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.
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.
http://www.filmsite.org/fterms/fade_out.gif
: Example of fade.
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.
http://classes.yale.edu/film/videos/DirectSound-cherry.wmv
; Taste of Cherry ( 1997).
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.
http://classes.yale.edu/film/videos/VoiceOver-IceStorm.wmv
; The Ice Storm (1997)
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 compositional unit for film design.
FORMS,
OPEN and CLOSED
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.
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
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