An Introduction to Film

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Tyrone White
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1 (Faith & Film: Elements of Filmmaking) The Special Nature of the Art of the Cinema The Effects of Flow An Introduction to Film 1. Flow: Anything that makes you conscious of the camera pulls you out of the experience (see Boorstin, Making Movies Work, 31). Contrast this to the flow of a sermon. Should a sermon ever draw attention to itself as a mode of persuasion (to lose flow but add to the credibility)? 2. The essence of the art of Cinema is the FLOW that we experience when we re transported into an imaginary but vividly real world of make- believe (cinema s illusionism ). FLOW engages our curiosity, interest, desire, and intellect by causing us to become concerned, focused, questioning, and open to new realities and interpretations. To get to the what of the movies we first have to get past the wow of the how (the illusion). 3. Flow occurs when a movie appeals powerfully in three areas in good balance (in Boorstin, How Movies Work): a) The voyeuristic element: this world is real (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars trilogies, Godfather, Harry Potter films) b) The vicarious element: I empathize with the feelings of the characters (Sixth Sense, Philadelphia, Contact, Precious, Shawshank Redemption) c) The visceral element: I am caught up in experiencing this (Devil, thriller movies, Toy Story 3) 4. For the viewers to experience this flow, they must be willing to suspend their belief. (They know the movie is not real, but they are willing to accept this.) In addition, all the elements of the movie should cooperate to keep viewers absorbed in the movie, not expel them out of it. ( Verisimilitude = the quality or appearance of being true.) Some elements that distract or expel the viewer from the experience: poor theatre conditions, lack in narrative and visual continuity (plot holes, anachronism), lack of believability (within the established universe of the story). A Unique Form of Art 1. The main purpose of the cinematic experience is to entertain. While we can easily accept what we see on screen as reality, it is highly selective, carefully constructed representational map (idealized, glamorized, staged to be more ugly or beautiful than reality). 1

2 2. In cinema, remember that the medium (visual/audio presentation) is the message (meaning, value, story). All movies have a mixture of both meaning (the what of the content) and message (how it s presented) the two cannot be separated. The message side stresses the real and the actual; the medium side stresses expressionism and the fantastic. Horace: He wins universal applause who blends what is improving [the message] with what is pleasing [the medium]. 3. Cinematic art depends on the persistence of vision, by which the retina retains an after- image of 1/10 of a second after viewing the lighted image while the dark between images occurs on the screen. The Artists Who Create Film Cinematic art involves a team of creative people (246 crafts are involved in the average film) working along a continuum of skills combining the medium (form, technique) and the message (content, ideas). 1. Some artistic contributors must span BOTH sides of the medium and the message (these are the key figures/items). a) The PRODUCER. This is the head of the studio who secures money for the budget, develops the initial concept, chooses the stars, director, and possibly the script. Producers include associate producers, executive producers, and production managers. Under these there are usually production assistants. b) The DIRECTOR. The director is in charge of production and photography, secures the rest of the cast, technical crew, cameraman, location, music. Under the director there are usually a casting director for the actors and a director of photography. c) The ACTORS. They master the message of the script and express it in the proper medium by acting out the script. Actors can rely on methods of imitation ( technique acting) or involvement in character ( method acting). There are featured actors ( stars ) as well as guest stars, co- stars, support roles, and sometimes voice- overs. d) The CINEMATOGRAPHER. This is the key cameraman (also called a DP for director of photography ) whose job is to photograph/film what is before the camera. He uses many options available to be accurate yet convey the right emotional tone and atmospheric effects. Choices include film stock, lighting options (daylight, flood light, reflector, filter, backlighting, etc.). The cameraman is often more responsible for the film s visual style than the director. e) The CRITIC. The critic evaluates the message, medium and their artistic interaction. 2. Some artistic contributors focus more on the MEDIUM (technical production). a) Cameraman b) Soundman c) Special effects 2

3 d) Costume/wardrobe e) Scenery f) Gaffer (key electrician with assistants) (Best Boy = Gaffer s first assistant) g) Key Grip and assistants to move camera, lighting, scenery, dolly tracks, etc. h) Set decorator i) Property manager j) Make- up artist k) Hair stylist l) Stunt coordinator m) Visual effects coordinator n) Special effects coordinator o) Composer/music director p) Stand- in actors q) Extras (non- speaking parts) r) Production sound mixer s) Editor and assistants 3. Some artists contributors focus more on the MESSAGE a) The writer(s) (also called screenwriter) creates an original script or adapts an existing work (play, novel, etc) into a movie script. b) The script supervisor ensures continuity of the film (most are shot out of sequence). c) The reviewer, critic, or censor What to Look For in the Medium of the Movies Film Stock 1. Film stock (type) includes options such as gauge or width (8mm, 16mm, 35mm [what most movies use], 70mm), grain, speed, color, tone, sound, aspect ratio, frame size. 2. Once a reel of film is exposed it is called footage. Type of Camera 1. Cameras can be fixed (mounted), handheld, IMAX (bigger image and is beginning to be used more; i.e. The Dark Knight had portions shot in IMAX). 2. The lens focuses the image. The iris diaphragm consists of plates that allow for a larger or smaller amount of light to enter the central hole ( lens aperture ). (It functions the same way the eye s pupil does.) 3. The shutter determines the different lengths of time (expressed in f- stops ) that light is allowed in much like the eyelid does. 3

4 4. The actual film has a material base (transparent and flexible) with an emulsion (mixture of liquids that do not blend) on it. Up until the early 1950 s nitrate film was used, but it was highly flammable. It was replaced with cellulose acetate. The Technical Aspects of Production 1. The frame. A frame is one photographed picture, a single rectangular area of exposed film that is separated from the next frame by a line. Raw celluloid film is a strip of frames which is constantly being moved along and intermittently stopped at regular intervals by sprockets and projection mechanisms. At each stop, the frame is briefly exposed (1/24 th of a second) as the shutter briefly opens, allowing light to create a negative imprint on the film. Half of our viewing time we start at a dark screen (between frames). 2. The shot (called a take on the set). The shot is the basic unity in cinematography, and is usually a set of uninterrupted consecutive frames. The shot refers to all the images created at one time from one camera position (from action to cut ). Shot duration is measured either in feet and frames, or seconds. (With 35mm film, this comes out to 16 frames per foot; 1 ½ feet of film = 1 second of footage.) Most shots run between 1 and 10 seconds. Director must make sure there is good coverage in their shots. There should be sufficient footage of the action from all perspectives needed to allow for the finished product. 3. Mise- en- scene. This French term refers to the composition within the frame and throughout the shot. Shooting a take involves carefully arranging what the camera will see on set and record within the frame. This is comparable to painting on a canvas or framing a picture with the view- finder of a camera. Mise- en- scene includes many variables: a) Framing (tight or open). Much mise- en- scene focuses on the location of people and objects within the space of the frame at rest or in motion in relationship to each other. Are the characters in the center or off- center? What is the meaning of empty space? Relationships are often expressed in geographical configurations (triangular, rectangular, circular, etc.). This is why something is lost when the sides of a widescreen picture are cropped off; pan- and- scan versions of films lack some information in the original presentation. The viewer s imagination can be manipulated as to what is in the frame, but also as to what is imaged outside the frame. People and objects are often emphasized by an inner frame framing them within a frame (window, doorway). (EXAMPLES: Citizen Kane scene when Charles is being signed over to the banker [ch. 6 on DVD]; The Searchers beginning and end framing shots). All the action must follow action lines so that movement within the story proceeds from shot to shot with consistency (i.e. a ball thrown to the left of the thrower s frame enters the catcher s frame from the right). b) Pan (rotation, partial or 360 degrees) or tilt motion with the camera on a pivot (this affects viewpoint). 4

5 c) Motion (forward or backward, fast or slow) of the camera on a dolly or crane between shots and during shots (this also affects viewpoint). Can use dolly or tracking shot, Steadicam. d) Camera angles: bird s eye (directly overhead), high, eye level (same height as subject), low, oblique (off- angle; not vertical or horizontal (also affects viewpoint). e) Viewpoint: From whose perspective is the action shown (first person point of view shots where the camera shows us the world through the main character s eyes; a subjective viewpoint). f) Use of color and composition: Color, B/W (what advantage/disadvantage does this have over color?), colorization of B/W. Color can be added by hand frame by frame, tinting or toning the footage, or by filters. EXAMPLES: Batman Begins color scheme (browns, ch. 18 on DVD) vs. Dark Knight color scheme (dark blue/black) g) Use of light and shadow: for atmosphere (high key mood = bright with no shadows; low key mood = dim with shadows), front light, back light, bottom light. These can produce romantic images, harsh images, etc. h) Sound (choice of microphone, boom mic), or silence i) Kinds of lenses (telephoto, wide- angle, zoom) j) Depth of field (how close and how far away will objects still be in focus?) k) Distance of shots and focus (extreme long, long or far, medium, close- up, extreme close- up) l) Speed of frames (fast motion, slow motion, reverse motion) m) Rear projection, as in the background while people are driving a car n) Use of filters o) Masking or matte shot (that blacks out part of the scene) p) Sets and props q) Costumes r) Make- up and hair 4. Montage. This is the assembling together of separate shots to give the illusion of time. Movies are not shot in sequence. Montage is the art of making one film by shot and sound 5

6 editing ( mounting in French, by cutting and combining). Montage juxtaposes shots in one of two ways: either invisibly (hidden seams) or visibly (shocking collisions). Both approaches to editing seek to make a sequence of separate shots (taken from different locations, times, perspectives) into a unified story in a vivid manner. a) D. W. Griffith introduced invisible editing for continuity purposes (what the French call decoupage ). Invisible editing (linking or the Hollywood style ) is an editing convention no longer noticed by viewers because it is so common. Editors often cut on an action : one doesn t notice the shift in perspective on one and the same action. Editors also insert close- up and medium shots within the scene set by the master or establishing shot (often a shot of a city, town, house, building, etc.). (Interesting example of establishing shot going unbroken to medium action shot: Beginning of The Dark Knight). b) Montage involves structuring the film s story through repetition of images and themes, through evoking meaningful metaphors in the story and setting, and rhythm (slower or faster rate of alternating cuts). c) Montage is used in contemporary film in a more specific way a segment showing a quick succession of events, often accompanied by music. EXAMPLE: marriage montage from Up d) Some techniques used to produce the montage effect: Treatment of opening and closing credits. EXAMPLE: Opening of Raiders Opening and end titles Intertitles and subtitles Music or silence Direct or straight cut (putting two frames together) Juxtaposition by point- of- view (sandwich) Reverse angle shot Match cut: similar objects are used as bridges between scenes, or the same object from a different camera angle or distance Jump cut, or cross cut ( parallel editing between parallel actions): purposefully visible breaks in montage, often showing the beginning and end but not the middle of an action. Jump cuts may look like a mismatch or bad cut, but it s intentional. Fade in/out (gradually into or out of darkness) Superimposing (two images on the screen at the same time) Slow dissolve (gradually on image melts into another) Freeze frame (same image repeated) Wipe (windshield wiper) (used in Star Wars movies) or iris (focusing on one small area of the screen) Tempo or visual rhythm of splicing and of alternating shots (sped up for excitement) 6

7 Flashback or flash forward Multiple images or split screen (i.e. 24 ) Voice- over narration (VO): voice of the filmmaker, authorial intrusion, narrating I, voice of God, objective narrator, inner thought or subjective voice Lip sync, sound synchronization, dubbing Inclusion of action within the frame and purposefully allowing action to take place off screen (exclusion) sometimes heard but not seen (i.e. Uncle Billy falling into trash cans in It s a Wonderful Life) A closed ending (everything is resolved) or open ending (central issues not resolved; i.e. Inception) EXAMPLE: Inception, ch. 15, around 2:16 on. 5. The Sequence (a series of events). A sequence involves all the relevant shots in a movie being (composed by mise- en- scene) so interwoven into narrative units (by montage) that the viewer experiences the FLOW of being caught up in the illusion of the make- believe world. Examples: a) Dialogue sequence b) Action sequence c) Comedy sequence d) Horror sequence (i.e. birth of Doc Ock in Spider- Man 2) 6. Comparison of film elements with literature (see James Monaco, How to Read a Film, ): a) Frame = alphabet letter (each individual photograph recorded by the camera) b) Shot = word (one uninterrupted shoot from action to cut ) c) Mise- en- scene = grammar and word order which determines the sentence d) Scene = sentence (often called a sequence: a series of shots showing one narrative unit) e) Sequence = paragraph (larger narrative units, often used interchangeably with scene) f) Montage = outline and structure of the whole section, chapter, book 7. Options available to reach similar effects a) For example, if a director wants to focus on a detail within the frame, he can simple dolly the camera in. Secondly, he can use a zoom lens. Third, instead of closing in within the shot (mise- en- scene), he can take different shots from different camera locations and then edit these together to draw the viewer s attention even more quickly to a detail. Each option will vary the atmosphere and tone differently. b) To mark the passing of time, a director has several options. He can place time cues in the mise- en- scene, he can use visual metaphors/clichés (i.e. calendar leaves blowing, changing seasons), he can edit aging scenes (montage), he can fade in and out, can use dissolve or superimposition, a direct cut, etc. 7

8 8. Definitions of time in film a) Shooting time: the amount of days, weeks, months, years it takes to prepare the sets and to record all the frames (footage) that will be made available for a movie s editing. Shooting ratio : what percentage of the total footage shot is actually used in the finished film. b) Running time: the length of time it takes for all the frames of the movie to pass the projection lens c) Screen time: the span of time the story explicitly presents or implies for all the action presented to take place. This time is usually compressed into the running time (thought some events are presented in an expansion of time for dramatic effect). d) Dream time: subjective or fantasy time within the screen time. What to Look For in the Message of the Movie 1. The Theme or Plot (narrative strategy in presenting the story, the story line of the surface meaning). This is the basic proposition or high concept. 2. The Subtext (the underlying secondary message suggested or hidden). Look for subtle hints and repetitions. (Example: the obvious subtext of Avatar. ) 3. The Main Character(s). Whom is the film really about? 4. The Genre of the film: factual (documentary, instructional), fictional, film poetry, abstract cinema, cartoon, western, gangster. Each genre has its own generic elements. 5. The Story s Outline filling out the plot and guiding the script and the order of sequences (major acts often referred to as the movies hook ). 6. The Worldview: meanings, values, religious and philosophical assumptions about humans, life, death, sexuality, ethics, God, history, nature, and reality. Every story has a worldview. 7. Symbols: explicit and identified for us, or implied. EXAMPLE: Matrix ch. 9 (red pill/blue pill) 8. Mythic elements (icons): superhero, gunslinger, etc. 9. Stance (also related to tone, voice, point of view): a certain ethos or quality that indicates a moral or existential position taken toward the movie s theme. Is the narrator s voice impersonal, the main character s subjective, is there a voice of God? Does the camera show us the scene through the main actor s eyes (point of view shot)? 10. Allusions to other movies (themes, songs, methods) 8

9 Examples of message movies : The Mission Platoon Ferris Bueller s Day Off One Flew Over the Cuckoo s Next Mark Mass Appeal Citizen Kane Metropolis Amadeus Avatar Cocoon Places in the Heart Chariots of Fire The Color Purple Schindler s List 9

A Glossary of Media Terms

A Glossary of Media Terms aerial shot arc shot bridging shot camera angle caption close-up composition continuity editing crane shot cross-cutting A camera shot filmed from an airplane, helicopter, blimp,