PARAMUS HIGH SCHOOL DATE: January 2004
PARAMUS, NEW JERSEY
DEPARTMENT: English
COURSE: Film Study
LEVEL: 10, 11, 12 Half Year 2 ½ Credits
I. COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Before beginning the study of film, the teacher should introduce the following filmic elements: cinematography, editing, form, plot, genre, and direction.
The teacher of film should be reminded that an in-depth study of "movies" is unique in that a focus on visual and audio perception should be stressed since it is inherent to fully comprehending the master works of visual literacy.
NJ Core Content Curriculum Standards
II. COURSE OBJECTIVES:
A. To have students acquire insights regarding the nature, origin, and development of film and media.
B. To have students investigate attitudes created by and promoted by the media, i.e., Stereotypes.
C. To have students understand and appreciate the six elements of film.
1. Movement
a. Camera
b. Subject
2. Space
3. Time
a. Real
b. Psychological
4. Theme
5. Image
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6. Sound
D. To introduce students to classical American feature films, such as Citizen Kane.
E. To introduce students to the different directorial styles of film-making.
F. To introduce students to origins and backgrounds of current film-making trends.
G. To teach the film as a social and personal document. In addition, to teach the power of the medium to manipulate our feelings and thought process.
H. To introduce students to film as an amalgam of several art forms: photography, theater, art, dance, sculpture, literature and opera.
I. The Language of Film Terminology
A. Motion Picture Terminology:
1. Animation: To arrange and photograph static DRAWINGS of objects so that when the photographs are shown cinematographically (in rapid succession), they will produce the illusion of movement.
2. Back Projection: Projection of film onto a translucent screen from a projector placed behind a screen in order to provide a moving background for actors working in a studio.
3. Boom: Crane-like devise for suspending the recording microphone in mid-air and moving it during shooting.
4. "B" Picture: Low budget film; usually meant as a co-feature.
5. Cinema Verite: A type of film in which there is a direct relationship with reality. A TV-style technique of recording life and people as they are, using candid camera, natural sound, and a minimum of rehearsal and editing.
6. Close Shot: Only the face of one person is shown, filling the screen completely.
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7. Composite Print: A positive film having both picture and sound track images on the same film which may be used in editorial or projection synchronism.
8. Crane: Self-propelling tripod that is hydraulically operated and holds the camera.
9. Crane Shots: Moving shot taken by camera on crane.
10. Credits: Titles placed normally at the beginning of a film recording the names of actors, technicians, and organization responsible for film.
11. Cut: Transition between two shots linked together by a simple join.
12. Close Up: Shot taken with camera actually (or apparently) very close to the subject, e.g., face.
13. Dissolve: Gradually merging of the end of one shot with the beginning of the next, produced by the superimposition of a fade-out onto a fade-in of equal length.
14. Dolly: (1) Vehicle on which camera and cameraman can be wheeled about. (2) A shot taken while camera is in motion on this truck.
15. Documentary: Type of film using material (either actual or reconstructed), drawn from real life; frequently with a sociological theme.
16. Dubbing: Synchronization with lip movement of an actor with a voice not originally recorded in synchronism with the picture track.
17. Establishing Long shot at the beginning of a scene to
Shot: establish the inter-relation of details to be shown later in nearer shots.
18. Fade-In: Beginning of shot which starts out in darkness and gradually lightens up to full brightness.
19. Fade-Out: Opposite of fade-in; beginnign in full brightness and going down to darkness.
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20. Fast Motion: Film shot at slower than normal so that action appears to be speeded up when it is shown at normal projection speed.
21. Feature Film: Film of 3,000 (35mm) or more. (About 40 minutes or more).
22. Flashback: Repetition of a brief extract from an earlier scene either as a reminder to the audience or to indicate the recollections of one of the characters.
23. Frame: One single transparent photograph of a series printed on a length of film; or, the edges of the projected picture.
24. High Angle: The camera looks down at what is being photographed.
25. Iris In (Or Out) Old image fades from the edges of the screen to the center, then a new image grows in widening circle from the center of the screen to the edges.
26. Library Shot: Shot used in a film but not recorded specially for that film, but taken from a library or store of shots kept in the hope that they may be useful sometime, e.g. a jet plane taking off, an air view of New York City.
27. Location: Any place, other than the studio or studio lot of a film company, where one of its units is shooting pictures.
28. Long Shot: Shot taken with the camera (actually or apparently) a considerable distance away from the subject; at least head-to-foot view of individuals and usually more.
29. Lot: Area of land adjacent to the studio which is used for the erection of exterior sets and for other exterior shooting.
30. Low Angle: The camera looks up at what is being photographed.
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31. Mask: Shield placed before the lens of the camera to cut some portion of the camera's field of view.
32. Matte: A card cut to the required shape of the given scene, used to prohibit a section of the film from being exposed. This card is placed in front of the lens while the uncovered film is used to record scenery- live or painted.
33. Matte Shot: Combines two images to create the illusion that they are part of the same scene. One section of the film is exposed while filming the scene, while the other is protected by a MATTE; then the film is rewound and a new scene is filmed, this time the previously exposed section of the film is obscured by another MATTE or COUNTER-MATTE. The result is two different scenes combined on one piece of film.
34. Medium Shot: Shot taken with the camera (actually or apparently) nearer to the subject than for a long shot, but not as near as a closeup; figure from the knees up.
35. Montage: An assemblage of short shots designed to show passage of time to create an impression by the order in which they are placed.
36. One Shot: A shot with one person in it.
37. Overexposed: Too much light reached the film, making the picture appear "washed out".
38. Pan: To rotate the camera HORIZONTALLY in taking a shot.
39. Persistence of A phenomenon which causes an image on
Vision: the retina to be mentally retained for a short period, so that if a second similar image takes its place within a period of about 1/16th of a second, no visible discontinuity or flicker will be noticed.
40. Rack Focus: The focus is shifted so that part of the pictures becomes blurred and another part becomes sharp.
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41. Rushes: Prints rushed through the laboratory, usually the day after the negatives ahve been exposed. Also called DAILIES, they are available for view by the director on the following day after shooting.
42. Scene: Series of actions or shots in film narrative forming a single unit by reason of their essential continuity in time; a piece of continous action.
43. Sequence: Main division of a film; succession of shots or scenes concerned with the story film, a succession of events which together form a single stage in the development of the narrative.
44. Shot: Fragment of moving picture which has been taken, (either actually or apparently) in one uninterrupted running of the camera.
45. Shooting singles: The different angles from which the camera may look at something filmed; especially HIGH SHOT -- looking down on the subject, and LOW SHOT - looking up at the subject.
46. Silent Speed: A standard rate for shooting and projecting films not accompanied by sound; normally 16 frames per second.
47. Slow Motion: Opposite of fast motion.
48. Soft Focus: Soft and slightly hazy effect obtained by shooting slightly out of focus.
49. Stop Motion: Procedure of stopping the camera, thus arresting the action at a given moment, rearranging some part of the scene, and then continuing the shooting as before; results in magic transformation, e.g., TV's Bewitched.
50. Story Board: In preparation of an animation film and even other types of films, it is often convenient to make sketches of key incidents in the action which are then arranged in order on a board called a story board.
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51. Synchronism: Relation between picture and sound in sound films.
52. Take: Single recording of a shot made during production; usually several takes are made of each other.
53. Tilt: To turn the camera up or down in shooting so that the axis of the lens rotates through a vertical plane.
54. Title: Any written material which appears on a film and is not part of an original scene.
55. Tracking Shot: Shot taken with the camera moving sideways, forward, or
backward, MOVING WITH THE OBJECT PHOTOGRAPHED: also called TRAVELLING OR TRUCKING SHOT.
56. Two Shot: A shot containing two characters, as a rule close to the camera.
57. Underexposed: Insufficient light reaches the film, making the picture darker than normal.
58. View Finder: Eyepiece of the camera through which one can view exactly what will appear on the film.
59. Voice Over: Voice in sound track that does not have a corresponding image on the screen; e.g. off camera narration.
60. Wipe: Form of transition from one shot to another in which a margin moves across the screen to eliminate the first shot and reveal the second.
61. Zoom: A movement similar to tracking in which the camera appears to move in on the subject being photographed. This effect can be achieved by turning a special lens called a Zoomer.
B. Effective Use of Lenses:
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These are identified by their focal length in millimeters. The longer the focal length, the more the telescopic or "telephoto" effect. The shorter the focal length, the smaller a given object will appear, but the larger will be the area of the scene taken in. (The focal length of the lens must not be confused with the width of the film used in the camera. A 16mm camera is one which uses film that is 16mm wide. Such a camera may or may not have a 16mm lens. A Super 8 or 8mm camera is one which uses 8mm film). Lenses for 16mm cameras are generally classified as wide angle, normal, or telephoto as follows:
1. Lens Classification: Wide Angle
Lens Focal Length: 1 to 17mm
Remarks: Wide angle view, exaggerated perspective, speeded up motion to or from the camera.
2. Lens Classification: Normal
Lens Focal Length: 18 to 30mm
Remarks: Normal angle of view and perspective, normal speed of motion to or from the camera.
3. Lens classification: Telephoto
Lens focal Length: 31mm and up
Remarks: Narrow angle of view, flat perspective, slowed up motion to or from the camera.
On the still or movie camera, a normal lens has a focal length about equal to the diagonal of the film used in that camera. A normal lens fitted to a 35mm camera usually has a focal length somewhere in the 45 to 58mm range. A normal lens for a Super 8 camera has a focal length of about 13mm.
1. Zoom Lens: Because its focal length can be varied within certain limits, the zoom lens is a wide angle, normal and telephoto all in one package. Zoom lenses are identified by the extreme limits of their focal length and sometimes by the ratio of the one to the other as, for example, 12-120mm (10 to 1 ratio).
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2. Effects of Lenses: When two swordsmen are photographed with a wide angle lens and they run to and from the camera, they appear to run faster than they do when the same scene is photographed through a telephoto lens. This is because a wide angle lens opens up a scene, making the distance from foreground to background seem greater. A telephoto lens has the opposite effect, seeming to compress and flatten a scene so that the two swordsmen in the film appear to move more slowly.
C. Camera Movement:
1. Pan: The camera is swivelled on a fixed base - usually a tripod or other specially designed mounting.
2. Tilt: The camera points up or down from a fixed mount.
3. Dolly: Also known as a tracking shot, the camera moves on a wheeled truck or dolly.
4. Boom Shot: Camera moves up, down, or sideways through space.
5. Zoom: The focal length of the lens is increased or decreased giving the impression that the camera is approaching or moving away from the object or scene being photographed. A zoom is sometimes mistaken for a tracking shot. However, in the latter, the perspective is changed giving a more dynamic effect. A zoom shot involves no change of perspective.
D. Sound:
1. Synchronized Sound: Picture and sound exactly coincide with each other, as when an acotr's lips move and the words he speaks exactly match the lip movement.
2. M.O.S.: Literally, "without sound", or a sequence filmed without any sound being recorded.