Film: the fifth genre

1. Film:the fifth genre

2. Some preliminary questions: 1. What’s the difference between Cinema, Film Movie, Motion Picture? 2. How many movies do you watch in a year? 3. How many books have you read in the last calendar year? 4. What is the greatest movie you have ever seen? (this might be different than your favorite movie) What made it great?

3. Reading vs Watching a film READING WATCHING Base level enjoyment Subject focused Emotional Entertainment Easy/No one teaches you how to. • Deeper more complex enjoyment • Form or content focused • Analytical • Art experience • Difficult. Requires a trained eyed.

5. Like Art or Literature, Film has Formal elements… • Editing • Effects • Writing/scripting • Theme/story • Directing • Etc…

6. “Reading” a film is difficult because a film combines aesthetic principles from almost every other form of art—visual, music, theatre, dance, the novel.

7. I. Literary Elements in Film • Symbol • Plot/conflict • Characterization • Language/ dialogue • Tone • Theme • Setting • Allusion • humor

8. Ex: Allusion Chicken Run, 2000 Steve McQueen , The Great Escape, 1963

9. Ex. Symbol • The bone in 2001: A Space Odyssey • https://film110.pbworks.com/w/page/12610297/Symbolism%20of%20Objects%20in%20Cinema

10. II. Theatrical Elements in Film • Acting and directing • Costume/makeup • Space/set • Lighting

11. Ex. Acting • Jimmy Stewart, It’s a Wonderful Life • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQmOz0RO3qU

12. Ex. lighting

13. III. Film Elements • Camera Work • Editing • Sound • Animation effects

14. A. Camera Work Camera work taken all together is sometimes called Cinematography—the art of using the camera

15. A. Camera Work Cont’d • Shot Types • Long—shows a great deal of space • Short—close up on a person • Shallow focus—one thing in focus • Deep focus—everything is crisp

16. A. Camera Work cont’d B. Camera Movement • Pan –movement of camera along a horizontal axis • Tilt— movement of camera along vertical (up and down) access • Roll— camera spins or rotates in a radial axis • Track— camera moves (traditionally on a track but today usually a moving camera with a steadicam does this) through space following some route. • Shaky-mimics a handheld camera

17. A. Camera Work cont’d • Mise-en-scene • Each “frame” can be thought of as an individual aesthetic moment • Composition, layout of each individual frame • This includes elements like dominance, balance, contrast and color (visual art things!)

18. Ex. Mise-en-scene

20. Ex. Mise-en-scene • Dustin Hoffman, The Graduate • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3lKbMBab18

21. B. Sound • Music • Sound effects (environmental sound)

22. Ex. Environmental Sound • The Birds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hplpQt424Ls

23. Ex. Music • Jurassic Park, John Williams (composer), 1993 • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJlmYh27MHg

24. C. Animation/Effects • Ex. Wall-e • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsQFuesfaoI

25. D. Editing • What shot, scene or frame leads to the next? How is the movie “put together” • This is sometimes called “montage.” • The order of images/events/sounds in a film

26. Ex. Editing/Montage • Alfred Hitchcock (dir) Psycho 1960 • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VP5jEAP3K4 • How many shots are in this scene?

27. Practice: • Watch the following clip and write down as many elements of film as you can find. They can be LITERARY, THEATRICAL, or FILM related. • Ingmar Bergman, The Seventh Seal,1957 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtqB2XO9jtI

28. IV. Practical Strategies for Reading a Film • First: Do all (or even most) films stand up to “reading”? What are a few films you can think of that would produce little new enjoyment through careful analysis? • What are the qualities of high art? Low art? • Separate subject, form content in your head

29. Fin

30. Ex. Costume

31. Ex. Makeup