11-1_com_notes.doc

The Art of Making Movies November 1, 2011 DAY 2 Analyzing the Film Industry Production-what takes place when movie is produced, etc. Distribution-average viewers don?t value, but most important part of film industry, involves strategy of getting movie produced to viewer?s eyes, how to get people interested Exhibition-where/what situation people see the film (EX: being able to watch movie on laptop now when before it was limited to movie theatre) II. Early Film Exhibition Kinetoscope Parlors (1893-1896) First place people saw motion on film Novelty stores-serving factory workers for a source of entertainment 1890s version of a ?sharper image store? Vaudeville and Motion Pictures (1896-1905) Kinetoscope lost its novelty appeal Next key sight of exhibition Key form of everyday popular entertainment in America in late 1800s In every town, and every night there was a variety of acts available End of vaudeville performances, they would run short movies Nickelodeons (1905-1914) Movies were finally worthy of own sight of exhibition Pay a nickel for a movie (nickelodeon) Clearly targeted working class in immigrant audience( worked at understanding culture High social elites would never go( saw nickelodeons and movies as a social threat (bc of images of kissing, and content of movies), and concerned that nickelodeons were dark places with men and women sitting next to each other Cheap movie theatres (sheet against wall, cheap folding chairs) Shorter productions Birth of movies=LOWER CLASS CULTURE Movie Palaces (1915- ) Targets more at upper classes Until 1920s-movies were silent (for immigrants it didn?t matter, bc didn?t know language) new forms of technology tend to threaten older authority NOW film industry formed a new kind of culture-movie palaces! More $ brought in with middle/upper class( elaborate, big, 2000 seats, themed movie theatres! Early Development of Film Narrative and Techniques Peep Show Novelties and the Cinema of Attractions Kinetoscope parlours First peep show, very short Film makers captured human motion Examples: The Kiss, Serpentine Dance, Sandow (1893) CLIPS: -just people moving-kidding, a dancer moving, a ?strong man? showing muscles by showing different positions, a big dress twirling around -elites may be concerned of ?scandal? and skin shown in the short films (10 seconds) Primitive Cinema: Tableaux (?Living Pictures?) Films (1894-1903) Vaudeville houses Single long shot, static camera, theater-like staging turn camera on, film, turn off. Static-camera didn?t move Example: A Chess Dispute (1903) CLIP: -a chess dispute -tableaux film -playing chess, camera not moving, silent with music -static in film -only actors moving, not camera (fighting dramatically) Editing Trick films ? The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots (1895) CLIP: -trick shot-cut film by excecution (different filming and used dummy to appear a different way) Close-ups/Insert shots ? The Gay Shoe Clerk (1903) CLIP: -one shot -close up on shoe and edits in with a different time close up Variable locations/scenes ? The Other Side of the Hedge (1905) CLIP: -more sex (two young people and chaperone) -cuts into different location when the couple ran away to a different place -cuts to the other side of the hedge -camera transports us -starts to get longer and more complex Emergence of Complex Narratives (Beginning around 1903) Longer running times, variety of scenes & shots Ever more complex narratives Narrative: Story-series of events that happens in chronological order Discourse-order/strategy for how story gets told. EX: use of flashback, flash-forward schematic definition: equilibrium/disruption/return to equilibrium -all narratives can be reduced to a simple underlying structure -then something happens and disrupts the equilibrium-and series of events that unfold and return to equilibrium and at the end of story( everything is normal again! EX: chess clip( normally playing chess, begin to disrupt for a fight, bar tender came in to calm them down, and back to normal again Example: The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter, 1903; also of note?Life of an American Fireman 1903 ) CLIP: -Mode of production( -What is camera doing? (**switched to location change, but camera stays still, camera on top of train while moving, always a distant shot, -What edits are used? (people are there, and then cut to mysteriously disappear -confused bc doesn?t follow which rules?.....no idea who people that are dancing are-then catch up with story, spacially it doesn?t make sense, running same way from different angles (180 degree rule-draw line and make sure camera doesn?t go outside of it?.not used yet bc rule isn?t followed!) -trick editing used when they throw the dummy off the side that seemed to be the actor -special effect-colored bombing/smoke (painted film strip), womens in dresses were in color, and dust from man dancing -comes back to beginning location in ending scene -ending shot=man pointing gun directly at camera-THE ONE AND ONLY CLOSE-UP IN FILM Principles of Classical Hollywood Cinema Develop (1909-1917) -vocab rules-between film makers and audience( shared rules! Cross-cutting Principle in which if film maker cuts back and forth betwee two different locations( tells audience those two actions are taking place at the same time Audience is trained to know that Audience knows there will be meaning EX: south park-theme about old people not driving well -sequence of old man driving between a car -shot of old people fishing -keeps cutting back and forth between too locations -tells us something is going to happen -creates anticipation! CLIP: -GLEE EXAMPLE! ( -shiting between spaces -changes from classroom to stage( but we still know it?s the same time and ?setting? ?even though location changes -competition between Rachel and older blonde( used to sitting rehearsal space, but it doesn?t actually make sense. We just make understanding of it Establishing/master shot Make sure to start off with this shot Long shot that includes the entire of the space of the scene Viewer then knows and can picture overall location When you go closeup-audience can still picture where actors are Shot/reverse shot Most common sequences in film Sequence used to shoot a conversation between a few people -cut in on individual face( then another face?keep going back and forth Eye-line match By eye-line we know actors are connected even though they aren?t together in the same shot CLIP: -julia roberts and kid -eye-lines match up( so we understand how two people are connected, even though they are not filmed together?.close-ups going back and forth between them IV. 4 Techniques of Filmmaking Mise-en-scen (put on the stage)-anthing that you would see in shot, comes from French (to put on the stage)?anything filmmaker puts in scence (props, costumes, design, set, actors, etc.) Sound (music, dialogue, sound effects; diagetic and nondiagetic) Digetic-sounds that come from movie and characters can hear Nondigagetic-sounds characters do not hear, but audience hears (soundtrack, narration) Cinematography (camera distance and movement) Any of choices producer has as far as camera goes How far away camera is (long shot and close up) Camera movement( static in place, or camera moving?? Kind of film used( creates different effects. 1970s-look different bc of different film stock. Use of black and white vs. color Editing (cut, wipe, dissolve, superimposition) Kind of edit used to put film together What kind of cut? Straight forward. Or white. Pacing of edits( few edits & lots of long shots, OR lots of short shots & lots of edits Mood and energy created here IV. Style The manipulation or exploitation of film techniques to create meaning Example: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington montage (1939) C. Example: Clueless montage (1995)