Film studies

Independent Cinema: Crash Course Film

1. According to the Crash Course video,Why do cinema audiences end up with "only reboots and dystopian fantasies"?

- Hollywood is driven by trends. The success of one film or genre is inspires others to jump on the bandwagon.

2. According to the Crash Course video, what is Classical Hollywood Cinema?

- This is a particular stye of film making between the 1930s and 1950s. Their stories were chaste, formulaic and mostly upbeat.

3. What is high key lighting and who uses it?

- Most films use high key lighting and this ensures that the entire image was clearly visible

4. What happened in the European Film Industry after WW2?

- Cinecitta was nearly destroyed during the war, equipment was often damaged or missing and film stock was hard to come by.

5. Who was Roberto Rosellini and what did he do?

- He was filmmaker and was a working director before the war.

6. Which film movement was he associated with?

- The first Italian Neo-Realist film => Rome: Open City

7. What happened in the late 1950s in France?

- A group of opinionated young film lovers started writing for a movie magazine called Cahiers du cinema.

8. What did critics of the Studio System accuse them of?

- Bad camera movements, worthless dialogue and they do not know how to create cinema.

9. Who was Jean-Luc Godard?

- One of the prominent writers/critics.

10. Did Jean-luc Godard admire any Hollywood directors? Elaborate.

- I think he did admire any hollywood directors because he wrote a scratching attack on 21 major film directors.

11. What is the French New Wave? Describe and name 3 directors and films.-

- This is the style which involves making films swiftly with minimal crews and lightweight equipments. ( Jean-Luc Godard shot "Breathless," Jacques Rivette made "Paris Belongs to Us," Claude Chabrol made "Les Cousins."
12. What happened in the US in 1948 and what effect did it have on their film industry?

- 1948 the antitrust lawsuit: United States vs Paramount Pictures Inc. - forced the major studios to give up their theatre chains. Therefore the marketplace were theoretically open to all kinds of films.
13. What happened in the US in the 1970s? Describe.

- The Baby Boom generation was coming of age, the war in Vietnam was in full swing, American politics was at its most violent since the civil war and studio films seemed to be increasingly out of touch. Ticket sales were decreasing and studio executives were in an outright panic.

14. What do studio executives like?

- Money.
15. Why was Bonnie and Clyde a watershed moment in US film history?

- After winning some influential critics, it became a sensation. With its unapologetic sexuality, casual humour and surprisingly brutal violence, Bonnie and Clyde was a watershed moment in the history of American films.

16. Which other films were made in this period?

- "The Graduate" and "Midnight Cowboy"

17. What is New Hollywood Cinema? When was it? Name 3 directors and films.

- This window of creative control and experimentation came to be called New Hollywood Cinema. Directors: Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and Brian De Palma. Films: "Jaws," "Star Wars" and " Raiders of the lost Ark."

18. What were Summer Blockbusters? When did they arise? Give 2 examples of directors and films.

- Summer Blockbusters were films offered a chance to escape, a more pure from of entertainment which appealed to a wider audience in 1980s. Directors: Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Films: "Jaws" and "Star Wars."
19. What happened to Hollywood Studios at this time?

- The studios were being purchased by large, multinational corporations which changed the way the studios worked.
20. What happened to US Cinema in the 1990s? Describe with examples.

- The 1990s saw the arrival of the new set of independent filmmakers and mini-studios. Directors like Spike Lee, Steven Soderbergh, Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino made films for independent companies like Miramax and New Line Cinema.

David Oyelowo Article

'Selma' (2014) star David Oyelowo talks about the long pashto becoming Martin Luther King Jr.

Portraying Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in 'Selma' has been a 7 year journey for British actor David Oyelowo.
The project had several directors being passed over by everyone but Daniels, Oyelowo and the project finally converged with director Ava DuVernay, who only had 2 small independent films to her name.
When he read the script, he had this very visceral reaction and the only way to describe it was "deeply spiritual" and he felt that God told him that he was going to play this role.
At first he was confused because he was a British actor who recently moved to America and he felt strongly that he was going to play the most significant African-American figure of the 20th century.
Oyelowo spent 7 years preparing mentally and physically to become Martin luther King Jr. in 'Selma.'
Oyelowo's was surprised to discover that the weight of guilt MLK felt in relation to the harm hat was being meted out upon people who were protesting and campaigning at his behest.
He admires Ava DuVernay as the ethnicity of the people in her script was undeniable, the fact that she was a publicist for 10-15 years means that she comes at films with a very unique point of view and she always has the audience in mind but she doesn't take the fact that she's been given the opportunity to be a story teller for granted.
Oyelowo found the speeches easy as everyone knows what the beat needs ro feel like as they have several pieces of footage that shows you what MLK sounds like, the space he was in hen he was doing that mentally, physically and spiritually.
But he also found it difficult due to the high expectation.

Lighting: Extract from Oxford Film Studies

The lamps and light sources are used for illuminating a film scene.

The key light is the main source for illumination.
The fill light alleviates shadows cast by the key light.
In studio shooting in classical Hollywood cinema, the tree point lighting was customary: in addition to key, fill and back lights.
Back light illuminated the subject from above or behind, calling for rearrangement of lights for almost every new framing of a scene.
High key lighting designates a brilliantly lit scene with minimal shadows and a bright and dominant key light.
In high contrast lighting, there is a considerable contrast between bright lightened shadow.
Low key lighting involves illumination towards the darker end of the scale and a less bright key light, producing a scene with a good deal of shadows.
Arc lights which was provided a strong and intense light created by an electrical current jumping between two carbon rods- hence the term 'arc'.
Alongside development in film stock and to match filmmakers' ambitions to work in location, the use of tungsten halogen lighting became established.
Fay lights: set of four, eight or even sixteen lights built into a single high-power light panel.
Cold lighting is based on florescent light sources. the original barrier to the use of this type of light was twofold: cold lighting as not powerful enough for illuminating and more significantly, its colour spectrum is biased towards the green or violet and produces images with a green or purple tint.

Selma

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m5MzczcSINhF7b_5tPyOHz1Ot6jkUrq8/view?usp=sharing

Blade Runner: Memory and Identity

Blade Runner - Memory and Identity 2: Someone else's memories

1. What is Rachael's opening question?

- ' You think I'm a replicant don't you? '

2. How does Rachael try to persuade Deckard that she's a human?

- She brought photographs of her mother as an evidence.

3. How does Deckard prove she's not human?

- Deckard already knew Rachael's childhood memories and told her that it belonged to Tyrell's niece. Then, Rachael started crying which was unusual because replicants lacks experience of emotions.

4. What is the significance of the spider story?

- It reflects the Tyrell Corporation and it also shows that Rachael's life was a whole lie.

5. Describe the music that starts playing in the spider story? What meaning does it convey?

The music was emotional reflecting Rachael's emotion as she found out the truth about herself.

6. Who do Rachael's memories belong to? How does that make her feel?

- it belonged to Tyrell's niece and she probably felt betrayed because she realised just now that she spent her life living in lies.

7. How does Deckard respond to this? What meaning does that convey?

- He tries to comfort her and told her that he ' made a bad joke. ' This shows that he has empathy toward a replicant which he has to kill.

8. Make notes on: Mise-en-scene, Cinematography, Lighting

- Mise-en-scène:

Bar and blinds => classic film noir

- Cinematography:

Different types of shots such as close up, mid shot, 2 shot.

Camera angles/tilts

- Lighting:

Used a low-key lighting

Blade Runner: Memory and Identity

Blade Runner - Memory and Identity 1: She's a replicant

1. Describe the setting and other aspects of the mies-en-scene that seem significant.

- Bar and blinds which refers to the features of a classic film noir. Use of bright lighting refers to neo noir.

2. This is when the audience ( and Deckard ) are first introduced to Rachael. Describe her appearance. How do you consider she is represented.

- She is represented as a high class character at trust due to her formal attire and her use of language.

Also, she refers to a main character in film noir, the femme fatale.

3. Why does Tyrell as Rachael to step outside?

- She still have not realised that she was a replicant.

4. How many questions does it take to identify a replicant? How many for Rachael?

- For a normal replicant it takes around 20-30 questions but for Rachael, it took more than 100 questions.

5. What is Decker's response to realising that Rachael doesn't realise she's a replicant?

- ' How can it not know what it is? '

6. What does Tyrell say his goal at Tyrell Corporation is? What is his motto?

- ' More human than human. '

7. Why does Tyrell 'gift' replicants a past?

- They lack emotions and are inexperienced. ' Make a cushion, so you can control them. '

8. What theme or themes are being addressed in this scene?

- Identity, memory and technology.

9. How do you think Deckard thinks about Rachael by the end of the scene?

- He felt empathy towards Rachael.

10. How do you consider Rachael is represented overall in this scene? Why?

- At first she was represented as a normal human but overall she was dehumanised because when she was told to step outside after taking the test, Deckard referred to her as 'it' and Tyrell told Deckard that she was only an experiment.

Blade Runner Research: Auteur

Blade Runner research: Auteur

What is an auteur?
An auteur is a film director who influences their film so much that they rank as their author.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner

After a year working on the film adaption of Dune and the following death of his brother Frank, he signed to direct the film version of Philip K. Dick's novel 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' which Scott re-tiltled 'Blade Runner.'
In 1991, Scott's notes were used by Warner Brothers to create a rushed director's cut which removed the main character's voiceover and made a number of small changes, including the ending of the film.
Later on, Scott personally supervised a digital restoration of 'Blade Runner' and approved what was called 'The Final Cut' which was released in Los Angeles, New York City and Toronto cinemas on 5th of October 2007 and as an elaborate DVD released in December 2007.7

Mies-En-Scene and Cinematography

Microfeatures: Mise en scene and cinematography

Mise en scene:

Long shot => sets the scene
2 shot => relationship between 2 characters
Central park => location
Horses and carriage => transport available at that time
Close up => focus on one character
Mid-shot => focus on the character/s in the shot and the surrounding

Lighting:

Black and white => due to low budget and technology available at that time
Dark, dull, nigh time => danger, crime
The female lead's face was lit up => beautiful, angelic, goddess.
Darkness + shadows => metaphor used to show the personalities of the character reflecting their emotion.

Cinematography:

Camera work seems to be unstable due to lack of equipment at that time
Following shot => no edits
Camera tilt

Editing - Cuts and Transitions

Editing - Cuts and transitions

Q1. What is the most basic edit and what does it do?

- Cut which is going from one shot to another shot.

Q2. What is the purposes of a simple cut?

- Changing perspectives and advancing the story.

Q3. What is cutting on action?
- Cutting from one shot to another while the subject is still in motion.

Q4. Give three examples of action cuts.
- Punching, throwing, kicking and going from door to door.

Q5. What is a cut away?
- Cutting into an intsert shot of something and back.

Q6. What is the purpose of a cut away shot?
- To get inside the head of the character.

Q7. What is cross cutting? Give an example

- When the editor intercuts back and forth locations and an example is during a phone conversations.

Q8. What effects can cross cutting be used to achieve.

- It can increase the tension and suspense of the sequence and also used to show what is going on inside the character's head.

Q9. What is a jump cut? Explain its purpose.
-When the editor cuts between the same shot and deliberately used to show the passing of time. Also used to add a snese of urgency in the shot.

Q10. Explain what a match cut is and give an example.
- It cuts from one shot to a similar shot by either matching the act or the composition and mainly used in transitions. An example is jumping from one place to another.

Q11. What is a transition?
- The process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another.

Q12 What is meant by fade in fade out?
- Dissolving to or from black.

Q13.How is a fade in fade out different to a dissolve? Are they used for different purposes? Make a table.
- Dissolve is blending one shot to another which is used to show the passing of time and to merge shots.

Q14. What is a smash cut?
- They are arupt transitions and an example is waking up from a nightmare. Going from quiet to intense or intense to quiet.

Q15. What is the iris transition?
- Back in the days it was an in camera effect when you can manually open and close your iris to transition to black. Nowdays, this is used as a stylisic choice.

Q16. What is a wipe?

- A wipe is when the shot moves left, right, top or bottom as a wipe but there are many more different types of wipes.

Q17. What is an invisible Cut?

- This is used to give an impression of a single take however cuts are hidden in darkness/ blackness or you can hide the cut on the motion of the camera movement.

Q18. What is the purpose of L cuts and J cuts?
- L cut is an audio based transition. This is when the audio from the current shot carries over the the nest shot and is used in scene transiotions and when characters are having a conversation. J cut is when the audio from the next scene starts before you get to it so you hear what is going on before you see what is going on. These two cuts are used to create a seemless flow and a seemless transition with an audio guiding the way.

Blade Runner Presentation

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bRS36eviycNwpafuUd-rDthFls0wq066/view?usp=sharing

Blade Runner

' Blade Runner ' ( Ridley Scott, 1982: Director's cut )

How film noir influenced Blade Runner’s beautiful darkness

1. Name both of Ridley Scott's iconic career defining films

Alien and Blade Runner

2. To what aesthetic does Blade Runner owe its aesthetic?

The film owes much of its sombre philosophy and pitch-black aesthetic to 1930s and 40s film noir.

3. Find Examples of the film noir aesthetic in Blade runner - use screen grabs if you prefer.

4. What is a neo-noir?

Neo-noir is a contraction of the phrase new film noir.

5. Identify the themes that Ridley Scott developed in Blade Runner.

6. How did Ridley Scott blend genres? - identify elements.

Widescreen shots of an endless, decaying metropolis, crowded, dark and diseased with societal discord; high-contrast venetian blinds; people perennially smoking cigarettes and monsoon levels of rainfall are all elements that define the genre.

7. What does Davis say that Ridley Scott has done with Film Noir?

The film has rebooted, updated and colourised a lot of the tropes of film noir which pushes the embryo of noir top give birth to something new (Neo-Noir).

. How does the production design relate to chronology?
The production design features has quite specific nods to classic noir locations, such as the use of the Bradbury Building in Los Angeles for J. F. Sebastian’s apartment building, which people did not really think about the future as a decaying carcass.

9. How do the lead characters in Blade Runner reference Film Noir?
Femme Fatale: Rachael is certainly modelled on a 40s look – the veil, the pillbox hat, the shoulder pads, the mascara, the continual smoking – it’s classic 1940s noir.

0. Who is a character you won't find in Film Noir?

Science Fiction - Research and Production

Conventions of Science fiction:

Source by: https://www.slideshare.net/Nikchik89/science-fiction-conventions

Setting - time => the future, alternative timeline, or a historical past that contradicts historical records.
Setting - place => outer space, other worlds, or alternatives visions of earth.
Film techniques => special effects, close ups of futuristic technologies/ scientific elements.
Narrative elements => conflict between good and evil.
Narrative elements => the development and/ or application of;
a) new technologies ( eg; robots, nanotechnology, spaceships )
b) new scientific principles ( eg; time travel )
c) new political system ( eg; dystopian, utopian societies )
Symbolism => futuristic props, costumes and setting that represents the scientific advancement at the centre of the film.

Sci-fi Codes and Conventions:

Source by: https://prezi.com/ag8s9brshegp/sci-fi-codes-and-conventions/

Characters => typical scientist to explain the science theories, aliens or species discovered, evil scientist, villain and a person in charge ( eg; commander )
Heroes => mainly human
Villain => alien or unknown species, possibly be human
Settings => space, rockets, solar system, universes or other dimension
Stereotypes => time travel, futuristic/ advanced technologies
Costumes => space suits, weapons, uniform
Music and sound effects => rocket ship engines, unknown alien language, computers, diegetic and none diegetic music, robots/ machines
Use of colour/ lighting => darkness of space, bright lights from the stars and neutral colours.
Camera shots => use various shots such as; long shot ( to show the planet or galaxy ), medium shot ( to show the actions taking place ), close up ( emotions and representation of characters )
Story line => beginning, middle, climax, resolution, ending or a cliff hanger.
Editing => special effects, CGI, green screen, flash backs, flash forwards.

Science fiction elements:

Source by: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction

Temporal settings in the future or in alternative history
Spatial settings or scenes ( universe, galaxy, space )
Aspects of biology in fiction ( aliens, unknown species, mutants, enhanced humans )
Speculative or predicted technologies ( brain computer interface, bio-engineering, super intelligent computers, robots, ray guns or advanced weapons )
Undiscovered scientific possibilities ( teleportation, time travel )
New and different political and social systems ( Utopia, dystopian )
Future history and evolution of humans and planets
Paranormal activities ( telepathy, mind control )

Questions on Editing

Questions on Editing

1. What is editing? Explain using examples

Editing is the process of selecting from the range of different shots available and joining them together to tell a story or narrative. Examples of editing are substitution splice effects, transitional dissolve and more.

2. Why is editing known as the invisible art?

Editing is also known as invisible art because we cannot see anything other than the choices that have been made by the editor working with the director.

3. Explain how editing techniques developed using specific examples.

When film was initially developed at the turn of the 20th Century, audiences watched single reels of a few minutes in length. These were generally in Long Shot as the film medium was developed by people from the theatre who used film to record performances. In 1902, in George Melies' 'La Voyage Dans La Lune' used more editing techniques such as substitution splice effect, transitional dissolves, pseudo-tracking shot, multiple exposures and hand tinted colour print which took about 3 months to complete. The following year in 1903, Edwin Stanton Porter's 'The Great train Robbery' used editing techniques such as the use of close up shots, cross cutting, reels joined together to make a longer film and develop the narrative and on location shooting.

4. Explain the impact of the first films on an audience.

It was reported in Der Spiegel (a German magazine) that audiences were so overwhelmed by a life-sized image of a train coming straight at them that many of them screamed and ran to the back of the hall. It was reported in the magazine that the film had a particularly lasting impact causing fear, terror and even panic. Also, the film 'La Voyage Dans La Lune' (George Melies, 1902) was to evoke the perspective of an audience member in a theatre.

Film Noir

Intro to Film Noir:

Black film refers to the mood or atmosphere of film. ( Bleak and pessimistic )
Distinctive look - contrast between darkness and light.
Visual style - an aesthetic or genre stylish crime drama.
French film critic Nino Frank in 1946 used it to describe the bleak but stylistically expressive films emerging from Hollywood in the early 1940s.
Made by European film makers who fled from Europe due to World War 2.
They were influenced by German expressionism.
Pessimistic outlook due to the brutality of the war.
Classic period: 1941-1958.
First film noir: The Maltese Falcon directed by John Huston
Last film noir: A Touch of Evil directed by Orson Welles.

Film Noir's unique visual style:

Light and darkness
Shadows
Silhouettes
Blinds and bars
Strange camera angles
High contrast
Black and white

Narrative Elements:

Use of flashbacks.
Use of voice over for the main protagonist to give the voice to inner feelings and alienation.
Complicated and twisting plots and subplots.
Sudden reverse in fortune.
Circular narratives
A network of minor characters.
Tragic Ending.

Alita: Battle Angel Review

Alita: Battle Angel is about a futuristic cyborg warrior who wakes up in a doctor clinic without knowing anything about her past. Alita is then raised by the doctor and discovers that she has extraordinary fighting combat abilities which allows her to remember her past whilst fighting deadly forces.

Personally, I enjoyed watching this film because the story is very unique and creative. The special effects and graphics were a little overdone but on a positive note, the designs for the costumes were really stunning. Furthermore the special effects and graphics used in this film fits perfectly in the sci-fi category due to the futuristic technologies used. Alita has mixtures of genre such as romance, action, sci-fi and more which reaches out to the audiences and allow the audiences to feel different types of emotions.

By: Saraiah Guillermo