized by directors and their production teams, help to shape the distinctive properties of time and space in a film. Movies are an art of time as well as space
Digital Intermediate (DI)
The film images are converted to digital video where they undergo the grading process. The corrected digital footage (the DI) is then scanned back out to film for exhibition of theaters. -For films in 2.35:1 ratio, the scope extraction typically is done during the Digital Intermediate. -Many light and color effects can be done here. -Lighting problems can be fixed here as well. -Allows for precision alterations of the image to be made
The Dark Knight
The first feature film to use two different gauges in different scenes of a movie. Super 35 and 65mm
Fade
The first shot fades completely to black and lasts for a few moments, and then the next shot begins to fade in. There is no moment of superimposition. -Used when a substantial change of time or place needs to be indicated.
What do lenses do for cinematographers?
The lenses give images the visual properties that will express a film's underlying themes or the dramatic requirements of given scenes.
Conveying Mood and Tone
The most common use of color design in film is probably to augment and intensify the emotional mood and tone of a scene. The emotional effects of color are strongly context-dependent. -LOTR: Bags End is shown with yellow/orange fireplace to make it feel cozy/Moria Mines were shot with green light to drain color from the actors faces and make it feel tomblike. -Terminator: The terminator was shown in blue light, shot from a high angle to increase the shadows of his physique and create a harder and colder look
Unit Art Director
The name of the person who oversaw the art department Studio's had an art department that employed illustrators, model builders, set decorators, prop men and prop women and costume designers, all of whom worked under a given production's unit art director.
At what stage do the production designer and cinematographer start working together?
The production designer and cinematographer must consult early, pre-production, because the way a set is designed will affect how it can be lit. The PD will show sketches and models and get feedback about camera positions as well as film stock and this will influence how a set is dressed with props and the colors on the set.
Camera Lens
The third factor, after position and angle, that defines the relationship between the camera and what it photographs. The lens is the device that gathers light and bring it into the camera to a focused point on the film, thereby creating an image that is recorded on the light-sensitive surface of the film, called the emulsion. -A Lens can 1) change the apparent size of the objects on screen 2)change the apparent relationships of depth and distance between near and far objects.
Real Women Have Curves
Themes: Body image, learning to love oneself, struggle, mother daughter relationships, socio-economic issues, tradition of mother feelings vs, self esteem, family, economic injustice, education vs occupation. Ana arc: learns value of work, has to fill her box before she can go on
Modern Times
Themes: perseverance, industrialization, poverty, statement against fears of industrialization, conformity, hope, oppression. -Parallel editing: 1) Chaplin preparing to sing in the back room while the band is performing in the restaurant. 2) girl sleeping upstairs int he store while the robbers were down below 3) Chaplin is in jail meanwhile the girl is stealing the bread.
Production Designer
They supervise the design of the film's visual environments. They oversee the work of set decorators and designers, costume designers, and the prop crew.
What tool do Production designers, cinematographer, and directors use during pre-production?
They will use digital pre-visualization to see in advance how the set will look under a variety of filming conditions, they can build 3-D models of sets and locations, rotate and reformat the models, simulate views of the set from different camera positions with different focal lengths. This allows them to plan camera setups and revise the deign of the set if needed.
Functions of Moving-Camera Shots
Used to reveal dramatic information by enlarging the viewer's field of view. -Also used to narrow and focus attention on significant objects or characters. -Used to express a dynamic sense of movement. -Used to add dramatic and visual impact to scenes. -Can help visualize thematic ideas (inwardly spiraling tracking shot that loops around in We Were Soldiers gives an idea of the enemy closing in) -enables filmmakers to to shape and organize the visual space of a scene
Wipes
Visible as a solid line traveling across the screen, sometimes vertically, sometimes horizontally. As it moves, it pushes one shot off the screen to reveal another -Usually very aggressive, highly visible; a noticeable device -You don't see it much today
What do sets, matte paintings, and miniatures do for a film?
Using sets, matte paintings, and miniatures, production designers have an opportunity to create extraordinary visual statements that become an essential part of a film's mise-en-scene. They add to how a viewer will remember the look of a film. They create an indelible part of the film experience.
Intellectual Montage
Using the editing to suggest ideas and guide the viewer's thought process. -Used frequently by Eisenstein
Who is most known for pushing the meaning of symbolic color?
Vittorio Storaro, Apocalypse Now, Bulworth. He thinks colors have an inherent symbolism, based in their wavelength, to which viewers respond physiologically.
Who are few examples of supporting actor's who were known to steal a show?
Walter Brennan during the studio era and Danny Aiello and Robert Duvall in more contemporary film. Walter Brennan developed very distinct screen personalities in film like Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Red River, and Rio Bravo. He frequently portrayed cantankerous old coots who came close to stealing the film. -Robert Duvall worked his way from supporting actor in films like the Godfather and To Kill a Mocking bird to starring in The Apostle, which he wrote and directed as well.
Dolly and Tracking
Wheeled platform used for mounting the camera in a tracking shot. Referred to as Dolly Shots or tracking shots. -Used to follow a person who is moving or to bring the camera in closer to the action
Flicker fusion
When a light source is switched on and off rapidly enough, a threshold is reached where a blending together of the individual pulses blend together. -24 frames per second achieve this, the projection speed of sound film. -This is why movies can be called flicks, some movies used to be shown at less than 24fps and would flicker throughout.
Subverting Continuity Editing
When the editor fools our schema of time-space relations, constructed by the editing. i.e. Silence of the Lambs does this when buffalo bill answers the door, we are tricked to think the FBI is there but are surprised to fine Clarice.
What makes moves seem real and in three dimensions?
When the perceptual cues in the shots about movement and space seem true, the illusions are credible and compelling and seem real.
Gone With the Wind
William Cameron Menzies's design sketches helped provide a unifying visual structure for a production that frequently changed directors. Menzies architectural visions brought the novel's settings memorably to life. The sumptuous sets and costumes provide a vivid backdrop for the drama, and the filmmakers take care to display them in luxuriant fashion.
What are some of the challenges of a cinematographer?
cinematographers must strategically fit the demands of a location shoot or director's visual design with available camera resources with the imperative for light continuity. -This can entail supplementing natural light with artificial light, executing elaborate on-set lighting adjustments during the course of a shot, or readjusting exposure level in the camera to compensate for changes in light level.
Jaws (1975)
-Michael Chapman was the camera operator who made the hand held cam look steady. He also did Raging Bull and Taxi Driver. -All the shots int he second half of Jaws, once they are at sea, are done with a hand-held camera. -they couldn't use a tripod because it would've caused seas sickness for the audience
Story Time
A time component of cinema. Story time designates the amount of time covered by the narrative. It can be as short as the movie itself or centuries long (Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey). Story time can be organized through the use of flashbacks so that it becomes fragmented, doubling back on itself (Orson Welle's Citizen Kane 1941)
Canted Angle
AKA dutch angle, tilted angle, and oblique angle, and german angle. -Involves a titled camera leaning to one side or the other can be an effective way of making the world look off-kilter, often to express a character's anxieties or disoriented, disorganized frame of mind. -Used as a means to visualize emotional or psychological instability
Motion Parallax
AKA motion perspective; With a zoom lens, the camera zoom movement gives a series of changing spatial relationships produced by movement. -The absence of motion perspective in a shot where the camera seems to be moving is a clear sign that the shot is a zoom and not a true moving camera shot.
Camera, Position, Gesture, and Expression
By varying the camera-to-subject distance, the filmmaker can manipulate the viewer's emotional involvement with the material in complex ways. What the camera sees is what the spectator sees. As the camera moves closer to a character, viewers are brought into the character's personal space in ways that can be very expressive and emotional.
Preproduction
Designates the planning and preparation stage. - Includes writing the script, hiring of cast and crew; production design of sets, costumes, and locales; and planning the cinematography. - Set design and camera style are both pre-visualized using software
Production
Designates the work of filming the script (cinematography) and sound recoding of the action. - a director may request a temp track; a temporary musical score that is similar to the one that will be used for the film
Best Boy
Electrical Work
A Star is Born (1954)
Example of close-up shot (medium close-up really). Changing facial expressions in a single extended shot conveyed the despair of Norman Maine. As a photographic medium, the cinema is especially powerful in its ability to capture and emphasize the smallest details of human facial expression as signs of emotion. The face is one of the cinema's most profound channels for emotional expression.
Stanley Kubrick
He had a 46 year career and made 12 feature films. He's had a big impact and is considered a major filmmaker. Known to spend many years per film. Would take as many as 30-40 takes of a shot to ge tit right. -Intellectual director, his great theme was 'the domination of people by the systems they have created. They offer bleak but complelling visions of human beings being trapped and crushed by the systems - social, military, and technological - they have created. -His work transcended national boundary. -Sustained tracking shots became his signature element of his style. He was influenced by Max Ophuls to do this. -Spartacus (1960) was a film where he wasn't the producer and never let that happen again. -Lolita (1962) - based on controversial novel by Vladimir Nabokov. -Dr. Strangelove (1963) - classic satire of the cold war, had the "we'll meet again" song at the end with the atomic bomb dropping -Juxtaposed nice music with ultra violence in Clockwork Orange and Blue Danube waltz in 2001: Space Odyssey -2001: (1968) was a visual feast -A Clockwork Orange (1971) Stanley said "the central idea of the film has to do with the question of free will. Do we lose our humanity if we are deprived of the choice between good and evil?" He made the main character a thug to give the question resonance -The Shining (1980) - used dazzling Steadicam shots and explored the effects of space on the mind and ends with one of his bleakest images of futility and alienation. -He showed pessimistic visions of human failure to 18th century Ireland in Barr Lyndon (1975) and Full Metal Jacket (1985). -Eyes Wide Shut (1999) - a haunting and mysterious evocation of erotic fantasy and its emotional consequences. He died just after this -Each picture is uniquely different and uniquely resonant and must be seen more than once. -He said cinema was an art. -He is a continuing inspiration
Director
He has chief artistic authority. He coordinates and organizes the artistic inputs of other members of the production team. He answers to the producer
Grips
Help with equipment in general
Yasujiro Ozu
His career lasted from 1927-1963 working mainly with Sochiku Studio -Was able to define a unique, singular visual style essentially inventing a novel method of scenic construction. -Almost all his films were family dramas that focus on transitional events; children drift away from their parents or marry and start new lives, aging relative pass away. -He was committed to these portraits of family life, his titles demonstrated this pattern: Early Spring (1956), Late Spring (1949), Early Summer (1951), The End of Summer (1961), I Graduated, But... (1929) I Flunked, But... (1930), I Was Born, But...(1932). -Themes: comedy, some melancholy, the transient nature of life, the disappointments that living brings. -Worked with Kogo Noda. -He avoided melodrama and heated emotions. -Was meticulous with directions to his actors and was a minimalist which was very effective -Most famous for his visual style that was rigorous and almost unvarying; he kept the camera about 3 feet off the ground, usually because of the stated position of the tatami mat, but even outdoors he'd do it. -Preferred straight cut to join shots over any fade or dissolve, had minimal camera movement, and would often cut away to inanimate objects like an umbrella leaning against a doorway, to give his pictures a still-life imagery to allow the viewer a moment within the narrative to contemplate character behavior and conflict and find understanding. -He used frontal compositions (instead of over-the-shoulder framings) in dialogue scenes, in which characters look almost into the camera lens which draws the viewer into the scenes in a singular fashion. -He often cut between shots in ways that shifte the line-of-sight by 180 degrees, as each shot offered a reverse-field view of the scene's playing area -His visual style was calculated and defines cinema of great poetry and delicacy and uncommon emotional sensitivity.
Close-up Shot
Stresses characters or objects over the surrounding environment, usually expressive or dramatic purposes, and it can be a powerful means for guiding and directing a viewer's attention to important features of a scene's action of meaning. -With a cut to a close-up, a director can emphasize and clarify a character's reaction, as well as bring viewers into the action and the personal emotional space of the character. This can give rise to positive (sympathy, compassion) or negative (fear, anxiety) emotions.
Time in Cinema
The time component has several aspects. 1) Running time designates the duration of the film, the amount of time it takes the viewer to watch the film from beginning to end. Feature Films are normally 90-120. 2) Story time designates the amount of time covered by the narrative. It can be as short as the movie itself or centuries long (Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey). 3) Internal structural time arises from the structural manipulations of film form or technique. i.e. rapid camera movement will accelerate the internal structural time of a shot
Genre
Types of Films
Focal Length
When the lens is focused on a distant object, the distance between the film inside the camera and the optical center of the lens is the focal length. -a focal of 50mm designates a normal lens for a 35-mm film, the most common type
mise-en-scene
the arrangement or scenery and state props in a film. includes composition color and mood. also used to designate a film's overall visual design and to refer to all elements placed before the camera to be photographed. -refers to the design and manipulation of all objects placed in the frame in front of the camera. -includes sets, costumes, light and color, and the actor's performance
