JCM 100 Exam 1 UA

Documentary

- A nonfiction film that informs about truth or facts- Usually employ and emphasizes strategies/organizations that differ from those that define narrative cinema, such as plot and narration

"Commercial" Medium

-Television adheres to a sponsorship model which influences its story form

- Commercial Break typically signals the end of an act

1920s

Robert Flaherty and Soviet Documentaries

1930-1945

Politics and the Rise of Propaganda

1950's-1970's

Television and New Technologies

1980s - present

Digital Cinema, Cable, and Reality Television

According to Butler, a series must ask the same question over and over again in order to maintain consistency and viewer interest from week to week. What is this strategy referred to?

Narrative Problematic

According to Butler, How do serials cope with new viewers or viewers who have missed multiple episodes?

Presenting a large quotient of redundant information

According to Butler, unlike the ____________, the ______ expects us to make specific and substantial narrative connections between one episode and the next

Series, Serial

According to Butler, what undercuts a series' climax?

A program's repeatability

According to Butler, why does each episode in a series only need a brief exposition

Because of the characters constancy

According to Douglas, ___________ refers to a storytelling structure in which there are two or more separate narratives that are linked by a common character, event, or theme

Parallel storytelling

According to Douglas, a _______ describes dramatic material before the title and opening credits of a television show

Teaser

According to Douglas, the _____ script refers to the final draft that goes into production

Shooting

According to douglas, the largest story of an episode or narrative television is called the ______

A Story

According to Douglas, what breaks up acts in an episode on broadcast network television?

Commercials

Act 1: The Set-Up

- Establishes what viewers need to start the story and clue about its direction

- Begins with an image (gives us a strong sense of the place, mood, texture, and sometimes the theme)

-Finding the catalyst (including incident, the opening or standing of a film, begins the action of the story)

A. Action

B. Dialog

C. Situational incidents

- Raises a central question (a question in a set-up that will be answered by the climax, the story is now ready to unfold)

Act II: confrontation/ Development

- Between the set-up and the first turning point

- characters are suavely seen in action through beats and turning points

*first turning point

1. turns the action in a new direction

2. Raise the central question again

3. Protagonist make a decision

4. Raises the stakes

5. Pushes the story into the next act

6. Takes us into a new area

Act III - Resolution

- Speeds up the action

- Need to get a sense things are closing

- The second Turning point that introduces Act III and accomplishes the same things as the first turning point

- The story concludes with a climax and short resolution

Actualities

moving nonfiction snapshots of real people and events

Antagonist

A character or force in conflict with the main character

Back lighting

Visible lighting which comes from directly behind the subject

Contrastive

showing the difference between two things when you compare them

Cumulative

Present a catalog of images or sounds throughout the course of the film

Developmental

Places, objects, individuals or experiences are presented through are presented through. a pattern that has non-narrative logic or structure but still follows a logic of change/progression

Direct Cinema

The american documentary version of cinema verite that aims to capture unfolding events as unobtrusively as possible

Documetnary

- A nonfiction film that informs about truth or facts

- Usually employ and emphasizes strategies/organizations that differ from those that define narrative from those that define narrative cinema, such as plot and narration

Early History (1895-1905)

- Actualities

- Scenic

- Topicals

Editing

- Powerful yet overlooked component of televisual style that controls viewers sense of space, time, and perspective

- Production modes are determined by:

1. Form

2. Production process

ESPN FIlms and 30 for 30

- ESPN was not recognized as a place for sophisticated and artistic programming

- More of a sports brand than a film business

- Tired to change its perception by launching ESPN films 30 for 30 in 2009-2010

Exploratory

Announces or suggests that the film's driving perspective i a scientific sear into particular social, psychological or physical phenomena

Exposition

- Documentaries structure stories without narrative films' temporal logic or focus on central character (Gap Teeth Woman Video)

- Cumulative

- Contrastive

- Developmental

Fill lighting

Balances the intensity, more shade

Four-Act Grid

- Network Commercial breaks occur roughly every 13 to 15 minutes

- 60m/15m = 4 acts

- More sponsors = more acts

Hard/Low Key Lighting

Dark, shadows, imbalance between key and film (FILL LIGHTING)

how does Morgan describe his storytelling style and what it does for his film, June 17th, 1994?

Experimental is meant to make it feel real and in live time which enhances the viewing. Basically has everyone on edge and continue watching

How is the second turning point different from the first turning point in a Three-act story?

it speeds up the story

Interrogative

Rhetorically structure a movie in a way that identifies the subjects as being under investigations

Key light

Most intense, right on the actor

Mise-en-scene

- Elements placed before a camera to be photographed

- Setting

- Costuming

- Lighting

- Staging

Multi- Camera Mode

- Productions that have two or more cameras trained on set during scenes

- 3-camera setup is common on sitcoms

- Used in sitcoms, soaps, game shows, sports, newscast, and award shows

- Normal television production practice since early broadcasting

- Footage edited immediately after shooting

Nonfiction Film

Present factual descriptions of actual events, persons, or places, rather than their fictional or invented re-creation

Persuasive

Articulate a perspective that expresses a personal or social position using emotions on beliefs and aim to persuade viewers to feed and see it in a certain way

Post-Production (MCM)

- Genre often determines complexity

- Multi-cam ins't bad, it is just as good as single cam productions even though it is a cheaper option

Post-Production (SCM)

Technicians like sound and music editors join the fragments of production into coherent episodes

Pre-History

- Oral, Visual, musical and written precursors

- Essay from (16th century)

- Journalism (18th and 19th century)

- Photojournalism

Pre-Production (SCM)

Extensive planning, particularly in the writers room

Pre-Production (MCM)

Scripts lack images or camera directions

Production (MCM)

- Shot with a variety of technological formats

- Sitcoms are filmed, then edited

- Actors perform without interruption

- Directors will shoot in story order

- Often include a laugh track

Production (SCM)

- Scenes are shot out of order

- Filming is disjointed

- Directors control the shoot, but don't write the script of control editing

Protagonist

Main character

Reflexive

Call attention to the filmmaking process or perspective of the filmmaker is determining or shaping the documentary material being presented

Rhetorical Positions

- Documentaries shape formal practices according to certain perspectives (Hoop Dream Video)

- Exploratory

- Interrogative

- Persuasive

- Reflexive

Scenic

providing or relating to views of impressive or beautiful natural scenery

Script consultant and screen writing coach, Linda Seger refers to a ____ as a dramatic composition with a clear set-up, development, and resolution

Three-Act Structure

Shooting Ratio

The ratio of footage shot to footage used in the film

Single-Camera Mode

- Production with one camera operating on set

- Used in primetime dramas, limited series, music videos, and advertisements

- Developed for film

- Streamlines shooting scheduled

- Traditionally more expensive

- Allows for greater product differentiation

Sitcoms: A Multi-Cam Genre

- Ultimately, the sitcom is distinguished by episode storytelling and not production mode

- Ensembles drive various plots in fixed location

- Central characters remain constant

- Acts are divided by casually related events broken by ads

- Catalyst disturbs narrative equilibrium, then resolves

Soft/High Key Lighting

Romantic, bright, soft, almost making them glow (KEY LIGHTING)

Television Serial

- Storytelling form indebted to the novel where episodes immediately follow from previous installments

1. Multiple protagonists - Simultaneous storylines precarious existence

2. Exposition - Begins in the middle res

3. Motivation - Original catalyst for the action which took place years ago

4. Narrative enigma- Thrive on resolved mysteries

5. Cause-Effect Chain - Segmentation creates new climax between acts

6. Climax - Storytelling comes to a head but never resolves

7. Lack of resolution - Create new enigmas, end in the middle of things

Television Series

- Most basic narrative form

- Draws heavily from radio to present weekly episodes with a defined set of recurring characters and self contained episode

1. Multiple protagonists - ensemble cast drives various plots in the same place

2. Exposition - consistency of central character

3. Motivation - catalyst disturbs narrative equilibrium

4, Narrative problematic - counter forces prevent instantaneous resolution

5. Cause-Effect Chain - series of events are broken by acts

6. Climax - Episodes peak, then rest

7. Resolution - Episodes have no final resolution series end abruptly, show has a "reset"

Three Act Structure

- Act I - the setup

- Act II - Confrontation and development

- Act III - Resolution

Three-point lighting

- Back

- Key

- FIll

Topicals

Re-created historical or newsworthy events

Usually not an aspect of a Three-act narrative setup

Turn the action in a new direction

Watchmen 5 acts

1. Tulsa Massacre

2. Cop gets shot

3. Cops coming together and interrogating

4. Cattle farm

5. Sheriff's hanging

What are june 17th, 1994's secondary narratives

1. The MLB

2. Knicks losing a 3-2 lead

3. Rangers player hitting 30 home runs

4. Arnold Palmer playing his last golf match

5. World cup is played in chicago with brazil winning

What cable channel aired watchmen?

HBO

What channel broadcasts June 17th, 1994?

ESPN

What exposition strategies and rhetorical positions are taken to construct the story for June 17th, 1994?

- Developmental because of O.J. Simpson chase is the main point of the film that progresses

- Exploratory since it is not making an argument for what happened

- Also can be reflective

What film company distributed Lady Bird?

A24 (USA)

Universal Pictures (International)

What network broadcasted Roseanne and Blackish

ABC

What typically does not need to happen to happen between the setup and the first turning point?

We need to be presented with the central question again

Why is it common for films to have flaws in one of their three acts?

Because it is rare for films to have three acts that are equally well-structured