Week 3 – Genres and Production

Sin City (2005)

• Based on the 1991-92 graphic novel series by Frank Miller.

• Cinematography and Editing by Robert Rodriguez.

• Directed by Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino.

• Starring Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Brittany Murphy, Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Rosario Dawson, Benicio del Toro, and Elijah Wood

Robert Rodriguez (1968, Texas)• El Mariachi (1992)• Desperado (1995)• From Dusk til Dawn (1996)• Spy Kids (2001)• Sharkboy and Lava Girl (2005)• Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)

Frank Miller (1957, Maryland)Comics• Daredevil (1979-83)• The Dark Knight Returns (1986)• 300 (1998)Films• The Spirit (2008)• Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)

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Film Technology: An Overview

� Analog medium

� Three stages – shooting, processing, projecting

� Format – gauge, or width, of the film stock and

its perforations

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Film Stock: An Overview

� Film stock length

� Film stock speed

� Exposure

� Resolution

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Video Technology

� Video image consists of pixels

� Low picture quality compared to film

� Video’s strengths – cheap stock and no

processing

� Used in amateur filmmaking and low-budget

documentary productions during the 1980s –

early 2000s until displaced by digital

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Digital Technology

� More versatile, easier, and cheaper to use than

film

� Uses less light than film, requires no processing,

easily duplicated

� Involves an electronic process that creates its

images through a numbered system of pixels

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Film versus Digital Technology

� Film stock is a physical thing; digital is virtual

representation

� Computer-manipulated digital requires no lab

processing

� Film has a particular aesthetic – film grain, depth

of color and shadow

� The key factor for a digital conversion is

economic

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Film versus Digital: Economics

� Digital distribution is cost-effective compared

with film distribution

� The threat of pirating digital formats remains the

same as film

� As of 2009 Hollywood had used digital systems

to produce less than 1 percent of movies

released

� Virtually 100 percent of all feature films are

digitally edited

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How a Movie Is Made:

Preproduction

� Filmmakers develop an idea or obtain a script

� Arrange the financing; begin previsualization

and storyboarding with key crew members

� Rewriting, scheduling, rehearsals with cast and

crew

� Overall, can take a year to two

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How a Movie Is Made: Production

� Shooting can last six weeks to several months, or more

� Director designs the shooting script, sets schedule

� Director does rehearsals and blocking to filming and watching dailies

� Number and type of shots dictates number of crew

� Director and cinematographer collaborate closely

� Special effects and stunts are completed on set

(visual effects and sound effects completed in post)

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How a Movie Is Made:

Postproduction

� Editing

� Visual and Sound Effects

� Preparing the final print

� Marketing and distribution

Standard Film Studies Shot List GridStandard Film Studies Shot List Grid

Film Title:Film Title: Sequence Title:Sequence Title:

Location in the film: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?

*Lighting

•Setting (location)

•Sets (constructed)

•Props

•Costumes

•Actor bodies (postures)

•Actor blocking

(proximities)

•Lighting &

Composition

•Free vs. Bound Motifs

*Continuity or

discontinuity?

*Types of cuts:

•match cut

•cross/parallel cut

•insert cut

•montage cut

•jump cut

*Transitions:

•dissolve

•wipe

•fade

*Point of View?

*180 degree rule?

How

long?

SoundCinematographyMise en SceneEditing