Very Brief History of Visual Media

1889: George Eastman invents “Kodak” celluloid film

1894/5: Lumiére Bros. (France) and Edison Co. (USA)

begin producing, distributing, and exhibiting

motion pictures

1911: First Hollywood studios appear; Photoplay fan

magazine appears 1912.

1927: Conversion to sound film, The Jazz Singer

1939: Conversion to color film, Gone With the Wind

released - top grossing domestic film of all time

1946: US movie attendance peaks: 80+ million viewers/week;

total US population was 140 million; only 0.5% of

households own a television

1955: Hollywood begins a 20 year revenue decline, by this year over

50% of US households own a television set - up to 90% in 1962

1966: First global satellite television broadcast, peak of Beatlemania

1975: Cable TV begins: Home Box Office (HBO); first franchise film

blockbuster Jaws (Spielberg), 1977: Star Wars (Lucas)

1981: VHS wins home video format war over Betamax

1994: Internet made available to public

2002: DVD sales surpass VHS (still outselling Blu-Ray)

2007: Iphone Released, Video games surpass Hollywood in revenue

2009: Avatar grosses $2.7 billion worldwide and revolutionizes 3D

Basic Visual Grammar and Rhetoric:

Shot: a take of film from a single continuous, uninterrupted run of the camera, after it has

been edited by frame for the finished film; in filmmaking, more casually, any take whether or

not edited

sequence: the spliced shots and scenes making up a single significant dramatic unit [see also

scene, which in practical usage is loosely interchangeable with sequence]

diegesis: the narrative “world” of the film, including all the diegetic elements such as actions

and sounds that happen within the film’s fictional or non-fictional setting; this term is often

used to distinguish between such effects and those that are non-diegetic, such as the musical

score [definition by Carter Soles]

editing: the activity of cutting and pasting shots be shown and putting them together to create

a film continuity: invisible style developed by Classical Hollywood to enhance realism

montage: French and Soviet term for editing, referring to any extraordinary or exceptionally

artful sequence of shots; juxtaposes two or more images for thematic or ideological purposes

mise en scene: a film’s “look” or decor, as created by its sets, props, costumes, lighting,

photography, and actors’ postures and proximities, making up the film’s visible universe and

generating much of its mood and meaning [paraphrased: everything visiblewithin the frame]

sound: music, soundtrack, dialogue, voice over, and audio effects

cinematography: (from Greek: kinema - κίνηµα "movement" and graphein - γράφειν "to

record"), is the making of lighting and camera choices – distance, angle, movement, point of

view – when recording photographic images for the cinema. It is closely related to the art of

still photography. Slumdog Millionaire (2008) first film shot primarily in digital rather than

analogue to win Oscar for Best Cinematography.

camera angle:a high-angle shot is the camera looking down, as if superior to what it sees; a

low-angle shot is the camera looking up, as if the viewer were awed or cowed by what is seen

camera distance: the long shot (full shot) is defined as showing at least a human form fully

visible within the frame but sometimes showing a wide panorama seen by a camera even

further away; the medium shot is made with the camera seemingly near what it sees but not

close to it, familiar but not intimate, showing a human figure from the waist up; and the close-

up is said to fill the screen with the image of any object the size of a human face or smaller,

generating strong viewer attentiveness and feelings of intimacy

[Also: extreme wide shot, long shot, full shot, medium shot, close-up, and extreme close up.]

camera movement: the pan is a camera’s horizontal pivot across a panorama or wide

scenewhile otherwise immobile on a tripod, creating the impression of a head turning

deliberately to inspect a field of vision; the tilt involves pivoting a camera vertically from a

fixed position and height, as if someone were looking up or down; and the tracking/

traveling shot is when the camera moves smoothly on tracks, trucks, or dollies toward but

more commonly alongside whatever it sees.

point of view (pov): A camera shot that reveals what a character is looking at sometimes

following a shot showing the character’s eyes or followed by a shot showing a character’s

expressive reaction (for example, shot/reverse shot, direct address, over the shoulder). Also

known as first-person, second-person, third-person, and objective/subjective camera.

motif: a recurring visual or audio element of a film. Motifs may be bound to the plot

development of the film or free from the plot development and serving a purely symbolic

role. It is possible for motifs to function as bound motifs will serving a symbolic role.

Definitions excerpted/adapted Gollin, Richard M. A Viewer’s Guide to Film: Arts,

Artifices, and Issues. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992; and Dr. Carter Soles (UOregon).

Classical Hollywood Studio System & Narrative Style (1915-1960):

~ “In this style a film’s plot should have a clear forward direction and no irrelevant plot

elements. A film need not have a happy ending, but it has a clear resolution of the

main participants’ goals.”

-- Lehman & Luhr, Thinking About Movies, 3rd Edition (2008)

~ “Before there are auteurs, there are constraints; before there are deviations, there

are norms.”

~ Motifs and settings [including “nature”] reinforce the individuality and psychological

consistency of each character.

-- Bordwell, Staiger, and Thompson, The Classical Hollywood Cinema (1985)

~ Andre Bazin summarizes classical continuity editing (aka Hollywood style) as:

“The verisimilitude of the space in which the position of the actor is always determined,

even when a close-up eliminates the décor”

(in other words the fiction must be believable)

“The purpose and the effects of the cut are exclusively dramatic or psychological”

(in other words mise-en-scene, cinematography, and editing are all meant to drive

the protagonists’ story and their moral, ethical, and emotional dilemmas.

Standard Film Studies Shot List GridFilm Title: Sequence Title:Location in the film:

*Diagetic

- Dialogue

- Ambient

Sounds

- Music

- Sound F/X

*Non-Diagetic

- Soundtrack

- Score

- Voice-Over

•Camera Distance

*establishing/long shot

*full shot

*medium shot

*close-up

•Camera Angle

*high angle

*low angle

*canted/tilted angle

•Camera Movement

*pan vs. tilt

*tracking/dolly shot

*handheld? Other?

•Setting (location)

•Sets (constructed)

•Props

•Costumes

•Actor bodies (postures)

•Actor blocking (proximities)

•Lighting & photography

•Free vs. Bound Motifs

*Continuity or montage?

*Types of cuts:

•match cut

•cross/parallel cut

•insert cut

•montage cut

•jump cut

*Transitions:

•dissolve

•wipe

•fade

*Point of View

established?

*180 degree rule?

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