introduction to film and television aesthetics

eye-line match

a cut obeying the axis of action principle, in which the first shot shows a person looking of in one direction and the second shows a nearby space containing what he of she sees. if the person looks left, the following shot should imply that the looker is offscreen right.

documentary

a movie or a television or radio program that provides a factual record or report.

motif

an element in a film that is repeated in a significant way

metaphorical analysis

analyzing a work to determine the hidden/metaphorical meaning

auteurist analysis

analyzing an auteur by analyzing a group of his other works to find similarities

subtextual analysis

analyzing it subtexually

attached shadows vs. cast shadows

attached:Shadow that is connected to its source cast:Shadow that is not connected to its source ie. cast onto a wall.

metaphor

comparing two things without using like or as

types of documentary (compilation film, direct cinema, cinema verite, etc.)

compilation film-a term used by reviewers of Japanese anime, is a feature film that is mostly composed of footage from a television serial. direct cinema-Direct Cinema is a documentary genre that originated between 1958 and 1962 in North America, principally in the Canadian province of Quebec and the United States. Similar in many respects to the cinéma vérité genre, It was characterized initially by filmmakers' desire to directly capture reality and represent it truthfully, and to question the relationship of reality with cinema cinema verite-"truthful cinema"; English: /ˈsɪnɨmə vɛrɨˈteɪ/) is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics. (bansky- exit through the giftshop)

referential meaning

allusion to particular items of knowledge outside the film that the viewer is expected to recognize

diegetic vs. nondiegetic sound

diegetic- any voice, musical passage, or sound effect presented as originating from a source within the film's world. non- sound, such as mood music or a narrator's commentary, represented as coming from a source outside the space of the narrative.

dystopian imagery

Dystopian films often construct a fictional universe and set it in a background which features scenarios such as dehumanizing technological advancements, man-made disasters or class-based revolutions.

Igmar Bergman

persona-alma and elizabet, one and the same through a glass darkly- ship scene and boat, crazy karin hour of the wolf- ghosts with alma and johan

plot vs. story

plot- includes text on screen, nondiegetic sound, anything presented, explicit only!! story- the set of all events in a narrative, both the ones explicitly presented and those the viewer infers, constitutes the story

match on action

a continuity cut that splices two different views of the same action together at the same moment in the movement, making it seem to continue uninterrupted(500 days of sumer)

carnivale

tv show we watched about ben hawkins

shot/reverse-shot pattern

two or more shots edited together that alternate characters. typically in a conversation situation. over the shoulder framings are common in shot/reverse-shot editing

telephone split

two people talking hear one person and see the other split- lower the volume of the person on the phone so that it is more believable

howard hawks

red river director john wayne

definition of film form

the overall system of relationships among the parts of a film

editing

1) in filmmaking, the task of selecting and joining camera takes 2) in the finished film, the set of techniques that governs the relations among shots.

iconography

1.symbolic representation, especially the conventional meanings attached to an image or images. 2.subject matter in the visual arts, especially with reference to the conventions regarding the treatment of a subject in artistic representation. 3.the study or analysis of subject matter and its meaning in the visual arts; iconology.

aesthetics

A set of principles underlying and guiding the work of a particular artist or artistic movement.

formal expectations

ABA eg: dorothy: kansas-OZ-kansas forming to our expectations and need to form

twin peaks television show

FBI agent

fidelity

Fidelity refers to the extent to which the sound is faithful to the source as we, the audience conceive it. If a film shows us a barking dog and we hear a barking noise, that sound is faithful to its source; the sound maintains fidelity. But if the picture of the barking dog is accompanied by the sound of a cat meowing, there enters a disparity between sound and image - a lack of fidelity.

found footage

Found footage is a filmmaking term which describes a method of compiling films partly or entirely of footage which has not been created by the filmmaker, and changing its meaning by placing it in a new context. It should not be mistaken for documentary or compilation films. It is also not to be mistaken with stock footage. The term refers to the "found object" (objet trouvé) of art history.

genre cycles

Genre conventions change over time. •Their conventions change, and by mixing conventions from different genres, filmmakers create new possibilities from time to time. •The mixing of genre conventions makes it possible for genres to borrow elements from one another. •Though each genre is formulaic to a certain extent, they must constantly be evolving, as they generally don't remain successful for very long. •Rather, they experience periods of popularity calledcycles. •Genre cycles usually begin with the purest examples of the genre and end with self-referential films

horror film

Horror films are unsettling movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, disgust and horror from viewers. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres. Horrors also frequently overlap with the thriller genre.

editing styles in direct cinema and cinema vérité

I had made Primary and a few other films. Then I went to France with Leacock for a conference [the 1963 meeting sponsored by Radio Television Française]. I was surprised to see the Cinema vérité filmmakers accosting people on the street with a microphone. My goal was to capture real life without intruding. Between us there was a contradiction. It made no sense. They had a cameraman, a sound man, and about six more--a total of eight men creeping through the scenes. It was a little like the Marx Brothers. My idea was to have one or two people, unobtrusive, capturing the moment. The hand-held style of camera work is the same. There is a similar feeling of real life unfolding before the viewer's eyes. There is also a mutual concern with social and ethical questions. Both cinéma vérité and Direct Cinema rely on the power of editing to give shape, structure and meaning to the material recorded. For these historians cinéma vérité is characterized by the use of the camera to provoke and reveal.

auteur theory

In film criticism, auteur theory holds that a director's film reflects the director's personal creative vision, as if he or she were the primary "auteur" (the French word for "author"). In spite of—and sometimes even because of—the production of the film as part of an industrial process, the author's creative voice is distinct enough to shine through all kinds of studio interference and through the collective process. In some cases, film producers are considered to exert a similar "auteur" influence on films they have produced.

reality television program

Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded.[1] The genre has existed in some form or another since the early years of television, begun in earnest as a television formula in the 1990s, and which exploded as a global phenomenon around 1999-2000, via series such as Big Brother and Survivor.

restricted vs. unrestricted narration

Restricted narration: audience knows only what one or few characters in the film know(s) Unrestricted narration: audience knows more, sees more, and hears more than the characters. Often called omniscient narration.

props

Something perceptible by one or more of the senses, especially by vision or touch; a material thing.

subtext

Subtext is content of a book, play, musical work, film, video game or television series which is not announced explicitly by the characters (or author) but is implicit or becomes something understood by the observer of the work as the production unfolds. Subtext can also refer to the thoughts and motives of the characters which are only covered in an aside. Subtext can also be used to imply controversial subjects without specifically alienating people from the fiction, often through use of metaphor.

narrative

a chain of events linked by cause and effect and occurring in time and space

three-point lighting

a common arrangement using three directions of light in a scene: from behind the subjects, from one bright source, and from less bright source balancing the key light

establishing shot

a shot, usually involving a distant framing, that shows the spatial relations among the important figures, objects, and setting in a scene... eg: shots of new york city before showing people in gossip girl

subgenre

a subcategory in genre

catfish

abby, fake family, Nev, megan

experimental form (abstract vs. associational)

abstract- a type of filmic organization in which the parts relate to one another through repetition and variation of such visual qualities as shape, color, rhythm, and direction of movement associational- a type of organization in which the film's parts are juxtaposed to suggest similarities, contrasts, concepts, emotions, and expressive qualities.

credit cookie

additional footage found after the ending credits

mise-en-scene and elements

all the elements placed in front of the camera to be photographed: settings and props, lighting, costumes and makeup, and figure behavior.

animation

any process whereby artificial movement is created by photographing a series of drawings, objects or computer images one by one. small changes in positions, recorded frame by frame, create the illusion movement.

nondeigetic material

anything that is not in the world of the film.. but added later, such as special effects and editing

musical (backstage vs. straight)

backstage:A backstage musical is a genre of musical film with a plot set in a theatrical context that revolves around the production of a play or revue. The film's narrative trajectory often comes to a halt to allow a performance. This type of musical was typified in the films by director and choreographer, Busby Berkeley. The narrative centers on singers and dancers who perform for an audience within the film. straight: Musical is where people may sing and dance in situations of everyday life. Straight Musicals are often romantic comedies, where characters express their fears, desires and joys while singing

documentary form (categorical vs. rhetorical)

categorical- a type of filmic organization in which the parts treat distinct subjects of a topic. for example, a film about the united states might be organized into 50 parts, each devoted to a state. rhetorical- a type of filmic organization in which the parts create and support an argument

narrative elements vs. stylistic elements

causality, time, and space

form vs. content

civil war example: movie that is displayed only from one point of view therefor the audience is sympathetic to the families affected and shown in the movie not the families of the "enemy" in the movie. although is the same movie is shot by another director from the other point of view the audience would side with those characters affected in the movie. the subject matter is shaped by the film's formal content and our perceptions of it.

continuity editing vs. discontinuity editing

con.- a system of cutting to maintain continuous and clear narrative action. continuity editing relies on matching screen direction, position, and temporal relations from shot to shot. dis.- any alternative system of joining shots together using techniques unacceptable with continuity editing principles. possibilities include mismatching of temporal and spatial relations, violations of the axis of action, and concentration on graphic relationships.

night and fog

concentration camps

being john malcovitch

craig and lotte lestercorp and maxine

cu, xcu, ps, ct, trs, la, ha, lt, crs, ms, fs, 3/4s, s/rs

cu: close up/ shot showing just head, hands, feet, or a small object. xcu: extreme close up/ singles out a portion of the face or isolates and magnifies an object ps: pan shot/when the point of view of the camera pivots from left to fight or vice versa, but without changing its vertical axis ct: cut/when the film changes from one image to another trs: tracking shot/ when the camera follows a walking figure, either on tracks or on a dolly, either in a straight fashion la: low angle/the camera is positioned below the object being filmed [camera tilted upward ha: high angle/ he camera is positioned above the object being filmed [camera tilted downward] lt: long take crs:crane shot ms: medium shot fs: full or long shot/ revealing characters entire body in shot 3/4s: three-quarter shot / showing only about 3/4 of the characters body s/rs: shot/ reverse shot pattern/ opening door then showing from other side, the door being opened

direct sound vs. post-dubbed sound

direct- music, noise, and speech recorded from the event at the moment of filming; opposite of post-synchronization. post-dubbed- (post-synchronization) the process of adding sound to images after they have been shot and assembled. this can include dubbing of voices, as well as inserting diegetic music or sound effects. it is the opposite of direct sound.

meshes of the afternoon

directed by maya duran. crazy lady with knife and mirror

GO

drug and violence movie Ronna

Dennis Hopper

easy rider director

crosscutting

editing that alternates shots of two or more lines of action occurring in different places, usually simultaneously

begotten

experimental... killing himself , god, mother nature

distinction between form and style

form - is the sum of all the parts of the film, unified and given shape by patterns such as repetition and variation, story lines, and character traits./the way the novel is presented syle - is the way a film uses the techniques of filmmaking./the way it is written

visual impact of frontal lighting, side lighting, backlighting, under lighting, and top lighting

frontal- illumination directed into the scene from a position near the camera side-lighting coming from one side of a person or an object, usually in order to create a sense of volume, to bring out surface tensions, or to fill in areas left shadowed by light from another source backlighting-illumination cast onto the figures in the scene from the side opposite the camera, usually creating a thin outline of high-lighting on those figures under-illumination from a point below the figures in the scene top- lighting coming from above a person or an object, usually in order to outline the upper areas of the figure or to separate it more clearly from the background

western

frontier conflict//The Western is a genre of art that may be found in film, television, radio, literature, painting and other visual arts. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of the Alamo in 1836 but most are set between the end of the American Civil War (1865) and the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890. There are also a number of films about Western-type characters in contemporary settings, such as Junior Bonner set in the 1970s and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada in the 21st century. Westerns often portray how desolate and hard life was for frontier families. These families are faced with change that would severely alter their way of life. This may be depicted by showing conflict between natives and settlers or U.S. Cavalry or between cattle ranchers and farmers ("sodbusters"), or by showing ranchers being threatened by the onset of the Industrial Revolution. Despite being tightly associated with a specific time and place in American history, these themes have allowed Westerns to be produced and enjoyed across the world.

dimensions of film editing (graphic, rhythmic, spatial, and temporal relations)

graphic-editing together any two shots permits the interaction, through similarity and difference rhythmic- when the filmmaker adjusts the length of shots in relation to one another, she or he is controlling the rhythmic potential of editing. spatial- the director might, for instance, start with a shot that establishes a spatial whole and follow this with a shot of a part of this space temporal- editing helps with the manipulation of story time. order of presentation of events, flashbacks, and flash forwards.

hard lighting vs. soft lighting

hard- illumination that creates sharp-edged shadows. soft- illumination that avoids harsh bright and dark areas, creating a gradual transition from highlights to shadows

high-key lighting vs. low-key lighting

high- illumination that creates comparatively little contrast between the light and dark areas of the shot. shadows are fairly transparent and brightened by fill light. low- illumination that creates strong contrast between light and dark areas of the shot, with deep shadows and little fill light

darkness light darkness

human body being formed

ballet mecanique

humans are machines

dramatic series

is television content that is scripted and (normally) fictional along the lines of a traditional drama. This excludes, for example, sports, news, reality and game shows, stand-up comedy and variety shows. Also, by convention, the term is not generally usually used for situation comedy or soap opera.

bust up

lots of repetition

the machinst

main character trevor

"futzing" the sound

manipulating a recording to create a fuzzy or tinny sound

avant-garde film and video

means "advance guard" or "vanguard".[1] The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics. Experimental film or experimental cinema describes a range of filmmaking styles that are generally quite different from, and often opposed to, the practices of mainstream commercial and documentary filmmaking. Avant-garde is also used, for the films shots in the twenties in the field of history's avant-gardes currents in France or Germany, to describe this work, and underground has been used in the sixties, though it has also had other connotations. Today the term experimental cinema prevails, because it's possible to make experimental films without the presence of any avant-garde movement in the cultural field. Like in the present time.

sound: narrative cueing and stingers

narrative cueing- t suggests that music can interact with image in a local illustrative way, via what is known as 'mickey-mousing', whereby physical on-screen actions are mimicked directly by the music. stingers-

narrator vs. narration

narrator: some specific agent who purports to be telling us the story narration: the process by which the plot presents story information to the spectator

onscreen and offscreen space

off- the six areas blocked from being visible on the screen but still part of the space of the scene: to each side and above and below the frame, behind the set, and behind the camera.

give me shelter

rolling stones

distinctions between a screening report, review, theoretical essay, and critical essay

screening report-a short piece of writing that acts as a preparation for class discussion and examinations. primarily a descriptive assignment that organizes notes on a film, the report should contain about three or four paragraphs focused on two or four points related to the topics of the course or to specific questions provided by the instructor. review- a movie review is a type of film analysis that we know(rotten tomato and newspaper) broadest possible audience no special knowledge of film. theoretical essay- an essay on the relation of film and reality, on the political or ideological foundations of the movie industry, or on how film narrative is unlike literary narrative. critical essay- the writer of this kind of essay presumes that his or her reader has seen or at least familiar with the film under discussion, although that reader may not have thought extensively about it

implicit meaning

significance left tacit, for the viewer to discover upon analysis or reflection

explicit meaning

significance presented overtly, usually in language and often near the film's beginning or end

symptomatic meaning

significance that the film divulges, ofter against its will, by virtue of its historical or social context

simultaneous vs. non-simultaneous sound

sim- diegetic sound that is represented as occurring at the same time in the story as the image it accompanies non-diegetic sound that comes from a source in tie either earlier or later than the images it accompanies

sitcom

situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features recurring characters in a common environment such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue.

midnight dance

skelton rises girl had nighmare

genre conventions

some type of common identity which reappears in film after film Genre conventions include: -Plot elements (investigation - detective) -Specific types of characters (hardball sergeant major - war) -Themes (love will conquer all - romance) -Techniques (rapid editing - action) - Iconography •Tommy gun - gangster •Samurai sword - martial arts •John Wayne - Westerns

sonic flashback

sound flashback invasion of the body snatchers

sound bridge vs. dialogue hook

sound- 1) at the beginning of one scene, the sounds from the previous scene carries over briefly before the sound from the new scene begins 2)at the end of one scene, the sound from the next scene is heard, leading into that scene dialogue-

synchronous vs. asynchronous sound

syn- sound that is matched temporally with the movements occurring in the images, as when dialogue corresponds to lip movement. asyn- when dialogue does not match up with lip movement

long take vs. long shot

take-a shot that continues for an unusually lengthy time before the transition to the next shot. shot- a framing in which the scale of the object shown is small; a standing human figure would appear nearly the height of the screen.

temporal order vs. temporal duration vs. temporal frequency

temporal order- we are quite accustomed to films that present events out of story order. a flashback is simply a portion of a story that the plot presents out of chronological order. temporal duration- concentrating on a a time of the story/ a duration of the story. this could include concentrating on a short, relatively cohesive time span, or it could involve highlighting significant stretches of time from a period of many years. temporal frequency- most commonly, a story event is presented only one in a plot. occasionally, however, a single story event may appear twice or even more in a plot treatment. if we see an event early in a film and then there is a flashback to that event later on, we see that same event twice.

Jim morrison movies

the doors, when youre strange (johhny depp)

mobile framing

the effect on the screen of the moving camera, a zoom lens, or certain special effects; the framing shifts in relation to the scene being photograph

parallelism

the film cuts back and forth between two scenes that are happening simultaneously or at different times

axis of action

the imaginary line that passes from side to side through the main actors, defining the spatial relations if all the elements of the scene as being to the right or left. the camera is not supposed to cross the axis at a cut and thus reverse those spatial relations. also called the 180 degree line.

auteur

the presumed or actual author of a film, usually identified as the director, also sometimes used in an evaluative sense to distinguish good filmmakers from bad ones

segmentation

the process of dividing a film into parts for analysis

aspect ratios

the relationship of the frame's width to its height. the standard academy ratio is currently 1.85:1.

definition of film style

the repeated and salient uses of film techniques characteristics of a single film or a group of films (for example, a filmmaker's work or a national movement)

surprise vs. suspense

the theory of expectation and the theory of surprise

framing

the use of the edges of the film frame to select and to compose what ill be visible onscreen

aims of film criticism

to describe and evaluate an experience that its reader might have, and to convince the reader of the accuracy of this description and evaluation using an internally consistent rhetoric (i.e. a philosophy) that produces 'knowledge', I argue that doing film criticism creates a methodological problem for film-philosophy.

unity and disunity

unity- the degree to which a film's parts relate systematically to each other and provide motivations for all the elements included.

appropriation

using for different intent then what it was meant for to appropriate means to properly adopt, borrow, recycle or sample aspects (or the entire form) of man-made visual culture. Strategies include "re-vision, re-evaluation, variation, version, interpretation, imitation, proximation, supplement, increment, improvisation, prequel... pastiche, paraphrase, parody, forgery, homage, mimicry, travesty, shan-zhai, echo, allusion, intertextuality and karaoke." [2] The term appropriation refers to the use of borrowed elements in the creation of a new work

genre

various types of films that audiences and filmmakers recognize by their familiar narrative conventions. common genres are musical, gangster and science fiction films.

voice-off vs. voice-over

voice-over: is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative (non-diegetic) is used in a radio, television, film, theatre, or other presentation.[1] The voice-over may be spoken by someone who appears elsewhere in the production or by a specialist voice actor. voice-off:is when we hear a character but don't see him because he is 'off' video.

difference and variation

we readily understand the need for variety, contrast, and change in films. characters must be differentiated, environments delineated, and different times or activities established. this means that although motifs(scenes, settings, actions, objects, stylistic devices) may be repeated, those motifs will seldom be repeated exactly.

easy rider

wyatt(tall blonde) and billy(short) traveling die in the end, trippy drug scene

genre blending

you can draw in the audience expecting the conventions of their favorite genre, and challenge them with new twists due to the infusion from another genre. Some blends may fade as fun experiments, while others become significant genres in their own right. One genre that illustrates the importance and power of genre and genre-blending is the Adventure Romance (e.g. The African Queen, Romancing the Stone). As indicated by its name, the Adventure Romance is a blend of the Adventure and the Romance genres. This is now a well-established genre that today influences many blockbuster 4-Quadrant films(more on this later).