Wk 1 & 2 - Chapter 1. Looking at Movies -
1)Define narrative: Narrative
is structured into acts that establish, develop, and resolve character conflict
A cinematic structure in which content
is selected and arranged in a cause and effect sequence of events occurring
over time.
Cinematic language conventions include both content = narrative
(story) conventions
J)What happens in the film?
The narrative or the story, with the content.
Narrative, content, story.
Now what we will learn in a couple weeks is that plot is
actually different than story when you’re talking about film plot includes
these narratives.
but plot is the structure as well, so the order of the story, the way it’s
told, which is often you know includes flashbacks is the plot, whereas the
story is what happens in chronological order, but that’s them will happen soon.
1)Narrative
analysis talks about what is the story about when you watch a film and
you're trying to express
it to someone else, that's the number one question. What's the story about?
A Narrative
Analysis Asks:
Both:
1)What is about? – Explicit
content or story
2)What does it
mean? – Implicit
or implied meaning (s)?
Notes:
1)Narrative
analysis talks about what is the story about when you watch a film and you're
trying to express it to someone else, that's the number one question. What's
the story about?
2)But narrative analysis goes further than that it talks about is implied,
what is the meaning behind that story which can be slightly different from
person to person and especially if you're from a different cultural background
but it's important to think about what was the intent and what did you come
away from the film understanding.
Was it just completely entertainment? and if it was entertainment, what were
the expectations of that film? Is there anything greater than just
entertainment or not? and why?
Plot = Linear
narrative of cause and effect (3 act stories – char intro. Conf.resolution)
Hollywood classicism?
Hollywood classicism -
classic Hollywood filmmaking is that style of dramatic narrative we have been
discussing, what we expect to see in both form and content.
Exemplifies the
Hollywood Paradigm
Cinematic Conventions of Form:
1)Cinematography what camera angle was used you know
are they lengthy takes?
2)Mise-en-scene is both the organization and how a shot, scene,
sequence, film is depicted and also how it's actually shot.
3)Editing Editing is the number one element that creates a seamless
narrative through the editing that we don't see or hear the director call
CUT or don't see the slate in every shot. Editing can be straight forward and
linear or it can be something else. It can be nonlinear. Editing can be used to
hide important elements.
4)Sound is really important both to help with transitions and to help mood
through music.
Sound effects create the larger world that is outside of the picture so you
feel that your in a real location.
and Hollywood films are dialog driven and some dialog is super duper
important and if you can't understand the dialog in the film it's done on
purpose and why is that? What kind of sense of anxiety or terror or whatever is
created at that moment
*The narrative is seamless through the editing.
In other words, editing and sound especially the soundtrack helps the movie
and the story move forward and include the concept of cultural invisibility.
b)Hollywood Cinema
(Classicism) and the concept of invisibility.
Hollywood Cinema:
Creates an illusion of reality and its style considered invisible.
Hollywood Classicism :
Films in this style are:
Fiction
Tell a Story – Are Narrative
Employ a Cinematic Language
to do so.
Reflect a cultural milieu.
Reflect the culture and the times from which the
film was from
Create an illusion of a plausible reality or Verisimilitude
Verisimilitude: a convincing appearance of truth. Movies are
verisimilar when they convince you that the things on the screen – people,
places, and so on, no matter how fantastic or antirealistic – are “really
there”
Hollywood Cinema:
Triggers an emotional response
-an empathy for the protagonists(s)
Notes:
Everything in the film is there for Hollywood
Cinema:
Creates an illusion of reality and its style considered invisible. a
reason. It's there to help you become connected to the protagonist. to
feel empathy for the protagonist and feel their despair if they are crying and
you will follow them no matter what. If they jump off a cliff and survive, you
don't question that, you are there to follow their story whatever it is.
What are the three components of Hollywood
style?
The three
components to the Hollywood style involve the narrative,
which
includes the story and how the story is told.
The genre, which is a category that the
narrative would fit into.
Some of the popular genres of the time included
comedy, adventure, action, thriller/ horror and
musical
What is the classical paradigm in film?
Since the 1970s film studies has been dominated
by a basic paradigm—
the concept of classical Hollywood cinema—that
is,
the
protagonist-driven narrative,
valued for the way it achieves closure by neatly
answering all of the enigmas
it raises.
Dialogue and acting are examples. Classic Hollywood films
are dialogue driven. How dialogue is written (what words are spoken by the
characters, what’s not said, and how those words are delivered through acting
imparts meaning.)
J)Question: not
just what happened in the story, but the underlying conclusions the audience
draws from those events. - Implicit meaning of a film.
Cinematic Language is
Invisible
Because:
1) Movies move quickly – a
viewer can not consider every detail.
2) The narrative is seamless and
maintains Cultural Invisibility
Notes:
Cinematic
language is what is called invisible because you don't notice it. We just
talked about that a little bit.
Question from student on cinematic invisibility and
ANNA’S ANSWER
In chapter 1, I am having trouble grasping the concept of
'invisibility'.
One example in
the textbook is the fade-out/fade-in to communicate the passage of time
(p. 6). In this case, the passage of time is “invisible,” but we infer it
because of our association with the sunset and sunrise.
In
other words invisibility is created by the cinematic techniques/conventions
which help us forget we are watching a movie, we don't think about the editing,
the lighting we think about the story, the content and how those conventions
make us feel.
Fade in/fade out
low angle shot
cutting on action
Verisimilitude:
it means that what you see in the constraints of the genre in the film itself
is pure believable
J)Donnie Darko’s anti-realist content is rendered
credible due to its relatively realist approach to form. We recognize the
suburban setting and everyday events which ultimately create the film’_______
Answer: Verisimilitude
CONTENT:
Cinematic Conventions of Content:
Character
Plot = Linear narrative of cause and effect (3 act stories – char intro.
Conf.resolution)
Exemplifies the Hollywood Paradigm
Notes:
In this course we’re going to talk about a
number of the elements and this is a quick overview of cinematic conventions.
1)Character:
So we’ll be talking about character. How is a
character developed? Who is a lead? Is it a white male or not. Is that
character a well rounded character, in most cases Hollywood cinema builds
characters that the leads are rounded and aren’t just good or bad but have a
greater depth to them but other characters don’t necessarily have an arc or
are not necessarily more than a stereotype either positive or negative and
there are serial types that are considered ‘the good’ vs ‘the villain’ so
2)then PLOT: is the narrative structure how the
story is told.
In Hollywood cinema most stories are
3 ACT STORIES: they include cause and effect. So if, my car crashes into
something, there’s a reason for it and maybe it is that I’m about to meet my
new flame or I get to adopt another cat or something like that and
THE FIRST ACT is an introduction where each of the lead character is in almost
scene or almost talked about in every scene in traditional Hollywood
THE SECOND ACT the story builds and the conflict
builds most frequently between a protagonist and an antagonist
THE THIRD ACT is the resolution and all of the little major plot points and/or
story elements and minor story elements all in the subplots are neatly tied up
at the end and nothing is left loose.
There are films that aren’t like that, but they wouldn’t necessarily in that
manner be examples of the Hollywood paradigm or that specific structure of
narrative.
the concept of classical Hollywood cinema—that is, the
protagonist-driven narrative, valued for the way it achieves closure by
neatly answering all of the enigmas it raises.
Classical
Hollywood Narrative: The Paradigm Wars duke university press 1992
More on CHARACTER:
Q2)Discuss
one element of cinematic form (a cinematic convention) which contributes to the
development of a character. How?
The
first shot shows the explicit intent: to convey setting: contemporary
middle-class suburbia and time of day….
The opening shot shows Juno in the far left of the frame and is tiny in
relationship to the rest of the wide-angle composition. Her vulnerability is conveyed by the fact that she is
dwarfed by her surroundings. Her pose adds to our implicit impression
of Juno as alienated or off-balance.
2)How do both formal (invisibility of form) and cultural
invisibility affect the viewers’ understanding and expectations of a film?
Hollywood Cinema:
Creates an illusion of reality and its style considered invisible.
Notes:
Films in this manner, that of Hollywood cinema or classic cinema create an illusion of reality
that the style is considered invisible. What you've seen from the film is you
don't really notice for instance, leaps in time you don't really notice the
editing and that something that could take years to happen is only taking two
hours. It's created in a way that the transitions are smooth you don't see the
microphone, you don't see the means of production at all. The lighting helps
create the mood adds the costume design everything, set dressing, all help
create the mood and the presents a reality even if it is an alternate
reality.
J)Question: Cinematic language
encourages an audience to identify with the camera’s viewpoint, become immersed
in the story to the point that the viewer does not notices the technical
conventions/elements of that language. This concept is known as:
Answer: cinematic or
formal invisibility
I think I get it cinematic invisibility if I'm not
correct is the elements that the average viewer doesn't take into account like
you know the fade in fade out you know showing that made a time lapse you know
we just as viewers get used to that and
OK is cinematic
invisibility is even larger than that in that it's about you know it's
about the editing at the picture etc generally yes you don't notice it is
seamless and you don't notice that even at a jump in time like if if one scene
ends at night and the next one begins in the morning without of fate or if I
get in my car and then then I've suddenly at school without seeing the 30
minute drive you know it's just a cut you know where I am and what happened or
if someone ages you know if there's a film that we're going to see where the
same two actresses play two characters over a period of their lives you know
and so basically what character is aging they're both aging but you know I
don't know how to describe it very well but you know that they're different
people they play actually two people play 3 characters online buy the story in
the time frame then it's later that you know that they've aged etc and it can
be that in that case it can be somewhat jarring you are taken out of the story
to some extent the very first time you see them later in life basically but and
in general that's why they don't use the same people you know it's like they
would use an older person or a younger person or whatever but
invisibility so it includes more than just editing
it's also the sound like the transitions and sound and the fact
you know in the cinematography we don't see the beginning of the taken the end
of the take you
know we don't hear the director of and one thing that was
difficult in the change between silent and found Phelps was that in silent
films a lot of times like TW Griffith etc but would talk over the whole scene
and give people directions that they were going but the director can't do that
obviously or ezeli in film was set up because the director can be heard
so there are styles of filmmaking where they purposely
question that invisibility you know there but there's a call I believe it was
began in the 70s and then there was a newer like fassbinder you talked about
faster and his work was really influenced by bertolt brecht and the idea that you
as an audience member are aware of the fact that you're watching a movie so
there's a film that I saw where the filmmaker actually comes into the frame and
says though you're doing that wrong like this and cultural invisibility
and the reason they talk about all the different films one reason is to point
out the culture changes and therefore the general assumptions and
worries and add values of a culture change overtime as you also talked about
pre-code Hollywood before the production code there was a lot more discussion
about you know sexuality and about a woman's place in society and because of
the code you know the code said that the sanctity of marriage should be upheld
and so in a film if there was a relationship outside the marriage
J)Question: Stories and themes
reinforce viewers’ shared belief systems often because the writers
themselves have not examined the beliefs/attitudes shaping their writing.
What is cultural invisibility? (Page 10)
Notes: shared belief systems
and it shared mostly of course by the dominant culture.
[cultural invisibility] in other words the film itself
reflects the culture of the creator and the system of beliefs of the dominant
culture.
J)Question As an example – characters are often rendered as
stereotypes based on the dominant cultures perception of a group. Answer what is cultural
invisibility
Notes:
That’s how cultural invisibility takes shape.
You know the average Hollywood film, for instance, whereas a film like the Last
BlackMSF kind of questions that cultural invisibility, it shows African
American people who aren’t gang members, you know, or if they seem to be
hanging out of the corner, whether they’re gang members or not you know and
they also have another side to them. They’re not just violent, ultra-macho
people.
Q2)
Narrative filmmakers often favor stories and themes that reinforce viewers’
________.
shared
belief systems. under the topic of "Cultural Invisibility"
3)What are
explicit and implicit meanings?
2)But narrative analysis goes further than that
it talks about is implied, what is the meaning behind that story
which can be slightly different from person to person and especially if you're
from a different cultural background but it's important to think about what
was the intent and what did you come away from the film understanding.
Was it just completely entertainment? and if it was entertainment, what
were the expectations of that film? Is there anything greater than just
entertainment or not? and why?
Joe: Explicit is what the film was about. Implicit is what the
film means.
J)Question:
not just what happened in the story, but the underlying conclusions the
audience draws from those events. - Implicit
meaning of a film.
1)Implicit – An association, connection, or inference that a viewer makes
based on the given (explicit) meaning conveyed by the story and form of a film.
Lying below the surfact of explicit meaning, implicit meaning is closest to our
everyday sense of the word Meaning
Implicit
is more of the deeper meaning or hidden meaning.
2)Explicit – Everything that a movie presents on its surface.
Explicit
is sort of like the outside/obvious meaning. Essentially, it's what the film
has already told us
Juno example page 13
Book description in Narrative: An implicit meaning, which
lies below the surface of a movie’s story and presentation, is closest to our
everyday sense of the word meaning. It is an association, connection, or
inference that a viewer makes on the basis of the
Explict meanings available on the surface of the movie.
4)What is formal
analysis and what other filmic analysis are utilized
2) A Formal Analysis –
of technical conventions that impact content
Film Analysis comes in
various forms. It is
an analysis of content yet not merely the story - narrative.
A formal an analysis of the cinematic language utilized to portray that content
Notes:
Film studies is about the analysis of that
content.
Not just the narrative and the story itself but
how the form and technical conventions contribute and impact that story.
Cinematic Language Conventions
Include both:
1)Content – narrative (story) conventions
2)Form – technical conventions
So there are both conventions of both CONTENT
and FORM the technical conventions that are specific to Hollywood film and
reflect a history.
Content is – the protagonist is clearly motivated.
What the protagonist is thinking or you know what their goal is.
Content is organized, has an organized manner and so that you expect by the end
that there will be a happy ending.
Quiz 1) Our
author stresses that years of watching commercial American cinema have led
audiences to hold a number of expectations of both film form and content while
watching a movie. List three
elements of a film's form and organization which one might expect of a
Hollywood film.
So what is it that you know even unbeknownst to you know we don't really think
about our expectations at all so that's what chapter one is trying to get us to
think about is like you know what is it that we expect to see versus
at
Q2) Name three elements of form that
promote a seamless or invisible narrative.
Cinematic Language is Invisible
Because:
1) Movies move quickly – a viewer can not consider every detail.
2)
The narrative is seamless and maintains Cultural Invisibility
3)Editing Editing is
the number one element that creates a seamless narrative
5)what other types of filmic analysis are utilized?
1)Cultural analysis cultural analysis – the treatment of Juno as middle class
2) feminist analysis : depiction of women – men in Juno’s life.
Contributions of Diablo Cody..outspoken stripper.
3)a stylistic or political context or a director’s career
4) comparative analysis. Where you might compare either from different
cultures or from the same culture, different epics, or different directors.
5) for comparative analysis both of Reitman’s movies take provocative
political stances,
6) comparative analysis could investigate the history of society’s attitudes
towards illegitimate pregnancy by placing Juno
J)
Question: an analysis which investigate society’s attitudes toward a
subject by examining a film in context with the long history of film about the
subject.
Answer: What is comparative analysis?
Very end of chapter one maybe page 42 or 49
Notes: It could also be a historical analysis, you know, the
history of film itself, the history of film as a movement. The history depicted
within the film. It could be comparative historical as well.
Q2)Our
text notes there are a number of ways to approach film analysis? What two types
of analysis would be utilized in examining the way a film uses editing or
lighting techniques similar to those of other films of the same
subject matter? What is the value to this approach?
Formal Analysis
comparative analysis
Q2)What
is your favorite type of film analysis, and why?
I
said comparative, Fassbinder his films comparing within the genre
EXTRA -
Further Conventions which are of both Form and Content
1)Dialogue
2)Acting – Performance
Notes:
They cross the line because DIALOGUE is written and then spoken so
how the writer, what words are chosen, is really important and
dialogue is edited speech
VOCABULARY:
1)narrative
film: Also known as fiction film. A movie that tells a story- with
characters, places and events – that is conceived in the mind of the film’s
creator. Stories in narrative films may be wholly imaginary or based on true
occurrences and may be realistic, unrealistic, or both. Compare documentary
film.
2)Cinematic Language / the
systems, methods, or conventions by which the movies communicate with the
viewer.
Cinematic Conventions/Accepted systems,
medthods, or customs by which movies communicate. Cimematic conventions are
flexible; they are not “rules
Include
both:
1)Content – narrative (story)
conventions
2)Form – technical conventions
Notes:Cinematic language has a number
of conventions itself,
techniques that through time have been
developed and we come to expect.
3)persistence of vision- Persistence
of Vision
“A series of images (drawing/photographs) of an object in motion are viewed in
rapid succession, each image is briefly retained in the retina and the brain
blends the images together to create the illusion of motion.”
THIS IS PERSISTENCE OF VISION = film (still images) creates the illusion of
motion
BirdCage
Thaumatrope:
Early 19th Century Persistence of Vision Toy (Square with circle. In
circle a bird on one side, on the other a bird cage)
But what was
realized early on as people were trying to figure out how to
make films you know once still photography
was
developed immediately people tried to figure out how do we make these
images both we can do it we can do it at early toy which is based on
that idea is the bird in the cage and is as we can see a 2 sided
basically a coin like thing with the bird on one side
and a cage on the other and if you spin it fast enough it
looks as if the bird is in the cage because your brain blends the two images
together to make the illusion of motion and the idea that the bird is in the
cage this is known as persistence a vision.
Short
Phi Phenomenon:
“If one image is slightly different from the
previous image the viewer perceives the sequence with the illusion of motion.”
Eadweard Muybridge demonstrated this in the 1870s.
4)Expectations:
J)When we hear the name
of Will Smith our expectations as an audience are often based on the
roles he has played previously.
VIEWER EXPECTATIONS
The discerning analyst must also be aware of the role expectations
play in how movies are made, marketed, and received.
, the influence of expectation extends beyond the kind of anticipation
generated by a movie’s promotion. As we discussed earlier, we all harbor
essential expectations concerning a film’s form and organization. And most
filmmakers give us what we expect:
a relatively standardized cinematic language, seamless continuity,
and a narrative organized like virtually every other fiction film we’ve
ever seen. For example, years of watching movies has taught us to expect a
clearly motivated protagonist to pursue a goal, confronting obstacles and
antagonists along the way toward a clear (and usually satisfying) resolution.
Sure enough, that’s what we get in most commercial films.
Expectations specific to a particular performer / director
5)suspension of disbelief:
So films in this style are considered invisible and utilize the idea of
verisimilitude in other words, you as an audience member, are willing to suspend
your disbelief or in other words you don't question the believability
of the plot, the circumstances that you're witnessing it appears real. It's a
plausible recreation of a world.
6)verisimilitude: Create an illusion of a plausible reality or Verisimilitude
Fade in/fade out
low angle shot
cutting on action
3)Understand a shot know - the terminology used to describe it.
The basic camera angles are:
angles or shots??
1)High angle shotsomeone filmed on the ground
2)High angle - Extreme = Bird’s eye shot– overhead or aerial-view shot
2)Eye-level shot
3)Low angle shot – looking up at bike rider
4)Oblique or Dutch angle shot(Also known as Tilt, Canted).
all
the different shot types
1) But we can see that an extreme close up is
just the eyes - in this case - the eyes and the nose.
2)he closeup is the shoulders up
3)The medium closeup is somewhere between the waist so it's the folded arms up
4)The medium shot this waist up.
5)The medium long shot is the knees up and
6) the long, in this case it's a Full shot, and a long shot is the entire
figure.
7) there is one more shot that has become popular to talk about these days
which is called the Cowboy Shot if
the person were wearing a holster it
would be the shot where it's between a medium long shot and a M
shot and as if
the figure was ready to draw their
pistol and you know it's a western/
La Haine shot – a complicated shot.
it's almost extreme
closeup we see his little shoulder there and yet this other character
is in full shot.
I mean this is a long shot in
which this character1 here is in close up,
because he's physically closer to the
camera
and this character2 is a medium shot to have all three in
one shot
because of physical distance of the characters from the camera even though
overall it's a long shot
so think about that when you have multiple characters
You have to take into account both camera that physical distance from the
character
and what else is in the shot.
shot (the various shot types)
1)Birds Eye View
2)High Angle shot.
– someone filmed on the ground
Just think of it this way, and I explained it to someone
recently.
Filmmaking is a world of opposites, so a high angle, you know
– is not from where you think it is.
It’s from where the camera is – HIGH ABOVE YOU
Notes – the dove doesn’t always fly upward but a lot of the
time he’s moving that way.
UPWARD AND VERTICAL MOVEMENT is often considered uplifting.
JUST AS DOWNWARD MOVEMENT is considered – you know dangerous, depressing all of
that.
NEW CHAPTER ---- NEW STUFF
camera proxemics,
The distance of the camera from the subject or the size of a figure in the
frame = perceived CAMERA PROXEMICS.
establishing shot: A shot whose purpose is to briefly establish the
viewer’s sense of the setting of a scene, and the relationship of figures in
the scene to the environment around them. Extreme long shots of exterior
locations sometimes function as establishing shots, as do long shots that
establish the relative placement of characters within a setting.
components of
a film (frame, scene etc.),
Components of a film: Shots are built to scenes and
sequences
Frame
– the frame is considered the basic unit of filmmaking
Shot – a continuous series of frames – a single uninterrupted recording
Take – a series of frames which may designate different recording of the same
material (shot, or shot 1 take 2).
Scene – a series of shots edited together which occur at the same time and in
the same location.
persistence of
vision: Persistence
of Vision
“A series of images (drawing/photographs) of an object in motion are viewed in
rapid succession, each image is briefly retained in the retina and the brain
blends the images together to create the illusion of motion.”
THIS IS PERSISTENCE OF VISION
Wk 3 - Chapter 2. Principles of Film Form -
1)Define:
1) Define film form, realism,
anti-realism and verisimilitude.
ANTI-REALISIM HERE
THE
STYLES
(Absolutes
in style are the exception rather than the rule)
*Very
few films are entirely Realist,
Formalist/Anti-realist, or Classicist.
*Filmmakers
may use techniques from two or more styles within any given film.
and
all of those play into the idea of film styles
and
the three major styles
1) documentary filmmaking
2) experimental filmmaking and
3) classicism or Hollywood filmmaking in between
If we're talking about dramatic narrative, you can still subdivide that story as either a realist story of our formalist/anti realist story or something in between a classicist story
film makers can also combine techniques especially in
formalist and I realized filmmaking you have
diaristic films that are very abstract and yet are
very document an event and it's as if they are a documentary.
Both are fiction dramatic narrative films but
neither go as far to be either a documentary or an abstract animation.
I also asked for
examples differentiating Anti-Realism vs Formulism film.
Formulism is more
like the film Momento in which the flashbacks are so intense that you don’t
know the plot until you are at the end. Also, two films from one of my favorite
directors David Lynch: Mulholland Drive and Eraserhead are heavy-handed
formulism.
My
remaining question is if my understanding of the conversation was correct and
also if I was wrong in asking to ask to differentiate anti-realism/formulism
films. Are they two types lumped together or I think I read anti-realism is the
content and formulism the way it is carried out?
FICTION
FILM FORM AND CONTENT
(Picture of a sweet vampire girl drinking the blood from an old man’s neck)
Create
an illusion of a plausible reality or VERISIMILITUDE
OK so fiction film, we've seen this
before up in in the dead center of the three types of film help
the typical Hollywood film classicism is fiction
and it isn't trying to be reality but it creates the illusion of a
plausible reality
It's credible within the parameters of the story you're willing to believe it.
Hollywood Classicism :
Films in this style are:
Fiction
Tell a Story – Are Narrative
Employ a Cinematic Languageto do so.
Reflect a cultural milieu.
so
if you know that you're watching a vampire story you're willing to believe that
the young woman is having dinner right now the idea of the illusion of reality
creating a plausible incredible believable illusion of reality within the
parameters of the story is called verisimilitude
and it's actually spelled exactly like it sounds
so think about similar and veracity or truthfulness verifying.
6)What formal conventions exemplify Realism and
Anti-Realism?
REALISM
So,
here's a lovely timeline or whatever you want to call it so REALISM the Extreme
of REALISM is documentary films. Then within fiction film you can
have films that lean more towards the realist side so you can say that Middle
of nowhere is more realist than what we would
what our expectations of and I would say just like The
Last Black Man In San Francisco is also more realist than what our
expectations of the typical Hollywood film are - you know those films are
basically open-ended they are shown location etc etc the other side
of it is
REALISM
EXAMPLES
1)Middle
of Nowhere = more realist within a fiction film
2)The Last Black Man in SF = more
realist than a typical Hollywood film - - basically open-ended and shown on
location
3) The film House of Sand leans more on the
scale toward realism.
ANTI-REALISM EXAMPLES
Anti-Realism can be fantasy or sci-fi with more of a plot to it, like Donnie
Darko or Godzilla.Anti-Realism can be fantasy or sci-fi with more of a plot to
it, like Donnie Darko
or Godzilla.
REALISM
*Attempts
to capture the spontaneity of events as objective reality
*Stresses content over form
*Avoids extreme technical manipulation
*Uses available lighting,
hand-held cameras, long shots, and lengthy takes
*Frequently shoots on location
Whatever
so realism as
a film form and style what we tend to see is that there's often very
long
very many long takes and
handheld camera
and lengthy takes and long shots because the idea is that you were there
with him in real time
and so it's handheld you're part of it part of the
group
it's a long shot so you can see more than one person
and you can see interaction within the frame you don't have to make a cut
because all the action is happening in front of you
and therefore it's also lengthy takes
you don't notice the beauty of the technique the camera work
the amazing lighting that creates geometric shadows on the wall etc
it's all about the content of the story the contents of the stories.
The stories tend to be stories of everyday life not super heroes
or you know rich people who everything
goes right for them
they
can be very open-ended you know so it doesn't necessarily wrap up neatly at the
end
they tend to shoot on
locations to give a greater sense of realism and they tend to try to
represent actual real places and people you know so a lot of times the actors
won't be super stars they’ll look like everyday people and sometimes they're
actually non-professional actors
ANTI-REALISM ANTI-REALISM HERE
Anti-realism/formalism
our book talks a lot about Donnie Darko soon and how even though it's fiction
it has some unexpected characters and the furthest example of
anti-realism/formalism is the idea of Avant-Garde or Experimental films and Allures
is abstract animation is what it is so you know at non representational so
there's no characters in this film at all.
1)Donnie
Darko – fiction -anti-realism/formalism
Donnie
Darko leans more toward anti-realism/formalism.
ANTI-REALISM/FORMALISM
*Anti-Realism
– An approach to content.
*Melies practiced considered the viewer’s
perceptions of reality as a starting
point to
expand upon or even purposely subvert.
*Formalism – an approach to style.
* Intentionally stylizes and distorts
reality via distinctive camera work, editing, and lighting.
*May contain a high degree of technical manipulation (i.e. special effects.)
The opposite of that within the context of
dramatic narrative is the idea of anti-realism and formalism and( I
put this I put a page from the 6th addition in the module because the 5th
edition and previous distance previous to that are somewhat different they
don't talk about formalism but in the sixth edition they define anti-realism as an approach to
content ) so the example one of the examples I believe they
give us the idea of Donnie Darko or for instance the vampire movie
or the zombie movie where the content isn’t objective realism it's
not you're not trying to portray something exactly as it would be in real life
but instead for instance you're doing you have characters and
costumes - you have Godzilla for instance you know Godzilla we haven't seen
Godzilla as a real creature yet but he's there represented as such in the
films.
you
know in momento is very formalistic in style
in other way it it tells the story backwards over
and over and over again basically and yet it's very realistic
you know it has a lot of realism in the production technique
as as far as you you see the character it could happen you
know he could be a person an everyday person right but the structure
is different the structure of the story so filmmakers do play with that all the
time
The
shape of water
an an anti
realized and much of formalism but not all forbid alisme is
dramatic narrative
House
of sand leans harder towards the realism and Donnie Darko leans harder toward
anti realism slash formalism i
it's not dramatic narrative so yeah Donnie Darko Donnie Darko doesn't I mean it
uses the structure of the film in a formalist way because it loops back 2 the
beginning at the end but it's you know in general it's very it's
lighting other than the the weird tunnel thing that you see that it
is more fantasy I think that I mean it is it is it crosses a line
between fantasy and futuristic you know Phillips so but it's
what that timeline is saying is that it's more towards that even
though it is dramatic narrative it it's it's on this in the
slide another side of antirealism etc
because momento is is still
is still a dramatic narrative but its structure is so can be
really really really difficult that people just turn
it off right because they have no idea what's going on until until you
get into the story far enough that you say oh that was the last scene you know
an oh he he has aphasia and he doesn't remember things and that's why
those tattoos are there and now so it it is dramatic narrative but it
is is way more tord formalism
you
know other examples of formalism are anything that's abstract animation
anything that's but they called non representational so it doesn't
have the human human figure or or it's it's not a
animation that includes a dog
be
oh experimental films don't necessarily tell a story you know it can
be kind of like the camera as observer and you as the audience member basically
are are forced to figure out what's going on you know how is and some
of it can be just oh you know the beauty of the camera itself a lot
of experimental animation that is abstract
Eraserhead
– formalism.
it's it hardly has a story right so that's normal it's OK
yeah it's experimental so yeah so anti realism would have more of a
plot to it but be more like sci-fi I would say antirealism in general has more
of a plot to it because it's it's about yeah sci-fi fantasy
it's it still has very similitude you're still OK
it's it's still frequently character based you know formalism isn't
necessarily character based yeah yeah
MY
QUESTION TO ANNA:
During
the zoom office hours with Anna, I asked a question about the slide in the
presentation which showed the types of film from Realism to Classicism to
Anti-Realism/Formulism. The picture on the slide says it’s a sliding scale and
we discussed good examples.
The
film House of Sand leans
more on the scale toward realism. Donnie
Darko leans more toward anti-realism/formalism. Both are
fiction dramatic narrative films but neither go as far to be either a
documentary or an abstract animation.
I
also asked for examples differentiating Anti-Realism vs Formulism film.
Anti-Realism can be fantasy or sci-fi with more of a plot to it, like Donnie Darko or Godzilla.
Formulism
is more like the film Momento in
which the flashbacks are so intense that you don’t know the plot until you are
at the end. Also, two films from one of my favorite directors David
Lynch: Mulholland Drive and Eraserhead are
heavy-handed formulism.
My
remaining question is if my understanding of the conversation was correct and
also if I was wrong in asking to ask to differentiate anti-realism/formulism
films. Are they two types lumped together or I think I read anti-realism is the
content and formulism the way it is carried out?
ANNA’S
ANSWER TO ME:
Exactly,
Anti-realism
is an approach to content...the story remains verisimilar, the cinematic
language creates an illusion of a world you are willing to become engrossed in,
whereas formalism often throws the viewer out of that world in order for you to
question what you are viewing because they manipulate film form.
In the case of a film the films noted Momento,
Mulholland Drive and Eraserhead all three are
dramatic narrative, yet there are notable differences from what we have come to
expect from films in the style of Hollywood Classicism. They differ in how the
story is told whether it Is through the editing and a non-linear storyline, and
or through perspective and what information is, or is not given to the
audience. The cinematography does mirror the mood, the lighting is motivated
yet not what you would expect.
ANTI-REALISM
– an approach to content
Melies
was very early filmmaker if you've seen Hugo you're familiar with Melies
and our text notes that he considered the viewer's perception of
reality as a starting point to expand upon he was a magician and so he would do
the magical tricks that he did on the stage with the camera and it was a lot
easier you could make someone disappear by turning the camera off and having
them leave this frame and then turning the camera back on and hey they were
gone it's amazing you could have an item multiplying in front of your very eyes
just to stop motion basically.
Up the idea of formalism is the form
side of it so anti realism is a content formalism
is how you approach this you know is it through the lighting
is it through basic camera work, is it through the editing are
you actually using effects, slow motion, fast motion you know CG etc
etc and it can be very manipulated. ??
In
in the early 20s you could have films about had in-camera
manipulation so double exposure plus mirrors and all kinds of you
know rear screen projection etc etc so if you've ever seen Metropolis,
you’ll know what I'm talking about.
Then we'll
see some of that in the future OK so and that was that so hopefully that's a
better understanding of the chapter or you know some examples thereof
Form and Content FORM AND CONTENT HERE
we've been talking about already you may remember that
Content is what the stories about what's happening in front of you (The
subject of the work)
Form is how that story is presented
what cinematic techniques
when editing
what camera angles
what shot types – ON SEPARATE PAGE
what lighting
are used to tell that story
Fundamentals of Film Form
1)movies
depend on light you have to have like to get exposure and you have to
have the light in your
projector in order to protect the film
right
2) They depend on the illusion of movement it's not actual movement
but it is an illusion of the event
*3) Then it's really interesting how films manipulate both time and space and
will begin that discussion now and
continue it in future chapters
*Cinematic
Language
1)The
techniques, methods, or conventions by which a film communicates meaning, tone
and mood.
The techniques that are used to create that
form. to communicate meaning tone and mood
because
2)
The viewer identifies with the camera lens
much of what we talk about is
how the camera depicts the action (but
not always we talked about editing too)
realism,
anti-realism
verisimilitude. Create an illusion of a
plausible reality or Verisimilitude
My
essay – on Middle of Nowhere
The
cinematic form in which the film is presented is primarily with the use of
lighting and close up shots. There are other examples as well non-narrative
patterns like parallel editing and jumping of time and space. I’ll focus on
lighting and use of close-up shots in the film.
I
remember in Juno when
we started to hear things that were too loud or see things that were too close
for her point of view, in the text they said, now we are in her head.
What is
formalism?
20)Question: an
approach to style that values conspicuously expressive form. We notice the
edits, the camerawork etc., because we are supposed to.
What is Formalism
Robert’s explanations: For me when
it’s realist is obvious, but you never think of something formal as this
well put together shot, so then I know.
When they say that, that it’s formalist.
Like Hitchcock is very formalist.
Yeah, which is form, I mean so just look at this part of the word form
or the formal elements of a shot
An approach to style that values conspicuously expressive form.We notice the
edits, the camerawork etc., because we are supposed to.
So we can understand how these
elements of film form work together to convey mood, meaning,
and character state of mind:
sound – fingernail – drumming
enlarged size – size of thumb indicates
significance. (not only what she sees but how she feels)
non-narrative patterns
Increase size
quicker cuts.
louder sound
rapid fire
size in frame
shot duration changes
dolly-in englarges her in the frame.
Editing often establishes patterns and rhythms, only to break them for dramatic impact.
Content – i.e. subject matter, what the movie is
about and the film ******
Form – which is the means to which that subject is expressed. **********
2)How do the
formal conventions (techniques) of cinematic language contribute to meanings.
Content provides
something to express; form supplies the methods and techniques necessary to
present it to the audience
In the world of movies, form is cinematic language: the
tools and techniques that filmmakers use to convey meaning and mood to the
viewer, including lighting, mise-en-scène, cinematography, performance,
editing, and sound-in other words, the content of most of this textbook.
In the world of cinema, form is cinematic language.
*In other
words, the tools and techniques that filmmakers use
*to convey
meaning and mood to the viewer.
Such as lighting(an example of darkness),
camera angles (an example of a low angle shot)
focal length (I think this is example is of the camera zoomed in),
editing (jump shots)
moving camera (the camera pans upwards)
proxemics,(?)
mise-en-scene, (I’ve always understood this to be scene set up)
and sound [music].
If we consider the Juno scene analyzed in Chapter 1,
the CONTENT is: Juno in the waiting room. We could be more
specific and say that the CONTENT is Juno thinking about fingernails and
changing her mind.
The FORM used to express that subject and meaning includes
décor, patterns, implied proximity, point of view, moving camera, and sound
*Cinematic Language
1)The
techniques, methods, or conventions by which a film communicates meaning, tone
and mood.
The techniques that are used to create that
form. to communicate meaning tone and mood
because
2)
The viewer identifies with the camera lens
much of what we talk about is
how the camera depicts the action (but
not always we talked about editing too)
Cinematic
Language – Examples
1) Cinematography and Mise-en-scene
a)Shot type and Camera Proxemics
b) Lighting
c)Camera Angle
d) Lens type/focal length
2)Camera
movement and movement within the frame (the illusion of movement)
a)Editing
b)Sound
Explanations:
Cinematic Language
1)Cinematography and Mise-en-scenes:
includes the shot types and the perceived distance from the camera the camera
proxemics
the lighting, the camera angle, What lens type you're using at in other
words what focal length is it fixed focal length or variable focal
length which we'll talk about next week for some extent
2)How the camera moves ? If the camera moves
and then editing and sound
4)Why is the representation of
space and time unique and important to the filmic experience?
spatialization of time, spatialized time and space
Anna’s words: Cinema is the ultimate time-space art because time and space
assume properties of the other. Time is spatialized because we can move about
it as in space, and space is temporalized by cinema’s dynamic elements (moving
camera, slow/fast motion, extreme lenses, etc.).As editing and the long take
are both capable of temporalizing space and spatializing time.
Spatialization of time address the fact that one can move from one time period
to another via a flashback. I believe the text notes that the audience is able
to move through time as if it were space due filmic techniques - editing.
In Middle of Nowhere we
learn of the arrest through a flashback.
Dynamization
of space, means the space itself is not static, it may be continuous but it is
not static. It is constantly redefined, The camera allows the audience to move
through a space and "temporalized" through the use of moving camera,
slow/fast motion, extreme lenses. Another example in which editing plays a role
in the dynamization of space is from the examples of photos from the text from
the Gold Rush,
or any shot sequence really that goes from an establishing exterior shot to
an interior. We as the audience are willing to believe that Charlie is inside
the cabin depicted in the first shot.
Anna’s
comments in discussion of time and space:
that so basically those two terms go together right the
specialization of time and the dynamic yes that is a shun of space and
basically time is represented in film post frequently through
editing riot and so you can you can jump from from here to
Tahiti you know in one cut and you can jump across the room in one cut so
how how time how space is represented through the editing
can can really affect help the audience understands the
pieces the slow moving piece you know is there no editing at all so
the single series of single long takes like next week when we watch laying
there there are a number of really really long takes in that
film and then the other side of it is how how so
how how the space is manipulated by time at the editing and then the
space itself is depicted through the misan sand right through the
cinematography and the what camera lens to use and how you move the camera you
know so if you're doing a Dolly shot or you're zooming in you affect how the
space is represented and and you can also affect the time through for
instance the easiest ones to think of our fast motion at slow motion
you know so so the camera itself and the space represented in time
through the camera changes how the audience sees the world too
Fundamentals of Film Form: Manipulation of
Space and Time:
TIME AND SPACE HERE
*Movies are a spatial and temporal art form.
*On the movie screen, space and time are relative to each other, and we can’t
separate them or perceive one without the other.
*Time is spatialized (spatialization of time) because we can move about
it as in space.
*And Space is temporalized (dynamization of space) by cinema’s dynamic elements
(moving camera, slow/fast motion,
extreme lenses, etc).
*Editing and mise-en-scene hold the key
So,
there's two terms that come into play here because time and space are
interrelated the time is spatialized in other words because people move
around within the space of the frame and in time, time is spatialized
versus space is being dynamic the dynamization of space is the fact that with
the moving camera slow motion, fast motion, extreme lenses where you can zoom
in etc space itself is reorganized throughout the frame and it
becomes you know you can change the way time moves so it's
reorganized and in time is reorganized as well
Different
lenses will talk about this next week give the perception that characters are
further away from each other or closer two each other than
they actually are
So using that lens you change how time is represented within that space
because two characters might be able to reach each other more quickly
The two manners in which space and time really interact are the idea of
mise-en-scene what's in the frame in the competition in the
frame in the how it's photographed and editing really does
change time within a film
I mean if you think about my day it's 24
hours long and I'm probably sleeping a lot of that
but in the film you might only show 30
seconds you know that most dramatic 30 seconds
so editing really changes how you
understand time
and
then editing you know editing create seamless editing compresses time
and it can make if you don't have any edits, you know then then you have
something that appears to be real time and then if you throw slow motion into
that you know it takes maybe twice as much time or even more or if its fast
motion asked you know you can do 500 feet per second and we can hardly
recognize what happened at that point pp 49-54 give you in the sixth edition
give you excellent examples,
Picture
of the Gold Rush (1925) by Charlie Chaplin – House hanging off the cliff
So this is an example of how space is
manipulated, you know here in the example is Charlie Chaplin in this
cabin that supposedly on the edge of the Cliff.
5)How do
filmmakers use non-narrative patterns?
NON-NARRATIVE
PATTERNS
1)Convey
a character’s state of mind
a)Create relationships
2) Communicate narrative meaning
a)Patterns with in the shot
b)Repetition of images, or parallel
editing
c)Repetition through sound motifs
OK another thing to think about chapter notes
is the idea of non-narrative patterns and I think chapter one talks about
them too is like how what reoccurs within a series of shots
that that gives you context.
So, is it a repetition of parallel editing having say person A
leaving their house person B leaving their house and meeting you know at the
cafe or some outdoor space properly spaced.
Or is it sound, does sound reoccur, Does a shot reoccur. , I think Juno used
the reoccurrence of her like flicking her nails or twiddling her thumbs or
whatever up to show anxiety right.
So what’s reoccurring and what information does it communicate?
Here is a possible quiz question on the subject...
Which of the following does NOT demonstrate the movie principles
of “dynamization of space” and/or “spatialization of time”?
a. During a movie scene in which two characters meet at a bar,
the action suddenly flashes forward to their later rendezvous at an apartment.
b. During a movie scene, the camera operator zooms to a
close-up which focuses the viewer’s attention on one character’s lips.
c. A live, theatrical drama is presented in which scenes play
out on a single set meant to depict a city police station.
d. A movie chase sequence is slowed down so that it looks like
it is taking place underwater.
e. A movie scene is cut so that the viewer sees the characters
interact with each other from multiple angles.
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