Cinema Quiz 1 Study Guide PDF

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This is the filled out study guide Aaron Taylor provided for the first quiz....

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Cinema Quiz 1 Study Guide Form - The means by which the subject is expressed and experienced. Ex. words, actions, pictures, etc Poetics - Studies artworks as a result of applied constructive principles - Form: medium’s set of principles - Style: selection & combination of formal options Analysis - Examining how a scene or sequence uses elements to convey the story, mood, & meaning - The objective translation of a film into component parts to understand it’s workings - Giving reasons for function & effect of stylistic choices - Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? - Takes all elements of a film and carefully examine why this particular element was shown in this particular way - The thought that every element in a frame is there for a reason & you must find that reason Interpretation - The action of explaining the meaning of something - A stylistic representation of a creative work or dramatic role Explicit Meaning - Everything that a movie presents on its surface - The direct message of the work expressed via the style - The basic message we get from the obvious situations we see Implicit Meaning - An association, connection, or inference that a viewer makes based on the given meaning conveyed by the story and form of a film. - The subjective & associational consideration of abstract ideas (ex. ethical, aesthetic, etc) - Lies below the surface of a movie’s story & presentation - Overall message/takeaway of the movie (What did we learn?) - Often relates closely to the explicit meaning Literal Meaning - The end result of our efforts to understand & describe literal content - The meaning of each image that we see Symptomatic Meaning - An unintentionally communicated ideological or psychological belief (ex. culture) - Showing significance of the film based upon its historical & social contexts - Buried under all the other meanings Activity/Passivity - Process of viewing is inherently active (viewers constitute & are constituted by text)

The Viewing Process - Film viewing as a form of performance Film as Experience - The circumstances of reception & the sensorial qualities affect how we view a film - Film isn’t an independent object, but a meaningful process produced by the viewer Affective Qualities - Emotional - Kinetic - Pleasure in embodied engagement - The response we have to a specific event Verisimilitude - When they convince you that the things on the screen are “really there” - Appearance of truth through probable action & internally consistent vision Narrative Elements - Agents = characters - Objectives = goals that instigate actions - Sequences = actions that have a relationship between them, must always be teleological (have a purpose) - Most actions led by cause & effect that leads to a conclusion where all questions/goals are answered/reached Style - How is the narration presented? - Pleasure for the consumer - Meaningful comprehension - Story elements elaborate on specific parts of the story Diegesis - The total narrative system comprised of all elements within the story world (ex. thoughts) - The total compilation of a story that form the world in which the story occurs Plot - Order of events - Not always in chronological order - “Blueprints” - The specific actions and events that filmmakers select, and the order in which they arrange those events and actions to effectively convey on-screen the movie’s narrative to the viewer Story - Chronological reconstruction of events - All the events we see or hear or are that we infer have happened on screen - “Base of the house” - In a movie, all the events we see or hear on the screen, as well as all the events that are implicit or inferred to have happened but are not explicitly presented Narration

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Means of which story is told Primary means that story points are made Commentary spoken by either off screen or onscreen voices that help to tell the story “Fully furnished house” The act of telling the story of the film The primary source of a movie’s narrative is the camera, which shows the events of the narrative onscreen Story vs. Discourse - Story = Content - Discourse = Expression Classical Cinema: Main Features - Industrial style (uniquely distinctive) - Always able to tell you are watching a film - Have similar construction (comprehensible, linear, & has full closure) - Promotes allegiance to characters & relies on stars (familiar faces) & types (culture/stereotypes) - Characters have a solid arc - Aims to produce emotional pleasure (happy endings) - Transparent style (keep the action moving with invisible editing) - Illusionistic (immerses us within an imagined diegetic order) - Harmonious interplay between all aspects Dualism - Obvious good & bad characters - Stark contrasts & tensions Diegetic Absorption - Captivation (you are excited to see what happens next) - Feel like you are part of the world, but still able to tell it is fantasy Augmentation, Complication, Contradiction - Augmentation (frequent occurrences that allow for development of characters/sets) - Complication (element(s) within the film causes a character to question things) - Contradiction (clashes between characteristics & other elements) Freytag’s Pyramid - Exposition -> Rising Action -> Climax -> Falling Action -> Denouement - All about the destination Narrative as Casual Transformation - Circular storytelling - Not about the destination, but rather the journey - Equilibrium -> Disruption -> Development, Repairation, Recapitulation -> Resolution Narrative Voice - The means by which information is relayed - Access (How do we receive information?) - Perspective (Based around a specific character & their experiences) Causality

- Logic of story Art Cinema: Main Features - Modernist - Very self-aware - Auteur (authour) driven - Narrative is complex, non-linear, open-ended Mise-En-Scene - Elemental system of film, compromises design elements such as lighting, setting, props, costumes, and makeup within individual shots. - The overall look and feel of a movie - The sum of everything the audience sees, hears, and experiences while viewing it Comprehension - The action or capability of understanding something Constitution - The composition of something Patterns of Coherence - Repetitions of certain events/staging elements that help us to associate specific characteristics with specific characters/objects Art Director - The person responsible for transforming the production designer’s vision into reality on the screen Cinematic Invisibility - Hidden meanings and structures within the film should be observed carefully - Our tendency not to be conscious of a film’s style causes hindrance to this observation - Now we are able to pause videos to look back and review hidden meanings/structures Content vs. Form - Content (subject matter) - Form (means of expression) - Film’s sensory materials are the means by which we gain access to a story & it’s meaning Cultural Invisibility - Draw upon the viewer’s shared belief systems - “Give them what they want” philosophy of entertaining - Using implied political, cultural, and ideological messages that appeal to the audience - Not always on purpose, but rather simply because of the culture the creators are influenced by Design Elements - setting, props, decor, lighting, and actors appearance Diegetic vs. Non-diegetic Elements - Diegetic Elements - Elements that help form the world in which the story occurs - Non-Diegetic = Things that we see and hear on the screen that come from outside the world of the story, such as background music, titles, credits, and voice-over narration Duration: Story, Plot, Screen

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Duration = A quantity of time Story duration = the time that the entire narrative act is implied to have taken. Plot duration = the time that the events explicitly shown on-screen are implied to have taken - Screen duration= the actual time elapsed while presenting the movie’s plot (run time) Flat vs. Round Characters - Round = A complex character possessing numerous, subtle, repressed, or contradictory traits. These characters often develop over the course of a story - Flat = A relatively uncomplicated character exhibiting few distinct traits. These characters are very set in their ways and cannot/will not change their views. Fundamentals of Film - Light (movies are essentially light) - Illusion of Movement (each frame put together in sequence creates movement) - Manipulation of Time & Space (camera selects & mediates what we see) Meditation - A key concept in film theory, literally to mean the process by which the film is made/viewed Production Designer - A person who works closely with the director, art director, and director of photography in visualizing the movie that will appear on the screen. - Is both an artist and an executive responsible for the overall design concept; the look of the movie - Also responsible for the individual sets, locations, furnishings, props, and costumes - Responsible for supervising the heads of the many departments that create that look Realism - An interest in or concern for the actual or real - A tendency to view or represent things as they really are - Film emulates experience of empirical world - Film reflects everyday life - Film conforms to expectations of real people Real-time - The actual time during which something takes place - In real-time, screen duration & plot duration are exactly the same Script Supervisor - The member of the crew responsible for ensuring continuity throughout the filming Setting - Place & time in which a story takes place Shot - The product of one uninterrupted run of the camera Soundstage - A windowless, soundproofed, professional shooting environment that is usually several stories high and can cover an acre or more of floor space Summary Relationships

- A time relationship in which screen duration is shorter than plot duration. Stretch Relationships - A time relationship where screen duration is longer than plot duration...