Early Cinema HUM 3280 Narrative Film Fall 2012

  • Slides: 23
Download presentation
Early Cinema HUM 3280: Narrative Film Fall 2012 Dr. Perdigao August 27 -29, 2012

Early Cinema HUM 3280: Narrative Film Fall 2012 Dr. Perdigao August 27 -29, 2012

Staging • Mise-en-scène: “placement in a scene” or “onstage” (Corrigan and White 64) •

Staging • Mise-en-scène: “placement in a scene” or “onstage” (Corrigan and White 64) • Scenic elements of a movie—actors, aspects of lighting, sets and settings, costumes, make-up (64) • First movies as “scenes”—Edison and Lumière films (66) • Dating back to Greek theater around 500 B. C. E. • 1915—change in films with art directors and set designers • Soundstages designed in 1920 s • Location shooting as mid-twentieth century development • Setting—as “fictional or real place where the action and events of the film occur” • Set as “constructed setting”(70) • Realism—truthful picture of society (70)

Propping

Propping

Propping • Props (short for property), tool used by actors • Centrality of prop

Propping • Props (short for property), tool used by actors • Centrality of prop in The Maltese Falcon; red shoes in The Wizard of Oz; umbrella in Singin’ in the Rain (Corrigan and White 72) • Instrumental props and metaphorical props (72) Common function versus reinvention or new purpose • Cultural props Meaning associated with their society: Herbie Fully Loaded’s Volkswagen Beetle; Easy Rider’s motorcycles (73) • Contextualized props Change meaning within narrative; red violin; Ronin’s briefcase; Hitchcock’s “Mc. Guffins, ” propos that “appear to be important only at first” (73)

Performatives • Actor, performance (use of language, physical expression, and gesture) (7374) • Types

Performatives • Actor, performance (use of language, physical expression, and gesture) (7374) • Types of actors: leading actors, character actors, supporting actors (Corrigan and White 75) • Character types, casting in specific kinds of roles (Tom Hanks) • Blocking “[A]rrangement and movement of actors in relation to each other within the physical space of mise-en-scène” (76) • Graphic blocking Arrangement according to “visual patterns to portray spatial harmony, tension, or some other visual atmosphere” (77)

Illuminati • Lighting—part of mise-en-scène; light sources located within the scene itself (Corrigan and

Illuminati • Lighting—part of mise-en-scène; light sources located within the scene itself (Corrigan and White 79) • Natural lighting • Set lighting • Directional lighting—more dramatically apparent, to define and shape the object or person being illuminated (82) • Shading Complementing narrative

Materialism • Mise-en-scène as defining our location in the material world (Corrigan and White

Materialism • Mise-en-scène as defining our location in the material world (Corrigan and White 86) • External condition—define the material possibilities in a place or space (87) • Measure of character—establishing identity in relation to surrounding setting and sets (87) • Naturalistic versus theatrical mise-en-scène that denaturalizes locations • The Birth of a Nation as moving between the two • Historical mise-en-scène as attempt to recreate recognizable historical scene • Theatrical mise-en-scène as the fantastic: Sherlock Jr. ? • Expressive mise-en-scène—setting, sets, props asserted independently of the characters, describe emotional or spiritual life “permeating the material world” (89) • Constructive mise-en-scène—world as shaped or altered by characters (92)

Cinematography • Beginnings of cinematography with Eadweard Muybridge’s chornophotography and Zoopraxiscope (Corrigan and White

Cinematography • Beginnings of cinematography with Eadweard Muybridge’s chornophotography and Zoopraxiscope (Corrigan and White 99) • W. L. K. Dickson, working for Thomas Edison, invented the Kinetoscopic camera in 1891 (99) • 1895—Lumière brothers • Wide-angle lens • Handheld cameras • Widescreen processes in 1950 s, anamorphic lens (102) • Steadicam • Cinematography as “writing in movement” • Shot • Point of view (105)

Frames • Subjective and objective points of view • Focus • Framing—“contains, limits, and

Frames • Subjective and objective points of view • Focus • Framing—“contains, limits, and directs the point of view within the borders of the rectangular frame” (Corrigan and White 105) • Canted frame Unbalanced or askew (105) • Mobile frame • Aspect ratio (105): widescreen 1. 85: 1, correlation with television in 1950 s • Masks Camera cutting off portions of frame (108)

 • Iris shot Circular image (108) • Iris-in Opening circle • Iris-out Closing

• Iris shot Circular image (108) • Iris-in Opening circle • Iris-out Closing circle Frames

Scaling • Distance of camera from subject determines scale (Corrigan and White 109) •

Scaling • Distance of camera from subject determines scale (Corrigan and White 109) • Close-up • Extreme close-up • Extreme long shot—greater distance between camera and person or object, space dwarfs objects (110) • Medium shot Middle ground, human body from waist or hips up (110) • Medium long shot 3/4 view of character, from knees up (111) • Medium close-up Character’s head and shoulders, in conversation scenes (111)

Angling • High angle Downward on individuals or scene, making them smaller (112) •

Angling • High angle Downward on individuals or scene, making them smaller (112) • Low angle Upward, making individuals appear larger (112) • Overhead or crane shot From high above (112) • Point-of-view (POV) shot From character’s perspective (112), subjective camera • Deep focus Multiple planes in image in focus (113) • Shallow focus Only narrow range of field is focused (113) • Rack focus (or pulled focus) Focus shifts from one object to another (113)

Camera positions • Reframing Movement of frame from one position to another (Corrigan and

Camera positions • Reframing Movement of frame from one position to another (Corrigan and White 116); Citizen Kane example • Pan Side to side movement, vertical axis (117) • Tilt Frame moved up or down on horizontal axis (117) • Tracking shot Changes position by moving camera forward or backward (117) • Dolly shot Movement of camera on wheeled dolly (117) • Traveling shot Used to describe both tracking and dolly shots

Camera positions • Following shot Following an individual character (117) • Handheld shot The

Camera positions • Following shot Following an individual character (117) • Handheld shot The Blair Witch Project (1999) • Steadicam To achieve the stability of a tripod mount, fluidity of a tracking shot, and the flexibility of a handheld camera; special stabilizing mount (118)

Zooms • Zoom lenses (Corrigan and White 118) • Zoom-in Camera stationary as zoom

Zooms • Zoom lenses (Corrigan and White 118) • Zoom-in Camera stationary as zoom lens changes focal length • Zoom-out Reverses action

 • Edison’s phonograph in 1877 Sounds • Sound experiment by Edison Studios in

• Edison’s phonograph in 1877 Sounds • Sound experiment by Edison Studios in 1895 • Phonography as “sound writing” (Corrigan and White 179) • 1927 -1930: incorporation of synchronized sound • 1926 -1927: Warner Bros. and Fox competing with sound technologies • 1926: Warner Bros. ’ Vitaphone sound-on-disk system • Fox with Movietone sound system • The Jazz Singer as Warner Bros. ’ second feature film with recorded sound; Don Juan (1926) as first with recorded score • Studios signed with Western Electric (subsidiary of AT&T) to adopt a soundon-film system to replace sound-on-disk process (182) • 1930 s: silent films no longer produced by major studios; only few independent filmmakers, such as Charlie Chaplin, stayed with silent films (182)

Sounds • Radio Corporation of America joined with Keith-Orpheum theaters to become RKO, one

Sounds • Radio Corporation of America joined with Keith-Orpheum theaters to become RKO, one of five studios, the “majors, ” that dominated sound-era cinema— produced King Kong in 1933 and Citizen Kane in 1941