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objects and actors are visually blocked out within the confines of a predetermined camera setup
• tend to imply fatality or determinism – the camera seems to know what will happen even before it occurs
o Emphasizes dramatic unity, plausible motivations, and coherence of its constituent parts
o Classical plot structures are linear and often take the form of a journey, a chase, or a search
o Classicists favor characters who are goal oriented so that we can take a rooting interest in their plans of action |
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| an actor who, after many years, has such an effect on the public that he/she becomes a model or ideal actor for good |
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| minority artists whose works are characterized by an unconventional draing and by obscure, controversial, or highly personal ideas |
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sets that were built permanently by the studios because such settings were in such high demand
• turn-of-the-century street, European square, urban slum, etc |
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French film journal
• edited by André Bazin
• Popularized the auteur theory |
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| artistic sensibility typified by comic mockery, especially of the straight world and conventional morality. Campy movies are often ludicroiusly theatrical, stylistically gaudy, and gleefully subversive |
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| documentary form that tends to avoid simulated or re-created sounds |
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• Sequence of shots is determined by a cene’s dramatic and emotional emphasis rather than by physical action alone
• Represents the breakdown of the event into its psychological as well as logical components |
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| • Classical narrative structure |
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o The Classical Paradigm – term invented by scholars to describe a certain kind of narrative structure that has dominated fiction film production ever since the 1910s.
The most popular type of story organization |
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| o The Classical Paradigm Structure: |
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Narrative model based on a conflict between a protagonist and an antagonist
Film begins with an implied dramatic question
Following scenes intensify the conflict in a rising pattern of action (cause-effect relation)
The conflict builds to its maximum tension in the climax
After the climax the dramatic intensity subsides in the resolution
The story ends with some type of formal closure |
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o A term of analytical psychology, coined by Carl Jung.
o It is a part of the unconscious mind, expressed in humanity and all life forms with nervous systems, and describes how the structure of the psyche autonomously organizing experience.
o Jung distinguished the Collective Unconscious from the Personal unconscious, in that the Personal Unconscious is a personal reservoir of experience unique to each individual, while the Collective Unconscious collects and organizes those personal experiences in a similar way with each member of a particular species. |
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o An implied agreement between the viewer and artist to accept certain artificialities as real in a work in a work of art
o In movies, editing (or the juxtaposition of shots) is accepted as “logical” even though a viewer’s perception of reality is continuous and unfragmented |
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o Extra shots of a scene that can be used to bridge transitions in case the planned footage fails to edit as planned
o Usually long shots that preserve the overall continuity of a scene |
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o A type of editing in which the shots are arranged to preserve the fluidity of an action without showing all of it
o An unobtrusive condensation of a continuous action |
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| o An analytical methodology, derived from Hegel and Marx, that juxtaposes pairs of opposite, from close-up ranges to infinity |
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o Diegesis may concern elements, such as characters, events and things within the main or primary narrative. However, the author may include elements which are not intended for the primary narrative, such as stories within stories; characters and events that may be referred to elsewhere or in historical contexts and that are therefore outside the main story and are thus presented in an extradiegetic situation.
o "Diegetic," in the cinema, typically refers to the internal world created by the story that the characters themselves experience and encounter: the narrative "space" that includes all the parts of the story, both those that are and those that are not actually shown on the screen (such as events that have led up to the present action; people who are being talked about; or events that are presumed to have happened elsewhere). |
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| o That area of the film image that compels the viewer’s most immediate attention, usually because of a prominent visual contrast |
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| o A conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories in particular cases |
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| • Expressionist (Expressionism) |
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| o A style of filmmaking emphasizing extreme distortion, lyricism, and artistic self-expression at the expense of objectivity |
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• Highly sensitive to light and in some cases can register images with no illumination except what’s available on location, even in nighttime sequences.
• (Slow stock is relatively insensitive to light and requires as much as ten time more illumination than fast stocks. Slow stocks are capable of capturing colors precisely without washing them out.) |
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• Actresses and actors can fall into a specific role that they play in movies.
• An example of a “role” was the “femme fatal” created by the Swedish actress Greta Garbo.
o Femme fatal can be characterized as mysterious, duplicitous, subversive, double-crossing, gorgeous, unloving, predatory, tough-sweet, unreliable, irresponsible, manipulative and desperate.
• Another example of an acting type is the “cheap blonde” type (Marilyn Monroe). This is one of America’s favorite types. |
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| • A cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style is a film type used to describe stylish Hollywood dramas. (Wikipedia) |
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• Are attached to cameras to intensify given qualities and suppress others during a scene. For example, cloud formations can be exaggerated threateningly or softly diffused. Different shapes, colors, and lighting intensities can be radically altered through the use of specific optical modifiers.
• Filters can trap light and refract it in such a way to produce a diamond like sparkle in the image. Green and blue filters can be used for exterior scenes, for example the Matrix movies used green filters to show the “fake world.” |
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• The studio editor was permitted a first cut (rough cut) – that is the sequence of shots representing his or her interpretation of the materials.
• Film editor’s first opportunity to cut the film to his/her liking.
• The director’s cut was the film cut using the director’s vision.
• Final Cut - see above. |
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| • Is a very extreme wide-angle modifier. It creates such severe distortions that the lateral portions of the screen seem reflected in a sphere, as though, we were looking through a crystal ball. (They did this a lot in Brazil) |
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• Fast movement of a pan technique?
• Pan is the horizontal movement of the camera from left to right – vice versa. |
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• Isolating fragments to evidence for the purpose of closer study. Foregrounding is always an implicit value judgment.
• Film historians focus on a given type of evidence in a film, highlighting its significance while deemphasizing or ignoring “irrelevant” data. |
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• Is a theory of film study that is focused on the formal, or technical, elements of a film: i.e., the lighting, scoring, sound and set design, use of color, shot composition, and editing. It is a major theory of film study today.
• At its most general, considers the synthesis (or lack of synthesis) of the multiple elements of film production, and the effects, emotional and intellectual, of that synthesis and of the individual elements. For example, let's take the single element of editing. A formalist might study how standard Hollywood "continuity editing" creates a more comforting effect and non-continuity or jump-cut editing might become more disconcerting or volatile. (Wikipedia) |
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| • The New-Wave style (also known as French New Wave) began after World War II, when Europe was being rebuilt and cinema, much like everything else, was in the midst of a turbulent upheaval. Most of the old school, popular directors had fled France during German occupation and a new generation of filmmakers, who had lived through the war and were now very disillusioned. These directors rejected montage-style filmmaking or mise-en-scene style filmmaking with longer, narrative shots as well as believed that films were personal and believed in the "auteur theory" or "author theory," that a film should be identified as the work of director, who owned the narrative. |
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| • Refers to the method of film categorization based on similarities in the narrative elements from which films are constructed. Action, romantic comedies, drama, suspense, etc. |
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• Deals with the theory of history, the assumptions, principle, and methodologies of historical study.
• Really is not “a single film history,” but rather many film histories based on the historian’s particular interests, biases, and prejudices
• Four types of film history
o Aesthetic film histories – film as art
o Technological film histories – motion pictures as inventions and machines
o Economic histories – film as history
o Social histories – movies as a reflection of the audience’s values, desires, and fears. |
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• An overt reference or allusion to another movie, director, or memorable shot.
• Somewhat of a quote, the director’s graceful tribute to a colleague or established master. |
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• The definition or characteristics we associate with a star.
• Mel Gibson crazy |
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| cross cutting, the alternating of shots from two sequences, often in different locales suggesting that they are taking place at the same time. |
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| an unobtrusive area of the film image that nonetheless compels our most immediate attention because of its dramatic or contextual importance |
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| A masking devise that blacks out portions of the screen, permitting only a part of the image to be seen. Usually, the iris is circular or oval in shape and can be expanded or contracted. |
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| filmaker's way of exploiting meaning out of types of movement |
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| A lens with a focal length greater than 25mm in 16mm, or 50mm in 35mm, which, like binoculars, will provide a view that magnifies a small area. |
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| Usually in longer shots. The mise en scene is so spaciously distributed within the confines of the framed image that people photographed have considerable freedom of movement |
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| a stylistic exuberance and subjectivity, emphasizing the sensuous beauty of the medium and producing an intense outpouring of emotion |
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| A technique whereby a portion of the movie image is blocked out thus temporarily altering the dimensions of the screen’s aspect ratio. |
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| - An uninterrupted shot, usually taken from a long of full shot that contains an entire scene. The closer shots are photographed later, and an edited sequence, composed of a variety of shots is constructed on the editor’s bench. |
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| method acting, a style of performance derived from the Russian stage director Stanislavsky, which has been the dominant acting style in America since the 1950’s. Method actors emphasize psychological intensity, extensive rehearsals to explore a character, emotional believability rather than technique mastery, and “living” a role internally rather than merely imitating the external behavior of the character. |
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the artist or technician who creates the mise en
• scene- that is the director. |
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| A type of film music that is purely descriptive and attempts to mimic the visual action with musical equivalents. Often used in cartoons. |
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| method of presentation where the artist tries to mimic their subject |
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| a style of filmmaking characterized by austerity and restraint in which cinematic elements are reduced to the barest minimum of information. |
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| The arrangement of visual weights and movements within a given space. In live theater, the space is usually defined by the proscenium arch; in movies, it is defined by the frame that encloses images. Cinematic mise en scene encompasses both the staging of the action and the way that it’s photographed. |
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| The process of combining separately recorded sounds from individual soundtracks onto a master track. The individual who performs this task is called a sound mixer. |
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| the switching of shots of one scene with another at a different location, crosscutting between scenes conveys their simultaneous sequences. |
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| Viewer’s on-screen perceptions of actors’ personalities that often distort their public image. The public often applies the persona they see on the screen to an actors’ personal life off it. |
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| when the focal distance of long lenses is adjusted while shooting allowing the director to neutralize planes and guide the viewer’s eyes to various distances in a sequence, also known as selective focusing. |
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| A style of filmmaking that attempts to duplicate the look of objective reality as it’s commonly perceived, with emphasis on authentic locations and details, minimum of distortion techniques, lots of long cuts and long shots. |
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Realists avoid extreme angles, photographed from eye level, the way an actual observer might view a scene, usually these directors try to capture the clearest view of an object.
• Realism used to describe a variety of styles ranging from poetic realism, documentary realism, to studio realism among others. Some realists use the natural beauty of the world while others avoid beauty and focus on the natural, imperfect nature of realism
• Andre Bazin theorized that photography and film produce images of reality automatically. He thought that no other art can be as realistic in the most elementary sense of the world.
• Realists favor available lighting in exterior scenes. The realist doesn’t use conspicuous lighting unless its source is dictated by the context
• In realistic films the implied narrator is virtually invisible, the events speak for themselves like stage plays. The story seems to unfold automatically, usually in chronological sequence.
• Movies are evaluated in terms of how accurately they reflect external reality. Camera is a recording instrument rather than an expressive medium in its own right. The Subject matter is paramount in the cinema of realism, technique is its discreetly transparent handmaiden. Most theories of realism have a moral and ethical bias and are often rooted in the values of Islamic, Christian and Marxist humanism. See page 499 |
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| A shot taken from an angle 180 degrees opposed to the previous shot. That is, the camera is placed opposite its previous position. |
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| the study of how movies signify. The manner in which information is signified linked to what’s being signified. French theorist Christian Metz on forefront of developing semiotics as a technique of film analysis. Theory of cinematic communication founded on the concept of signs or codes. The language of cinema consists of a complex network of signs we instinctively decipher while experiencing a movie. |
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| A film genre introduced in the 1930’s in America and popular up to the 1950’s characterized by zany lovers, often from different social classes. The plots are absurdly improbable and veer out of control, slapstick comedy aggressive and charming heroines and an assortment of outlandish secondary characters. |
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| (Plan-séquence) single lengthy shot usually involving complex staging and camera movements. |
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Film stocks that are relatively insensitive to light and produce crisp images and a sharpness of detail
- When used in interior settings, these stocks generally require considerable artificial illumination |
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| Short lenses (wide-angle lens): |
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A lens that permits the camera to photograph a wider area than a normal lens
- A side effect is its tendency to exaggerate perspective. Also used for deep-focus photography |
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A film actor or actress of great popularity
- A personality star tends to play only those roles that fit a preconceived public image, which constitutes his or her persona
- An actor star can play roles of greater range and variety
- Eddie Murphy is a personality star; Nicole Kidman is an actor star |
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The technique of exploiting the charisma of popular performers to enhance the box-office appeal of films
- The star system was developed in America and has been the backbone of the American film industry since the mid-1910s |
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An avant-garde movement that rejected narrative in favor of an abstract structure that owed nothing to subject matter.
- The codes of cognition are totally self-defined
- Structured according to the principles of recurrence, dialectical polarities, time and space increments, and so on
- Focused intently on the American cinema |
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A subordinated element of the film image, complementing or contrasting the dominant contrast
Subtext: A term used in drama and film to signify the dramatic implications beneath the language of a play or movie
- Often, the subtext concerns ideas and emotions that are totally independent of the language of a text |
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| Swish pan, also flash or zip pan |
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| A horizontal movement of the camera at such a rapid rate that the subject photographed blurs on the screen |
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A figurative device in which an object, event, or cinematic technique has significance beyond its literal meaning
- Symbolism is always determined by the dramatic context |
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| Synchronized sound, synchronous: |
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The agreement or correspondence between image and sound, which are recorded simultaneously, or seem so in the finished print.
- Synchronous sounds appear to derive from an obvious source in the visuals |
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: A variation of a specific shot
- The final shot is often selected from a number of possible takes |
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| Telephoto lens, long lens: |
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A lens that acts as a telescope, magnifying the size of objects at a great distance
- A side effect is its tendency to flatten perspective |
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A type of editing propounded by the Soviet filmmaker Eisenstein, in which separate shots are linked together not y their literal continuity in reality but by symbolic association.
- A shot of a preening braggart might be linked to a shot of a toy peacock, for example.
- Most commonly used in documentaries, in which shots are connected in accordance to the filmmaker’s thesis |
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Are usually professional academics, often the authors of books on how movies can be studied on a more philosophical level
- Most theorists are concerned with the wider context of the medium-its social and political implications |
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Close shots that tend to make the subject matter seemed confined
- Often used symbolically in this way and loose shots tend to function as a symbol of freedom |
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A system in which the production, distribution, and exhibition of movies are all controlled by the same corporation.
- In America, the practice was declared illegal in the late 1940s. |
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Realism, Classicism, Formalism (and traits of each style)
Aspect ratio: concept and standard configurations |
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| concept and standard configurations |
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| : understand Giannetti’s “Right-Center-Left” model, understand his neutral/implicit/explicit classification schema and remember that your professor believes that they are never neutral! |
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