1894/5: Lumiére Bros. (France) and Edison Co. (USA) begin producing, distributing, and exhibiting motion pictures

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1 Very Brief History of Visual Media 1889: George Eastman invents Kodak celluloid film 1894/5: Lumiére Bros. (France) and Edison Co. (USA) begin producing, distributing, and exhibiting motion pictures 1911: First Hollywood studios appear; Photoplay fan magazine appears : Conversion to sound film, The Jazz Singer 1939: Conversion to color film, Gone With the Wind released - top grossing domestic film of all time 1946: US movie attendance peaks: 80+ million viewers/week; total US population was 140 million; only 0.5% of households own a television

2 1955: Hollywood begins a 20 year revenue decline, by this year over 50% of US households own a television set - up to 90% in : First global satellite television broadcast, peak of Beatlemania 1975: Cable TV begins: Home Box Office (HBO); first franchise film blockbuster Jaws (Spielberg), 1977: Star Wars (Lucas) 1981: VHS wins home video format war over Betamax 1994: Internet made available to public 2002: DVD sales surpass VHS (still outselling Blu-Ray) 2007: Iphone Released, Video games surpass Hollywood in revenue 2009: Avatar grosses $2.7 billion worldwide and revolutionizes 3D

3 Basic Visual Grammar and Rhetoric: Shot: a take of film from a single continuous, uninterrupted run of the camera, after it has been edited by frame for the finished film; in filmmaking, more casually, any take whether or not edited sequence: the spliced shots and scenes making up a single significant dramatic unit [see also scene, which in practical usage is loosely interchangeable with sequence] diegesis: the narrative world of the film, including all the diegetic elements such as actions and sounds that happen within the film s fictional or non-fictional setting; this term is often used to distinguish between such effects and those that are non-diegetic, such as the musical score [definition by Carter Soles] editing: the activity of cutting and pasting shots be shown and putting them together to create a film continuity: invisible style developed by Classical Hollywood to enhance realism montage: French and Soviet term for editing, referring to any extraordinary or exceptionally artful sequence of shots; juxtaposes two or more images for thematic or ideological purposes mise en scene: a film s look or decor, as created by its sets, props, costumes, lighting, photography, and actors postures and proximities, making up the film s visible universe and generating much of its mood and meaning [paraphrased: everything visiblewithin the frame]

4 sound: music, soundtrack, dialogue, voice over, and audio effects cinematography: (from Greek: kinema -κίνηµα "movement" and graphein -γράφειν "to record"), is the making of lighting and camera choices distance, angle, movement, point of view when recording photographic images for the cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography. Slumdog Millionaire (2008) first film shot primarily in digital rather than analogue to win Oscar for Best Cinematography. camera angle:a high-angle shot is the camera looking down, as if superior to what it sees; a low-angle shot is the camera looking up, as if the viewer were awed or cowed by what is seen camera distance: the long shot (full shot) is defined as showing at least a human form fully visible within the frame but sometimes showing a wide panorama seen by a camera even further away; the medium shot is made with the camera seemingly near what it sees but not close to it, familiar but not intimate, showing a human figure from the waist up; and the closeup is said to fill the screen with the image of any object the size of a human face or smaller, generating strong viewer attentiveness and feelings of intimacy [Also: extreme wide shot, long shot, full shot, medium shot, close-up, and extreme close up.]

5 camera movement: the pan is a camera s horizontal pivot across a panorama or wide scenewhile otherwise immobile on a tripod, creating the impression of a head turning deliberately to inspect a field of vision; the tilt involves pivoting a camera vertically from a fixed position and height, as if someone were looking up or down; and the tracking/ traveling shot is when the camera moves smoothly on tracks, trucks, or dollies toward but more commonly alongside whatever it sees. point of view (pov): A camera shot that reveals what a character is looking at sometimes following a shot showing the character s eyes or followed by a shot showing a character s expressive reaction (for example, shot/reverse shot, direct address, over the shoulder). Also known as first-person, second-person, third-person, and objective/subjective camera. motif: a recurring visual or audio element of a film. Motifs may be bound to the plot development of the film or free from the plot development and serving a purely symbolic role. It is possible for motifs to function as bound motifs will serving a symbolic role. Definitions excerpted/adapted Gollin, Richard M. A Viewer s Guide to Film: Arts, Artifices, and Issues. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992; and Dr. Carter Soles (UOregon).

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7 Classical Hollywood Studio System & Narrative Style ( ): ~ In this style a film s plot should have a clear forward direction and no irrelevant plot elements. A film need not have a happy ending, but it has a clear resolution of the main participants goals. -- Lehman & Luhr, Thinking About Movies, 3rd Edition (2008) ~ Before there are auteurs, there are constraints; before there are deviations, there are norms. ~ Motifs and settings [including nature ] reinforce the individuality and psychological consistency of each character. -- Bordwell, Staiger, and Thompson, The Classical Hollywood Cinema (1985) ~ Andre Bazin summarizes classical continuity editing (aka Hollywood style) as: The verisimilitude of the space in which the position of the actor is always determined, even when a close-up eliminates the décor (in other words the fiction must be believable) The purpose and the effects of the cut are exclusively dramatic or psychological (in other words mise-en-scene, cinematography, and editing are all meant to drive the protagonists story and their moral, ethical, and emotional dilemmas.

8 Standard Film Studies Shot List Grid Film Title: Location in the film: Shot 1 Time How long? Editing *Continuity or montage? *Types of cuts: match cut cross/parallel cut insert cut montage cut jump cut *Transitions: dissolve wipe fade *Point of View established? *180 degree rule? Mise en Scene Sequence Title: Setting (location) Sets (constructed) Props Costumes Actor bodies (postures) Actor blocking (proximities) Lighting & photography Free vs. Bound Motifs Cinematography Camera Distance *establishing/long shot *full shot *medium shot *close-up Camera Angle *high angle *low angle *canted/tilted angle Camera Movement *pan vs. tilt *tracking/dolly shot *handheld? Other? Sound *Diagetic - Dialogue - Ambient Sounds - Music - Sound F/X *Non-Diagetic - Soundtrack - Score - Voice-Over

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15 What Is Editing? The process by which the editor combines and coordinates individual shots into a cinematic whole through cutting A fundamental assumption behind all film editing is the tendency of viewers to interpret shots in relation to surrounding shots.

16 Two General Aims of Editing 1) Generate emotions and ideas by constructing patterns of seeing and hearing 2) Move beyond the confines of individual perception and its temporal and spatial editing * Typically, the way we have become accustomed to this process is through continuity editing

17 Continuity Editing: aka invisible editing Designed to create the illusion of continuous narrative action within each scene to maintain the illusion of reality for the spectator Seeks to maintain continuity by appearing seamless and not calling attention to itself

18 Continuity Editing On set and during post-production, several crew members work to ensure that editing is seemless and natural Director Script Supervisor Editor Sound Designer/Composer * Today, editing often begins in pre-production through the use of storyboard artists

19 Example: A character walks through a doorway Contiguity A э B э C

20 Analytical A B C Example: Cut to a close-up of an established object

21 C U T Example: Rescue Sequence Intercutting A + B = C C U T