25 Aralık 2012 Salı

Chapter 10

            
                        
                      UNIVERSITY OF KOCAELİ



COURSE: INTRODUCTION ON FILM STUDIES
SUBJECT: LESBIAN AND GAY CINEMA
SUBMITTED BY:
090112053 KÜBRA TAŞLIÇUKUR
090112040 İREM ATAÇ
090112054 HALİME OĞUZ
090112068 GAMZE OYRAK
090112005 YURTSEVER ARSLAN


Chapter 10
LESBIAN AND GAY CINEMA
GENDER:” It is a term which refers to a name for the social and cultural construction of a person’s sex and sexuality” (An introduction to film studies, 308)




SEXUALITY:” It is a term which refers to a name for the sexual feelings and behavior of person.” (An Introduction to Fılm Studies, 309)



SEX:”It is a word which denotes and describes a person’s physical type according to their genital make-up” (An Introduction to Fılm Studies, 309)




HOMOSEXUAL:” It is a word which describes a person whose main sexual feelings are for people of the same sex” (An Introduction to Fılm Studies, 309)




HETEROSEXUAL:” It is a word which describes a person whose main sexual feelings are for people of the opposite sex.” (An Introduction to Fılm Studies, 308)




HOMOEROTIC:” It is a description of a text-prose, poem, film, painting, photograph, etc.-conveying an enjoyable sense of same sex attraction.” (An Introduction to Fılm Studies, 309)




GAY:” It is a description of strong, positive sexual love and attraction between members of the same sex, It mainly refers to males.” (An Introduction to Fılm Studies, 309)




LESBIAN:” It is a word which describes a woman whose main sexual feelings are for other woman.” (An Introduction to Fılm Studies, 310)




BUTCH:” It is a description of behavior-patterns- such as aggression, sexual dominance-traditionally associated with muscularity” (An Introduction to Fılm Studies, 311)



FEMME:” It is a description of behavior- patterns- such as gentleness, sexual passivity, concern with dress and appearance- traditionally associated with femininity.” (An Introduction to Fılm Studies, 311)



IDEOLOGY:” It is a set of ideas and attitudes held so much in common by most members of a society that they are seen as part of the natural order.”(An Introduction to Fılm Studies, 313)



CAMP: “It is a critical attitude which involves looking at texts less as reflections of reality than as constructed sets of words, images and sounds at a distance from reality.” (An Introduction to Fılm Studies, 313)



STEREOTYPE: “It is a set of community- expected behavior patterns and characteristics based on role or personal features such as race, age or sexuality.”(An Introduction to Fılm Studies, 320)





HOMOPHOBIA: “It is an irrational prejudice and hatred against a person because of their homosexuality.” (An Introduction to Fılm Studies, 327)




QUEER:” It is originally a negative term for (mainly male) homosexuals, this word has been recently re-appropriated by critics, artists and audiences to describe a challenging range of critical work and cultural production among lesbians and gays with an emphasis on diversity of race, nationality and cultural experience.” (An Introduction to Fılm Studies, 335)




REAPPROPRIATION:” It is a process whereby a previously oppressed group takes a negative term and turns it around to invest it with new meanings of power and liberation.” (An Introduction to Fılm Studies, 336)



PINK TRIANGLE: “It is a symbol originally worn by homosexual prisoners in Nazi concentration camps which was later taken up by lesbians and gay people as a reminder of past oppression and an icon of liberation.” (An Introduction to Fılm Studies, 337)


Chapter 9

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                                         WOMEN AND FILMS   
FEMINIST FILM REVOLUTION – Making Feminist Film Accessible
  Feminist film theory and practice in the early period up to 1980 had been a joint ideological struggle; film theory analyzed the patriarchal conventions that mainstream film worked within and film practice was physically able to break these rules.  In the exceedingly, male dominated world of film-making women were not seen as artists or film-makers and feminist art was seen as a possible challenge to patriarchal society.
  Becoming an area of debate in the next decade, feminist film practice is generally seen as separate from mainstream film. Mainstream films can be defined as commercial films that are made by major entertainment studios or companies that are owned by international media conglomerates. On the other hand, feminist film theory is theoretical film criticism derived from feminist politics and feminist theory. Feminists have many approaches to cinema analysis, regarding the film elements analyzed and their theoretical underpinnings.
  Whereas the focus was on representation in film and media at the beginning of the 1970s, the attention was being diverted to the concept of “pleasure” by the end of the decade. Some feminists expressed the concern by denying the pleasures of mainstream cinema. Thus, it can be stated that feminists all agreed that feminist film theory had a significant role on raising consciousness as to the marginalization of women in patriarchal society.
  REASSESSING FEMINIST FILM THEORY
Feminist film theory has emerged in the past 20 years to become a large and flourishing field. Its dominant approach, exemplified by such journals as Screen and Camera Obscura, involves a theoretical combination of semiotics, Althusserian Marxism, and Lacanian psychoanalysis.      
Feminist film theory was going through a similar period of reassessment which also seemed to suggest feminist ideas could be expounded using mainstream cinema. In 1981 Mulvey published an article, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”. In the article Mulvey develops two lines of thought: first, examining whether the female spectator can gain a deep pleasure from a male oriented text, and second, how the txt and spectator are affected by the centrality of a female character in the narrative.
 Feminist film theory has been especially influenced psychoanalytic theory and particularly, Freud and Lacan. The strong and powerful female can exist within mainstream film, yet, for instance; Hitchcock is potentially not a feminist film maker and his films seem to express Freud’s assertion that the male contempt for femininity is an expression of the repression of their bisexuality. Woman is a threat who must be destroyed: “the male object is greatly threatened by bisexuality, though he is at the same time fascinated by it; and it is the woman who pays for this ambivalence, often with her life itself.”(Modleski,1988)


 FEMINIST FILM THEORY IN THE 1990s
The development of feminist film theory was influenced by second wave feminism and the development of women's studies within the academy. In the late 1990s, feminist film theory appears to be thriving; many books have now been published on the subject and it is an established area of study on higher education courses.
Feminist film studies could be seen as being in danger of fragmenting and becoming disunified. Yet it is the subject’s heterogeneity, its ability to incorporate a range of theories from psychoanalysis to postmodernism, which should continue to ensure, its useful contribution to a deeper understanding of film studies and women’s place in society.



Reel Feminism vs. Real Feminism, Feminist Film in the '90s
by Leora Tanenbaum

 Yet some feminist film theorists such as Jackie Bvars have reworked psychoanalytic theory to give a feminist perspective. Her analysis of melodrama suggests the woman can exist as a spectator in a positive way she explains that in All That Heaven Allows  the gaze is strongly female. In addition, the reworking of psychoanalytic theory may provide a new model from which feminists could work. Mulvey’s theories, based on Freud an Lacan, have had considerable impact in enhancing our understanding of the role of the spectator in the film and how media texts place the viewer in a particular position.
Alternatives to psychoanalytic feminist film theory raise new questions about the representation of women in films because of their different accounts of the self, agency, identity, and the cultural surroundings of the subject. They reflect more textured and nuanced views about the self's complexity and emphasize the film viewer's potential to construct critical readings.


 Female Representations and the Female Audience Feminism : The feminist movement is related to the idea of gender and sexual equality in society. You have probably heard of The Suffragettes in the early 20th Century. They have spoken out against pornography, stereotypes of women and male domination of society/ patriarchy. As media representations are one of the mains ways that such messages are transmitted - the media and feminist activists often come to blows!


 A stereotype is a thought that may be adopted about specific types of individuals or certain ways of doing things, but that belief may or may not accurately reflect reality.

One of the more common stereotype examples is stereotypes surrounding African Americans. Saying that all African Americans are good at sports is a stereotype, because it’s grouping the race together to indicate that everyone of that race is a good athlete.

Men and Women

There are also some common stereotypes of men and women, such as:
·         Men are strong and do all the work.
·         Men are the “backbone.”
·         Women aren't as smart as a man.
·         Women can’t do as good of a job as a man.
·         Girls are not good at sports.
·         Guys are messy and unclean.
·         Men who spend too much time on the computer or read are geeks.

Stereotypes are often confused with prejudices, because, like prejudices, a stereotype is based on a prior assumption. Stereotypes are often created about people of specific cultures or races.

 Media represents information to its audienceswho are encouraged by the main stream to see its output as a “window on the world”, as reflecting reality.

Women and Femininity Women have often suffered from a narrow set of representations in the media. They are often linked to the domestic situation - women as housewives or mothers . OR as sex objects ( sexualised and objectified) represented to entertain and titillate the male audience. In non- fictional media - women’s roles tend to be smaller and fewer than their male counterparts.

Patriarchy is a social system in which the father or eldest male is head of the household, having authority over women and children. Patriarchy also refers to a system of government by males, and to the dominance of men in social or cultural systems. It may also include title being traced through the male line.  Men make the rules and dominate in business and government. It is said to be a "man's world", men make the rules and dominate in all forums outside the home. A woman's main value is to support a man (behind every good man is a good woman), bear children and housekeeping duties. This is how it is and has been for millennia in most cultures.
In Fictional Media Due to the Patriarchal nature of our society - women are less likely to be the source of leading news stories (politics, business, law and religion stories.) Since their roles in these areas tend to be fewer in number.
Femininity Femininity like masculinity is a cultural idea not a biological one. So it differs from culture to culture In Western societies ( like the UK) some aspects of feminine representations in the media have changed drastically in recent years - while others have remained unchanged.
 The psychoanalytic view holds that there are inner forces outside of your awareness that are directing your behavior. For example, a psychoanalyst might say that James misspoke due to unresolved feelings for his ex or perhaps because of misgivings about his new relationship.
The founder of psychoanalytic theory was Sigmund Freud. Feminists rejects this theory. Laura Mulvey's now-classic essay, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" [Mulvey, 1975], was the feminist claim that men and women are differentially positioned by cinema: men as subjects identifying with agents who drive the film's narrative forward, women as objects for masculine desire and fetishistic gazing.
Women as Sex Object Women are often represented as sex objects in the media.The Male Gaze - (1975) Laura Mulvey Mulvey claimed that women are turned into sex objects through how they are shot in the media (cinematography.) That by showing only body parts and not the whole body ( including face) they are turned on to objects for male pleasure. She called this fragmentation that leads to objectification .

Structuralism is the name that is given to a wide range of discourses that study underlying structures of signification. Signification occurs wherever there is a meaningful event or in the practise of some meaningful action. Hence the phrase, "signifying practices." A meaningful event might include any of following: writing or reading a text; getting married; having a discussion over a cup of coffee; a battle. Structuralism first comes to prominence as a specific discourse with the work of a Swiss linguist, Ferdinand de Saussure, who developed a branch of linguistics called "Structural Linguistics." Saussure’s demand for a general linguistics is what leads to his most startling insights. Previously there had been many explanations of language but there had always been something missing and, thus, the absence of a ground to explain all of language

Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry based upon a materialist interpretation of historical development, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis of class-relations within society and their application in the analysis and critique of the development of capitalism.
While Marx primarily examined the role of economics in perpetuating the status quo or ideology, observing that The ultimate condition of production is therefore the reproduction of the conditions of production, for Althusser, the reproduction of the conditions of production is not simply guaranteed by perpetuating existing material conditions such as wages (Norton 1483); rather, he believed that such conditions are achieved more and more outside production through the concept which Althusser deems as the state apparatus (1491).


WOMEN IN THE MAINSTREAM FILM INDUSTRY
   Although the number of women working in the roles in the film industry was still very small, by the late 1980's ,an increasing number of women were entering these areas after receiving training in a film school or gaining experience in the growing number of film workshops. The National Film School, for instance, increased its intake of female students from one out of twenty-five when it first opened in 1971 to around 30 per cent by the mid-1980's.
    By the 1990s more women were working in previously male-dominated areas like; directing, camera, sound and lightning.




   
The advent of Channel Four  in  1982 proved beneficial for women and film.Apart from a number of film and video workshops,the company also employed women in key positions.Channel Four screened a series of films by women from all over the world.Entitled "Woman Call The Shots"  , it was a repponse to the wealth of cinema made by woman that is rarely seen by a large audience

FRAGMENTATION OF THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT
    Feminist film theory was in the early period,especially concerned with representation and sexuality and its relation to the dominance of the male power structure within a patriarchal society .A number of women , often from an academic background,encouraged this development, but it was perhaps Laura Mulvey and Claire Johnston who were the pregenitors of feminist film theory.
    Anumber of support agencies for women film-makers hhave been established which aim to provide the female equivalent of the "Old Boys Network" , "Women in Film and Tv" helps women in the mainstream sector and in the independent and workshops sector , groups like "Real Women" hold regular seminars and screenings, while "Networking" provides information and support for all women interested in film and video.
    So much of the future for women  in film seems to be dependent on funding; in the independent sector on government support for the arts,and in the mainstream sector on confidence and continuous investments in the industry.
    Feminism has perhaps changed the way we look at film, and there is a great awareness of how gender is represented in the media.


   Feminist interventions: Some of the  female directors whose aims are also to emphasize the role of the (male) artist for the emergence of a feminist awareness
     I Shot Andy Warhol (1996, Marry Harron)
    Titus (1999, Julie Taymor; based on Shakespeare’s play Titus Andronicus
    Orlando (1993, Sally Potter; based on Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando)

 CASE STUDY 1 : RED FLANNEL
   
    Red Flannel was a women's film and video production group based in South Wales.It was formed in 1984.It was provisionally franchised by the ACTT(the union for the film and TV industry).In 1977  Red Flannel folded,unable to survive in such a competitive climate.The group has always been concerned with portraying the lives of women in South Wales.Members defined themselves as being socialst,feminist , and Welsh.The political slant to their work ensured that issues were examined from a woman's perspective, drawing atteintion to areas which are often ignored by the mainstream media.Channel Four also helped to Red Flannel economically,enabled it to operate with an enormous amount of freedom ,they provided an everyday running budget,a generous budget to produce one documentary a year and money for community work ,which Channel Four encouraged.
    As a feminist and socialist group,Red Flannel had tried to work cooperatively whenever possible.This has been most successfully in documentary programmes where everyone can be involved in the research side,rather than individually conceived,expressionistic piece like Otherwise Engaged (1991) where an author is needed.

CASE STUDY: MAM(1988)




      The Welsh 'mam' has played a central role in the social, cultural and economic life of the South Wales valleys for generations. In literature and film, she has been portrayed as a powerful matriarch within the confines of the miner's home and family. Through interviews, drama and archive films, we can look behind these myths to examine the reality of Welsh women both past and present. This reality involves oppression and subordination, which serve to reinforce the myth.
   Research for Mam (Red Flannel Productions, 1988) revealed how little material was available on women's involvement with political and social life in South Wales, through two world wars and massive strike action. Even at the miners' library, most of the interviews with women were about their fathers and sons. To redress this imbalance, the filmmakers became simultaneously producers, collators and distributors of this history. Women have always played an active role in the transmission of culture, telling stories, passing on rituals and traditions, creating myths and constructing imaginary worlds for their children. This film is a testament to these stories. Multiple women's voices are represented, in an attempt to undermine the perceived objectivity of the documentary format.
    Mam was made in a workshop situation, and its production was both a shared activity and learning experience for women in South Wales. The first screening of the film was to a full house at the Parc and Dare in Treochy. The response has been described as tremendous and inspirational. It was used in schools and colleges, and screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival and eventually acquired by the British Council and shown internationally.



WOMEN AND FILM
Feminism: This is the based on the belief that we live in a society where women are still unequal to men; that women have lower statues than men and have less power, particularly financial power.
Patriarchal society: A society in which it is men who have power and control. Women are generally disadvantaged and have lower statues.
These two significant subjects associate with each other. In patriarchal society, women should stay at home, deal with housework, loyal to the husband, not have economic power and be silent.Therefore, the feminists started to discuss the role of women in society and defended their civil rights. Then the sense of feminism subjected to the films especially it was depicted by feminist film makers such as, Marlene Gorris Sally Potter, Jane Campion. In Marlene Gorris' film "A Question of Silence", three women who are challenging the male authority and the film questions the women's condition in patriarchal society because they do not have rights to become powerfull and they should keep their mouths shut.These three women are treated by men for example, Ann is a barmaid,so she exposes to sexist insult, Andrea is secretary, she has to put up with her boss sexist insult, and Christine is a housewife, so her husband uses her like a servant. Because of the unequality the three women kill a man to show their anger and power to the male dominated society.In addition, in "Orlando" by Sally Potter, a man whose name Orlando changes his gender and becomes a female, so in this film the difference between male Orlando and female Orlando. While male Orlando has no problem in society, the female Orlando is labelled as a creature because she loses her home, her financial power. The last example is about the power of patriarch which is depicted "The Piano" made by Jane Campion, the main character of the film Ada's father arranges a marriage to Stewart whom she has never met. It is expected from her to marry and be obedient to father, and when Ada falls in love with Baines, Stewart tries to get under control her. Also Steawart attacks Ada and cuts her finger with an axe.All of these examples shows the representation of women in patriarchal society, and feminist film makers tried to show the unequality between men and women,and how patriarchy is treating and intimidating.





24 Aralık 2012 Pazartesi

chapter 4

BÜŞRA ERYİĞİT
DİDEM ATAGÜN
PINAR TAŞ
İSMAİL OGHAN




THE ACT OF VİEWİNG

Noise: In the film industry it refers to any barrier to successful communication.
Drama-documentary: Any format which attempts to re-create historical or typical events using performers, whether actors or not. It often appears to us strange.  A film or television programme based on true events, presented in a dramatized form although it is not intended to be accurate in every detail.
Mainstream: Feature-length narrative films created for entertainment and profit. Mainstream is usually associated with “Hollywood” regardless of where the film is made. It covers involving of use of camera microphone and lighting. Mainstream films can best be defined as commercial films that are made by major entertainment studios or companies.
Conventions: Conventions are established procedure within a particular form which is identifiable by both the producer and the reader. The implication of the idea of conventions is that a form does not naturally mean anything, but it is an agreement between producer and user. The director's use of the usual romantic conventions made the film boring and predictable.
http://www.westone.wa.gov.au/k-12lrcd/learning_areas/english/eng1d/content/002_film_leads/page_03.htm
Steadicam: A technical development from the late 1970s which permits the use of a camera held by hand which walks with the action, but with the steadiness of a camera moving on rails. 





Reading a film: although films are viewed and heard, the concept of “reading” a film implies an active process of making sense of what we are experiencing.
http://faculty.washington.edu/mlg/students/readafilm.htm
Establishing shot: A shot using distant framing, allowing the viewer to see the spatial relations between  the characters and set. It is generally a long- or extreme-long shot at the beginning of a scene indicating where, and sometimes when, the remainder of the scene takes place.




 High angle: A shot from a camera held above characters or an object, looking down at them.

Mediation: A key concept in film and media theory it implies that there are always structures, whether human or technological, between an object and the viewer, involving inevitably a partial and selective view.
Close-up: normally defined as a shot of the head from the neck up.



Identification: the process of identification allows us to place ourselves in the in the position of particular characters, either throughout or at specific moments in a movie. The devices involved include subjectivity of viewpoint and a sharing in their moral world, largely through narrative construction.


Economic presentation: All the components are designed to help us read the narrative. An examination of the first few minutes of almost any mainstream fictional film will reveal a considerable amount of information about characters, their social situation and their motivation.



Modernist: Any device which undercuts the invisible telling of the story. A modernist device draws attention to itself and makes us aware of the construction of the narrative. It would be unclear in these instance whether the device is a consciously modernist one or a primitive one which unconsciously draws attention to itself. Central to modernism—that vast, diverse movement that transformed the arts in the late 19th and 20th centuries—was the desire to modernize art, to break with tradition and cultivate new artistic forms and styles more suited to the modern world, even though, paradoxically, modernists often did this by mining “the greatest works of the tradition for irreducible structures which can be made to support new works.”


CINEMATIC CODES
Mise en Scene
it refers to all the elements placed  before the camera and within the frame of the film -- including their visual arrangement and composition; elements include settings, decor, props, actors, costumes, makeup, lighting, performances, and character movements and positioning; lengthy, un-cut, unedited and uninterrupted sequences shot in real-time are often cited as examples of mise-en-scene; contrast to montage





Setting
The time period and place in which the film's story occurs, including all of the other additional factors, including climate (season), landscape, people, social structures and economic factors, customs, moral attitudes, and codes of behavior.
Props
abbreviation for properties - refers to the furnishings, fixtures, hand-held objects, decorations, or any other moveable items that are seen or used on a film (or stage) set but that are not a structural part of the set; usually the responsibility of the prop man or property master.





Costume
It refers to the garments or clothing worn by actors/performers in a film; a costume (or wardrobe) designer researches, designs, and selects the costumes to be appropriate to the film's time period, the characters, their location, and their occupations, whereas the costumer (or stylist) is responsible for acquiring, selecting, manufacturing, and/or handling the clothing and accessories; a costume drama is a film set in a particular historical time period, often with elaborate costuming.






Lighting
The intensity, direction, and quality of lighting have a profound effect on the way an image is perceived. Light affects the way colors are rendered, both in terms of hue and depth, and can focus attention on particular elements of the composition.



HIGH-KEY LIGHTING
A lighting scheme in which the fill light is raised to almost the same level as the key light. This produces images that are usually very bright and that feature few shadows on the principal subjects.











LOW-KEY LIGHTING
A lighting scheme that employs very little fill light, creating strong contrasts between the brightest and darkest parts of an image and often creating strong shadows that obscure parts of the principal subjects.



HIGH CONTRAST

It refers to harsh shafts of lights and dramatic streaks of blackness.






EDITING
the process  of selecting, assembling, arranging, collating, trimming, structuring, and splicing-joining together many separate camera takes (includes sound also) of exposed footage (or daily rushes) into a complete, determined sequence or order of shots (or film) - that follows the script; digital editing refers to changing film frames by digitizing them and modifying them electronically; relational editing refers to editing shots to suggest a conceptual link between them; an editor works in a cutting room; the choice of shots has a tremendous influence upon the film's final appearance.



TRANSİTİON EFFECT
It is one of several ways of moving from one shot or scene to the next, including such transitional effects or shots as a cut, fade, dissolve, and wipe; a transition focus between two scenes means the current scene goes out of focus and the next scene comes into focus.
http://classes.yale.edu/film/videos/stendhal-dissall.wmv  (The Stendhal Syndrome, 1996): Example of dissolve.
http://classes.yale.edu/film/videos/Wipe-SevenSamurai.wmv ( Seven Samurai, 1954): Example of wipe.
SOUND
the audio portion of a film including dialogue, music, and effects; sound effects refers to all created sounds except dialogue or music.
Direct Sound : When using direct sound, the music, noise, and speech of the profilmic event at the moment of filming is recorded in the film.
Voice Over: When a voice, often that of a character in the film, is heard while we see an image of a space and time in which that character is not actually speaking.

FRAME
*a single image on the strip of film. When a series of frames are projected onto a screen in quick succession (currently 24 frames per second), an illusion of movement is created.

*the size and shape of the image on the screen when projected.
*the compositional unit for film design.







FORMS, OPEN and CLOSED

Open forms: usually used by realist filmmakers, tend to be stylistically recessive; emphasizes informal and unobtrusive compositions which seem to have no discernible structure and suggest a random form of organization; stresses simple techniques to be able to emphasize the immediate, the familiar, the intimate aspects of reality; images photographed in aleatory conditions; formal beauty is sacrificed for truth; frame tends to be deemphasized.


Closed forms: usually used by formalist filmmakers, tend to generally be self-conscious and conspicuous; emphasizes a more stylized design which can suggest a superficial realism discovered look that typifies open forms; emphasizes the unfamiliar which are rich in textural contrasts and compelling visual effects; tend to be more densely saturated with visual information; literal truth is sacrificed for beauty; the shot represents a miniature proscenium arch, with all the necessary information carefully structured within the confines of the frame.


SHOT
Shot is the basic building block or unit of film narrative; refers to a single, constant take made by a motion picture camera uninterrupted by editing, interruptions or cuts, in which a length of film is exposed by turning the camera on, recording, and then turning the camera off; it can also refer to a single film frame (such as a still image);


Basic Camera Shot types:
*Extreme Wide(Long) Shots (EWS) act to establish the area.





 Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)
A framing in which the scale of the object shown is very small; a building, landscape, or crowd of people will fill the screen.



*Wide(Long) Shots (WS) show the entire person or area.  They’re great for establishing the scene and allow for good action of the characters.  Sometimes this is known as the long shot.
A framing in which the scale of the object shown is small; a standing human figure would appear nearly the height of the screen. It is therefore commonly used in genres where a full body action is to be seen in its entirety.


Medium Shots (MS) frame the subject from the waste up.  This is the most common shot and allows for hand gestures and motion.





Over the Shoulder Shot (OSS) This shot is framed from behind a person who is looking at the subject. The person facing the subject should usually occupy about 1/3 of the frame





Close Ups (CU) show a particular part of your subject.  For people this usually means the shot frames just the head!







Extreme Close Ups (ECU) are much tighter close-up shots in which you get detail greater than the human eye might be able to normally perceive.  An example of this shot might be of the mouth and eyes together or a small object.








 The Angles
It refers to the perspective from which a camera depicts its subject.
 A camera angled slightly upward.

High angle. The camera is placed above eye level, looking downward. A high angle shot can make a character look smaller, younger, weak, confused, or more childlike.





Eye Level
 A fairly neutral shot; the camera is positioned as though it is a human actually observing a scene, so that eg actors' heads are on a level with the focus. The camera will be placed approximately five to six feet from the ground.


Low Angle
 Low angles help give a sense of confusion to a viewer, of powerlessness within the action of a scene. The background of a low angle shot will tend to be just sky or ceiling, the lack of detail about the setting adding to the disorientation of the viewer. The added height of the object may make it inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on the screen.





The Bird's-Eye view
This shows a scene from directly overhead, a very unnatural and strange angle. Familiar objects viewed from this angle might seem totally unrecognisable at first (umbrellas in a crowd, dancers' legs). This shot does, however, put the audience in a godlike position, looking down on the action. People can be made to look insignificant, ant-like, part of a wider scheme of things. Hitchcock (and his admirers, like Brian de Palma) is fond of this style of shot.







TYPES OF CAMERA MOVEMENTS
CRANE SHOT
It is accomplished by placing the camera on a crane (basically, a large cantilevered arm) or similar device.
HANDHELD CAMERA
The use of the camera operator's body as a camera support, either holding it by hand or using a gyroscopic stabilizer and a harness .
PAN
A camera movement with the camera body turning to the right or left. On the screen, it produces a mobile framing which scans the space horizontally.



TILT
A camera movement with the camera body swiveling upward or downward on a stationary support.
TRACKING
A mobile framing that travels through space forward, backward, or laterally.



NARRATIVES
Narrative is the art of storytelling, something we all do every day. It is an important part of our lives and something that we value highly, if you consider the amount of time we all spend in front of television and cinema screens receiving narratives. When making up a film, there is an idea of a narrative. That idea has a function of telling a story. The images are organised and made sense according to this function.

In order to make sense of narrative, it is first essential for us to clarify the distinction between story and plot.

Story and Plot
The plot of a film is the explicit presentation of narrative (story) events along with additional non-diegetic material (credits, score, etc.). In film, diegetic elements are things within the ‘film world’ and non-diegetic elements are things outwith that world.  [A good way to think about this is to determine whether the film’s characters have access to the elements in question.] The story, then, consists of all of the explicitly presented events as well as additional things which we infer on the basis of the plot.

Cause and Effect
Usually the agents of cause and effect are characters. Characters – who may be flat or well-rounded – have particular traits (attitudes, skills, habits, tastes, psychological drives, etc.) which play causal roles in the story action and, as such, have a particular narrative function. Although characters usually provide the causal impetus in a film this is not always the case: some films (e.g. disaster movies) are set in motion by particular events. As human beings, we naturally seek to connect events by way of cause and effect – we look for causal motivation. Sometimes apparently minor details can, in fact, play major causal roles. Filmmakers can choose when to suppress causes (detective films, etc.) and provoke curiosity or whether to withhold effects and provoke suspense. Indeed, some films can deny us knowledge of causes or effects even at the end (leading us to speculate).
Time
In attempting to construct a film’s story from its plot we attempt to establish the chronology, duration, and frequency of events. As such, time is one of the central components which the filmmaker has at his disposal. Unlike in the real world, time can be compressed, stretched, and can run both forwards and backwards.
Openings, Closings, and Patterns of Development

Films don’t just start and stop – they begin and end. A narrative’s use of causality, time, and space usually involves a change from an initial situation to a final situation. A film’s beginning (possibly medias res) provokes expectations and our search for causal motivations by setting-up a specific range of possible causes and effects. The portion of the plot that lays out important story events and character traits in the opening situation is called the exposition. Most patterns of development depend on how causes and effects create a change in a character’s situation. There is no set pattern of development but some common ones are the goal orientated and investigation plots. Time and space can also provide plot patterns. E.g. deadlines, flashbacks, single locales.
Films can combine various patterns of development – as a film trains the viewer in its particular form, viewer expectations become more and more precise. The middle portion of a film may cause suspense or surprise by delaying or cheating our expectations: a particularly fine example of the latter is From Dusk Till Dawn (Rodriguez, 1996). The ending of a film will typically seek to resolve causal issues that have run through the film by way of a climax, creating tension or suspense and formal resolution, which will result in emotional satisfaction. Some films, however, are intentionally anticlimactic. In such films we do not receive causal closure and are left uncertain about causes and effects. This particular form may encourage us to imagine for ourselves what happens next or to reflect upon other ways in which our expectations have been fulfilled.

The Narrator: narration may employ a narrator – some specific agent who purports to be telling us the story. Sometimes the identity of a narrator may be played upon. Both kinds of narrator may present different types of narration. For example, a noncharacter narrator need not be omniscient and might plumb subjective depths, while a character narrator may tell of events that he did not witness and relay little of his inner thoughts.


Tzvetan Todorov simplified the idea of narrative theory while also allowing a more complex interpretation of film texts with his theory of Equilibrium and Disequilibrium.
The theory is simply this:
* The fictional environment begins with a state of equilibrium (everything is as it should be in a state of equal balance between powers of any kind, where equality of importance or effect exists among the various parts of any complex unity).
* It then suffers some disruption (disequilibrium).
* New equilibrium is produced at the end of the narrative.
There are five stages the narrative can progress through:
1. A state of equilibrium (All is as it should be.)
2. A disruption of that order by an event.
3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred.
4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption.
5. A return or restoration of a NEW equilibrium
In these stages, narrative is not seen as a linear structure but a circular one. The narrative is driven by attempts to restore the equilibrium. However, the equilibrium attained at the end of the story is not identical to the initial equilibrium.
ALTERNATIVE NARRATIVES

Narrative transitivity vs. narrative intransitivity

Narrative transitivity: One thing follows another, the construction is clear, one event builds upon the one before it. A causal chain: exposition, complication, resolution.

As opposed to: narrative intransitivity, instead of a clear sequence, Godard provides intermittent flashes Later, he does away with story altogether and lets rhetoric (rather than narrative) be the constructive principle of the film. Reiteration, amplification, digression serve as crucial elements.

The hope is to disrupt the emotional spell of the narrative, to refocus the spectator's attention and allow for thought and reflection.



Identification vs. Estrangement:
 Identification: an emotional involvement with characters or stars in which the viewer finds psychological and emotional points of alignment in the onscreen action.

As opposed to: estrangement, in Godard we find non-matching of voice to character, introduction of 'real' people to the fiction, characters who address the audience directly. In later films, the same voice is used for different characters.
Identification becomes impossible without unified characters to elicit and guide it. One cannot maintain motivational coherence when characters are incoherent, fissured, fragmented, multiple, and self-critical. The question shifts from "What happened?" to "What is this film for?"

Transparency vs. Foregrounding

 Transparency: a seamless flow of images conceals the fact that the film is a construction, a fictional product, someone else's fantasy. The spectator becomes swept away and dragged into the narrative flow--and the dominant cinema employs a number of techniques to make certain that films do not call attention to their own workings in ways that might destroy the sense of illusion and the viewer's visual and narrative pleasure.

As opposed to: foregrounding of meaning production (making the work that goes into the production of a film apparent). In Godard's films, one sees the production of meaning, e.g., a camera is shown onscreen.
The film is marked and scratched. Film becomes a process of writing in' images (rather than a representation of the world); the image is given a semantic function within a genuine iconic code.


Simple vs. Multiple diegesis:
Simple is  everything that the audience sees belongs to the same world; even movements in time and space (such as flashbacks or changes of setting) are carefully signalled and located. The beholder gains access to a coherent and self-sustained world, one in which time and space have a consistent order and logic to them. The audience is made to feel, in other words, comfortable, at home in familiar surroundings.
As opposed to: multiple diegesis (heterogeneous worlds; the worlds we see on the screen are not coherent and integrated; different characters seem to be acting in different films). Godard often employs film-within- film devices in his early work. In Weekend we see characters from different epochs and from fiction come together; instead of a single narrative world, we have an interweaving and plurality of worlds. Not only do different characters speak differently, different parts of the film do as well.

Closure Vs. Aperture

Closure: dominant cinema means self-contained works of art, harmonized within certain generic boundaries. The film world exists on the screen and ends with the closing of the curtain.

As opposed to: aperture (intertextuality, allusion, quotation, pastiche, parody, self-consciousness, self-reflexity). Godard is an avid recycler.


He quotes with zeal, not just as a sign of eclecticism, but indeed as a guiding structural principle of his films. Polyphony is key here: Godard's own voice is drowned out by that of the many other voices that he quotes. The film can no longer be seen as the discourse of a single auteur; rather, it becomes a multiplicity of speaking voices. The text/film becomes an arena, a marketplace of competing discourses. The juxtaposition and recontextualization of discourses leads to a confrontation (not a unifying) of meanings.


Pleasure  vs. Displeasure

Pleasure: the dominant cinema entertains and provides escape. It does not irritate; it is not meant to call the world into question. It seeks to satisfy paying customers, to give people "their money's worth." In that sense it is the function of a larger consumer culture, one drug among many which lulls, occupies, and pacifies the masses.


As opposed to: displeasure, boredom, dead or empty time, provocation, irritation. But a radical film praxis recognizes that one needs the pleasure principle as well as the reality principle to create desire. A revolutionary cinema has to operate at different levels: fantasy, ideology, science. Godard seems to be suspicious of the need for fantasy at all, except perhaps in the sado-masochistic form of provocation.