Shared Flashcard Set

Details

Film Theory and Criticism Midterm
Midterm film theory and criticism definitions and theorists for Dr. Blouin Milligan College
36
Film, Theatre & Television
Undergraduate 1
03/01/2016

Additional Film, Theatre & Television Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term

Zoetrope

Definition
  • A round drum filled with sequential images of a siple action; whn spun, it would achivea shutterlike action and the onlooker would see the action in its entirety
  • Fist developed by Willian Horner and patened in 1867
  • One of the first devices to achieve continuous movement 
Term
Tableau
Definition
  • A static gathering of live charectors within a frame.
  • Example: D.W. Giffith used tableau extensivley to set up scenes or to creat contrast with action sequences
Term
Kinestasis
Definition
  • Still photgraphs used instead of mocing images
  • Evoke a contemplative state
Term
Hollywood Montage
Definition
  • A form of editing used to condense a larger sequence of events into a shorter cinematic sequence
  • Example: Using a rapid succession of newspaper headlines to convey a longer devlopment (Citizen Kane)
Term
Formalism
Definition
  • Emphasis on technique more than content
  • Post-recolitionary Soviet Union (early 1920s)
  • The material in the film is trated scientificallyl how are things arranged, compoased, and edited matters far more than the plot
Term
Socialist Realism
Definition
  • A style of editing institutd during Stalin's regime (post-1928)
  • Less creative, innocative editing and more simplistic scenes from everyday life in the Soviet Union
  • Meant to be more instructive; less art for art's sake
  • Example: Eisenstein
Term
Agitprop
Definition
  • To agitate though propaganda
  • Used by Soviet filmmakers
Term
Kuleshov Effect
Definition
  • Names after Soviet filmmaker
  • To juxtapose two sequences in order ti make meaning
  • Example: The face of the Tsar with varying actions of peasents=different perception of the Tsar
Term
Accelerated Montage
Definition
  • Shorter individual shots to achieve the effect of faster speed (through form not content)
  • Example: D.W. Griffith The Lonedale Operator
Term
Conceptual Montage
Definition
  • Cutting together shots that create meaning only because of their arrangment together
  • Example: Odessa steps sequence
Term
Montage of Attraction
Definition
  • Juxtaposed images are used to create points of identification
  • Example: The Csar and the Peacock in Ten Days that Shook the World
Term
Rhythmic Montage
Definition
  • Punctuating a film with longer.shorter shots for emotional rhythm
Term
Imagist
Definition
  • A film that uses related images to address an abstract concept
  • Example: Storm=Russian Revolution (final scene of Storm over Asia Eisenstein)
Term
Caesura
Definition
  • A pause or break in a line of verse; in film a quite, contemplative break in the midst of frenetic editing
Term
Oppositional Cinema
Definition
  • Cinema that interjects and opposes standard film conventions
  • Frequently meant to subvert cultual expectation/sterotypes
Term
Juxtaposition
Definition
  • Refers to arrangment of cinematic elements (visual vs. aural, shot vs. shot, color vs color, etc.)
  • THe act of contrast forces spectators to re-think the familiar and conceptualize alternative menaing
Term
Smash Cut
Definition
  • AKA "dynamic cut"
  • A jarring leap in space/or time (drawing attention to montage, usually with sound emphasis)
Term
Ingenue
Definition
  • A young female star with "fresh good looks" and demure personality
Term
Chiaroscuro
Definition
  • The use of shadows for psychological effect
Term
Ostranenie
Definition
  • Coined by Victor Shklovsky
  • If our understanding of the world becomes automatized it must become unfamiliar to us
  • Part of th eprocess of art evolution: what was once novel becomes habitual (and must be disturbed once again)
Term
Actualite
Definition
  • Begin with Lumiere Brothers
  • Uninterruptes recording of real event; omits the expressive role of the editor
Term
Cinema Verite
Definition
  • A fictional film that its subject in candid way (borrowing stylistis choices from documentary film)
  • Devoid of over-polished studio look
  • Less than perfect exposure; flat lighting; hand-held camera, etc.
Term
Flow-of-Life Film
Definition
  • "Found stories"
  • A film where the plot seems accidental
  • Traidtional sense of climax/resolution deemphasized

 

Term
New American Humanistic Realism
Definition
  • Employed by "New American Cinema Group"
  • In 1960s Hollywood was in a rut. To respond, a group of avante garde filmmakers emerged, appealing to similar concers as their European counterparts
Term
Neorealism
Definition
  • Began in Italy near the end of WWII
  • Rejected the tenets of the studio
  • Use the non-actors and disinterest in traditional story arcs
Term
Expressionism
Definition
  • A stylr that focuses on the non-realistic and non-naturalistic
  • Highest import: expression of psycholgical mood
  • Example: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Term
Natualism
Definition
  • A style that focuses on stark reality
  • Man=product of enviornment
  • Avoids value judgments
Term
Reflexive Cinema
Definition
  • The subject of FILM is also the content/plot
  • Explore the relationsip between filmmaking and reality (film-within-a-film)
Term
Cinema Pur
Definition
  • Europe in the 1920s
  • Exploit was in unique to cinema (dynamic cuts, slow-fast mostion, trick shots)
  • Fits under catefory of abstract film
Term
New Wave
Definition
  • France, 1950-1960s
  • Prominent directors include Jean-Luc Godard and Alain Resnais
  • Diversity in approach but all are committed to experimentas filmmaking
  • Example: Breathless, Hiroshima Man Amour
Term
Jump Cut
Definition
  • Cut Between two non-continuous shots
  • Seems to jump back or ahead in time
Term
Absolute Film
Definition
  • Another term for abstract, non-representation cinema
Term
Asynchronous Sound
Definition
  • Sound that has not been synchronized with images on screen
  • Mismatched sounds for certain effect (child crying overlaid with image of adult screaming, etc.)
Term
Diegesis
Definition
  • All that exists within the world of film
  • If it is added to the world such as anonymous voice-over narration, it is non-diegetic
  • If it is an extension of thw rold a charector doing voice-over work then it is extra-diegetic
Term
Expanded Cinema
Definition
  • In which filmmakers extent the technological capabilities of film (multiple projectors, computer generated imergy, etc.)
  • Mixed media
Term
Gaze
Definition
  • The spectator's coercion at the hands of the camera's eye
  • This direction influences the desires/expectations of the spectator (unconsciously)
Supporting users have an ad free experience!