Abstract Form - Rachel Mellen
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Abstract form can be described as
an aspect of film that is organized not by narration, but by other parts of the
film, usually visually. Abstract form is
usually associated with abstract film because of the way the film is connected
through each scene by unspoken narration.
The abstract form is usually found in abstract films. While there may not be audio narrative in the film itself, there is a form of narration that is found throughout by things such as color. Abstract films employ the abstract form, obviously, because that is the setup of abstract films. There is usually no storyline and no real narration and the viewer has to rely on visual clues to understand the story that is taking place. One form in “La Gai Savior” that is part of the abstract form is the constancy of a black background and bright colors. While there is dialogue and noises in this film, the abstract form of the film is through colors and images that are flashed. |
Academy Ration - Heather Rhodes
The academy ratio is closely looked at with framing because it shows different ratios of frame width to frame height. The Academy Ratio is 1.33 to 1. This ratio offers a certain way to experience images that convince the audience of the expressed human emotions that are coming from the characters. The academy ratio was established in 1932 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and it is considered to be the standardized shape of the film frame.
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Aerial Perspective - William McCormack
Angle of Framing - Rachel Mellen
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The angle of framing is where the camera is relative to what
it is shooting. The angle of framing,
which is also known as “camera angle” is where the camera is shooting the
person or subject.
On a movie set, the angle of framing is where the camera is placed to shoot the shot. The camera may move to many different angles in a single scene. One example of a camera angle is the point of view shot, which allows the viewer to see the action as if they were the main character in the scene. In “The Shining,” the shot of Danny on his tricycle is an example of a point of view shot. This is shot from behind and below him, allowing the viewer to see everything Danny sees from his height. |
Anti-hero - Sara VandagriffA flawed character within a film that is working for a less than noble goal. The anti-hero, or protagonist, usually has had a troubling past that has led him/her to their current decision making.
Anti-heros can root all the way back to Greek mythology, but the first time anti-heros appeared frequently in films are in gangster movies. These unconventional main characters are thrilling to watch because they take risks, and are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their goal. Even if what they are striving for is less than desirable, the viewer can not help but root for these anti-heros. |
Gollom, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings
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Apparent Motion - Stephanie FitzgeraldApparent Motion is a mechanism in the brain that allows a human to view the action in a movie as movement rather than a series of still frame shots (which is what they actually are). When we see a film our brains piece together the rapidly flashing images to make us perceive a fluid movement. Josef Turnes discovered this mechanism of the brain in 1926 by using two frames of multiple dots. This is also often referred to as the Phi Phenomenon, which is the persistence of vision between the successions of multiple frames.
Films rely on apparent motion. Without our brains connecting the dots, a movie would just appear to be what it really is: photos flipping in succession very quickly. The image I chose is a dancing scene from the movie Feast of Love, however I cannot really show apparent motion through an image. However, this is a reminder that this scene would just be like pictures of the characters dancing, rather than actual dancing, without apparent motion. http://www.psy.lmu.de/exp//mlab/av-interaction/index.html |
Aspect Ratio - Justin PipkinsThe aspect ratio is the width-to-height ratio of an image. There are two common formats for cinematography, 1.85:1 and 2.35:1. In motion pictures the height of the aspect ratio is always assigned a value of “1” and is normally dropped from the terminology. For example, a Cinemascope frame is 2.35:1 or simply “2.35”. The width of a frame is restrictive to the film itself. VistaVision runs standard 35mm sideways through the camera gate that way its width is not restricted by the sprocket holes on the film.
The first aspect ratio was 1.33:1. After audio was added to film it narrowed the aspect ratio to 1.37:1. This is called the “Academy Ratio” and became standard in 1930. Films shot in the Academy ratio include: The Wizard of Oz and Citizen Cane. Films shot in Cinemascope include: Star Wars and The Robe. Films shot in VistaVision include: Terminator and White Christmas. There are many different aspect ratios but Academy, Cinemascope, and VistaVision use the most common ratios. In comparison, standard television is shot using 4:3 or 1.33:1. High Definition television is shot in 16:9 or 1.78:1. |
Auteur - Derek McClanahan
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An auteur is the person who is accredited
with being the true author of a film. It is his or her creative vision that
makes it onto the screen. Although the screenwriter is technically the author,
the auteur, usually the director, is given credit for the content and style of
the film, unless the screenwriter also happens to be the director.
Auteur is a French word meaning “author.” The idea has led to the introduction of the “auteur theory,” which states that it is the director’s, or auteur’s, creative vision that is reflected in the film. Therefore, it stands to reason that the director, not the writer, who receives recognition for the finished product. The following is a list of some of the most famous auteurs in film history: Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Roman Polanski, Stanley Kubrick, Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Tim Burton, John Carpenter, Robert Zemeckis, Clint Eastwood, George Lucas, and John Ford. While the list goes on and on, these are just some of the biggest names in Hollywood. |
Avant-guarde - Jennifer Dunivant
In medieval French, the term avant-garde referred to a military formation. The avant-garde were the troops who went into a territory first to make preparations for the later arrival of the rest of the military. In film, an avant-garde film breaks new ground in cinema by using new film making techniques, and/or covering unusual subject matter. These films are usually made by independent film makers. La Jetée (see still) is a short science fiction film from the early 1960’s. While its subject matter, time travel, isn’t avant-garde from a modern perspective, it’s method of storytelling is. The entire film, accept for a five-second span, is made entirely of still photographs with a voice-over narration.
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Axis of Action - Turner Renick
The axis of action, also known as the 180 degree rule, is a certain technique used to show spatial distance between two actors or an actor and an object. The dividing line keeps one camera on each side for every shot. The first actor will always be frame right, and the second actor will always be frame left. If the camera goes over the line it creates disorientation, like Stanley Kubrick used in The Shining’s bathroom scene.
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Canted Framing - Blake Guffey
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In
canted framing, the image the camera gives us is slanted at an angle, usually
slightly tilted lower on the left or right, rather than being shown directly
horizontally. Because this framing puts the viewer off balance it is usually
associated with scenes of uneasiness, action, and chaos. One of the earliest
examples of the use of this technique is found in Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera (1929).
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Cel Animation - Heather Rhodes
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Cel animation is a collection of hand drawn images on multiple celluloid sheets that create a single animation frame. This allows several layers of composition. There are character cels and background cels. The character cel sheets can be moved to different background cel sheets to help produce the effect of motion. Cel sheets help the animators by removing the need to draw each individual frame over and over.
Cel animation started in the early 1900’s. An early cel animator was J. Stuart Blackton, called "Humorous phases of funny faces." His method was to draw funny faces on a blackboard, film one, erase it, draw another, and film that. Although it is not relatively the same, it is considered an early form of cel animation. The stills to the left are from “Dumbo” (1941). The second still is an enlargement of the first still. There are definitely visible layers of the cel animation sheets in this frame. The audience can see there are different compositions and shadowing to help make it look like Dumbo is flying. |
Cheat Cut - Spencer Murphy
A cheat cut is a continuous time shot that violates physical continuity and mise-en-scene by moving objects around within the scene in order to create a shot.
This editing trick is used within the continuity editing system, the predominant style of film editing, which emphasizes a smooth shot-to-shot transition. One of the most famous instances of a cheat cut is in Meet Me in St. Louis, when physical space is sacrificed for dramatic space, since the last shot in this series would be made impossible because of the wall. |
Chiaroscuro - Candace CraneThe term chiaroscuro comes from the Italian words “chiaro” meaning clear, light and “oscuro” meaning obscure, dark. The first known use of this word was in 1686.
Chiaroscuro is a term used to describe the dramatic effect of contrasting areas of light and dark. This effect is caused by light falling unevenly on a person or object. In film, anything dark and moody with a lot of shadow is considered very chiaroscuro. The purpose of this technique in film is to trick the brain into feeling more emotion. Chiaroscuro is used frequently in the movie “The Dark Knight.” |
Cinematography - Derek McClanahan
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Cinematography is the
process of producing a motion picture. This includes precision camera
movements, appropriate use of lighting, accurate focusing techniques, clear
audio recording, and the entire editing process. When these practices come
together correctly, the result is a well-produced, original piece of art.
The word cinematography derives from the Greek words kinema (movement) and graphein (to record). Cinematography rose in the wake of pre-existing forms of photography that were introduced in the early 19th century. However, it required the use of more complex practices and technology. It comes as no surprise that cinematography made its debut in the film capitol of the world, Hollywood. In its early years of motion picture, the director was the cinematographer as well as the cameraman. However, as technology moved into the modern age, the role of the cinematographer could no longer be held by one person, but instead required multiple people who specialized in each job. |
Closed Frame - Jennifer Dunivant
A “closed frame” film emphasizes a character’s lack of freedom. The director will use claustrophobic interiors, accentuate non-reality, and rarely if ever refer to anything separate from the character’s prison-like state. In the above still from “Black Swan”, the character Nina sees herself in the mirror which reflects the image in the mirror behind her, creating a series of counter-reflections that become distorted. This indicates that the forces trapping Nina are all within herself.
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Still from “Black Swan”. Perf. Natalie Portman. Dir. Darren Aronofsky. 2010
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Continuity Editing - Whitney Berryman
Continuity Editing is a frequently used approach to cutting shots in order to ensure smooth movement and clarity of a story
Continuity editing was established in the 1910s in order to create clarity from shot to shot. In using the continuity editing approach, the subjects’ positions match, the lighting does not change, and the action occurs in the middle of the frame. This is to help the audience understand where the characters are located in the scene. Also, however large a shot is in scale determines how long the shot will be on the screen. Because the editing determines how and when information is presented, it becomes a part of the story. |
Contrast - Jordan Sparks
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Contrast is a term used in film to describe the range between light and
dark witnessed in a frame or scene. For example, high contrasdt describes a
large range of difference, shown by dark shadows and bright highlights. Low
contrast shows a small difference in the range from black to white where all
shadows and highlights are more neutral.
The term “contrast” was first coined in the 1700s from the French verb “contraster” which originally translated to “to withstand.” This definition for the term was later replaced for its current definition as it applies to art. Sources: "contrast." Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. 02 Oct. 2012. Dictionary.comhttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/contrast. |
Crosscutting - Spencer Murphy
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The use of crosscutting
dates back to early film history, appearing in D.W. Griffith’s 1909 short film A Corner in Wheat and Louis J. Gasnier’s
1908 short The Runaway Horse. The
technique builds suspense and creates parallels, which gives the scene a more
“real-time” atmosphere, exemplified in the climax scene of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
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Cut-in - Caitlyn Scully
Deep-Space Composition - Candace CraneIn Deep-Space Composition, important parts of an image are positioned both close up and far away from the camera. Images do not have to be in focus for this type of composition. In images that use deep-space, all three planes in the frame are taken up which creates an illusion of depth.
Deep-Space Composition first became popular around 1940 and 1941 when several movies were released that used this composition to emphasize tension in a scene. Deep-Space was often used in mystery or horror film. Citizen Kane (1941) was one of the first films to use deep-space composition to highlight the story of Charles Foster Kane. |
Depth of Field - Caitlin Scully
Depth of field is the distance between the closest and farthest planes of a shot. Usually, an element in range is exceptionally sharp. To highlight the specific element, everything else become furry or out of focus. Yet the audience still understands that there is more than the highlighted element within the shot. There is usually something in front of the element and behind it.
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Dialogue Overlap - William McCormick
Dialogue overlap is a technique used in editing in which sound or dialogue from one shot carries over into another shot that shows another character in the scene. This technique can be used to help a conversation flow in the film so cuts are not as noticeable when using back and forth over the shoulder shots during conversation. This was used in Election with Matthew Broderick.
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Diegesis - Caitlin Scully
Diegesis describes events that have already occurred and are not shown on screen. Action off the screen that has presumably taken place in the world of the story. Usually done in a narrative film, it is the world/environment’s story; seen as telling the audience instead of showing. It allows the narrator can address the audience.
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Diegetic sound - Blake Guffey
Diegetic sound is sound which exists within the realm of the reality of the film world. That is, sound which is born of the world which the film’s characters inhabit. A car explosion that startles an idle passerby in a Bond flick, From Her to Eternity being dropped to play by Solveig Dommartin in the Wim Wenders film,Wings of Desire; the radio turned on by Michael Madsen in his infamous ear mutilation scene in Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs—these are all examples of diegetic sound. If the characters on screen can hear the sounds taking place, then they are diegetic; if only the audience can hear what is happening (soundtrack, narration, etc.), then the sound is said to be nondiegetic. Nick Cave’s performance near the end of Wings of Desire is heard in the same way by the characters and the audience, and is thus diegetic.
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Distance of Framing - Turner Renick
Distance of Framing Is the particular framing in a scene, and the distance from the subject and its distance from the camera.
The different types of shots give the audience perspective on landscapes, scenery, and people in the scene. Depending on the closer the shot becomes the more emphasis is placed on gestures and emotional responses. The examples come from Moulin Rouge. |
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Duration - Kathleen FranksDuration is the time in which a film happens. There are three types of duration: story duration, plot duration, and screen duration. Story duration is the span of time a story (Forrest Gump’s birth until his present) takes to happen. Plot duration is the span of time that the film actually shows (Forrest Gump telling the story on the park bench up until he sends little Forrest off to school). Screen duration is the actual playing time of the movie (194 minutes).
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Dutch-Angle Shot - Daven HendersonA Dutch-angle shot in a film is when the camera is tilted or slanted at an angle; this shot puts viewers off balance.
The term Dutch-angle originally began in German cinema in the 1930s and 1940s. Dutch-angle quickly caught on in the 1950s and 1960s. The most notable use of the Dutch-angle shot was used in the television series “Batman”. |
Editing - Leila Turbeville
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During filmmaking, editing can mean the process of picking
the shots to be used in the final cut of the film and joining them together.
This can be done through cut, fade-out, fade-in, dissolve, and wipe editing.
Once the film is a finished product, the viewer of the film can analyze editing as a technique – a process we can speculate about, giving the film meaning because of the way shots are joined, what was left out, etc. Even the earliest films contain editing. George Méliès used editing to remove shots and join others together making the film seem like a magic trick (playing on his previous experience as a magician). The scenes to the left show Hugo’s Ben Kingsley portraying Georges Méliès while editing. Shots are cut and pasted together to achieve the desired effect. The image on the bottom is taken from Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon and shows a rocket ship landing in the eye of the moon. |
Establishing Shot - Blake Guffey
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An
establishing shot attempts to make the viewer aware of a situation or setting
for the coming action from an initial distance. It is a broad view of what is
to follow and allows the viewer a sense of orientation, especially upon shift
of location. Establishing shots were extremely common throughout the classic
era of film, and are prominently used today on many television programs,
specifically throughout the vastly popular sitcoms of the 1990’s such as
Seinfeld, Friends, etc.
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Exposition - Justin Pipkins
Exposition is used in film to give the audience background information on
characters, events that happen leading to the main plot, settings, etc. Any information that the viewer needs to know to better help understand the plot or character development is expressed through exposition. Expositions can set up the plot of movies such as the yellow words scrolling through space at the beginning of Star Wars. Expositions can also be fill in gaps and act as transitions such as the news scene in Tron: Legacy to show that Flynn has gone missing for many years. Expositions can occur through dialog, mise-en-scene (such as a degree hanging on a wall denoting the character is a doctor), through text, narrative, flashback, or even music such as in Disney’s Robin Hood. |
Exposure - Katie Meherg
Exposure is the manipulation of the camera that allows the amount of light that hits each frame to be controlled. The ability to control the amount of light in each frame gives the operator the ability to change or to distort the image. When the light gives the frame a loss of highlight detail and the resulting images is “washed out”, it is often referred to as overexposed. When the light gives the image a loss of shadow detail, it is often referred to as underexposed.
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Extreme Close-Up - Katie Meherg
An extreme close-up shot is when the object appears to be extremely zoomed in on and seems so large that the object shown almost fits the entire screen. This style often used to portray extraordinarily small objects or a small part of the human body. This style allows the audience to see things that would normally go unnoticed. Historians do not agree with where this style originated from, but the most popular belief is that the film-maker George Smith first used this style in his films, such as Grandma’s Reading, around the year 1900.
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Eye-level Shot - Dylan SchraderAn eye-level shot presents the characters as being shot in a neutral way, in contrast with the high angle shot (in which the observer is meant to feel superior to the subject) and the low angle shot (in which the observer is meant to feel dwarfed by the subject). The reason filmmakers use the eye-level shot depends upon when the shot is placed in the movie. If it is early in the movie, when we know little about the characters, this presents the characters as equals (which can become deceptive as the film progresses). If it is done later in the film, this can be presented as ironic if the characters relationship is off-kilter.
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