Lecture 3 Flashcards
(38 cards)
Realism vs. Formalism
distinguish between two broad and opposing trends: directors who put their in 1) image 2) reality (Andre Bazin. “The Evolution of the Language of Cinema” in What Is Cinema?)
- distinction is often traced back to the origins of cinema and the opposing tendencies of the Lumiere brothers (who favored loose, “slice of life” style setups, often in public space) and Georges Melies (who constructed a studio that allowed him intricate control over the staging and pioneered special effects)
Realism
film form is deployed to suggest relatively unmediated reality.
- suggest that the camera neutrally absorbs what happens in front of it with minimal construction
Formalism
film form draws attention to its own constructedness, i.e: its difference from reality.
- it uses cinema as a space of expression and display, and feels no obligation to represent reality as it is
Classicism
the mode of self-effacement that best characterizes Hollywood’s general strategy of representation
- self-conscious style is downplayed in favor of storytelling
Cinematography
A general term for all the manipulations
of the film strip by the camera in the shooting phase and
by the laboratory in the development phase
- “Writing in movement”
Speed of Motion
Rate
- Silent films were generally filmed at a slower rate (often
16 or 20 fps)
– Film can be shot at one speed and played back at another
for effect, and a film can change speeds or otherwise
manipulate frame rate for effect
Rate
the number of frames exposed per second. 24 fps
is standard in sound-era films, though higher rates are
possible
Framing
the use of the edges of the film frame to select
and to compose what is visible on screen
Aspect Ratio
the relationship of the frame’s width to its height
– Occasionally a film will use more than one aspect ratio for
certain effects. One such example is Bad Education
(2004), where most of the film is in 1:2.35, but segments
depicting a film-within-a-film are in 1.1.85
- 1:1.37 (Academy Ratio)
-1:1.85
- 1:2.35 (CinemaScope)
- 1:1
Academy Ratio
1:1.37, was standard in classical
Hollywood; with widescreen formats emerged in the
1950s
Split-screen
divides the film into multiple frames
Superimposition
also called “double exposure,” the
exposure of more than one image on the same film strip
or in the same shot
Perspective
Lens, Focal length
- Different lenses represent and distort space differently (Normal lens, telephoto lens, wide-angle lens)
Lens
a shaped piece of transparent material (usually
glassy) with either or both sides curved to gather and
focus light rays
Focal Length
the distance from the center of the lens to
the point at which light rays meet in sharp focus. The focal
length determines the perspective relations of the space
represented on the flat screen
Zoom lens
a lens with a focal length that can be changed during a shot
- to “zoom in” or to “zoom out: is essentially to magnify or demagnify the image
Focus
the degree to which light rays coming from the
same part of an object through different parts of the lens
reconverge at the same point on the film frame, creating
sharp outlines and distinct textures
Deep focus
a use of the camera lens and lighting that
keeps objects in both close and distant planes in sharp
focus
Racking focus
shifting the area of sharp focus from one
plane to another during a shot: the effect on the screen is
called rack-focus
Camera angle, level, height, distance
Angle of framing, height
Angle of framing
the position of frame in relation to the
subject it shows (low, straight-on, high)
Height
describes the level from the which the camera is recording
- low camera angle, high camera angle, straight-on camera angle, bird’s eye view, worm’s eye view
Canted framing
a view in which the frame is not level:
either the right or the left side is lower than the other,
causing objects in the scene to appear slanted out of an
upright position (also “Dutch” or “oblique” angles)
Distance
Extreme long shot, long shot, medium long shot, medium shot, medium close-up, close-up, extreme close-up
