FILM / “MOVIES”

Points to Remember (based on textbook and lectures)

You may notice that these notes are often identical to boldface section headings in your readings.
Refer to your textbook and class notes for more detailed information

Last updated February 6, 2008

”Film” and “Movies” mean many things to many people
Art — “literary” self-expression, social and/or psychological commentary,
æsthetic visual experimentation, motion & time, musical and theatrical conventions/techniques, et al.
Culture — reflection of world & other cultures
Entertainment — comedy, drama, escapism
Education — instruction, training, propaganda
Business/Industry — a means to make money
Scientific Technology — new methods for old ideas

INTRO FILM CLASS – General Film Appreciation
Broad subject material - many disciplines combined
LITERARY CRITICISM / GENRES / INTERPRETATION
HISTORY / SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY / PRODUCTION
(This class will deal largely with American narrative cinema, especially classical Hollywood studio productions,
but will also include independent, international, and non-narrative cinema to various extents in different semesters.)

MOVIES - Really just an optical illusion!
”Persistence of Vision,” the “Phi Phenomenon,” and “Critical Flicker Fusion”
Numerous individual still pictures
- viewed so fast in succession that they blend into one image that appears to be in motion
- the more individual images viewed per second, the smoother the motion seems to be

FILM - Photochemical process, analog image, mechanical projection

Primary film formats
70mm - special venue presentations and roadshows; now rarely used
(IMAX also uses 70mm film but runs horizontally instead of vertically, giving larger image)
(65mm camera negatives printed to 70mm for projection, extra space used for soundtracks;
sometimes 35mm negatives blown up to standard 70mm or IMAX)
35mm - professional, commercial studio standard
(VistaVision uses 35mm film running horizontally instead of vertically,
giving an original negative area twice as large as standard 35mm movies)
16mm - semi-pro, nontheatrical, industrial, independent, etc.,
usually blown up to 35mm for any theatrical release
(“Super 16” uses soundtrack area for wider picture, always shot for 35mm blowup or video transfer)
9.5mm/8mm/Super 8 - home movies, independent

VIDEO (Video technology can be used for movies, but whether analog or digital, is NOT “Film”)

A few of the many digital video formats
DCI = “Digital Cinema Initiative” – standards for theatrical presentation of images from digital video files
HD Video - nearly 35mm film-resolution electronic images, transferred to film for theatrical exhibition and archival preservation
HDV - approximately 16mm film-resolution electronic images
DV - approximately 8mm film-resolution electronic images equal to standard-definition broadcast TV quality
DVD - storage medium used for highly compressed (mpeg) video images that can approach apparent broadcast quality on typical TV sets

Film Standards
- 24 frames/second (90 feet/minute); two predominant rectangular frame shapes (aspect ratios); soundtrack(s) analog or digital
- Projection standards (brightness, steadiness, audio, THX, etc.)
- Lighting sources (xenon lamps, carbon arcs, limelight for 35mm)
- 1000-foot and 2000-foot 35mm Reels of 10-20 minutes each vs. Platters holding up to four hours of film
- basic film technology and standards relatively unchanged for 75-110 years but with steadily improving image sharpness and sound quality
- video technology has had various and constantly changing standards and ranges of quality acceptability over the past 50-70 years, especially past 15 years

CAMERA
PROJECTOR
PRINTER

Negative - Fine Grain Positive Print - Dupe Negative – Release Print
- Since the late 1990s a “digital intermediate” (DI) process is often used instead of printing a finegrain positive film print as a source for the dupe negative. This can allow the dupe negative to look as sharp as the original camera negative if the film is scanned at a high enough resolution, or it can lower the sharpness of the original negative so it will match better with any computer-generated special effects.

“Digital” is NOT “Film”! A digital movie may, however, be printed onto film for exhibition, and is normally converted to film for archival purposes.
Digital imaging is an electronic video process usually using magnetic tape, memory cards, or magnetic or optical discs as a recording medium. A digital image (including high-resolution scans from film) can be conveniently manipulated and quickly evaluated with a high-powered computer, whereas a traditional film image takes more skill and care (and more time-consuming trial and error) to adjust using photochemical methods. Computerized “look-up tables” may even be used to simulate the appearances of various types of film stocks or chemical processes. On the other hand, duplicating a film print from a film negative by the traditional mechanical photochemical process is many, many times faster than the excruciatingly slow frame-by-frame output necessary using today’s computer technology when such memory and processor-intensive film-resolution images are required.

MAKING FILMS
Preproduction (Preparation)
Production (Shooting)
Postproduction (Assembly)
Distribution (“P&A” expenses - prints and advertising)
Exhibition
-Theatrical showings (often used today as advance promotion for video release rather than as the primary outlet)
-Video rentals and sales (note: DVD is video, though it can offer additional viewing options from traditional tape)
-Cable and Broadcast TV showings
-Internet streaming, downloads, and pay-per-view

MODES OF PRODUCTION
Individual and Collective
Usually small budget, little if any crew
One or a few people make entire film
Independent
Small to moderate budget, small crew
Crew members may do several jobs
Studio
Moderate to large budget, large crew
Strong division of very specialized labor: e.g. writer, director, producer, cast, cinematographer, camera operators, film loaders, clapper operators, art designers, sound recordists/mixers, editors, grips, gaffers, foley artists, ADR recorders, negative conformers, etc.

Film Distribution & Exhibition
Number of prints made
Release patterns: Exclusive - Limited - Selected (Key Cities) - Wide
Film Rental contracts
-Flat Rental Fee (very rare for commercial theatres)
-Percentages of Gross Ticket Sales Receipts
-Guarantees, “up-front” money
-Number of seats, locations, showings, and/or weeks required
-Ticket Price minimums
-Bidding (two or more theatre companies competing for movies they expect to be hits)
Single Screen/Twin/Multiplex theatres
2-projector changeovers vs. automation/platters
Concession sales (large profit item to make up for large boxoffice percentage payments)

FILM HISTORY

From experimental scientific technology to popular mass entertainment
Mechanically produced illusion of movement - toys and “flip-books” using drawings
Photography - 1826
Flexible Film - 1888/89
Attempts to reproduce motion photographically
1860’s - Coleman Sellers
1870’s-80’s - Eadweard Muybridge
1890’s - Thomas Edison, Lumière brothers, others
Many film formats and photography/viewing systems at first
Standard 35mm film projection format by 1895 still in use today
-Unchanged except for refinements of details, such as film stocks, lenses, color & sound, image shape variations (aspect ratios)
Synchronized Sound
Experimental in the 1890s, Limited commercial use in 1900s-1910s (acoustic cylinders and disks)
Became practical with electronic technology of 1920s, but mainly a curiosity until late 1927-28
-Vitaphone sound on disk introduced in 1926 with Don Juan (music & sound effects)
-Fox Movietone sound on film in 1927
-The Jazz Singer (1927) was a silent feature with a Vitaphone music score, some synchronized songs, and brief dialogue scenes
-first “all-talking” film The Lights of New York (1928) used Vitaphone process
Sound superceded “silent” films by 1930, optical sound soon replacing sound on disk

SEE ALSO http://widescreenmuseum.com and Development of the Cinema

Subject material of movies — same three main types for over a century
Reality / “Trickfilms” / Stories—cf. modern documentary and newsfilm/special effects films/dramatic fiction films
Short films of things moving - 1890’s (Edison, Lumiere Brothers, and others)
Short narratives, trick & story films - 1900’s (Méliès, Porter, Griffith, and others)

Basic movie industry business model – same for nearly a century, despite shifts in financing, production, & distribution
Theatres specializing in movies – early 1900’s (“Nickelodeons”), late 1910’s (Movie Palaces), 1970’s (Multiplexes)
”Feature length” filmed stories - 1910’s (Life of Moses-1909, Queen Elizabeth-1912, From the Manger to the Cross-1912, Traffic in Souls-1913, The Squaw Man-1913, Cabiria-1914, The Spoilers-1914, The Birth of a Nation-1915, The Cheat-1915, and others)
Rise of directors and actors as stars and marketing points – 1910’s and later
”Art” films and experimental film movement - 1920’s and later, always less prevalent
Studio system evolution - 1890’s through 2000’s (heyday in late 1910’s through early 1960’s, especially 20’s-30’s-40’s)

SEE ALSO: The Development of the Cinema and D. W. Griffith: Some Background

CHAPLIN, LLOYD, KEATON

The three major comedy stars of silent cinema

Similarities: Physical humor; each tries to impress girl

Differing approaches to character & comedy style

Easy Street (1916/17) – Charlie Chaplin

-“Little Tramp,” poverty & crime, anti-authority attitude

Never Weaken (1921) – Harold Lloyd

-Middle-class all-American boy, ambition, “thrill” comedy

The General (1926) – Buster Keaton

-Average guy, deadpan humor, mechanical gags

-Symmetrical story structure: mirror image with variations

-Epic scope & realism of drama; political implications

FILM FORM

FORM - structure, shape, narrative & stylistic elements
Function — motivation, foreshadowing, character development, “message”
Similarity & Repetition
Difference & Variation
Development
Unity vs. Disunity — closure/open-ended

Formal Expectations, Conventions, and Viewer Experience

Feeling - emotional response

Meaning - interpretation

CONTENT - story subject, point of view, “meaning”
Referential (refers directly to things viewer familiar with)
Explicit (“moral of story,” what characters learn, stated in film/story)
Implicit (issues, ideas, characters’ change, growth, development)
Symptomatic (work as part of broad context of society, illustrating themes prevalent in world - or in creator’s life)

EVALUATION (vs. OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS or INTERPRETATION)

CAREFULLY CONSIDERED JUDGEMENT vs. merely PERSONAL TASTE
Criteria for evaluation - (good, bad, indifferent)
--subject material, moral attitude, realism and plausibility, accuracy, style, technique, complexity, originality, etc.
Analysis and Interpretation (-- see notes on Film Theory & Criticism, last set below)
Specific Examples to support assertions

NARRATIVE
A chain of events in a cause/effect relationship occurring in time and space

“Plot” (=”the film” according to B&T) What we actually see in the film (or novel, or play, etc.)
Diegetic (part of story) and Non-diegetic (not part of story)
Basic elements of plot: Exposition - Development - Crisis - Climax - Resolution
(or Barsam’s more simplistic: Exposition – Rising Action – Climax – Falling Action – Resolution)
Typical “three-act” structure: Beginning (setup) - Middle (conflict) - End (resolution)
Exposition and Development typically continue throughout any plot,
with several smaller crises and subclimaxes, each with their own rising and falling action
”Story”
Includes all events in the “story world”: whether depicted, referred to, or only implied by plot

(See also Screenplay Basics for dramatic approaches --character, action, or theme-- and types of plots)

CAUSE and EFFECT
Characters - Events — actions upon each other
TIME
Order - Frequency - Duration
Story material may be presented by the plot
in chronological order or out of chronological order
once, more than once, or not at all
in the actual time it takes to occur, in a shorter time, or in a longer time
SPACE
Story space - Plot space — (Also, screen or frame space)
Openings, Closings, Development Patterns:
- Change in knowledge — Goal-driven plot
- “Unities” of time and/or space
Narration - (not the same as “narrator”)
Range & Depth of story information
Omniscient - viewer knows much or all
Limited - viewer follows one or more characters
Mixed - changes back and forth

DIEGESIS — dihghsiV (The narrative, or story being related)
Diegetic - part of the story’s world
Non-diegetic - does not exist in the story world even though we can see or hear it in the film (titles, background music, some insert shots, etc.)

Deus ex machina — qeoV ek mhcanhV = “god from the machine”

Story Elements

Characters

Major (important to action, may be “flat” or “round”)
Minor (peripheral to action but often important to atmosphere or to help major characters)

“Flat” (simple, predictable, serve needs of plot)
“Round” (complex, unpredictable, realistic, often more thought-provoking or memorable)

Motifs

Recurring significant elements:

Actions, Props, “Familiar Images,” Themes

“Hubs” and “Satellites”

Major Plot Points / Minor Plot Points

Contribution to plot structure / story enrichment

SCREENWRITING

LOGLINE

One-sentence essence of the story, “pitching” it

SYNOPSIS

Summary of plot & main characters

TREATMENT

Scene by scene description of action

SCREENPLAY (SCENARIO)

Several drafts, possibly several writers

SHOOTING SCRIPT

STORYBOARD

Comic strip style breakdown of shots in major scenes

GENRES = TYPES, KINDS

FORMULAS

CONVENTIONS & EXPECTATIONS

Sometimes rejected, changed, or “violated”

BLENDS, OVERLAPPING GENRES

ICONS / ICONOGRAPHY eikon

Recurring symbolic imagery

Character types/stereotypes

and their actions/poses

Props & costumes

Settings & lighting

REFLECTING SOCIAL ATTITUDES

in themes treated, emotions explored,

subjects touched on (even briefly)

METAPHORS for elements/concerns of society

FEARS

GOOD vs. EVIL

EMOTIONAL CATHARSIS

IDEALISM

Horror, Sci-Fi, Western, Gangster/Cop/Crime/Noir, Musical,

“Weepie,” Romance, Epic, Action-adventure, Suspense thriller, Disaster, etc.

Different genres may be either REMINDERS of or ESCAPISM from present or recent past

MISE EN SCENE
- What appears in the scene itself before camera is even brought in
- Realism vs. Stylization
Setting
Art Direction/Set design & decoration, props
Costumes and Makeup
-Appropriateness to characters, time period, setting
Lighting (controlled by director of photography, although actually part of mise-en-scene)
Quality - Direction - Source - Color
”Three-point” Lighting Style
KEY light - FILL light - BACK light
Other lights often used: background light, “kicker,” eyelight, pattern projections, etc.
Mood lighting: high key, low key, source lighting, available light, special lighting effects
Figure Expression and Movement
Staging (“Blocking”) - positions within the setting and in relationship to camera
Acting (realism/stylization) - appropriateness to medium and style and mode of storytelling
Gestures

CINEMATOGRAPHY/PHOTOGRAPHY
kinumai -- jwtoV -- grajw
move, be moved—of light—write, inscribe

Range of tonalities
Film stocks — “speed,” contrast, color balance, etc.
Film laboratory manipulation
Speed of motion
Slow-motion, normal motion, fast-motion
Perspective relations
Lens choices — Focal length, Depth of field, Focus shifts
Special effects — in-camera, in laboratory, in computer

LENS TYPES
Wide-Angle —
Short focal length
Great depth of field (range of focus)
Objects look farther apart than in reality
Normal —
Normal focal length
Average depth of field
Spatial relations appear normal
Telephoto — (narrow-angle)
Long focal length
Shallow depth of field
Objects look closer together than in reality

Zoom — Variable focal length - Focal length can be changed during continuous shot

FRAMING

Dimensions and Shape
Rectangular — Aspect Ratios (of width to height)
Other shapes — mattes, irises, masks, split/multi-screen

Onscreen/Offscreen space (showing/implying)

Camera Position
Angle (in relation to subject) — Head-on, Oblique
Level (horizontal) — “on the level” or “canted” off-axis
Height (from ground) — eye-level, low angle, high angle
Distance (from subject) — ELS, LS, MS, MCU, CU, ECU

FUNCTIONS OF FRAMING
Accentuate mise-en-scene, psychological effect, suggest meanings or relationships, point-of-view, et al.
NOTE: Cinematography is NOT mise-en-scene! It photographs the mise-en-scene.

MOBILE FRAME (Tripod or dolly vs. hand-held)
Pan or Tilt (from one position)
Dolly/Tracking/Steadicam (camera moves through scene)
Crane/Helicopter (camera free to move up and down)
Zoom (Lens adjustment—NOT a camera movement)

FUNCTIONS OF FRAME MOBILITY
Follow action
Call attention to something
Psychological effect of continuous take, movement, speed
Rhythm (in combination with editing)

DURATION OF IMAGE

The Long Take (NOT a “Long Shot”)
Early Cinema — before editing developed (cf. amateur movies with no editing abilities)
Rope (1948) — each shot one full reel of film but with elaborate camera movements
Sling Blade (1996) — many long takes without movement
Michelangelo Antonioni, Orson Welles, Robert Altman

Static Frame vs. Mobile Frame — effect on viewer

Practicality: planning, rehearsal, retakes

Aspect Ratios (of width to height)

FILM FRAME area used by various ratios changes, but all must fit within four sprocket-holes per frame of 35mm film for projection compatibility

Some common aspect ratios: 1.18/2.35 - 1.33 - 1.66 - 1.78 - 1.85

1.33:1 (or 4:3)
-- Standard format for 35mm film since 1890’s; still used but only for TV and nontheatrical films, 16mm, 9.5mm, 8mm, and Super 8 home movies—Officially changed to the nearly identical 1.37:1 ratio for 35mm film in the early 1930’s, a few years after sound on film was introduced—Sound track area originally used for larger picture by silent films—usable image area on film reduced in size to make room for sound track on release prints and most original camera negatives except “Super 35” and television films, which continue to use the entire width of the negative between the rows of sprocket holes

TWO MAIN ASPECT RATIOS USED IN THEATRES SINCE 1953:
- “FLAT” widescreen (usually 1.85:1, occasionally 1.66:1)
- “SCOPE” widescreen (usually 2.35:1, more often 2.39 or 2.4:1 for recent films)
- “STANDARD” non-widescreen (1.37:1 for sound, 1.33:1 for silent) gradually phased out after 1953 except for independent films and TV

TWO ASPECT RATIOS USED FOR TELEVISION SINCE 1990s
“Standard” 1.33:1 (4x3) - copied after the traditional film standard when television was introduced during the 1930s
“Wide” 1.78:1 (16x9) - compromise shape to make maximum use of limited number of screen pixels for both 1.37:1 films and 2.35:1 films
with the least amount of “letterboxing” or “windowboxing”
(shrinking original picture to fit available screen space, leaving blank bars on top and bottom or both sides),
and less objectionable cropping of sides or top & bottom when enlarging 1.85:1 or reducing 1.66:1 films to fill the available screen space.

“Super 35” film format
— a narrow area is extracted from the full photographed frame (including the soundtrack area) and optically converted to CinemaScope for projection at 2.35:1, leaving extra picture area on the original negative available for TV use without having to cut off the sides; also, this way an anamorphic lens is not required for the original photography (giving slightly different optical characteristics to the image that some cinematographers prefer)
-- a skillful cinematographer may try to compose the image to be compatible with both ratios, necessarily compromising aesthetics for some images in one format or the other, or may simply compose for one ratio (usually the theatrical 2.35:1 “scope” format) and “protect” for the other ratio.
-- the image may also be composed for 1.85:1 and optically reduced to standard 35mm for “flat” projection, thus providing slightly larger image area on the camera negative than shooting standard 35mm film with the soundtrack area left blank.
-- in the 1950s, the “SuperScope” process also used the full frame width on the negative, but usually composed the image for a 2:1 aspect ratio and optically converted it for projection with an anamorphic lens.

NOTE: Each 35mm frame is 4 sprocket holes high regardless of the ratio that is projected on the screen. This results in wasted film area for any movie with optical sound using a ratio wider than 1.18, especially non-anamorphic “widescreen” ratios, since part of the film’s image area is masked off and not projected. Films made for 16x9 widescreen television that will not require projection prints (only a transfer to video) are often shot with modified cameras to give an image 3 perforations high, allowing a 25% film cost savings. A number of low-budget movies during the 1960s-70s would use special cameras with a 2-perforation image height (but still leaving space on the left for the soundtrack), yielding 2.35:1 images with a 50% savings in film costs while shooting. These would later be optically stretched to 4-perforations so they could be projected in a standard projector using a “scope” anamorphic lens.

2.35:1 CinemaScope anamorphic widescreen process introduced in 1953 that squeezes the image by half horizontally when photographed and then doubles its width when projected on screen. It is usually framed for 2.4:1 today to avoid showing splices; “Scope” films today are often converted from full-frame “flat” negatives (See “Super 35” and “Techniscope”) and use an anamorphic lens for projection but not for the original photography. The very earliest CinemaScope films had a 2.66:1 image with the soundtrack on separate reels of film, and then tried a 2.55:1 image with narrow magnetic soundtracks but no optical track. To make films compatible with existing sound projectors, they finally switched to the standard optical soundtrack (sometimes with a magnetic track as well), which reduced the width of the picture to 2.35:1.

1.85:1 “Flat” widescreen format most commonly used today, though many films more aesthetically pleasing at 1.66:1 (a ratio about halfway between the height visible in theatres and the height visible on home video, when the full width of a non-anamorphic picture is used) – the 1.66:1 format was more common in the mid-1950s, and is still used in Europe to some extent, especially when shooting “Super 16” film for blowup to 35mm. A 1.75:1 “flat” widescreen format was also fairly common in the 1950s and has been used occasionally after 1.85 became accepted as the most common standard. The 1.75:1 format is almost identical to the recent “16x9” widescreen television picture ratio.

1.78:1 (or “16x9” widescreen and sometimes called 1.77:1 without rounding up to 1.78)
This is the aspect ratio decided upon for widescreen television, roughly halfway between 1.66:1 and 1.85 to 1. Many new movies are composed with this ratio in mind as the final viewing option, although are designed to be “safe” if the image is either cropped to 1.85:1 or projected with slightly more picture information at 1.66:1. Sometimes Super 35 films released in “scope” theatrically are reframed for 1.78:1 instead of 2.35:1 for their “widescreen” DVD release, and may have originally been composed for either one ratio or the other.

1.37:1 “Academy” ratio is virtually identical to the 1.33:1 shape used by silent films, but the film area is masked on the left to make room for the soundtrack, and has a thicker frameline. The slight difference in frame height is to allow the screen shape to remain the same 1.33:1 ratio, while adjusting for a higher angle of projection that would require masking off a little bit of the sides in order to hide the “keystone” effect when the projector is not on the same level as the screen.

1.18:1 “Movietone” ratio format was used during the first few years of sound-on-film, from approximately 1927-1932. The left edge of the original 1.33:1 silent frame was masked off to allow the soundtrack to be printed on the film. A substantial portion of the top and bottom of the image is cut off when shown on television or with a 1.37:1 lens and aperture plate. This ratio uses the maximum amount of film available and is identical in area to the “squeezed” image used for CinemaScope, which is later “unsqueezed” to the 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio.

Area visible on television
- CinemaScope picture, if reduced to fit TV width, leaves large blank borders above and below on both 4x3 and 16x9 monitors; if shown with the full TV screen height the sides of the image are not shown (except sometimes if filmed in Super 35 with the intention of showing extra image above and below the portion shown in theatres)
- “Flat” 1.66 and 1.85 ratio images may have their sides cut off slightly, or may be “letterboxed” with a smaller black border above and below the image on TV; more often they may show additional image area above and below what was seen in theatres and which was not all intended to be viewed (occasional microphones and tops of sets visible)
-A 16x9 video monitor must still be “letterboxed” to present a 1.85:1 or 2.35:1 image correctly, and must have black borders on its sides to present 1.66:1 or 1.33:1 images correctly.
-Regardless of aspect ratio (even 1.33:1 films on a 4x3 monitor) the TV screen cuts off all edges, especially the sides. Some video projectors can be adjusted to display all available pixels, but most films are still transferred to video with all the edges slightly cropped so that the framelines and sprocket holes will not be recorded, with the TV set’s factory-set underscanned image display cropping off even more all around.

See the “WideScreen Museum” on-line at http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/ for more details and other widescreen formats (like VistaVision horizontal “double-frame” 35mm film and various formats using the double-width 70mm film). Other screen ratios used for various formats include 2.2:1, 2.55:1, 2.66:1, and more!

EDITING
Joining shots together in desired order
Imply relationship of a shot to preceding and following shots

Cutting a film “workprint” vs. NLE (Non-linear Editing) on a computer
Conforming the negative to the workprint, or to a computer-generated EDL (Edit Decision List)

TRANSITIONS
Fade (fade-in or fade-out)
Dissolve
Wipe and other optical effects
Direct Cut

PURPOSES OF EDITING

Allow filming “out of sequence” - convenience in production phase
Break long scenes into smaller units
Direct attention to details, esp. parts important to story
Show alternate views, for variety: LS/MS/CU, etc
Pacing and rhythm, for psychological effect
Emphasize relationship between two shots

TYPES OF SHOT RELATIONSHIPS:

GRAPHIC (esp. dissolves) - aesthetic or symbolic comparisons or contrasts
RHYTHMIC - pacing changes or parallels
SPATIAL - manipulating space that doesn’t really exist - action and reaction
TEMPORAL - manipulating (condensing or expanding) time - showing different actions occurring simultaneously

CONTINUITY EDITING
Spatial Continuity : The 180-degree system
Constant screen direction
Shot/Reverse-Shot pattern
Eyeline match (and POV cutting)
Match on action (avoiding jump-cuts)
Establishing/Re-establishing shots

Temporal Continuity (cf. plot structure)
Order
Frequency
Duration

ALTERNATIVES to continuity editing

Graphic editing
- Visual motivation for cuts
Rhythmic editing
- Cutting in rhythmic patterns
Discontinuity editing
- Spatial discontinuity
- Temporal discontinuity (e.g., jump-cuts)
- Discontinuity to compare & contrast

Montage (2 different usages of the word)
-A series of quick shots, often with dissolves or other transitions
usually used to convey a long period of time in only several seconds to a few minutes
-A filmmaking style that relies on editing to convey important information and implications, more than simply photographing the mise-en-scene onto film

EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA

Avant-Garde or “art” films

Can use different forms or combine various forms (see also Documentary Film Forms)
Narrative Form - telling some sort of story but often exploring unusual chronologies, techniques, or nontraditional extremes of stylization
Categorical Form - arranging subjects merely by category, without any necessary time order or cause/effect relationship
Abstract Form - based around shapes, colors, movements, perhaps sounds, etc. for aesthetic visual interest or audio-visual combinations
Associative Form - one subject leads to another by some connection the two share, as in brainstorming or free association

DOCUMENTARY FILM

Fiction vs. Nonfiction
Objective / Biased / Intentionally Misleading (propaganda) / “Mocumentary”

Techniques
Compilation of earlier film footage
Interviews with subjects Film footage with narration
Inserts of maps, charts, etc.
”Direct Cinema” (Cinéma Vérité)

Documentaries are often written after footage is shot to reflect reality (whether objective or subjective)
rather than being shot specifically to illustrate a previously-written script

Editing is the key to an effective documentary
-especially using principles of montage to imply meanings and connections
-often comparing or contrasting visual information with verbal information, mixing sounds and images

DOCUMENTARY FORMS
NARRATIVE

-information arranged by cause & effect,

like a story, often chronological

CATEGORICAL

- information arranged by category

RHETORICAL

- persuasive argument (debate tactics) -- TV commercials, propaganda films, etc.

ASSOCIATIONAL

-scenes arranged by some sort of similarity

(more of an experimental “art” film)

SOUND—Vibrations, Waves

Acoustic Properties
Loudness (Amplitude, Volume, Dynamic range)
Pitch (Frequency, High/Low tones)
Timbre (Tonal quality, distinctive characteristic)

Sound in the Cinema
Natural - Complementary - Unrealistic (ironic/comic)

Speech (Dialogue or Narration)
Music (Diegetic or Nondiegetic)
Noise (Sound Effects)

Dimensions of Film Sound

Rhythm
-Regular beats or pulses
-Pacing or tempo
-Patterns of accents
Fidelity
-Faithfulness to source, real or unreal
Space
-Onscreen, off-screen, or non-diegetic
Time
-Synchronous or asynchronous
-Simultaneous or nonsimultaneous

Sound Recording

PROCESSES

Magnetic tape - mag film - optical film

Analog - analogous to actual sound
Mechanical—needle in wax; shellac, vinyl - cylinders or disks - grooves of variable depth or width
first all-acoustic/mechanical, later (by mid-1920s) with electronic amplification
Optical/Electronic—waves photographed on film - variable density or variable area – silver emulsion or cyan dye
Magnetic/Electronic—variations in magnetic field

Digital - numerical encoding of information
All electronic
Three noncompatible systems (Dolby, SDDS, DTS)

TECHNIQUES

“DOUBLE-SYSTEM” - sound recorded on separate audio recorder, picture photographed on film (or some video medium)
”SINGLE-SYSTEM” - sound recorded on same piece of film or videotape as picture (used only for home movies and news footage)

Live recording during filming
”Sync” (dialogue, but not always sound effects) - sync dialogue sometimes used only as “scratch track” for post-dubbing
”Wild” (e.g. sound effects, ambient “room tone”) - no picture photographed while sound is recorded
”MOS” - no sound recorded while shot is photographed (sound added later in editing process)

Post-dubbed after filming
ADR - Automated Dialogue Replacement (“looping”)
Foley - sound effects studio
Music Scoring

Prerecorded
Played on set during filming (musical numbers)

Multitrack mixing
Music - Sound Effects - Dialogue
Numerous separate recordings added together
Individual volume & stereo placement adjusted

Monaural (mono)
One final mixed track

Stereophonic (stereo)
Two or more final mixed tracks
Movie theatre standard of four separate tracks—Screen Left, Center, Right; Auditorium Surround
Digital standards of six discrete tracks (with L, C, R screen plus L & R surround, and low-frequency Subwoofer)
-sometimes eight or nine tracks; sometimes five behind screen and/or L & R plus rear-wall surround tracks

For more on film sound see the various pages and links at http://www.filmsound.org/
and at http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/

Animation - illusion of movement

Series of Images
Drawings
Cutout Pictures
Models, Miniatures
Claymation, Sand, String
Computer Graphics

Drawn Animation
Flip Book
Zoetrope (“Wheel of Life”)
Stop-motion photography:
Chalk board on film (J. Stuart Blackton, 1900)
Individual drawings (Windsor McCay, 1907-11)
Overlays & cutouts (John Bray, 1914)
Cel animation (Earl Hurd, 1914)

Synchronized Sound with cartoons
Steamboat Willie (1928) sound matched to picture
Skeleton Dance (1929) picture matched to sound

Special Techniques

Rotoscoping
Tracing live action from film or video (either onto paper, cels, or a computer graphics pad)
Live-action with cartoons, models
Rear-projection onto animation stand
Mattes, traveling mattes
Animation of still photos
Computers in animation
Computer-assisted (traced & modified by artists)
Computer-programmed animation
- rapid increase during late 1990s and early 2000s
- output directly to film or video instead of traditional photography
- CGI animated special effects composited with photographed live scenes

FILM THEORY & CRITICISM

Theory

Principles to help analyze and understand meaning

FORMALIST – the film itself, structure & form

REALIST – ways the film represents reality

CONTEXTUALIST – film in various contexts

Meanings – EXPLICIT / IMPLICIT / IDEOLOGICAL

Themes, Allusions, Metaphors, Symptomatic interpretation

Critical interpretive approaches

Mimesis vs. Catharsis / Dualism / Audience Reception

Auteurist – considers the director as the “author,” identifies recurring themes in director’s films

Psychological – often identifies Freudian theories for plot elements (subconscious, sexual, etc.)
Marxist – considers class conflict as primary motivation
Feminist – examines attitudes toward women
Culturalist – looks at film as a reflection of its culture, time, and place

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