Introduction to FILM

Back History From the beginning film borrowed principles of visual organization from painting. Even today as films are planned a storyboard is often created with drawings of scenes that are realized on film very close to the way they were designed.

… Images of film move, projected on a screen at 24 frames per second, and the eye merges them as if they were continuous action. - The frames of film appear to be in motion which is why they are referred to as “motion” pictures.

… When films were first created, they were silent; and a pianist provided mood music to intensify visual scenes. VIDEO: #1 – Robert Bruce for Buster Keaton Film

… The silent movie writer/producer/director/actor Charlie Chaplin utilized multiple instruments to bring his films to life. VIDEO: #2 – The Lion’s Cage

… After 1926, many films incorporated a soundtrack not only with the dialogue but also with background music that has now become indispensable

Back History In 1927, Al Jolson’s The Jazz Singer introduced live recorded sound Other, directors felt the introduction of sound to film would compromise artistic integrity Really though, it intensifies the film experience. VIDEO: #3 – The Jazz Singer

Brought to Life by Sound:  Frances Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now is well known for the exceptional ways that music intensifies the scenes – VIDEO: #4 – Apocalypse Now  Steven Speilberg’s Saving Private Ryan – Surround sound further intensifies the film experience. – VIDEO: #5 – Saving Private Ryan

Facts: Except perhaps for opera, film more than any of the other arts involves collaborative effort

A Group Effort Films need: a researcher to make it accurate A scriptwriter to give it a story The planning by a director The funding of a producer A set designer to bring it to life A full crew to operate the camera, do staging, and handle the props, Costumers, actors and actresses

Vocabulary: Auteur- author of the film

Directing and Editing The 2 dominant figures in early films were directors who did their own editing: D.W. Griffith and Sergei Eisenstein Some of their films are still considered among the finest ever made. The birth of a Nation 1916(Griffith) Intolerance 1918 (Griffith) Battleship Potemkin 1925 (Eisenstein) Ivan the Terrible (Eisenstein)

Directing and Editing Today most directors control the acting and supervise the photography, carried out by skilled technicians who work with such problems as lighting, camera angles, and focusing as well as camera motion; And, everything else is handled by someone with that specific job: ( researcher, scriptwriter, producer, set designer, crew, costumers, actors, actresses)

Directing and Editing When it comes to photography, directors also choose the type of shot. Shot - a continuous length of film exposed in the camera without a break

Types of Shots: Close up - an important object, such as the face of a character Long shot - the camera is far distant from the most important characters Medium shot - the camera focuses on something neither up close nor far Following (Dolly) shot - the camera keeps a moving figure in the frame

…Types of Shots… Point of View shot - the camera records what the character must be seeing Crane shot - the camera is on a crane or movable platform Hand held shot - the camera is carried, sometimes on a special harness Recessional Shot - The camera focuses on figures and objects moving away

…Types of Shots… Processional Shot - focuses on figures and objects moving toward Pans - A movement which scans a scene horizontally The Aerial Shot - An exciting variation of a crane shot, usually taken from a helicopter

Point of view Medium close up shot What shot is this? Crane shot Close up Long shot Extreme close up

Extreme Close Up The Blair Witch Project Though fictional, it is presented as if it depicted real events, and popularized this style of horror movie. VIDEO: #7 – The Blair Witch Project

JUST ONE SHOT! The Dark Knight, 2008 Though special effects add variety and dimension to a shot, sometimes they are so special that the director, crew, and actors only have one shot to get it right. VIDEO: #8 – The Dark Knight

The Editor The editor, almost always under the control of the director, puts the shots in order after the filming is finished. The editor trims the shots to an appropriate length, then joins them with other shots to create the final film.

The Editor Films are rarely shot sequentially and only part of the total footage is shown in a film. Edited sequences are sometimes shot far apart in time and place, but are then organized to make sense. Most arguments in filmmaking are between the director and editor, who disagree on how to edit a film * Sometimes having a directors cut.

Connecting the Shots 1.Continuity cut: shots edited to produce a sense of narrative continuity following the action stage by stage 2.Jump cut: moves abruptly from one shot to the next with no preparation and often with a shock 3.Cut in: an immediate move from a wide shot to a very close shot of the same scene

Connecting the Shots 1.Cross cutting: alternating shots of 2 or more actions occurring in different places 2.Dissolve: one scene disappearing slowly while the next scene appears as if beneath it 3.Fade: includes fade in and fade out 4.Wipe: transition between shots with a line moving across or through the screen separating one shot from the next

Editorial choices are most important to creating structure in a film. Example: Micheal Cimino’s Deer Hunter – A portrayal of 3 hometown men who fight together in the Vietnam War. The film continuously switches back and forth between 3 very different parts of their lives; finally reverting back to the present and the effects the war had on all 3 lives. This type of editing is often confusing/hard to follow VIDEO: #9 Deer Hunter Editorial Choices

Episodic Structure: Episodic structure – a story composed of separate incidents tied loosely together. Cutting – a sharp break in filming quickly moving to another scene without a transition Montage –joining scenes that are physically different, but are usually psychologically related Examples: Thelma and Louise (1991), Psycho (1960) or Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin This type of episodic structure is utilized to increase tension VIDEO: #10 - Psycho Editorial Choices

Many early filmmakers composed their films by adding single photographs to each other, frame by frame The still frame and the individual shot are the building block of film This is called the language of the camera Because of the language many filmmakers both early and contemporary attempt to design each individual frame as careful as possible All the eye sees is the succession of frames minus the lines that divide them for the eye cannot perceive separate images or frames that move faster than 1/30 of a second

Context of Film History All meanings in film, linguistic or nonlinguistic, exist within some kind of context. Really good films have more than 1 context To understand the content of a work of art, we must understand something about the subject matter; and the subject matter is always embedded in some external context Historical The viewer can better understand the context in movies like Pearl Harbor, Gladiator or Titanic because they are all films about actual events that took place. VIDEO: #11 - Titanic

Film and The Participative Experience

Our Participation… Our Participation with film is often virtually involuntary. Most people lose their sense of place and time in a movie – BEING CAPTIVATED – Ex: Black Orpheus (1958) shot in Rio, the intense colors, Latin music and the dynamics of the carnival produce an imaginary or virtual reality so intense and vital that actual reality seems dull by comparison – VIDEO: #12 – Black Orpheus – Carnival Dance

Our Participation… Cinematic realism makes it easy for us to identify with actors who represent our values. – Ex: In Forrest Gump, Tom Hanks plays what seems to be a mentally defective person, but he is good at heart and positive in his thinking – He is trusting, innocent, and good hearted which makes him a likeable character that the viewer can relate to.

Audience Experience… When watching a movie, the audience experiences self-indulgence that depends upon self-justifying fantasies. – We imagine ourselves as James Bond or swept of our feet in a romance film or happily ever after in a relationship. This is also known as escapism films

Escapism Films: HIGHLY ENGAGING - Participation with film is involuntary IMITATES LIFE - Audience identifies with actors in film FILMS OF VALUE – “classics” - humanize us through their structural excellence

Escapism Films: HIGHLY ENGAGING, IMITATES LIFE, FILM OF VALUE: VIDEO: #13 & 14 It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)