how do we read film?
TRANSCRIPT
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HOW DO WE READ FILM?
Between the lines,Beyond the text &
Beneath the scenes
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THE STORY SO FAR
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy4Y6H1ucew
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ZOOM OUT
• 13.8 billion years ago – Big Bang
• 4.2 million years ago – First Human
• 2 lakh years ago – Written Language
• 4000 years ago – Epics/Stories
• 1878 – First Film/ 1913 – India
• 1931 – First Talkie
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Race Horse, 1878
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEqccPhsqgA
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Arrival of a train at La Ciotat (1895)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjtXXypztyw
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FILM AS FORM
• Moving pictures – a series of photographs • A story or an emotion• Communicate and/or express • Unified by a singular idea/thread• Storytelling > Story• Crafty structuring of sound and image for
impact
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FILM AS MEDIUM
• 1600s – Angelo Sala found that silver salt turned black when exposed to sun
• Photography - a recording of light• Light turned silver nitrate to black – Negative –
recording the inverse which could be treated with chemicals to be reproduced on film.
• Black and white first and then colour
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GEORGE MELIES & EARLY COLOUR
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TStZX18lsU
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THE NEMESIS: VIDEO
• Live technology in the 1950s for news and TV• Electronic form of recording on tape• 6-8 frames to 120 frames today• 25 frames/29.97 per second – TV standards• VHS – 333 x 480 (NTSC) 335 x 576 (PAL)• Interlaced vs Progressive• Aspect ratios
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RESOLUTIONResolution name
Horizontal x Vertical pixels Other names Devices
8K 7,680x4,320 none Concept TVs
"Cinema" 4K 4,096x[unspecified] 4K Projectors
UHD 3,840x2,160 4K, Ultra HD, Ultra-High Definition TVs
2K 2,048x[unspecified] none Projectors
WUXGA 1,920x1,200 Widescreen Ultra Extended Graphics Array Monitors, projectors
1080p 1,920x1,080 Full HD, FHD, HD, High Definition TVs, monitors
720p 1,280x720 HD, High Definition TVs
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VIDEO vs FILM vs IMAX
• IMAX 12000, can go up to 18000 lines• 70mm film 12000 lines • 35 mm 6000 lines• Phones today can shoot 4K/6K with apps• Hence, film = video, analog = digital today• So what happens to storytelling?
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ANATOMY OF FILM
• Acts: Depending on nature of story• Sequences: Equivalent of chapters• Scenes: INT/EXT, LOCATION, TIME• Shots: Wide, LS, MS, CU, ECU• Elements: Shot breakdown
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MEMENTO
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHhlTXyBxPM
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SHOT BREAKDOWN
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EXERCISE
• CLOSING AND OPENING SCENES COMPARISON • ROOM, THE REVENANT, THE HATEFUL EIGHT
AND MAD MAX FURY ROAD (OPENING & CLOSING CLIPS REMOVED FROM PPT BUT DIY)
• SHOT DIVISION, WHAT’S CHANGED? SEASON, COLOURS, POINT A –> B OR BACK TO -> A BUT DIFFERENT?
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EVOLVING LANGUAGE
• Conventional definitions are changing (Film)• New forms of storytelling being born (Victoria, Taxi)• Technology is reinventing the language (Tangerine)• Split-screen is enabling stories not told before
(Timecode, GNGM)• Visual effects firing up imagination in 3D (Avatar)• Virtual Reality is opening up new possibilities• Interactive Cinema – Personalising the story
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FRAME OF REFERENCE
• Representation – Who is represented & how?• Technology – Does it change the story?• Social Relations – How does it engage with the
world?• Context – What happened before and after
this in the bigger picture
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STORIES ARE INCOMPLETE
• They have a past and a future• Documents of a place, time and way of life• Text, subtext and context• Heroes and villains change with time • Conflicts are triggers for stories and thoughts• Films need open minds• Ability to read and understand to criticise
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FILM AS JOURNEY
• We travel with a bunch of people• Connect with them (or not)• See the world through their journeys• Relate or empathise and sometimes,
transform• But most of all, we also see what they don’t
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DOES INTENT MATTER?
• Not to an art critic • Film as communication• All stories are political• The responsibility of criticism• Times of outrage• Medium is the message – meta narratives
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THE STORYTELLER’S SOUL
• Commercial and arthouse; happy and angry• Transcends all rules and codes• Films are not always a series of images
through shots, scenes and sequences • Series of emotional beats per moment or a
series of moments that keep us hooked till the end
• Films are like people we meet. Soul shines.
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For workshops: [email protected]