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frame
single image captured on strip of film--similar to a photograph
smallest compositional unit of film structure
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diegesis
the fictional world in which we presume the story takes place
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shot
single constant take uninterrupted by editing, interruptions, or cuts
can also refer to single frame
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take
a single continuously-recorded performance, shot or version of a scene with a particular camera setup
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editing
the process of selecting, assembling, arranging, trimming, structuring, and splicing takes of exposed footage into a complete, determined sequence of shots that follows the script
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deep focus
a style or technique of cinematography and staging with great depth of field
uses lighting, relatively wide angle lenses and small lens apertures to simultaneously render in sharp focus both close and distant planes (including the three levels of foreground, middle-ground, and extreme background objects) in the same shot
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continuity editing
the system of editing that developed in the early 20th century to provide a continuous and clear movement of events/images in a film
final edited structure of a completed film, with the events or scenes/sequences arranged as if they had occurred continuously
degree to which a film is self-consistent without errors, jump cuts, or mis-matched shots and details
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overlapping editing
the carry-over of dialogue, sounds, or music from one scene to another
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180˚ rule
involves imaginary line along action of scene between actors involved in conversation or direction of chase
line should be clearly established and consecutive shots should not be taken from opposite sides of the line
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30˚ rule
change in camera angle at minimum of 30˚ usual for each new shot at same scene (for smoother editing--no jump cuts)
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mise-en-scène
what is filmed--setting, props, costumes, etc.
way of producing meaning in films (straightforward or complex depending on intentions/skill of director)
(sometimes also how--cinematography--> mise-en-shot)
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classical Hollywood narration (cinema)
particular narrative form exemplified by films at height of studio system (1930-1949)
central protagonist, clear cause-effect relationship
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story
the events that appear in a film
"what"
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art cinema narration
usually characterized by way it differs from Hollywood cinema--drifting, episodic and open-ended narrative vs tight cause-and-effect narrative with characteristic closure
common in Europe from 1950s on
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jump cut
explicit and self-conscious editing decision to demonstrate a 'jump' in time and disrupt normal models of continuity editing
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parody
a comedy that imitates or makes fun of existing work in absurd, non-sensical way, and exaggerates its characteristics
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pastiche
patchwork of references from/imitations of other works
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postmodernism
artistic or aesthetic style which privileges surface appearances over 'deep meaning' or 'truth'--emphasizes fragmentation of viewpoints within culture and notion that no one philosophical truth
characterized by irony, intertextuality, pastiche, bricolage, eclecticism, self-reflexivity, and theoretical position which adopts skeptical attitude towards totalizing notions of truth, reality, and progress
theories such as psychoanalysis/Marxism no longer viable because attempt to give all-encompassing view of society/culture
contemporary historical movement (period after modernity)
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intertextuality
designates ways in which film either explicitly or implicitly refers to other films triggering ideas/associations which might enrich our response
various relationships one (film) text may have with others
strongly linked with postmodernism
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metteurs-en-scene
technically competent directors who merely execute the processes of filmmaking without consistently stamping their 'personality' on the material from one film to the next
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auterism
critical approach to study of film which identifies director as responsible for whatever viewer finds of thematic, stylistic or structural interest in single film or across body of work
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genre theory
genre--class or type of film that shares common, predictable or distinctive artistic and thematic elements or iconography
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shot scale
range of shots which suggest apparent distance of object from camera
defined according to framing of human form
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close-up
face shown from neck up
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extreme close-up
body part--eye, leg, etc.
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long shot
human body from head to toe fills about 3/4 of height of screen
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extreme long shot
human body head to toe fills small fraction of screen
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medium long shot
body shown from mid-calf/knees up
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medium shot
body shown from waist up
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two-shot/three-shot
two or three people in shot
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high-angle shot
camera looks down from above on to objects/scene
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low-angle shot
camera looks up from below at objects/scene
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straight-on shot
camera at same level as objects/scene
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canted frame
camera not level causing mise-en-scene to appear slanted within frame
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mobile framing
scan of scene horizontally
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pan
camera itself remains in same place but swivels round horizontally
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track shot/dolly shot
camera moves horizontally by travelling along ground (originally on 'tracks' on which a wheeled support-or 'dolly'- for camera could be mounted)
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tilt
camera remains in one place but swivels up or down
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crane shot
camera moves above ground in any direction (for which it is mounted on arm of special 'camera crane')
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establishing shot
shot at start of film/scene which establishes spatial relationships within mise-en-scene and locates story within diegesis
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cut
joining of two strips of film in editing room and resulting immediate change from one image to another on screen
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fade
one of juxtaposed images is black screen
- fade-out--image slowly darkens
- fade-in--image slowly emerges from darkness
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dissolve
first shot fading out to be simultaneously replaced by second shot fading in
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ellipse
gap in continuity of time/space of narrative
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movement image
cinema in which image is at service of narrative and audience experience is of 'movement' of film towards closure of narrative resolution
Gilles Deleuze
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time image
cinema in which narrative priorities of mainstream commercial cinema replaces by ones which are more reflective--our understanding/experience of time becomes central
development from movement image
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sensory motor mechanism (SMM)
mental processing of audio-visual information in ways that allow us to 'place' and 'manage' film experience
automatic processing (part of relatively passive pleasure of mainstream commercial cinema--other kinds of cinema disrupt SMM)
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studio system
1920-1950
period of Hollywood history in which major studios controlled all aspects of production, distribution, and exhibition of their products
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first run
film shown in important cinemas immediately following theatrical release
(second/third runs etc. for smaller, local cinemas)
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vertical integration
where a company is organized so that it oversees a product from planning/development stage, through production, through market distribution, through to the end-user--the retail consumer
film--company controlling production, distribution, and exhibition of film
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oligopoly
state of limited competition between small group of producers or sellers
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exclusive run
where film only screened in one cinema
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multiple run
film shown simultaneously at number of cinemas
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platform run
movie shown in a few cities to build up word-of-mouth enthusiasm (for off center--mainstream but not blockbuster--films)
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saturation run
film opens 'wide' and is shown simultaneously at enormous number of cinemas accompanied by heavy media promotion
"superwide openings"--event films
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paid advertising
promotion on TV, radio, billboards, printed media, and internet
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extratextual
designates 'outside' of film/text--range of cultural texts which relate in some way to film/text
non-filmic intertexts which in varying degrees relate to film/text (such as marketing, and promotional materials, film reviews, etc.)
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genericity
shift in production/consumption initiated "by ever increasing number of entertainment options and fragmentation of what was once though to be a mass audience into a cluster of 'target audences'" --Jim Collins
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palimpsest
literally- manuscript written over previous text that has been entirely or partially erases
figuratively- film/text with multiple levels of meaning created through dense layers of intertextuality--associated with postmodernism
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eclecticism
aesthetic style in which new composition composed wholly or in part from elements selected from a range of previous styles, forms, texts, genres, drawn from different periods and from both high and popular culture
one of the principal strategies of postmodernism
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synergy
combined or related action by group of individuals or corporations towards common goal, the combined effect of which exceeds the sum of individual efforts
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Production Code (Hays)
former rules of Hollywood
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star image
star system- buildup of stars and their centrality to advertising/promotion of films
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Star as Celebrity
"real" lives of stars become most important (reality TV--celebreality)
film output unimportant, category functions freely
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Star as Commodity
studio era-->contracts-->star image
guarantee of predictability and profit (star sells movie)
often generated false romances
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Star as Professional
same role over and over, playing themselves (limiting)
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Star as Performer
- method acting
- "true talent" --> Oscar winners
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Star as Text
star as a person does not matter
- intertextuality between roles (in many movies)
- also extratextual (commentary, etc.)
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Star as Object of Desire
spectator plays role--how we relate to star (are attracted to--> women often "stop" movies)
sexualization
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method acting
actors who give realistic performances based upon and drawn from their own personal experiences and emotions
a style of acting first expounded by Konstantine Stanislavsky in the early 1900s, and popularized by Lee Strasberg
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spectatorship
individual response to a film
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audience
collectives of people responding to a film
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response studies
identification of certain groups' responses to film (ex: members of Women's Land Army)--communities of interest
- response draws on whole of self
- -social self--makes meaning in ways similar to others with similar ideological formation
- -cultural self--makes intertextual references based on bank of material posessed
- -private self--brings memories/personal experiences
- -desiring self-brings conscious and unconscious energies/intensities to film beyond surface content
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spectator and early cinema
Early Cinema needed to find ways of controlling look of spectator as part of move towards producing more appealing/standardized product
- -ensure meanings intended by filmmakers were those taken by audience members
- -replicate realism of effect (like life outside of camera)
- - provide greater pleasure in act of looking
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interpellation
process whereby spectator of a film is drawn inside the psychic and physical life of fictional world depicted
voyeurism?
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hegemony
set of ideas, attitudes or practices becomes so dominant that we forget they are rooted in choice and exercise of power--appear to be 'common sense' because so ingrained--alternative seems 'odd'
Hollywood example -- genre based narrative
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affect and excess
approach to spectatorship
emphasizes "lack" and need to complete it
melodrama
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negotiated response/reading
reading that involves certain give-and-take between our own views and experiences and those presented in film text by its creator
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preferred reading
spectator takes intended meaning, aligning with messages and attitudes of those who created text
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oppositional reading
rejects intentions of creator of text (often associated with displeasure)
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aberrant reading
so far off track it may be described as "wrong"
aberrant--deviates from usual course/norm
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alignment
experience story through character('s eyes)
involuntary
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recognition
we recognize/know how to place character from experience as a particular type/narrative function
automatic process
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allegiance
how we choose to associate imaginatively with character based on our assessment of their worth/appeal
constructed by forces outside our control/ we are manipulated (unless take oppositional reading)
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feminism
based on belief that we live in society where women still unequal to men
feminists argue media reinforces status quo by representing narrow range of images of women (carer, passive object, object of desire)
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ideology
dominant set of ideas/values which inform any one society or culture, but which are imbued in its social behavior and representative texts at a level that is not necessarily obvious or conscious
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offscreen space
action or dialogue off the visible stage, or beyond the boundaries of the camera's field of vision or depicted frame
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early film form traits (Cinema of Attractions)
- -camera static before action/character--technical limitations of equipment
- -camera 'eye' assumes position of member of audience
- -shots full of people/variety of action without any guidance as to which action or character particularly significant
- spectator began to be drawn into particular relationship with screen:
- -camera mvmt toward/away from object (fixed to train/car) to create physical involvement
- -camera position nearer/further from object to 'direct' attention/increase emotional engagement
- -mise-en-scene organized to enhance meaning/emphasize significance
- -frame exploited to create interest in offscreen
- -editing to organize shots:
- - parallel editing--two events shown simultaneously to encourage forming dramatic connections
- - editing used as montage--to encourage particular interpretation of one shot by influence of others
- - editing used to move spectator between POVs
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early stages of cinema (cinema of attractions)
[in class notes]
- -space dictates scene--camera doesn't move, actors do
- -more theatrical than cinematic
- -pan shot
- -little interest in linear narrative
- -spectacle more important than story
- -start not attractions--projectors advertised!
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Birth of a Nation
advance in development of narrative film/mainstream film form BUT very racist (KKK)
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focalization
focus? -- degree of sharpness or distinctness of an image
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regressive (reactionary)
in horror--happy status quo looks awesome
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apocalyptic
in horror--status quo so contaminated that when monster eliminated happiness is not guaranteed-->disappointment at monster elimination-->monster becomes sympathetic (point of identification)
ex: Carrie
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supraauteur
someone who gets designation even though have nothing to do with movie (Disney)
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film distribution: new age of film distribution
- -since 1940s power base in industry shifted from exhibition to production finance and distribution
- -shift reflects fact that film revenue no longer purely function of cinema receipts
- -access to major's worldwide distribution/marketing network now determining factor in film's financial success (DVDs, marketing)
- -Majors dominate marketing/promotion--distributors stand between producers and exhibitors
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cameraman system
companies ensured dominant position in industry by holding patents in camera/projection equipment
films largely creation of one individual who would be responsible for planning, writing, filming and editing
ex: Edwin Porter (worked for Edison)
(until 1907)
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director system
director responsible for overseeing group of operative workers, including cameraman--central to planning, filming, and editing stages of production
(MPCC era)
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director-unit system
directors in charge of autonomous production units within companies, each with separate group of workers (for efficiency)
(MPCC era)
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central-producer system
fully structured hierarchical system with strict 'scientific' division of labor
production-line filmmaking under central control of producer (who used detailed shooting scripts to plan budgets before giving go-ahead to studio projects)
(MPCC era)
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producer-unit system
- -company appointed head of production to oversee running of studio
- -several producers appointed under head to supervise production of group of films, deliver films on completion to head of production
(Studio era)
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WWI & WWII relation to cinema
30s--all horror foreign
40s--focus on sexuality-evil women (because during WWII women gaining independence)
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