CA 135 Midterm

Approaches to studying film

Formal/Aesthetic, sociological, critical

Formal/Aesthetic

Narrative structure, plot,

Visual(audio style): Mise-en-scene, cinematography editing, sound,

Sociological/Historical

Industries: technology, funding, production, distribution, exhibition

Audiences: exhibition, reception

Critical/Theoretical

Classical(what made film unique): Realism, genre, auteur

Critical/ideological:power of cinema, how ppl affected

Psychoanalytic, marxist, feminist, queer, critical race

Pre-Production

Designates phase when a project is in development

Screenwriter

Generates idea for narrative film

Executive Producer

Co-Producer

Line Producer

Unit Producer

- Financing, facilitating film, some creative & technical

- partnering with movie, like investor

- daily business costs + schedule

- Manages receipts + purchases

Auteurs

Director is considered the author of the movie

Film Process

Pre-production, production, distribution, exhibition

Block booking (film distribution)

Made illegal, showing cheap movies with main

Saturated booking (film distribution)

Putting as many screenings as possible

Film Marketing

Identify audience to bring attention so viewed consume product

Film Promotion

Film made as object to sell

Star System

Actors as vehicles of advertising for movie

Tie-ins

Ancillary products (t-shirts, cd, toys) created to promote movie as well as stars booking venues to promote

Exhibition

Important for where, when, why + how

- Nickelodeans, movie palaces, multiplex

Mise-en-Scene

"That which has been put into the scene"

- all elements placed in front of camera to be photographed

- settings, props, costumes, hair + makeup, lighting, color, casting

Importance of Mise-en-Scene

Signals to audience how to feel, what to think about characters, actions, themes

Mise-en-Scene: Setting

Set expectations, create atmosphere, studio vs location, idea to subvert, use to tell story

Mise-en-Scene: Props

Objects in frame which play a part in the action, props introduced will be used later on, symbolism

Mise-en-Scene: Costumes

Situate in time, details of character, realism on audience expectations, reveal profession, status, personality

Mise-en-Scene: Lighting

Dramatically affect mood, reveal character, build suspense, 3 point lighting, sense of time through color

3 Point Lighting

Standard lighting: Keylight, Fill Light, Back light

2 Point Lighting

Strong shadows, backlight - dramatic, creates scale

1 Point Lighting

Most important, creates focus

Mise-en-Scene: Casting/Performance

Right performer can make or break film, gestures, facial expressions, acting choices

History Mise-en-Scene

Western theatrical tradition began in Greece in 500 BCE, Renaissance, 19th century lighting + technological developments

1900-1912:

1915-1928:

1930-1960:

1940 - 1970:

1975- present

- Limited by natural lighting

- silent cinema + star system, hollywood and studio

- Studio Era Production: company controls production + distribution

- New cinematic realism - exterior locations, cinematic realism

- mise-en-scene + blockbuster, computer graphics

Elements of Mise-en-Scene

Setting, Atmosphere, Props, Staging/Blocking, Stars, Costumes, Lighting

Realism

Extent movie creates truthful picture of society, person, or some dimension

- psychological or emotional (in characters)

- logical actions/developments (in story)

Scenic Realism

Enables recognition of actual places, measure of film realism from scenic realism, creates atmosphere + connotation, depends on context

Instrumental (props)

Objects displayed + used according to function

Metaphorical (props)

Reinvented or employed for something unexpected

Prop significance

Cultural - carry associated meanings

Contextualized - acquire meanings throughout narrative

Costume Functions (4)

1. Support scenic realism, time period

2. character highlights, personality

3. narrative makers, change or lack of

4. overall production to signify genre

Types of lighting:

Key light

fill light

high light

back light

frontal light

hard to soft light

The Shot

Basic element of filmmaking, uninterrupted run of camera

Aspects of cinematography

Framing, camera angle, depth of field, movement

Types of Framing

- Extreme(long)/wide shot

- long/wide shot

- medium shot

- close up

- extreme close up

- POV + mask shot

Camera Angles

- Eye level - baseline, realism

- low angle - intimidating

- high angle - fear, vulnerability

- canted angle/Dutch tilt - strange, uncanny

Depth of Field

- What's in focus

- Shallow: dramatic/moody/focus

- Deep: realism/ setting

Shot Composition

1 shot + 2 shot (ppl)

Camera Movement

- Pan

- Tilt

- Dolly

- Tracking

- Crane

Framing Vision

Allows us to project into the world, explore places + transform our minds

Cinematography History:

1880s

1891

1895

1930s

1950s -60s

1970s-80s

1990s

- Chronophotography

- Dickson invented motion picture camera under Edison

- Auguste + Louis Lumiere: record sequence + project it

- Technicolor(rich in color) + focus length

- Handheld cameras developed

- Widescreen + new processes (filters, telephoto lens)

- Camera movement (steadicam)

- Digital cinematography, relying on camera capabilities

Subjective POV

Character perspective

Objective POV

More impersonal, view from afar

Widescreen

Pan scan process, masks, onscreen space( visible), offscreen space (implied outside)

Significance of Cinematography in society news

Reflects world realistically, influence/ represent reality of events

Image Presence/impact

- Identification with POV of image

- Response to image is emotional

- Experience as reality

Phenomenological image

Style as physical experience

Psychological Image

Reflect state of viewer mind

Image as text

- emotional distance

- analytic reaction

- experience constructed as written

Aesthetic image

contemplated for artistic recreation

Semiotic image

Images as sign with symbolic meaning

Editing

Editing makes sense of shots: continuity + montage

Continuity Editing

Invisible Editing

Illusion of spatial + temporal unity

Makes story believable

Continuity errors

Types of Shots

Establishing shot, cutting on action, eyeline matching, shot/reverse shot, 180 Rule

Establishing Shot

Tells setting, relationships, stuff in relation to shot, where in space

Cutting on Action

Action on screen masks transition, helps to understand space + time + space

Eyeline Matching

Camera eye line with line of characters, eye line to POV, used in dialogue

Shot/Reverse shot

Switch sides back and forth, dialogue

180 Rule

Stay on one side of the action, do not cross otherwise disorient,

Disjunctive Editing

Jump cuts, create gaps to defy norms of continuity

Cut + Transitions

Shock cut, fade out/in, dissolve, iris, optical effects

Continuity Style Strategies

1. 180 Rule

2. Approximate real time experience: invisible editing, establishing, nondiegetic shot, 30 degree rule, POV, Shot/Reverse shot, insert,

Non-Diegetic shot/insert

Insert shot that breaks continuity

Editing + Temporally types

Flashforward

Flashback

Descriptive + temporally ambiguous images

Duration + Pace

Ellipsis, Cutaway, Overlapping Editing, Long takes

Ellipsis

Temporal abridgment

Cutaway

Interrupts action to another image

Overlapping Editing

Repetition of action in several cuts, emphasis or foreshadowing

Graphic Editing

Linking patterns, images, light

Dominant shape provides visual transition

Movement Editing

Match on action

Often disguised

Continuation of action

Rhythmic Editing

Temps, cuts on rhythm

Continuity

- spatial + temporal coherence + narrative clarity

1. generate emotions + ideas through construction of seeing

2. move beyond confines of perception + temporal + spacial limitations

Organized continuos human perception, narrative sequence

Discontinuity

Definitive breaks in how perceive world, alternative, visual editing

1. call attention to aesthetic, conceptual, ideological

2. disorient, disturb, visceral response

Distances viewer, alienation effect

Montage Editing

Wants to notice cuts, cuts are meaningful, emphasizes dynamic + discontinuous.

Juxtaposition of ideas to create ideas not present in shot.

Jumpcuts, abrupt shifts in perspective

Montage Editing shots

2 discontinuous shots put together create new meaning

Sergey Eisenstein -Methods of Montage

Metric, Rhythmic, Tonal Editing, Overtonal, Intellectual

Metric

Dictated by the # of frames of film

Meter, timing, speed, rapid shot, rate of shot cutting

Rhythmic

Sounds, but now on shots react to sound, determined by visual

Tonal Editing

Kuleshov Effect

- 2 discontinuos shots create emotion

- create tone in music

- discord together

Overtonal

Combine metric, rhythmic, tonal to create complexity

Intellectual

(thesis, anti-thesis, synthesis)

Take outside info, metaphorical

Dialectic -- marxist idea

- show thesis, antitheses, synthesis by audience

Sound everyday Use

1. guiding interaction

2. complement visual info

3. rhythm and dimension to experience

Technological history of sound:

1977

1895 - 1920s

1927 - 1930

1927

1930s-40s

1950s - Present

- 'melodrama' -- theatrical drama

- phonograph revolutionized film

- silent cinema, used sound cylinders to synch sound

- synchronized sound: dynamics with cinema to radio, theatre, vaudeville, rapid growth

- Warner Brothers pursued sound with Vitaphone and Jazz Singer, 2nd feature with sound

- Challenges and Innovations: ability for films to cross borders + be understood, initially multi-language, increased dubbing subtitles by Hollywood

- Complementary relation ship with sound + image

Elements of film sound

Integrated into film experience

Sound altered + reproduced, but heard in real time

Heightens immediacy and presence

Lead to digitalization

Sound + Image

Relationship: equal treatment vs. film musicality

- sound as after though

- sound transforms experience viscerally, aesthetically + conceptually

Asynchronous Sounds

Not matched with visible source on screen, thought of as offscreen, ex. background music

Synchronous Sounds

Visible onscreen source of sound

Parallelism (Sound)

Image + Sound both 'say something'

Mutual reinforcing of sound + image

Counterpoint (sound)

2 different meanings implied with both elements

Diegetic Sound

Source in narrative world of film, film story

Source sound - band in movie or listening to music

Non-Diegetic Sound

Does not belong in characters world

Can characters hear it? If not, nondiegetic

Semi-Diegetic Sound/Internal Diegetic Sound

Voice overs, if internal thoughts of characters

Sound Bridge

Sound carries over visual transition of film

Voice in Film

Human speech is central to narrative + understanding

WHAT is crucial + establishes character motivation, goals + plot

Sound Perspective

Actors are miked so sound source remains close to audience, does not vary with distance of characters

Dialogue

Priority over visual shifts, shot/reverse shot ex

Preserves temporal unity

Anchors images by dialogue

Sometimes stylistic with overlapping in speech