Assignments and Grading

 

Assignments and Grading

Choose Three: 20% each
1.  Creepy Stalker Project       DUE June 11
2.  Short Film           experimental or music video        DUE June 15
3.   paper  4-7pp   with evidence to support your ideas        DUE June 15
4.  Make a video of the opening credits for your life     June 22
(examples: )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsX6PY2xndU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn6qkF-zql0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkWbFKz9_ew                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
And Everyone Does This:
5.  Frame by Frame    DUE JUNE 26
Shot Break Down: Attack the Block
Dir, Joe Cornish
Release date: 2011
Link One: View video at: http://youtu.be/6x-6HsNbB38?t=36s

http://www.livebinders.com/media/frame?myurl=http://www.livebinders.com/media/get_centered/MTIzNDU3NTE=&mid=MTIzNDU3NTE=#


 please post at least twice a week in response to anything you read and found interesting.  2/week= 70% or average, 20%

Helpful Terms

Helpful Terms

Indicating: Acting performance that is focused upon excessive physical expression of emotions in easily recognizable ways. eg: An actor playing a role of an angry man might shake his fist in the air and grimace. We get it, you're really mad. Next time try actually giving up your ego and feeling the emotion and let's see where that gets your performance.

Packing: Actors must do their packing before getting the portal to the inner life of the character to open up to them. This means that when first introduced to the character, the actor then begins the contemplative and creative process of understanding the character. The actor will think about such things as what the character ate for breakfast that morning and why, the character's favorite color, and who was the character's first grade teacher, etc.

Beat: The place of a natural pause in the script or movement.

The Middle Space: The place that allows an actor to observe his performance whilst performing. It is the place between actor and observer, and so having the actor hog up space in the audience to watch himself as well is plain bad form. Anachronistic Response: Moving the body in a (sometimes cliche) way that is representative of an era other than the one being created in the world of the film.

Chirascuro Lighting: Rembrandt lighting; fast FALL OFF ratio 1:1 or equal parts dark to light.

Motivated/Unmotivated light: Light source is suggested in the frame - motivated. Media and the Mind

For week one, we are concerned with the elements of film syntax. That is, why do we use a two shot, why do we use a close-up shot rather than a longshot for a certain part of the film, why do we use sound effects and what kind, etc.

For your guided study: Start looking at basic film aesthetics websites and books and figure out even the most rudimentary aspects of film aesthetics such as "CU" and "LS", "SPFX" and "SFX."

To ponder: Film language has evolved only over the last 100 years. The meanings it has have been shaped by the modern mind. Yet, much of film harkens its visual composition and themes to Western Civilization's visual art tradition.

The way film theorists discuss this concept is rooted in a consideration of film as art.

One of the basic film theories related to this is: Auteur Theory.

The other of the basic building blocks is Aesthetics.

So, we are understanding film as art that is created by a series of choices (such as lighting, sound, etc.)

Now, if we are understanding art and its grounding in choices, what we are doing is studying Aesthetics. What that amounts to is thinking about how lighting quality or sound-tracking (choices in production design) etc. (a) work with the human brain, (b) work to create Unity in production design (or fail at it), and (c) evolve a filmic language as an art form and visual syntax (e.g. we know that a close-up shot means one thing as opposed to a long shot.)

Finally, we are scholars and need to learn how to use scholarly tools, and therefore I bring you to use the tools of film journals and the historically pertinent, Cahiers du Cinema.

The last assignment is meant to be a fun, creative exercise where you can use what you've learned by thinking about aesthetics, reading about filmmaking, and actively observing three films.

See how I wove this all together? It's like Karate Kid.

So by the end of the weeks, you will have thought about the fundamentals of film theory and learned how to use them, too.

If you would like further information to explore regarding Film and Music theory:

http://web.archive.org/web/20031208182300/

http://www.franklinmarketplace.com/filmmusic.html

Film Theory in Practice:

http://www.storyispromise.com/cascade.htm

Philosophy of Narratology:

http://www.cla.purdue.edu/academic/engl/theory/narratology/terms/narrativetermsmainframe.html

Persistence of Vision:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_of_vision

Depth of Field:

http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam/User-Guide/950/depth-of-field.html

and

You will find a lot of articles of value for this course at:

http://www.storyispromise.com/wmovies.htm

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzedefUXARE

HANDY FILM-TERM REFERENCE GUIDE

HANDY FILM-TERM REFERENCE GUIDE

LIGHTING

backlight hits subject from behind/separates from bg; not significant lighting source

key light primary light source/ fmds directionality

fill light erases key-light's shadows

kicker fmishes the lighting job

eyelight puts white in the actor's iris/ gives life tot he shot

bounce card takes light from key and "bounces" it onto the actor; diffusing effect

day-for-night (dusk -for) changing the camera iris to make day shots

look like night shots

directionality from where the light source is

diffusion to make actors look great; softens light with bounce card or diffusion

material like toughspun, a wire mesh that is placed near the bulb

EDITING

assembly editing from point A to B

non-linear editing in any order (more sophisticated; new technology)

linear assembly editing

on-line the fmal edit

off-line the rough edit

cut-away shot shot used to emphasize scene detail

b-roll cut-away material

cut point where shot begins or ends

montage arrangement of many shots to show theme

match cut edit that maintains continuity from angle to angle

outtakes what is not used in a film

parallel editing two related sequences are cut back and forth

rough-cut the rough draft of a film

running time how long a film lasts

splice the actual point of cutting on the physical film or tape

answer print the rough cut sent from the lab

rushes the day's answer print

L-cut sound precedes image

SOUND

synch/crystal synch

(double system sound)

striping

track

dub

boom

Nagra voice and image are recorded separately and

synchronized between the camera and nagra

(sound recorder)

putting a magnetic stripe on the film to catch sound

the sound tape

taking sound from one tape to another

the pole that hold the microphoneO 0 0 0

mics: the recording instrument

omnidirectional

cardiod

mix

lavalier

unidirectiona1/shotgun

bi-directional

condenser

Foley

voice-over

the joining of all soundtracks to one track

sound effects

narration over picture/ no synch; post -production

CAMERA

CREW

angle how the shot is taken

CU closeup

LS long shot

MS medium shot

OS over-the-shoulder

establishing shot

dolly a wheeled shot

depth:-of-field how much is in focus

dutch angle a canted angle

extreme long shot/extreme close-up

master shot the long shot which establishes a scene

rule-of-thirds the main action takes place at the center of the depth of field

tilt camera movement up and down

pan camera movement side to side

zoom camera focus comes to extreme close-up quickly

mise-en-scene from the Neorealist movement; through the scene elements

structure is accomplished

eyeguiding arranging cuts to bring the eye to where the director needs it

key grip

best boy

gnps

continuity

slate

usually key technician

primary manager for the stage manager(grip)

grunts

person who maintains continuity from shot to shot

person who synchs sound mark on set

logs person who maintains sound logs and lighting diagrams

•

DIRECTOR

storyboard

shooting scripts

shooting plan

auteur

comic strip ofhow film will look

chronological list of script, shots and sound plans

grouping of scenes as to days to be shot

director's "fmgerprint"

SCREENPLAY

elements

one page = one minute

fade to: dissolve: fade out:

INT/EXT PLACE TIME

breaks; ABC stories

20:30; 56:30

Executive Producer, Manager, Agent, Producer, Writer

You can post anything here

My deets

This is my email:

cfarinac@gmail.com

please send assignments to this address.  
also, please post creative work, fun pictures, whatever suits the coursework, on the blog at your leisure.

and my text:

609.626.1411

and my name:

christi farina

I teach filmmaking in the Communication Program at Stockton. I am also a documentary filmmaker.  I love teaching this course.  As an undergraduate, i was a philosophy major.

Here is the link to my latest film, Gamers, if you're interested.  I'm on imdb, too, but i REALLY have to pay attention to that soon.  

https://youtu.be/tEYiG1WzAUg  

Learning Visual Text