Components of Film

Narrative FormMise en Scene

Editing

Cinematography

SoundTuesday, 11 December 12

Narrative FormNarrative - “An account of a series of events, facts, etc., given in order and with the establishing of connections between them; a narration, a story, an account.” Oxford English Dictionary

Narrative Form - The overall storytelling framework in which information about characters and events are presented

The distinction between story and plot is referred to by Russian Formalists (an influential school of literary criticism in Russia from the 1910s to the 1930s) as Fabula and Syuzhet

Fabula refers to the chronological narrative.Syuzhet refers to the re-organised version of events as shown to the viewer

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Three / Four Act Structure

Three Act - Aristotle•Act 1- Exposition leads to turning point•Act 2- Complications lead to climax•Act 3- Denouement - Action leads to resolution

Four Part Structure - proposed by Kristen Thompson1.Exposition leads to turning point.2.Complicating action leads to major turning point 3.Development: Struggle towards goal leads to climax4.Epilogue

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Narrative FormTzvetan Todorov saw conventional narrative structure as composed of five stages:Stage 1 - A state of equilibrium is defined.

Stage 2 - Disruption to the equilibrium by some action or crisis.

Stage3 - The Character(s) recognition that there has been a disruption, setting goals to resolve problem.

Stage4 - The Character(s) attempt to repair the disruption, obstacles need to be overcome to restore order.

Stage5 - Reinstatement to the equilibrium. Situation is resolved, a conclusion is announced.

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Mise en sceneThe staging of a scene through the arrangement of everything that the audience sees.

IncludesSetting - What does it tell us, era, lifestyle etcHuman Figure - Does the actor bring certain qualities, look, reputation styleLighting - Used to draw attention, set mood, as metaphorComposition - What is framed and how, balanced, symmetrical etc

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Mise en sceneLighting - 3 point

high key low key

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Mise en sceneColourCan create mood- warmth, relaxing, somberCan have connotations - sex, death, purityOften tells part of story or helps viewer- Traffic, memento, ameliehttp://www.outside-hollywood.com/2009/03/color-theory-for-

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Mise en sceneComposition - What is framed and how, lines can be used to draw the eye across a scene

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Cinematography“a creative and interpretive process that culminates in the authorship of an original work of art rather than the simple recording of a physical event. Cinematography is not a subcategory of photography. Rather, photography is but one craft that the cinematographer uses in addition to other physical, organizational, managerial, interpretive and image-manipulating techniques to effect one coherent process.”John Hora, The American Cinematographer Manual, 9th Edition

Includes-

Camera work Lenses, Focus and FiltersFilm Stock - Both Film size and speed (ASA or DIN)Special Visual Effects

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CinematographyCamera work

Camera Angle

Camera is generally level

Low Angle - Subject is shot from below, may a give the impression of power, strength etc.High Angle - Subject shot from above which may make them appear weak, powerless etcDutch Angle - Subject is shot at an angle may signify imbalance, tension etc.Birds eye shot - Shot from directly above subject, can be used to establish scene or portray insignificance of subject

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CinematographyCamera work

Camera DistanceClose up - Shows importance of subject, provides intimacy.Medium shot - Shot from waist up, shows body language but less intimacy than CULong Shot - Shows subject in full and provides link to setting.Extreme Long Shot - Shot from a distance can make subject appear small often used to set scenehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?

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CinematographyCamera work

Camera MovementPan - The camera turns in the tripod often used to show scenery

Tilt - The camera tilts up or down, used to emphasise or isolate subject.

Zoom - The camera is focused from a close to long shot either revealing the surroundings of the scene or magnifying and emphasising details.

Dolly / Tracking shot - Camera is mounted on wheels or tracks allowing the camera to move smoothly across, towards or away from subject.http://vimeo.com/40689260

Dolly Zoom - Unsettling effect where camera dollys in whilst zooming out, subject remains the same size but background appears to change.

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Tuesday, 11 December 12

CinematographyLenses and Focus

Different Lenses change the field of vision and the depth of field.

Normal - A normal lens is similar to the field of vision and perspective of the human eye.Wide-angle - Provides a wider angle of view and exaggerates depth making characters in the foreground appear larger and characters in background smaller.Fish-eye lens - An extreme wide angle lens allows a very wide angle of view dramatically distorts distorts images so straight lines appear curved. Telephoto - Provides a narrow angle of view, compresses distance between foreground and background and gives shallow depth of field.Rack Focus - A change of focus from one plane of depth to another

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Editing

“film editing is the art, technique, and practice of assembling shots into a coherent whole”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_editing

“editing is in actual fact a compulsory and deliberate guidance of the thoughts and associations of the spectator” Pudovkin in Film a Critical Introduction by Prammagiore and Wallis

“film editing is the art of filmmaking” Rothschild in On Film Editing by Dmytryk

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Editing - JuxtapositionKuleshov Kuleshov formed the the worlds first film school, the Moscow Film School and was one of the first theorists to write about Soviet Montage Theory

Kuleshov ExperimentThe same shot of an actor is intercut with various images (a casket, a bowl of soup, and so on) viewers claim to see different emotions in actor illustrating how editing changes viewers' interpretations of images.

Kuleshov ExperimentNot content which defines the narrative but the arrangement of contenthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCAE0t6KwJY

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Tuesday, 11 December 12

Editing - Continuity EditingThe Hollywood standard in editing which most viewers are familiar with is known as Continuity Editing. Continuity editing uses a range of techniques to make the edits as invisible as possible, presenting one seamless film rather than thousands of fragmented cuts.

Continuity Editing relies on two main strategies

Systematic order for sequencing shots - establishing shot, shot reverse shot, 30 degree rule, cross cuttingConsistency of direction on screen - 180 degree rule, eye line match

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xauSCz1mEk

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Editing - Soviet MontageEisenstein aimed to guide viewer, believing montage could be used as a way to strengthen the feelings and ideas conveyed by the film rather than to advance the plot.

Eisenstein described 5 methods of montage.1. Metric - Cuts are determined by specific duration of timehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOQH_OG1tJA2. Rhythmic - Cuts determined by time and visual content3. Tonal - The use of the emotional meaning of content4. Associational - A combination of the above for a more complex and often abstract effect5. Intellectual - The use of combined images to create meaninghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?

Vertov used montage to create the feeling of a story line that is left to the interpretation of the spectator. With the authority of the filmmaker removed the audience must participate in production of meaning rather than simply spectate

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Further Reading

PRAMAGGIORE, M. & WALLIS, T., 2008. Film A Critical Introduction. 2nd ed. London: Laurence King

WOLLEN, P., 1998. Signs and Meaning in the Cinema. Expanded ed. London. British Film Institute

http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/

http://www.davidbordwell.net/

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/gramtv.html

DMYTRYK, E. On film editing: an introduction to the art of film construction - http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=fY5DxkTeD_4C&lpg=PP1&ots=yjthDdbfaD&dq=film%20editing&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=&f=false

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_montage_theory

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