Basic Shot Progression - General to specific. Mirrors how we look at something in real life. Shows where
in the world you are. Long shot to medium shot to close up .
Denotative meanings of shots - LS: Orientation or master shot
MS: Info shot where you get most info from visually and in terms of dialogue. When characters are
talking. Relationships.
CU: Important detail of object that you are filming. The important detail is the face.
ECU: extreme close-up. Reading very detailed things. Like notes.
Connotative meaning of shots - LS: sadness, loneliness, isolation
Smaller is less important or able to make a difference.
MS: relationship information. How does this character relate to another?
CU: feelings, emotions. Close enough so that you can read the entire face
The function of eye level shots - Eye-level= power neutral= identification shot → makes audience relate
to them, you see how the actor sees the work (math genius)
We are on the same level
Power neutral
Identification shot
In beautiful mind-try to show how he thinks to make him relatable, take you inside his point view
,Function of low angle shots - Low angle = give power to subject
Power shot
Judge on a bench, used for politicians, sometimes teachers on a patio
In beautiful mind- teacher looking down on students
Function of high angle shots - High angle = take power away
Character has lost control, authority, lost power
Makes you look small, weak
Continuity Editing - In US cinema, continuity editing becomes norm. Point of view, the ideal view. Should
never call attention to it. Make editing invisible. It should just appear there.
Dialectical Montage - Shot A and Shot B combine to create a shot C in the viewers head. Russian movie
of shot of Russian civilians shot down followed by shot of pigs to create idea that the civilians were like
pigs in a slaughterhouse
Sergei Eisenstein - Making cinema part of revolution. Filmmaker, theorist.
One Eisenstein influence: Japanese calligraphy- series of pictographs, would add one to the other to
create words. How they developed their vocabulary.
e.g. bird+mouth=sing
Relational editing - Common elements from shot to shot
Common color, light, direction
Works well with continuity editing
French New Wave - Young filmmakers reaction against commercial studio system
Jump Cuts - Abrupt transition between shots
Disorienting of continuity of space and time
, Hollywood's Three Act Structure - Shifts climax near the end instead of middle INTRO (30 MINS) MIDDLE
(30-60) END(30MINS)
Introduction: setting up world and question
Complication : characters journey, false ending, new goal
Resolution : achieved new goal
Tragedy Structure - Good for moral tales
Alternative Narratives vs Hollywood narratives - Hollywood shifts climax to end, alternative climax is in
middle
Components of documentary - Narration (audio and/or visual)
Interviews (Q and A/talking head)
Infographics (maps, charts, etc)
Chryrons (text that appears over film)
B-roll (background images, proves what they were talking about)
Documentary ethics - Knowing when to film and when to stop filming, whether or not to pay "actors".
Nichols Reading: How do we treat the people we film, what do we owe them as well as our audience?
Should they receive compensation? Should they have a right to block the inclusion of events that prove
incriminating? Is it alright to have people repeat actions/conversations for the camera? Does this
compromise the integrity of their actions and the film's claim to represent a reality that exists
autonomously from its filming?
For documentaries, people are treated as social actors rather than professionals. They conduct their
lives more or less as they would without a camera.
Film makers typically seek a release to be signed by those filmed, giving all rights over materials, etc to
the filmmakers.
The history of public relations
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