Exam 1 Flashcards
1
Q
Form
A
overall patterns in narrative design (beginning-middle-end, causal flow of the plot) and cinematic elements
2
Q
style
A
patterns in the moment-by-moment choices made by the production crew (shots, lighting, setting, costumes, acting, editing, sound)
3
Q
3 filmmaking phases
A
- production
- Distribution
- Exhibition
4
Q
production
A
design, execution, and completion of a film
5
Q
distribution
A
enactment of a publicity campaign and release of film to various outlets
6
Q
exhibition
A
site of the public’s consumption of the film
7
Q
4 stages of production
A
- Scripting/funding
- Preparation
- Shooting
- Assembly
8
Q
Scripting/funding
A
controlled by producer, $60-$100+ million is the average
9
Q
shooting
A
capturing of visualized scenes on mediums (film, DV, HD)
10
Q
what is the highest definition medium available?
A
Film
11
Q
preparation
A
director takes over; Pre-viz through storyboards, casting, and rehearsals; hundreds of specialized crew members
12
Q
assembly
A
editing hours of raw material into final version of film; 100 minutes=approximately 9,000 ft of film
13
Q
above the line crew members
A
those responsible for the creative development of the film (before pre-production); ie) director, executive producers, producers, screenwriters, casting directors, and principal cast
14
Q
below the line crew members
A
those responsible for the day-to-day work of making the film (during pre and post-production)
15
Q
5 General film categories
A
- Narrative
- Documentary
- Compilation
- Animation
- Experimental
16
Q
Narrative film
A
storytelling cinema, often divided into many genres
17
Q
documentary film
A
cinematic recording of non-scripted empirical events, organized via editing
18
Q
compilation film
A
creating a film out of pre-existing (found or archival) footage
19
Q
animation film
A
narrative or non-narrative films that are created frame-by-frame
20
Q
experimental
A
film that deliberately manipulates form and content to create a theoretical or personalized artifact
21
Q
4 modes of production
A
- large scale
- indy/exploitation film
- small scale
- collective
22
Q
large scale
A
studio/distributor controlled (guild/union controlled) ie) Titanic
23
Q
indy/exploitation
A
smaller crews (often non-guild/union), low budget, highly targeted, or personal films
24
Q
small scale
A
one-person filmmaking unit
25
collective
egalitarian, team-oriented production crew
26
Major distributions
most powerful, purchase or finance film production of independent companies ie) WB, paramount, Disney. average cost: 35 mil
27
minor distributors
specialized subsidiaries or production companies ie) lions gate
28
release patterns
1. wide/platforming
2. Limited
3. Alternative/viral
4. Pirating
29
wide/platforming
2000-4000 screens-often "tentpole" films/day and date
30
limited
handful to a few hundred screens, often in major cities or regions
31
alternative/Viral
internet/google/youtube
32
pirating
illegal distribution, often via the internet
33
theatrical releasing
through the theater chains (Regal, AMC, Cinemark, IMAX)
34
non-theatrical releasing
Online (netflix, Amazon, Hulu, etc.), broadcast and cable television
35
director of Star Wars III: within a minute
Tippy Bushkin
36
what did Edison invent?
Kinetograph and Kinetoscope
37
kinetograph
1888 Camera designed to take intermittent movement
38
Kinetoscope
1891 “peep show” viewer, with 50 feet reels
39
Lumiere brothers
invented cinematograph, actualities, considered the "birth" of motion pictures
40
what did the Lumiere brothers produce?
arrival at the train, Baby's lunch, the sprinkler sprinkled
41
Who produced a trip to the moon?
Melies
42
what film tactics did Melies use?
double exposure, stop motion, miniatures, tableau style
43
tableau style
no close mid shots, but instead uses long shots with a beginning, middle, and end
44
what is the difference between a scene and a shot?
a scene is composed of multiple shots
45
who directed the great train robbery
Porter
46
why is Porter important?
He was one of the 1st directors to value the importance of editing. He used parallel editing
47
parallel editing
cut between two or more lines of actions simultaneously going on
48
Nickelodeons
first indoor space for motion pictures, usually charging 5 cents for a movie
49
Griffith’s innovations included?
flashback. iris shot. split-screen, softfocus, MS/CS insert, CU and P.O.V shot, IS/panorama
50
who directed Birth of a Nation?
DW Griffith
51
5 types of editing/dialectical/montage
Metric, rhythmic, tonal, overtonal, intellectual
52
UFA in Germany
UFA: 1919-1927 largest/best equipped studio in the world
53
the Cabinet of dr. Caligari
Weine, morbid, psychological themes (murderer)
54
Metropolis (film)
Lang, scientist creates robot to stop “Maria” and M- underworld hunts child-killer
55
famous directors in the 20's
DeMille, Chaplin, Keaton, Stoheim
56
Ten Commandments (film)
DeMille, talked about sex/violence but within Biblical context
57
Avant-garde
impressionism, expressionism, cubism, surrealism, dada
58
5 major studios in the 1930s
1. MGM- melodrama
2. Paramount-European
3. W.B-working class studio
4. Fox-glossy look
5. RKD-unstable, artsy
59
Citizen Kane
Welles, Reshaped Hollywood narrative storytelling technique because it was radically experimental and was the first recognizably "modern” sound film
60
Post-war disillusionment:
soldiers tell real stories of war which contradict from Hollywood’s earlier versions
61
Film Noir “dark film”:
Human depravity, unheroic, dark psychological themes (ie. Wilder’s Double Indemnity in 1944)
62
what did Hitchcock begin to use post-WWII?
suspense and espionage
63
Italian neorealism
“Film without plots or professional actors, shot in the streets”-to emphasize material aspects of human condition ie) Rossellini--roma Open city (1945), Desica--Bicycle Thief (1948)
64
50s genres
Musicals (singing in the rain), Sophisticated comedy (some like it hot), Westerns (the searchers), Gangster/anti-communist/suspense (On the waterfront & Vertigo), Science Fiction (invasion of the body Snatchers), “Small Film”/Kammerspeilfilme (Marty), Independent Productions (Killer’s Kiss)
65
French new wave/theorists
Bazin, Truffaut, Godard, Resnais
66
who directed Rashomon?
Kurasawa
67
Ozu
“daily life” theme, produced 54 films (Tokyo Story)
68
what are movies from Hong Kong known for?
Wu Xia, martial arts, and gangster films, Bruce Lee
69
Popular Indian filmmaking
Musicals ie) Raj Kapoor (Awaara), Mehboob (Mother India), Sippy (Sholay)
70
Art Indian filmmaking
Ray who was inspired by Italian neorealism (Pather Panchali)
71
Britain free/New Cinema
Low budget docs, industrial settings, locations shooting, rebellious youth themes, black and white, unknown actors
72
New german cinema
Rejection of conventional structure, neo-Marxist, anti-authoritarian themes
73
Conventional elements
Rules/practices standardized by widespread use ie) hero rides off into the sunset to signal a film’s end, bad characters wear black
prior experience with additional artifacts helpful in understanding
74
Emotional elements
represented in Characters
| affective reactions of audiences ie) use of minor key for a sad scene
75
4 types of meaning
1. referential
2. Explicit
3. Implicit
4. Symptomatic
76
Referential
overall story/plot summary
77
Explicit
the purpose of the story
78
Implicit
themes: generalized interpretations/abstractions of the story’s meaning
79
Symptomatic
reflection of wider cultural values; ideology: culturally specific religious, political, social belief systems that inform filmic choices
80
5 formal principles
1. function
2. Similarity/repetition
3. variation/difference
4. Unity/disunity
5. Development
81
Function
Purpose/role of specific elements
Characters (e.g., stereotypes: the “airhead,” the “athlete”, the “manipulative rich kid”; the “boring teacher”; the “regular guy”; the “self obsessed/inattentive/clueless parent”)
Settings (e.g., and island for Jaws?)
Music, props, costumes, etc.
82
similarity/repetition
Artistic patterns repeated throughout a work; Motifs
83
variation/difference
```
Changes/differences in characters/setting/tone/mood/pacing
Opposing motifs (DDLJ → “cold” London vs. “warm” Punjab)
```
84
unity
all elements clear and economically related (“tight”)
85
Disunity
elements out-of-place and not related; can be a “mistake” or “intentional” (e.g., Last Year at Marienbad)
86
Development
Causal progression, Segmentation
87
Segmentation
Outlining a film’s major and minor parts to identify patterns (note: usually different/more detailed that DVD “chapters”)
88
Causal progression
vents toward ending → AB→AC→ etc.
89
Narrative analysis
Narrative elements: causality, time, and space
Narrative: chain of cause-effect-related events in time and space
story and plot
90
Story
master sequence of cause-effect events, typically in linear time
starts before the plot; often carries on afterwards
Diegetic elements only--from the story-world
91
plot
events depicted within the film, in the order presented
| includes non-diegetic elements (titles, background score)
92
Cause-effect of characters
causal agents; create causes and experience effects. traits: attitudes, skills, etc.
93
Cause-effect of Motivations
legal function of event in plot; may have ambiguity as they withhold or forget their motivation, this helps to create suspense
94
Causal motivation
planting info for later use
95
Developmental patterns
beginning end: reduction of all possibilities (beginning) to those necessary to drive plot to the conclusion--> in the close there is only one or two plot possibilities left
96
3 temporal components
1. Order
2. Duration
3. Frequency
97
order
How events are presented in time
98
duration
story time (months) vs. plot time (days) vs screen time (hours/min)
99
frequency
repetition of key events; Omission of mundane/repeated actions
100
3 spatial components
1. story space
2. plot space
3. screen space
101
story space
seen and unseen locales for story events
102
plot space
locals actually depicted in the movie, could also be metaphoric
103
screen space
Mise-en-scene: organization of plot space within the frame via camera placement (foreground, midground, background)
104
Plot development components
Initial situation –in progress – already in action (“in medias res’ )
Exposition – backstory to plot
Setup --- provide range of causes/effects for main conflict
Obstacles, change of character's knowledge, and goals
Climax and resolution
105
Story Flow
1. Narration – distribution of story information for varying effects
2. Range of narration
3. Depth of psychological presentations: Objective or Subjective
4. Narrators: Character – tell us what happened; Non-character – “voice of God”-style announcers (documentaries)
106
Unrestricted narrative
the audience is aware of all of the events in an omniscient manner and has more knowledge about the situation than the protagonist
107
Restricted narrative
neither the audience nor the character knows “what’s behind the door”
108
Classical character Hollywood style
primary causal agents (plot)
Disaster/loss prompts psychological drama
Lone character’s desire → main goal he/she wants to achieve
(as opposed to experimental causal agents (e.g., collective reaction to rotten food in Potemkin [no singular protagonist])
109
Classical duration/time Hollywood style
subordinate to cause-effect
Unimportant events not reported, only those that drive plot forward
Appointment – character motivation
Deadline – temporal restriction that forces action
110
Strong sense of closure
Few, if any, loose ends; all plot lines concluded (except for serial narratives with sequels)
Puzzle films – require repeated viewing/debates to determine “what happened”
111
Director’s Goal
eliminate unwanted visual content, keep only that absolutely necessary within the frame, realist vs. stylized
112
realism
filmmakers attempt to mimic settings and scenes found in the real world
113
stylized
emphasize a certain mood or metaphor when approaching lighting, costuming, setting, and performance
114
4 key elements of mise-en-scene
1. Setting
2. Lighting
3. Costuming
4. Performance
115
Locations
Profilmic environment, Filmic, Unwanted objects removed from environment, Desirable objects placed into the set
116
Profilmic environment
total location space that can be organized on-camera
117
Filmic
that which is actually shot
118
Set/studio
Total control overall all aspects of location (easier to control than locations),
Place wanted objects/props and background into set
119
lighting intensity
hard/harsh vs. soft/diffused
120
lighting Direction
path from instrument to subject
121
lighting source
frontal/flat, side/sculpted, back/silhouette, underlighting, toplighting
122
Three-point lighting
Key (main source) to fill (diffuser) to back (separator)
123
Shadow
attached vs. cast
124
performance/acting
Appearance, gesture, facial expression, voice, and effects
125
Frontality
"cheating” of performance blocking to address camera/audience spectatorial plane
126
Total Mise-en-scene system
1. Shapes audience expectations and viewing experience
2. Space
3. Time
127
5 Depth cues
1. Overlapping edges
2. Movement
3. Aerial perspective
4. Size diminution/perspective
5. Shadow
128
5 Temporal cues
1. Stasis
2. Movement of oppositions
3. Differing speeds/directions in competition
4. Short duration requires rapid viewer assessment
5. Long takes allow viewer contemplation of space
129
style of Mise-en-scene
“personality" of the film; Set of choices paradigmatically made by people associated with a film project, often led by the director
130
Steps for Analyzing Style of MES
1. Determine organizational structure of components
2. Identify salient techniques
3. Trace patterns of techniques
4. Determine functions and meanings for patterns
131
who directed catching fire?
Lawrence
132
who directed the birds?
Hitchcock
