Intro to Film MIDTERM

Magic Lantern

early projecting technology

Chronophotography

many pictures in a row, slightly diff, to look like something is moving

Kinetoscope

Form of exhibition, person could look inside and see early film through a peephole mechanism that showed brief films.

The Black Maria

Where edison filmed early films

Vitascope

patented Edison machine

Actualities

short, nonfiction films EX: the train

Early Documentary

Some type of education mission, which actualities lack

Trick film

used to show off special effects; stopmotion

Re-enactments

war re-enactments

Early Film and Performance Examples

Annabelle Serpentine Dance: a color film (1895)
The Kiss (1896): Black and white, kiss on cheek and whispering; actors were aware of being filmed
Negro Kiss (1898): Black and White, black people kissing

Early filmmaking in France

Lumiere Bros: French manufacturers of photography and equipment
Cinematographe: 3 in 1 - camera, film processor, and projector

Cinema of Attractions - Gunning: (1906-1907)

Early cinema less preoccupied w/ narrative
Saw film as an attraction: exotic w/illusory power, ability to show something, watching film is attraction, energy moves toward imagined spectator

Cinema of Attractions modern day

Music videos (madonna ray of light, energy is moved towards the imagined spectator, narrative isn’t a priority)

George Melies

Pioneer in early french cinema, special effects, a trip to the moon
practical effects, perception tricks

Buster Keaton

Vaudeville family, starts performing young, created gags. Known for stunts and gags.

Vaudeville

variety entertainment in late 1800s, different acts.

Slapstick

physical comedy that relies on exaggeration, visual gags, and absurd violence w/ acrobatics…still exists in animation, tortilla slap challenge

Singin in the Rain, Looney Tunes

Californias ties to Slapstick

Material environment shaped early slapstick
Slapstick gave us an early account of place
Slapstick construct imaginary worlds
California isn’t just a geographic place but also a cultural idea

Studio system

vertically integrated: a company owns each level of industry

US vs. Paramount Pictures (1948)

Studios can’t own exhibition places, expired in 2022

Big Five

Paramount, MGM, RKO, Warner Bros, Fox (20th Century)

Little Three

Columbia, Universal, United Artists

Exhibition and money

Studios owned 70% of first-run theaters

Producer unit system

Head of production, producers oversee groups of films
Saved money and produced better quality films
Creative labor tied to contracts (and created unions)

Star System

contracted stars to studios for 7 years, bigger stars could add to contracts, produced brand loyalty

Hollywood narrations

Stories grounded in cause and effect
Characters as prime causal agents
Associate detective w/ male, hat, magnifying glass
Studios develop as brands that made particular films

Hollywood Posters vocab for analyzing

Denotations: meaning of word (literally)
Connotation: figurative meaning (social/historical attachments)

the Hays Code

a set of self-imposed moral rules that governed the content of Hollywood films from 1934 to 1968

Mise-en-Scene

setting, props, costume
Or, everything that appears within the frame of a finished film

Diegesis

The fictional world in which we presume the story takes place

Early animation examples

Flip books
Trick films
Comice
Stop motion
Puppetry
Abstract Art

Anthropomorphism

the attribution of human traits, emotions, intentions, or physical form to non-human entities, such as animals, objects, or natural phenomena…Bugs Bunny

Disney and early animation

Wanted a studio ethos and identity
Synchronized sound and technicolor
Insistence on realism

Animation and Classical Hollywood

Part of Theatrical exhibition
Animated shorts before a feature length film

Golden age of animation

sound-60s…ended party due to TV

Disney Renaissance

started in 89
musical adaptations of well known stories
Explodes in home video

CGI Animation

Toy Story ‘95
Pixar and Dreamworks

Hayao Miyazaki

character journeys illustrate cultural and political topics

Documentary

A subgenre of nonfiction filmmaking that makes assertions, tells stories, records observations about the real world through audiovisual means

Proto-Doc

actualities (arrival of a train)
captured actualities…precursor to Documentary

Topicals

non-fiction “news” items

Ethnographic Films

a non-fiction film that uses visual anthropology to document the lives, cultures, practices, and social worlds of specific human communities

Robert Flaherty

early documentarian, dramatic structure with narrative goals, western director makes films for non-western group (Nanook of the North)

Souvenir Series

Canadian films from indigenous canadian filmmakers (Sisters and Brothers and Mobilize)

Poetic Documentary

Mood, drama, emotion

Expository Documentary

Rhetorical techniques to make a claim

Participatory Documentary

Filmmaker is in the film itself

Observational Documentary

Fly on the wall, reality as it unfolds

Reflexive Documentary

Deconstructive…Documentary

a filmmaking mode—defined by theorist Bill Nichols—that turns the camera onto the process of its own making, exposing the crew, equipment, editing room, and filmmaker-audience relationship to question the concept of objective truth

Performative Documentary

The filmmaker's personal, emotional, and subjective experience is the center of the story

Also re-enactments

Diagetic vs Non-Diagetic Sound

Diagetic: character dialogue
Non: V.O

Genre

A range of expression for filmmakers abd a range of experience for viewers

Iconography

the identification, description, and study of visual symbols, images, and motifs used in art and culture to convey specific meanings

Narrative and visual coding
Carries thematic value
Reflects value system of the society