1 / 12

Introduction to Film Studies 1: Hollywood Cinema

Introduction to Film Studies 1: Hollywood Cinema. Lecture One: A Vocabulary of Cinematic Techniques. The Birth of Cinema. The Lumi ére Brothers demonstrate their cinematograph: 28 th December 1895, Paris Culmination of scientific developments over the C19:

fern
Download Presentation

Introduction to Film Studies 1: Hollywood Cinema

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Introduction to Film Studies 1: Hollywood Cinema Lecture One: A Vocabulary of Cinematic Techniques

  2. The Birth of Cinema • The Lumiére Brothers demonstrate their cinematograph: 28th December 1895, Paris • Culmination of scientific developments over the C19: • The discovery of ‘persistence of vision’; • The Zoetrope; flip books • The magic lantern; • The Praxinoscope

  3. The Birth of Cinema Kodak’s strip film Edison’s Kinetoscope Cinema as a sideshow attraction/novelty value Camera trickery: Georges Méliès The birth of narrative: The Great Train Robbery (USA 1903: Edwin S. Porter)

  4. D.W. Griffith: ‘Father of Film’ • Combining narrative techniques: cross-cutting, shot distance • “America had effected, within a few brief years, the artistic maturing of the cinema. This was, practically speaking, the single-handed achievement of David Wark Griffith’ – David Robinson, World Cinema (London: Methuen, 1981), p.56. • “He put beauty and poetry into a cheap and tawdry sort of amusement”, Erich von Stroheim in Robinson, World Cinema, p.56.

  5. Cinematic Technique:Camera Position • Static shot (tableaux) • Panning (vertical or horizontal) • Angles (high/low/tilted) • Distance (close-up, wide shot) • Zoom • Movement (tracking, crane, helicopter) • Steadicam

  6. Cinematic Technique:The Photographic Image • Framing and composition • Black and white, or colour • Lighting (chiaroscuro) • Depth of field (deep focus)

  7. Cinematic Technique:Mise-en-scene • A theatrical term • ‘What is in the scene’ • Figure composition • Set design or location • Props • Costume • Make-up

  8. Cinematic Technique:Editing • Linear editing • Continuity • Matching eye-lines • Pace • Condensing or expanding time • Non-linear editing • Jump cuts and shock edits

  9. Cinematic Technique: Sound • Diegetic • Displaced diegetic (voice-over) • Non-diegetic • Music – underlining • Score vs. Recorded music • Effects

  10. Cinematic Technique:Special Effects (SFX) • Slow-motion or speeded-up motion • Superimposition – blue screen, back projection, matte shots • Digital imaging

  11. Practical Film Analysis • Breaking a film into sequences • Close textual analysis – finger on the pause button! • How is technique used? • What is the effect on the spectator? • What is the film-makers’ intention?

  12. Citizen Kane • Orson Welles: background in theatre and radio; War of the Worlds broadcast; RKO; collaboration with Greg Tolland; learnt by watching films • The film’s reception: William Randolph Hearst; iconic critical status; Is this the best film ever made? • Style over substance? Just how many different techniques does Welles use in Citizen Kane

More Related