Intro to Film

1. Intro to Film

2. OBJECTIVES Recognize films astexts to be read. Identify ways in which “the viewer contains the viewed.” Identify types of film discourse(some of which will be studied in more depth later) Identify key aspects of traditional narrative, understanding structure and relationships between character and action. Analyze Mise en scène (visual elements adding thematic richness) Identify key production techniques.

3. “The viewer contains the viewed.” • Suspension of disbelief • Film/Text • “Filters” (age, gender, education, life experience, etc.) • Purpose of viewing (entertainment, education, analysis, etc.) • Discourse (review, criticism, theory?)

4. Types of Analysis • Review: Is it entertaining? • Criticism: How does it reflect culture? • Theory: e.g., What Is entertainment? How do our notions of entertainment correspond to our notions of pleasure?

5. (from Latin discursus, meaning "running to and from") Formal, orderly, and usually extended expression of thought on a subject  Discourse

6. Some Types of Discourse • Semiotics: What is being signified by a particular element (e.g., color)? • Psychoanalytic: Freud was interested in fantasy and desire, as are films (dreamlike). • Marxist: Considers labor, costs, power, |conformity to institutions of power • Feminism: Gender issues (e.g., representation of women in film) • Ethnic Theory: Ethnicity issues (e.g., representation of people of color in film) • Link to Summary of Laura Mulvy’s“Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”

9. Story / Plot Narrative

10. Theories Gustav Freytag Aristotle (Beginning, Middle, End)Character relationship to plot Gustav Frytag(Conflict, Complication, Climax, Resolution) Stephen Meadows (Pause and Effect)

11. “Placement in the Scene” Mise en scène

12. Mise en scène Visual elements adding thematic richness to the film: 1) Visible Elements (lighting, location, color, space, costuming, set design, etc.) 2) How Elements Relate to Each Other(e.g., characters facing one another, facing camera, etc. 3) How Elements Are Captured on Film(camera movement, point of view)

13. (lighting, location, color, space, costuming, set design, etc.) 1. Visual Elements

14. Visual Elements (examples) • Think of a film in which color contributed to the theme. • What was the dominant color? • Was the color symbolic? • Is the symbolism typical or established just for the movie?

15. Symbolic Use of Color

16. Space

17. Location | Light

18. Set Design / Decor

19. Costuming

20. Acting / Characterization

21. (e.g., characters facing one another, facing camera, etc. 2. How Elements Relate to Each Other

22. How Elements Relate to Each Other • Placement of Characters (facing us, facing each other, back to us, back to each other, space between them, proximity to objects, etc.) • Placement of Other Objects (e.g., in relationship to characters and each other)

23. (camera movement, point of view) How Elements Are CapturedOn Film

24. Camera Movement / P.O.V. • Camera Around Characters (Sound of Music) • Characters Around Camera (Annie Hall) • Characters as Objects to Each Other • Camera from a Character’s Point of View

25. See www.julietdavis.com/cameraterminology.doc Production Techniques

26. Shooting • Zoom • Pan • Tilt • Track • Dolly in/out • Arc • Roll • Jump cut • Deep focus • Shallow focus

27. Transitions • Dissolve • Fade in • Fade Out • Cut • Wipe

28. Editing • Match on Action • Eyeline Match • Reaction Shot • Parallel Editing (or “Cross-cutting”) • Flashbacks • Montage • Cutting for Chaos