Film Genres Exam Study

George Melies

French magician and theatre actor. Father of the Trick Film

Actualité Films

developed by the Lumière brothers. documentary, travel, “recherches, voyeurism, realism

Theatrical/Trick Films

developed by George Méliès, fictional, theatrical, exhibitionism, acknowledges the camera, vaudevillian, reaction to “realism”

genre

genres are based on a tacit agreement among filmmakers, reviewers, and audiences, change over time, subgenres, not tidy

Genre conventions

plot elements, themes, manner of presentation, filming techniques (lighting, framing, speed of motion), iconography

narrative image

The idea of the film, arrived at through publicity and marketing, institutionalized public discourses (i.e. journalism), and unofficial word of mouth.

shot

an uninterrupted duration on screen

Long Shot

refers to camera distance

Long take

a single shot that is long in duration

Short lense

focal length of less than 35mm, everything is in focus, very short is called wide angle, exagerated depth, can distort the image on the edge of the film

normal lense

focal length of 35-50 mm, most closely resembles the human eye, horiontal and vertical lines rendered straight/perpendicular

Long lense

focal lenght of more than 50mm, what’s not in focus is very blurry, very long is called telephoto, flattens space, draws the eye to certian focal points

Zoom lenses

permit the camera operator to change the focal length

Focal length 1-18mm

Fish eye

18-35mm focal length

wide shot

focal length 35-70mm

mid shot

focal length 70mm +

telephoto

focal length

the distance bewteen the optical center of a lens and the camera image center, works describing each lens in terms of millimeters

shorter/wider lense

more depth, see image more clearly

long lense

selects a certain place of space to view clearly, but renders everything else blurry

rack to focus

focus of the camera changes during the shot

Themes

an idea or unifying concept that pervades in a work of art or literature (can often be stated in a word or short phrase)

motifs

a repeated narrative element that supports one or more of the themes of the story (can be visual, auditory, or verbal)

Camera angle

vantage- high, low, or eye level

camera height

camera distance above the ground, usually described as where it is to the human body- eye, hip, knee, crane shot, ground level, overhead or Birds Eye, ariel shot

Camera level

Only mentioned if it is canted or tilted- dutch angle

Camera distance

how far the camera is from its subject- extreme close up, close up, medium shot, medium full shot, full/long shot, extreme long shot

Match cut

transitions scene, like 2001’s bone toss scene

Mobile framing

pan, tilt, pedestal, track/dolly, steadicam or gimbal, handheld, zoom in/out

Mise on scene

The stuff you could see without a camera- setting (set design, props), staging/blocking (movement, performance), costumes, hair, makeup, lighting

high-key lighting

low contrast, few to no shadows

low key lighting

high contrast, lots of shadows

hard lighting

sharp edges,

soft lighting

hazy edges

Chiaroscuro lighting

“clear/light obscure”, very dramatic type of lighting characterized by low key hard lighting

Graphic principle of editing relationships

connects shots through matching visual elements, purely pictoral

rythmic principle of editing relationships

impacts the tempo of the film, has to do with shot durations

spactial principle of editing relationships

constructs a sense of space, consideres 180 degree rule, Kuleshov effect- prompts the spectator to infer on a spacial whole on the basis of only seeing portions of the space

temporal principle of editing relationships

controls story time- order, duration, and frequency of events, consider flashbacks/flash forwards, elliptical and overlapping editing

cut

cut on action, cross cut, cutaway, jump cut, match cut

wipe

can go in any direction

smash cut

abrupt transition

invisible cut

gives impression of a single take

Kuleshov effect

Example- shot of actors looking at each other but on moscow streets miles apart, then meeting and strolling together and looking at the white house in Washington- made it seem as though the actors were in DC

any series of shots that prompts the spectator to infer a spatial whole on the basis of seeing only portions of the space

180 degree rule

difference between one shot and the next must be moer than 30 degrees

discontinuity editing

disrupts the sense of time and space- jump cuts, non diagetic inserts, freeze frames, temporal jumps, breaking 18 degree rule

master/cover shot

film recording of an entire dramatized scene with which shots from other distances or angles can be interspersed

montage sequences

shots “joined by dissolves and music to create a quick, regular rhythm and to compress a lenghty series of actions into a few moments”

time of film

how long it takes to watch the entire film

time of action

the total time of the narrative "(in weeks/days/years)

story

the raw material of a story, or the overarching narrative

plot

the unique sequence of evetns that organizes how the story is told

diegetic

elements that are part of the story world and can be experienced by its characters (dialogue, music the characters can hear)

non-diegetic

elements that are external to the story world- narration, score, screen overlays

speed of motion

has to do with frame rate and the number of frames per second- slow motion, fast motion, freeze frame, bullet time

Bullet time

slows down time to show everything as clear as possible- made for the matrix

film sound

consists of speech, music, and noise

Loudness/Volume

very dynamic, related to perspective, related to percieved distance

Pitch

highness/lowness of the tone

timbre

the color, tone, or quality of a sound- the “feel”

rhythmic coordination

mathcing sonic and visual elements

rythmic disparity

not coordinating sonic and visual elements

fidelity

how faithful the sound seems to the source as we might imagine it

spatial conditions

a sense of source gives us a sense of space

temporal conditions

simultaneous/synchronus or nonimultaneous/asychronous sound

Synchresis

the spontaneous and irresistible weld produced between a particular auditory phenomenon and visual phenomenon when they occur at the same time. This join results independently of any rational logic.

Sound bridge

Sound that crosses between two scenes to connect them

dry recording

deviod of sound effects or manipulation

wet recording

sound that has been manipulated

direct sound

Sound recorded at the time of the filming

Film Noir characteristics

morally ambiguous characters, chiarscuro lighting, crime corruption and betrayal, femme fatale, urban setting, end bleakly

Neo Noir

everything after 1959, reimagines noir, emphasizes criminal psychology, violence, misogny, visual palette of noir, but more angles and unbalanced framing

2001: A Space Odyssey director

Stanley Kubrick

Ex Machina Director

Alex Garland

Her Director

Spike Jonze

The Matrix Directors

Lily and Lana Wachowshi

Blade Runner Director

Ridley Scott

Blade Runner 2049 Director

Denis Villeneuve

Total Recall Director

Paul Verhoeven