film terminology

Introduction to the Language of Film Study

Introduction to aLanguage of Film Study

Purpose

• To acquaint ourselves with the terminology we will use in this course for the deciphering of how film communicates information

The Act of Communication (Roman Jakobson)

Addresser

Message

Contact

Code

Context

Addressee

Roman Jakobson (1896-1982)

• Born in Moscow

• As a young theorist, hung out with avant-garde poets in the 10s and 20s

• Russian Formalist, Czech Structuralist, taught at New School, Harvard, MIT

The Act of Communication (Roman Jakobson)

Addresser

Message

Contact

Code

Context

Addressee

The Act of Communication (Roman Jakobson)

Addresser

Message

Contact

Context

Addressee

Terminology sources:

Bordwell, David, and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction. 9th ed. New York, NY: 2010. Print.

http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/

http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/

http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/

http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/

Mise-en-Scene

• Definition:

All of the elements placed in front of the camera to be photographed.

fr. Bordwell and Thompson’s glossary to Film Art

9th edition, p. 492

Mise-en-Scene

• Definition:

All of the elements in front of the camera to be photographed.

Elements of Mise-en-Scene

• Setting

• Costume and Make-up

• Lighting

• Staging: Movement and Performance

fr. Bordwell and Thompson’s Film Art

Elements of Mise-en-Scene

• Decor

• Lighting

• Space

• Costume

• Acting

fr. Yale’s Film Analysis Guide

Decor

The objects contained in and the setting of a scene

– sets

– props

Evgenii Bauer, Child of the Big City, 1914

Lighting

Key terms:

• Three-point lighting

– High-key lighting

– Low-key lighting

Three-point lighting

High-Key Lighting

Low-key, high contrast lighting: “Chiaroscuro”

Diegesis

• “Diegetic” refers to something in the story.

• “Non-diegetic” is something outside of the story, usually used to tell the story.

D. W. Griffith, The Cricket on the Hearth, 1909

Władysław Starewicz, The Cameraman’s Revenge, 1912

John Carpenter, The Thing, 1982

Color lighting

Space

Alexandrov, Circus

Evgenii Bauer, Child of the Big City, 1914

Offscreen space

Acting (Staging Performance)

Acting (Staging, Performance)

Costume and Make-up

Mozzhukhin as Kornilov

Mozzhukhin as Father Sergius

Mozzhukhin as the Devil

Cinematography

• The relationship of the camera and laboratory/development phase to the mise-en-scene

Elements of Cinematography

• Quality

• Framing

• Scale

• Movement

Quality

Colour

Scale

• Extreme long shot

• Long shot

• Medium long shot (3/4 length)

• Medium shot

• Medium close-up

• Close-up

• Extreme close-up

Movement

• Panning

• Tilting

• Tracking

Tracking Shot

Editing

• Transitions

• Matches

• Duration

Transitions

• Wipe

• Dissolve

• Jump cut

• Establishing shot

Matches

• Eyeline match

• Graphic Match

Eyeline Match: Vertov, Man with the Movie Camera

Eyeline match

Graphic Match

Duration

• Long take

– Famous Russian practitioners of the long take: Bauer, Dovzhenko, Tarkovsky, Sokurov

Sound