Lesson 1 - ARTS Third quarter

What is PHOTOGRAPHY?

What is PHOTOGRAPHY?

In its early stages during the late 19^th century, photography was viewed as a purely technical process, that of recording visible images by light action on light sensitive materials.

In fact, its very name – from the Greek “photos” (meaning light) and “graphos” (meaning writing) – states this process literally.

photography as process. 

Focusing a camera at a subject and clicking the shutter is [blank]

photography as art.

Discerning a significant moment or a unique expression, framing it in the camera viewfinder with an eye for composition, and then clicking the shutter is [blank]

photography as communication.

journalism, advertising, education, even in courts of law, used to eloquently speak out against social and political issues.

Noteworthy Philippine Photographer

George Tappan

• He is an award-winning travel photographer who has won two Pacific Asia Tourism Association (PATA) Gold awards, an ASEAN Tourism Association award, and first place in the 2011 National Geographic Photo Contest. His highly-acclaimed work has been published in five travel photography books.

Noteworthy Philippine Photographer

JOHN K. CHUA

• Advertising and commercial photographer extraordinaire, John is best known for his technical excellence and mastery of notoriously challenging photo shoots – to the delight of clients who envision the seemingly impossible. With more than forty years of experience under his belt, John has moved with ease from one genre of photography to another, earning local and international awards along the way.

  
  

FILM

Another art form which has risen to tremendous heights within the last century is film or cinema. As its early name “motion pictures” declared, film brought yet another dimension into play—that of moving images. The possibilities of this medium created a new art form that was to become a powerful social and economic force, and a legacy of the 20th century world.

A Technology-driven Art

Cinema, just as all modern arts, has been greatly influenced by technology. In the case of cinema, however, it is an art form that came in the late 1800s with “series photography” and the invention of celluloid strip film. This allowed successive still photos of a moving subject to be compared on a strip of film advancing a single camera.

The need to view these moving images led to the rise of the Kinetoscope, a peepshow cabinet with an eyehole through which these earliest “movie” could be viewed one person at a time. A motor inside the cabinet moved the film strip along in a loop, with an electric bulb providing one technological advancement after another. The French developed the “cinematographe,” a handcracked camera, printer, and projector all in one that lightweight enough to bring outside the studio.

KINETOSCOPE

The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device. The Kinetoscope was designed for films to be viewed by one individual at a time through a peephole viewer window at the top of the device. The Kinetoscope was not a movie projector but introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic projection before the advent of video, by creating the illusion of movement by conveying a strip of perforated film bearing sequential images over a light source with a high-speed shutter. First described in conceptual terms by U.S. inventor Thomas Edison in 1888, it was largely developed by his employee William Kennedy Laurie Dickson between 1889 and 1892. Dickson and his team at the Edison lab also devised the Kinetograph, an innovative motion picture camera with rapid intermittent, or stop-and-go, film movement, to photograph movies for in-house experiments and, eventually, commercial Kinetoscope presentations

The Collaborative Art of Filmmaking

Filmmaking, because of its technical complexity, involves entire teams of artists, writers, and production experts, supported by technicians taking charge of the cameras, lighting equipment, sets, props, costumes, and the like all under the supervision of a film director.

Film directing

it is the director, like the painter and sculptor in traditional art, who envisions the final effect of the film on its viewers, visually, mentally, and emotionally. While the painter and sculptor work with physical materials, the film director works with ideas, images, sounds, and other effects to create this unique piece of art. He/she conceptualizes the scenes, directs the acting, supervises the cinematography and finally the editing and sound dubbing in much the same way as a visual artist composes an artwork. Clearly, however, the director does not do all these alone.

Acting

first and foremost, there was the art of acting for film. With live theater as the only form of acting at that time, film actors had to learn to express themselves without the exaggerated facial expressions and gestures used on stage. With the addition of sound in the 1930s, they then had to learn to deliver their lines naturally and believably.

Cinematography

behind the scenes, there was cinematography or the art of film camera work. This captured the director’s vision of each scene through camera placement and movement, lighting, and other special techniques.

Editing

this was joined by film editing, the art of selecting the precise sections of film, then sequencing and joining them to achieve the director’s desired visual and emotional effect. Sound editing was also developed, as films began to include more ambitious effects beyond the dialogue and background music.

Production/Set design

this recreated in physical terms – through location, scenery, sets, lighting, costumes, and props –the mental image that the director had of how each scene should look, what period it should depict, and what atmosphere it should convey. This included creating worlds that did not exist as well as worlds that were long gone, designing each production component down to the very last detail.

Film Genres

• Silent films

• slapstick comedy films

• gangster movie genre

• horror films

• fantasy films

Philippine Filmmakers

• Lino Brocka

• Laurice Guillen 

• Marilou Diaz Abaya

• Maryo J. delos Reyes

• Brillante Mendoza

• Catalino Ortiz Brocka 

• (April 3, 1939 – May 21, 1991) is a Filipino film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and significant Filipino filmmakers in Philippine cinema history. In 1983, he founded the organization Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP), dedicated to helping artists address issues confronting the country.

• Brocka

• was openly gay and he often incorporated LGBT themes into his films. He has directed landmark films such as Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang (1974), Maynila sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag (1975), Insiang (1976), Bayan Ko: Kapit sa Patalim (1984), andOrapronobis (1989). In 1997, he was posthumously given the National Artist of the Philippines for Film award for "having made significant contributions to the development of Philippine arts."

Mike de Leon

Ishmael Bernal

LAURICE GUILLEN

Guillen studied at St. Theresa's College, Cebu City, earned an AB English degree before finishing an MA in Communication at Ateneo de Manila University, followed by a television production course under Nestor Torre, in 1967. She then began work as an actress, starring in productions of Mrs. Warren's Profession, before crossing over to film and television work, playing a seductress in Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang, and Corazon Aquino in the drama A Dangerous Life, In 2009 she accepted a role in the indie film Karera, her first role in an independent production. Other credits include in the film Sister Stella L and Moral. However, it was on television that she became a household name when she joined the cast of "Flor de Luna" in 1978 as Jo Alicante, Flor de Luna's temperamental step mother. She went on to portray the role until the mid-80s when the show folded.

Marilou Díaz-Abaya

(March 30, 1955 – October 8, 2012) was a multi-awarded film director from the Philippines. She was the founder and president of the Marilou Díaz-Abaya Film Institute and Arts Center, a film school based in Antipolo City, Philippines. She was the director of the 1998 film José Rizal, a biographical film on the Philippines' national hero.

1998: José Rizal, written by Ricky Lee, Jun Lana, produced by GMA Films; starring Cesar Montano, Jaime Fabregas, Gina Alajar, Jhong Hilario, Gloria Diaz, Pen Medina; multi-awarded by the Metro Manila Film Festival (1998), Gawad Urian, Star Awards, FAMAS; commercially released at the Iwanami Hall, Tokyo (2000); exhibited at the film festivals of Berlin, Munich, Düsseldorf, Madrid, Paris, Singapore, Fukuoka, Tokyo, Pusan, Montreal, Vancouver, Guggenheim Museum of New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Hawaii, and others.

1999: Muro Ami (Reef Hunters), written by Ricky Lee, Jun Lana, produced by GMA Films; starring Cesar Montano, Amy Austria, Pen Medina, Jhong Hilario; multi-awarded by the Metro Manila Film Festival (1999), FAMAS, Star Awards; exhibited in the film festivals in Fukuoka, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Hawaii, and others.

Maryo J. de los Reyes 

is a film and television director from the Philippines. He began his career in the 1970s.

Magnifico

is a 2003 Filipino FAMAS Award-winning drama film directed by Maryo J. De los Reyes, written by Michiko Yamamoto, and starring Jiro Manio, Lorna Tolentino, Albert Martinez, Gloria Romero. The film was shot in the province ofLaguna and is based on the grand prize-winning piece from a 2001 national screenplay writing contest sponsored by theFilm Development Council of the Philippines.

Brillante Mendoza

is a Filipino film director. He was born and raised in San Fernando, Pampanga. He took Advertising Arts of the then College of Architecture and Fine Arts at the University of Santo Tomas. He has directed sixteen films since 2005.