CINE 100 films watched

Film form

overall system of relationships among the parts of a film

structure

the way all parts work together

metaphor for film form

jug that gives shape to components of film

what guides understanding of film form

• expectations that guide our understanding of film form (can be through past experience or other films)

• feelings (films force certain feelings)

• meanings that we read into film (consciously and unconsciously)

inferences and asumptions

who are these people? when is this? are examples of inferences and assumptions we make that are implied by the film

Content

subject of the film. who, what where.

Elements of film

• cinematography

• editing

• sound

• performance

• mise-en-scene

Types of meaning in a film

• referential

• implicit

• explicit

• symptomatic

Referential meaning

recognition of real-world/historical references that the audience must recognize to understand the story

Implicit meaning

a deeper theme, message, or association that lies below the surface narrative and is suggested rather than directly stated

Explicit meaning

the open, surface-level events, dialogue, and plot points that are directly stated or shown on screen, leaving nothing to the imagination

symptomatic meaning

an involuntary or hidden meaning that reveals a set of social, political, or ideological values

Citizen Kane director

Orson Welles

Narrative

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

story (diegesis)

events that are presumed to have occured not shown on screen (chronological)

diegetic information

everything assumed to exist in the world of the film

non-diegetic information

things characters cannot interact with (gives us information)

Plot

Action visible and audibly presented in front of us (does not have to be chronological) (steers us to make assumptions about larger story world)

How filmmakers guide experience

• casualty

• time

• space

causualty

• cause and effect

• characters (the things they do moves plot along)

• withheld plot information (forces us to ask questions)

Space

where events take place on the screen itself

Time (aspects)

• duration

• frequency

• order

duration

how long events take

frequency

how often do events happen (from different perspectives?)

order

how are events sequenced

Rashomon director

Akira Kurosawa

Mise-en-scene

all of the elements placed in front of the camera to be photographed

components of mise-en-scene

• setting

• costumes and makeup

• lighting

• staging

Components of lighting

• quality

• source

• direction

quality

Differences in brightness lead to:

• hard light and lowkey lighting (harsher contrast and shadows)

• soft light and highkey lighting (less harsh contrast and fewer shadows)

direction

where the light is coming from

lighting source

three point lighting

• key light (main light source)

• backlight (behind person creating halo effect, highlighting contour and separating foreground from background)

• fill light (dimmer than key light and used to fill in shadows on opposite side of key light)

Cinemtography

Describes the way something is shot and used to guide eye to the right direction. Not just about what we can see, also about what we can’t see

how cinematography guides eye

• look of image

• depth of space

• focus

• foreground and background relationship

• grain of filmstock

how to communicate meaning through cinematography

• tonalities

• speed of motion

• perspective- depth of field

tonalities

tonal control: contrast

contrast

ratio of light to dark (large difference= high contrast) (small difference= low contrast)

speed of motion

rates calculated (frames per second)

standard FPS

24. fewer meaning faster motion and more means slower. creates emphasis

perspective (depth of field)

the number of planes we see

• every plane in focus= deep focus

• one plane in focus= selective/shallow focus

Editing

puts two shots up against one another forcing our brain to connect them

long shot meaning

• solid spatial orientation

• audience feels actually present

• real time

• more immersed

Editing relations between shots

• graphic

• rhythmic

• spatial

• temporal

graphic

shapes, colours, movement in shot A is picked up in shot B

rhythmic

beat pace or rhythm in the way shots are edited together

spatial

where things are relative to each other

temporal

sequence of film (flashback or forward)

exposure

amount of light let through lense

continuity editing

editing shots so the axis of action is not crossed

ellipsis

editing a jump in time that leaves out unimportant information

wide focal length

captures a wider field of view than the human eye

long focal length

magnifies distant subjects and narrows the field of view

Film sound

• dialogue (text and subtext)

• sound effects (mostly diegetic)

• music (mostly nondiegtic)

Dimensions of film sound

• rhythm

• fidelity

• space

• tome

fidelity

accuracy or exactness of a copy relative to a real or original source

sound space

tells us something about location of source

time

relationship between image and sound (synchronous, asynchronous, simultaneous, nonsimulataneous)

dialogue

• voice

• pitch

• specific characteristics of speech (slurring, formal language, ticks)

• voice overs (give us information to guide us through film)

sound effects

• define location

• impacts of environment (if certain sounds are louder it might reveal characters feeling)

• characteristics (volume, regularity, acoustic quality, verisimilitude)

verisimilitude

is the appearance or illusion of being true within a story or representation

Music

• provides historical context

• define character

• shapes environement or tenor of scene

Sound-image relationships

• onscreen/offscreen sound

• diegetic vs non-diegetic

• simultaneous vs no-simultaneous

simultaneous sound

corresponds on time with what is happening

non- simultaneous sound

corresponds with films past or future

Cleo from 5 to 7 director

Agnès Varda

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari director

Robert Wiene

A man escaped director

Robert Bresson

Run Lola Run director

Tom Tykwer

dolly

forward and back

boom

camera moves up and down

pan

camera tilts left to right

tilt

camera tilts up and down

Roll

camera rolls

truck

camera moves left to right