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65 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is "flicker fusion" and how does it make cinema possible? |
It helps make films possible for humans to view. If this wasn't a thing, then our brains wouldn't be able to retain the images that it was being shown. Flicker fusion helps put film pieces together. Flicker fusion is made possible by the persistence of vision |
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Persistence of vision |
image stays 1/5th of a second longer in our brain |
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Who is Edward Muybridge and what did he do? |
He was a series photographer who contributed to the creation of films. In 1872 he was hired by a governor in California who wanted to prove that all four hooves came off of the ground when a horse runs. He set up 12 cameras on a race track and as the horse galloped each camera took a picture when the horse triggered the picture. He put the pictures on a magic lantern and accidentally created the first motion picture |
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phi phenomenon |
he optical illusion of perceiving a series of still images, when viewed in rapid succession, as continuous motion.
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Why was George Melies so innovative? |
He started the movement of telling stories through film. He was originally a French magician and he is considered the grandfather of modern film. in 1896 he started to make films. He understood that with editing he could manipulate time and space. The invention of special FX and started the movement of imagination in films. A trip to the moon was his most famous film, it was made in 1902. He invented many things such as the fade in, the fade out, the dissolve and the overlaying shot. He also invented stop motion photography and introduced color to film using a tinting effect. |
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Describe a moment in A Trip to the Moon that shows this: |
A moment that showed this in this film was when the shell of the ship landed in the ocean. It was cool because you saw living beings in the foreground with the ship in the middle ground and a painted backdrop. It was a very interesting illusion making the viewer feel as though we were under water with the ship |
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Why was Edwin S. Porter so innovative? |
He was part of the Edision company and he had originally worked as a projector. He played with continuity which was to create time and manipulate time. The claim is that he invented editing. He invented cutting a scene and putting different cuts in each scene. This invented the notion of parallel cutting (cutting in between two actions that are happening at the same time) this achieved an understanding that time moves forward when you cut a film strip |
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Describe a moment in The Life of an American Fireman that shows this: |
One instant in this film that shows this, was in the very beginning. It showed what was happening upstairs as well as downstairs in a house at the same time. Another instance is the different angles of the fire carriages going to the home on fire. |
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continuity editing |
an action can be continuous between shots |
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what did the Edison film company do? |
the invention of film cameras- first film camera company. First camera took 12 pictures per second and made film stocks. Invention of the Kinetoscope |
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Lumière brothers |
they took the camera outside for the first time and started making one shot stories |
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Great Train Robbery |
First film to frame depths in film, have diagonals and action happening in the background. it could possibly be the first close up. It was the industries first box office success |
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What happened in between 1904- 1908 |
The number of movie theaters went from 0 to 10000 (theaters were called nickelodeons) |
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What was the MPPC- Motion Picture Patents Company (1910) (USA) and did their strategy work? Why? Why not? |
Edison and a few other companies created this protective trade association. "Trust" was created so they could only sell things to licensed film makers. They pulled 16 patients for film equipment and had a deal with kodak that they would only get films. The MPPC was a monopoly but it stabilized and standardized the film industry. It created a lack of artistry |
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How did the independents feel about the MPPC? |
The independents hated the MPPC and got 40% of filmmakers to not like this monopoly. Eventually the Independents took over and now they are who run Hollywood. |
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Who was Charles Pathé? |
He made his own film stock and bought the Lumieré patients and took over Melies's job. He had the biggest film empire in France and had a studio in 1902 and built a luxury theater in 1906. he had a monopoly over every aspect of film in France. He made and sold more films to the US than the US could make themselves |
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Who was Max Linder? |
He was the first comedy actor and first movie star. He was one of Pathé's actors. In 1883 he started as an actor then moved on to creating films that he starred in. He made the first reoccurring character, an elegant but disastrous man, and used this character to create slapstick comedy. He was the first to use medium shots |
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Who was Alice Guy? |
She was the first female director who was originally a secretary. She was most likely the first to invent narratives. In 1896 she made her first film and experimented with synchronizing sound, this was the first attempts at sound and were very experimental. She did some special FX, basic tinting. She moved to the US following belmont. She opened a film house with her husband. After their divorce she lost all her power. She made 320 films and in 1920 made her last film |
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Cabiria (1914)- Giovanni Pastrone- What is innovative in terms of film technique? |
An Italian film- more interested in epic film making- historic events very extravagant - took 6 months to make There were big sets with many extras. It was made for 100,000 dollars. It was a long film. THE CAMERA STARTS TO MOVE (first dolly?) artificial lighting and more realistic acting. Broke up scenes into pieces and edited shots together |
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Who was D.W. Griffith? |
(1875- 1948) He was an innovative and controversial film maker. "First visionary narrative filmmaker" He established the narrative language of cinema. In 1908 he made his first short (one reeler) in 1914 he made Birth of a Nation. In 6 years he had learned the entire language of film. He was very old fashioned in his social ideas. He originally worked as an actor for biography in 1907. From there he was offered a chance to direct. He directed 480 one or two reelers for biography in 5 years. He took ideas found in stories or books and translated them into films. (He couldn't get work in theatre so he turned to film) |
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What was the 180 degree system of shooting and why is it important? |
In a multi shot film, and within different scenes, you need to maintain screen direction so the characters look in the right direction as well as move to the right direction consistently. This applies heavily to chase scenes because actors have to stay to one side of the line of action |
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List five of Griffiths major inventions: |
-flashbacks -cut in- long shots turning into a closer shot within a scene to emphasize movements and having more than one shot in a scene -Parallel cutting- this suggests connections to different images - motivated POV shots - extreme long shots (especially in battle scenes) |
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What was Griffith last minute rescue? |
Parallel cutting as it sped up into a climax. The use of length of shot to create tension. To show different characters doing different things until they all came together. cutting back and forth- shots getting shorter as tension builds |
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Why was Birth of a Nation so Innovative? |
It was innovative because he worked without a written script, had 6 weeks of rehearsal time, it cost 10x of a normal feature film, took 9 weeks of shooting and had extra camera set ups, spent his and his friends own money, composed of 1544 shots, longest and most expensive film made in america, but in the end they made all their money back. It was also one of the first films to be shot inside. |
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Why was Birth of a nation so controversial? |
It glorified the Klu Klux Klan, caused a race riot and became a big scandal for it s racist depictions |
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What happened in 1907- 1913? |
the industry started to move to Hollywood to shoot year round; MPPC stayed in NY Independents moved to Hollywood. In 1914 MPPC died |
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Why was Germany not as advanced as other countries in the early 1900's? |
Few educated Germans took film seriously. They were't interested in film as much as the rest of the world was. Germany was just less open to film and art. When Germany was starting to get interested in film the war interrupted them |
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What did Germany's defeat in WW 1 have to do with the emergence of Expressionism? |
After defeat there was a complete rejection of the past. This started the movement of experimental (art and film) they were interested in avant- gaurde - progressive ideas. Expressionism- reaction to naturalism of 19th century art. "objective reality" |
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What was the expressionist movement? |
- subjective reality- artist's subjective reality - employing techniques: symbolism, abstraction, perceptual distortion, the germans rejected everything but the avant-garde. To have the artists POV reflect the inner state of a person
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How does Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) portray subjective reality- describe a scene specifically: |
They made their own sets, a world completely not real Highly stylized and disturbing- impossible angles first horror film |
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Why was Robert Wiene not influenced by DW Griffith? |
They were cut off from films from US during war so they made films in complete ignorance of each other |
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What was the UFA |
It was made during the war in Germany and was the largest studio in Europe at the time and they made propaganda films |
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Fritz Lang madeMetropolis (1926). What was innovative about it?
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It was about a futuristic oppressive city. Itwas the first SCI FI film and Lang used a special FX photographer. This was thefirst film to use a more modern form of special FX.
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What was the"Schufftan Process"?
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This process is when a miniature model isbuilt and gets reflected on to the lens of the camera with a mirror. Half ofthe matter is carved out to see the actors acting in the back of the mirror. Itcreates the effect of having people be in a place that isn't possible to buildwithout an insane amount of money
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What was the Kammerspielfilm and how was itdifferent and / or influenced by Expressionist films?
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This was the style of shooting, the namemeaning intimate theater and instinct film. These are types of films that dealtrealistically with oppressiveness of contemporary lower middle-class life. Thisreflects the idea of fate and or society falling apart. These types of filmshave less characters, avoid inter-titles and have hardly any camera movement.The idea of these types of films I should get into the mindset of a characterand to let the audience feel as though they are in the mindset that thecharacter is in.
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How was F.W. Murnau'sThe Last Laugh an innovative film?
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The first thing that comes to mind is itsinnovative camera movement Muranu used many tricks to get the camera to dothings it's never done before. It had the first dolly shots that were everused. Another way that was innovative was how the cameraman that the buildingsto look like they were slopped down wards when he seemed to have losteverything after losing his job at the hotel. This film also usedpoint of view shots and had no intertitles only using letters and other thingsthat he is seeing to replace the use of intertitles
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describe the scene in the film that usedobjective camera:
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In the very opening scene they used a dollyshot right off the bat. In this scene they use the bicycle to help movethe camera along smoothly.
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Who was Carl Meyer? |
A screenplay writer - He started writing films so that audience willcould feel like they were inside somebody's mind and feel of the charactersuffering he wanted to get in the point of you of the characters and have theaudience feel like they were suffering as well. |
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What was Soviet cinema like before the Bolshevik Communist Revolution in 1917? |
Before the revolution (1917) there were mainly Euro- French companies - 90% imported films. Not a popular form of entertainment- 1914- Tsar started to create propaganda films in 1914 all films blocked from Russia and only propaganda films were made |
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What was Lenin interested in doing and why did he nationalize the film industry? |
Because there were so many illiterates film was the best way of speaking to the masses |
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Who was Dziga Vertov and what were his contributions to Soviet Montage |
He was the first practitioner of the soviet montage. - Expressive kinds of editing- experimenter - rejected narrative films and demanded new kind of cinema - He was a true artist and did these kinds of films so his artistry was expressed - He believed that you could place the camera and it would represent reality as it actually exists - used editing to make an expressive whole - saw editing as an art - co-founder of silent cinema |
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What does Kino- eye refer to? |
Cameras everywhere (cinema-eye)- montage aesthetics - the camera is able to produce reality as it exists - camera is glorified |
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How was The Man with a Movie Camera (1929) innovative? |
-uses manipulation to show Moscow from dawn to dusk - idea that the camera is everywhere - he constantly is transforming reality and kind of a "cine-poet" - images of the film being made - photographed anything that he could find |
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Whowas Lev Kuleshov?
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He was the co-founder of theSoviet Silent Cinema Film School- created study group- Kuleshov workshop- hewas radical and innovative. He studied on how films create meaning for theaudience. Thought montage was an expressive and symbolic process; wagestogether create metaphors for “another idea’
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Whatwas the Kuleshove Effect?
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Kuleshove took somefootage of an expressionless face and he cut the footage with other images of adead girl, a sleeping woman and soup. The conclusion of this was that the shothad 2 values- 1- processes in photographic reality -2- what it argues when“edited” or placed next to another shot of thought (2 was more important)
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1) Whowas Sergei Eisenstien?
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He was a filmmakerwho experimented with editing using “paper films” (1898- 1949) –pioneering geniouses of cinema Hewas a Marxist and made revolutionary films. He wanted to assault “bourgeois”cinema and he made a film in 1924 called Strike. “Shock stimuli”- “agitate” theaudience. He didn’t use kino eye but instead used “kino fist” – to use thecamera as a weapon
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1) Whywas Battleship Potemkin (1925) important?
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It had a new editingtechnique based on psychological truth and didn’t use realistic cuts. Thiscommunicated physical and emotional experiences through the film’s shots
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1) Describea series of shots from the Odessa steps sequence that demonstrates this:
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The sequence when the boywas trampled. It kept cutting between the mother and the boy. We saw the boygetting hurt for a prolonged period of time. There was a feeling of anger andsadness created here.
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slapstick comedy |
surreal- purely visual humor of a violent but fantastically harmless nature- has less story logic this got inspiration from the circus, burlesque, vaudeville, and pantomime. It showed a lot of the last minute rescue technique. after sound came out slapstick died. |
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What was happening in the American film industry after WW one and during the 20's? |
The american film industry started to gear towards feature films. The independents beat MPPC and (ironically) made a monopoly themselves. The theaters become larger and more people started to attend movies. There were more movie stars, longer films, budgets went up 10x, and the industry grew. narrative formulas became standardized |
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Who was Charlie Chaplin and why was his character of the little tramp embraced by the world? |
He was a son of poor music hall vaudeville entertainers. He grew up in poverty and it shows through his films as he shows sympathy to under privileged people. He was picked up by keystone after vaudeville. In 1915 he started making 2 reel films. He focused on poor vs rich. The tramp became a symbol for common humanity. Chaplin focused on social satire(got in trouble) |
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Give an example of charlie's use of social satire in one of his films |
the kid showed how the rich vs poor thing goes |
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Who was Buster Keaton and why is he an important figure in film comedy? |
He was raised in vaudeville and his family act ended in 1917. He was already a star by 21 and was considered a comic genius. He adapted slapstick comedy. "comedy must be funny without being ridiculous" -story before gags -strong visuals -dramatic as well as comedic -never smiled -used gags to progress story |
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How did Keaton get his start? |
He got his start in Schenck Film Corp where he produced Fatty Arbuckle. He then moved onto Paramount where he made 15 shots. in 1919 Schenck turned into Buster Keaton productions and gained complete creative control |
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Describe the classic Keaton device- the "trajectory" gag and find an example in the films we see |
Using directing, editing and acting perfectly timed to carry out an extended series of gags that are all dramatically connected. This gag builds to the release of energy at the end of the film. an example is our hospitality when the brothers go on a hunt for keaton's character until his character shows up for dinner |
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What kind of narrative situation does Keaton's character find himself in over and over again? |
He is usually a vulnerable plucky human hero put up against crazy human obstacles- his films are more against machines and projects (chap more against people) |
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How was he different or the same as Chaplin? |
Chaplin was sweeter than Keaton. Keaton started off with a story and worked in gags later but Chaplin started with a theme and worked in the story later. |
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Who was Carl Dreyer? |
he was danish but moved to france in his 20s, he lived in orphanages . He worked as a screenwriter/ title card writer. Did the Passion of Joan of Arc and used poetic development |
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what was innovative about Carl Dreyer's film the passion of Joan of Arc |
- Composition and framing -use of close ups -use of emotions -shot on one set and in order -actors wore no makeup -actors photographed to look grotesque -drew from realism and expressionism -known for composition and acting |
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Who was Yasujiro Ozu? |
This was influenced by italian spectacles and Griffith. He was a script writer/ asst director. He focused on light narratives. the genre was social comedy and his concentrate was of peoples daily lives. (mid class families) "sympathetic readiness" in their ability to cope with hardships "authentic and valid" -Zen filmmaking and influenced many filmmakers . He focused on japanese values as well . |
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What was innovative about his film I Was Born But... |
-in perspective of the boys with camera angles and such -camera often motionless -often 3 feet off the ground -"Calm camera" -"empty scenes still lives" -zen buddhism aethsetic -"offscreen space |
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Who was Abel Gance? |
He was one of the greatest maverick filmmakers of the time. He was a poet, an actor, a screenwriter. HE was influenced by intolerance. In 1911 he founded his own production company where he moved to stories. He was interested in epics and tech innovations. He used cutting to create metaphors. He created Napoleon |
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What was innovative/ original about Abel Gance's film? |
-creates metaphors with cutting -cutting so fast image was only for a few frames (like subliminal messages) -first widescreen camera -supper impose 16 images at once on screen -expanded frame to 3x it's normal width -created own wide screen process -fluid camera -cool and more modern dolly -a lot of inner cutting -broke into a lot of screens within screens |
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Describe a scene from his film Napoleon that shows his innovation: |
He threw a camera off a cliff to show Napoleon diving - fluid camera |
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WW one in france made film |
the film become more avant guard they loved dreams |
