Study Guide Exam 2 - exam notes PDF

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Study Guide Exam 2 Unit 17 reflectance value – is its inherent ability to reflect light. Yellow objects, for example, naturally reflect more light than do black objects. (white and pale yellows) in a space the background of which is also naturally high tone (like a pale sky blue). Or we could put only dark, low reflectance objects in the frame – dark blues, blacks, deep purples etc. hi-contrast – Images that contain bright white highlights, stark black areas, and a narrow range of grays, . If an image that contains extremes of tone low-contrast – possesses a narrow range of tones (all middle grays, or all high tones, or all low tones)

What are three ways of controlling the tonal value of an image? 

First, one can control the tone or luminosity of an image by controlling the amount of light falling on the object.

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The second way one can control the tone or luminosity of an image is by controlling the amount of light let into the camera. By manipulating exposure, we can also manipulate the tonal range of an image.

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The third way one can control the tone or luminosity of an image is by controlling the actual reflectance value of the objects in the frame. An object's reflectance value is its inherent ability to reflect light. Yellow objects, for example, naturally reflect more light than do black objects.

How does an overexposure affect tone? an underexposure? 

letting in more light than is necessary for a normal exposure, will push all the image's tonal values towards the high end of the gray scale. The result will be a "brighter" image with a reduced tonal range.

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underexposure, letting in less light than is required for a normal exposure, will push all the image's tonal values towards the low end of the gray scale. The result will be a darker image, again with a reduced tonal range.

What does an eye typically first seek out in an image? and second? and third?      

eyes automatically seek out the brightest or highest contrast parts of the frame. In fact, the typical order of attention is first, faces (or round shapes); second, bright areas; third, whatever is in focus; fourth, the foreground; fifth, converging lines.

Describe the tonal relation of the shots in the clip from Alain Resnais’ Last Year at Marienbad. 

The extreme contrast of tone from shot to shot – which requires the eye adjust to a radically new exposure with each cut – has actually caused viewers' eyes to bleed and sent unsuspecting victims into epileptic fits, it uses contrast of tone from shot to shot to increase the dynamism associated with one of its flashbacks.

What are some ways a filmmaker might create an image that might be considered an example of coincidence of tone? non-coincidence of tone?

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Usually, the subject is revealed because he or she or it is one of the brightest things in the frame or is near the brightest thing in the frame. " occurs when the tonal organization of the shot helps reveal the subject.

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Non-coincidence of tone is used in horror films and shows like X-Files, etc. The subject is "lurking in the shadows" or pops out of "nowhere". That "nowhere" is created through tonal organization. If he's wearing dark clothes and is not standing in the light, we are unlikely to find him quickly. occurs when the tonal organization of the shot does not help reveal the subject.

Unit 18 Describe how the makers of Auto Focus use tone to structure their film. 

manipulates tone as a structuring device, to parallel the path of Crane's career.

Describe how the design of Bob’s agent’s office changes over the course of Auto Focus. 

They start out bright and hopeful then somewhat dull in the second and then completely dark in the third

Describe how the makers of Mishima visually structure their film. What part does tone play in that structuring? 

The "present tense" of Mishima's life is given in relatively low-contrast high tone images with lots of desaturated color and handheld camera.

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The flashbacks are distinguished primarily by virtue of the fact that they are drained of color. Though the range of tones varies from flashback scene to flashback scene, none of them are hi-contrast with true blacks and whites. Most, like the images below, evidence a much more narrow range of tones. Each of the following exhibits an affinity of tone within the shot.

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Then the Art adaptations of scenes from Mishima's novels, distinguishes itself by virtue of its high tonal contrasts and saturate colors.

What, according to the unit, are the filmmakers trying to achieve in the final scenes of Mishima? How, visually, do they attempt to achieve it? 

the final scene exhibit much higher contrast of tone than the previous scenes of Mishima's present tense. They look, in their tonal design, more like the high-contrast scenes from Mishima's art, from the novel adaptations.

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Visually then, Mr Schrader and his crew have affected a visual "harmony of pen and sword", a grafting of some of the aesthetics they associate with Mishima's novels onto the present tense of the character's life.

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In the film, then, Mishima's death becomes a work of art.

UNIT 19 Luminosity - a color can be affected by mixing the pure hue with white or black. The greater the luminosity, the "brighter" or closer to white a color will appear. A pure red mixed with some black will make a dark blood red; that same pure red mixed with some white will make pink. Desaturation - When a hue's complementary is mixed into it, that hue starts becoming more and more gray

What are the three aspects of the empirical classification of color?

1. the hue – or what we tend to call the "color" (blue, red, orange, cyan, yellow, magenta, etc) – is determined by the wavelength of reflected light. 2. the luminosity or brightness or tone of a color can be affected by mixing the pure hue with white or black. The greater the luminosity, the "brighter" or closer to white a color will appear. A pure red mixed with some black will make a dark blood red; that same pure red mixed with some white will make pink.

3. The third feature of color is its saturation or degree of purity. Saturated colors are pure, unadulterated, vivid hues. The colors of the solar spectrum have the maximum saturation.

Describe, as scientifically as possible, the colors in the shot below. Everything else is desaturated to let the red pop more. The red is at a normal level vs. the tan color of the clothes and the rocks around it. How does color help structure All about Lily Chou-chou and Hero? It separates the what part of the story is being told. Time and place. Color can also be used to structure a film. If, after watching it carefully all the way through, you watch Iwai's All About Lily Chou-chou again at about 20 times speed, you'll see how scene after scene has its own limited color palette, sometimes monochromatic (one color), sometimes dichromatic (two colors). film like Zhang Yimou's Hero has an even more overt visual structuring. Each sequence has its own color design. Clearly, color (hue and tone and saturation) has been used to structure the film.

What makes Lola so visually dynamic? Contrast of color in these shots gives them their dynamism. And the fact that the hues are mostly saturated adds to Lola’s visual dynamism. And because those contrasting colors are typically saturated and high tone, their dynamic intensity is particularly strong.

Describe the color design of the clip from Mauvais sang. Everything is desaturated and the reds have an extreme pop. Everything is tailored in black or gray.

Describe the color design of the clip from William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet.

Colors label which house belongs to who, Capulets are dressed in darker clothing while Montague are dressed in a lot brighter clothing.

UNIT 20 Pan – camera pivot left to right Tilt – camera pivot up or down Dolly – a physical movement of the entire camera along the x- or z- axis Crane – is a physical movement of the entire camera along the y- or yx- or yz- axis (in other words, a movement of the camera during which its height changes). Grip – The person who pushes a dolly Steadicam – invented by camera operator Garrett Brown in the 1970s, is a system which allows for the flexibility of handheld operation but which isolates the movement of the camera from the movement of the operator motivated – The subject moves, then the camera moves with it/him/her. camera movement – can be supernaturally smooth or extremely destabilized ("shaky" autonomous camera movement – what your text calls a "virtual track". And therefore, camera movements can be analyzed in the ways lines are analyzed. We could consider the "direction" of the movement, or the "orientation" of the movement, or the "quality" of the movement. parallel movement – movement is relatively flat and maintains the subject’s image size throughout the move non-parallel movement – creates depth through size variation. are more energetic than parallel ones. semi-autonomous camera movement – a movement that has an element of motivation, but is also working according to its own principals, principals that have little or nothing to do with the characters on screen.

What is a major difference in the speed of the movement of foreground, middle ground, and background planes between a pan and an x-axis dolly movement? In a pan, a pivot of the camera, all planes (foreground, middle ground, and background) move at the same rate. With a physical movement of the camera like an x-axis dolly (a left-to-right or right-to-left movement of the camera), however, the foreground moves across the frame faster than the middle ground, which moves faster than the background.

Why does Martin Scorsese use a Steadicam to shoot the entrance of Ray Liotta to the nightclub in the clip from Goodfellas? It’s to convey the status of Ray from beginning to end. Each layer he passes through adds peels back another mystery for his date. It’s to show how untouchable he is as he passes through every single person there without being stopped and the steady cam conveys this. That shot tracks two characters across a street and down a narrow set of stairs – a place into which it would be impossible to move a dolly – into a night club's kitchen, winding past dozens of chefs, busboys, and waiters, into the night club, through a crowd of diners, and finally to their table ... all in a single continuous take The shot is incredibly smooth. The camera seems to float behind the subjects.

What effect does parallel movement have on the image size of the subject? What effect does non-parallel movement have on the image size of the subject? Which kind of movement is more dynamic? If a motivated camera moves closer to its subject over the course of the shot, his or her image size will increase during the shot, and it will increase at a rate faster than that of the background. Alternatively, if a motivated camera moves farther away from its subject over the course of the shot, his or her image size will decrease during the shot, and it will decrease at a rate faster than that of the background. These variations in image size result in an increased dynamism in the shots. Parallel – Flat, Same size Non-parallel – Size changes, more dynamics What is the conventional wisdom re the psychological effect of a motivated camera movement? an autonomous one? a parallel movement? a handheld movement? a dolly? Psychological associations are, as always, a bit tricky, but in general motivated or parallel or handheld camera movements are thought to generate more sympathy for the subject than autonomous or non-parallel or incredibly steady ones. The physiology of camera movements, one the other hand, is more certain. Handheld movements are more dynamic than stabilized ones. Non-parallel movements are more dynamic than parallel ones. And autonomous movements are more dynamic than motivated ones.

What are some of Pulse’s default stylistic strategies detailed in this unit? Give examples of each.

It may be worth noting here that the strategies we noticed in the shot we’ve been considering – small image size, non-coincidence of tone, and occlusion – are recurring stylistic choices in Pulse. What makes the camera movement in clip 20 14 “semi-autonomous”? The start of this movement may be motivated but the movement doesn't function like a motivated camera movement typically does. There is a tension, a tension generated by the contrast of direction, associated with the camera movement. In addition, you may have noticed that when the pink-skirted actress stopped at the plant, frame left, the camera continued moving toward the right. So while the start of the movement seemed motivated, the continuation of the movement is clearly autonomous. There is nothing motivating the movement of the camera after the young woman stops. [Watch it yet again to verify this.]

What makes the camera movement in clip 20 16 “semi-autonomous”? Well, the start of the camera movement comes right after the start of the character movement. So the character movement motivates at least the start of the camera movement. But you may have noticed that the camera does not move at the same rate as the character. The actress moves along the z-axis slowly, but the camera moves even more slowly! Over the course of the movement the image size of the subject gets smaller and smaller, the slow but constant change of size over the ten seconds or so the movement takes is quite intense. That tension comes from the contrast of speed and scale of movement within the shot. Again, here, the camera movement is partly motivated (the start point, the direction), and partly autonomous (the speed, the scale). Scary ...

UNIT 22 What is the musical structure of the R.E.M. video “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?”? What’s the relation of that musical structure to the video’s visual structure? First, there's an instrumental introduction and verse 1 (0:00 - 1:09). That's followed by verse 2 (1:10 - 2:09). Then there's a short instrumental "bridge" (2:10 - 2:35) And finally, there's verse 3 and a brief "outtro" (2:36 - 4:25)

How do editorial decisions help structure the video? Average shot length varies with intensity. Verses 2 and 3 are more dynamic, cutting-wise, than verse 1 and the bridge.

How does color help structure the video? What are the color schemes of the section of the video? Verse 1 - Blue Verse 2 - Red & Blue Bridge - Blue Verse 3 - Wide range Makes verses 2 and 3 more dynamic

What effect on visual intensity does the constant photoflashing of the set in this video have? Flashing have temporarily rendered the shots much higher tone. When high tone shots like these are cut to the lower tone shots typical of verse 2, the result is a dynamic contrast of tone from shot to shot. Or when a medium or low tone shot is suddenly flashed during the course of the shot (as in the stills-sequence below), we get a momentary contrast of tone in the middle of the shot.

Describe the placement of the camera in the various sections of the video. Camera placement allows for shots with more depth Verse 1 - super flat Verse 3 - greatest ranger of camera position

Describe the rendition of space in verse 1. in verse 2. in the bridge. in verse 3. Verse 1 - Flat space Verse 2 - Deep space Bridge - Flat space Verse 3 - Dynamic, even departs from the 180 degree rule

Does image size differ from section to section of the video? If so, how?

Every section of the film - verses 1 and 2, the bridge, and verse 3 - has a range of medium and wide shots. But verses 2 and 3, unlike verse 1 and the bridge, also include a significant number of close-ups and extreme close-ups

Describe the camera operation/movement in the sections of the video. Verse 1 - Verse 1 has 27 shots. Six of them (22%) have significant camera operations; all six, autonomous pans and tilts. The remaining 21 shots are static Verse 2 - More dynamic (Quicker across a greater range of space) Bridge - Only one shot has camera operation, rest is static Verse 3 - The camera is moved in 67 of the 82 shots (82%) of verse 3. Camera is often handheld.

In what section of the video do we see canted images? Verse 3

Describe variation in the performers’ movement/dancing in the video. Verse 1: principally y-axis (up and down) with some minor x-axis (left-right) movement. Therefore mainly flat with respect to subject movement. Verse 2: more and stronger x-axis (left-right) movement and some xy-axis (diagonal) movement. More dynamic than verse 1, but still basically flat with respect to subject movement. Bridge: very little movement after the first shot's x-axis skid across the stage. Flat. Verse 3: includes all the y-axis, x-axis, and xy-axis movement mentioned above, but also, now for the first time in the video, strong z-axis (front-back) movement like the ones hinted at in the stills on the next page.

Does camera angle differ from section to section of the video? If so, how? Verse 1: Normal, slightly high Verse 2: Normal, slightly high Bridge: Normal, slightly high Verse 3: Normal, slightly high, BUT ALSO EXTREMELY HIGH AND LOW

How is verse 3 different from verses 1 and 2 in terms of camera height? Is it more intense or less intense? Only in verse 3 do we see clearly low angle shots. The filmmakers have saved these angles for verse 3 in order to increase the intensity there. The low angles are inherently intense (for the reasons discussed in detail in an earlier unit) and their inclusion in verse 3 means that the editors can cut from high to low to normal to low to high to normal to low, etc, in order to gain intensity through contrast of angle from shot to shot.

UNIT 23

Rewatch “Breakaway” considering how Bruce Conner achieved the dynamic intensity in his film. Conner strobes each hi-speed, high contrast quarter-second clip of Basilotta with black frames and sequences his shots of the dancer in order to achieve maximum bodily displacement from pose to pose (for example, crouching down in one shot, stretching up in the next). Also, image size changes, contrast of costume, spoiled lab shots, and fogging shots

Rewatch “Valse triste” considering visual rhythm. The visual rhythm (determined by subject movement, camera movement, and cutting rates) picks up as the music's tempo increases.

Rewatch “Mothlight” asking why you sense of the film changes from moment to moment. Brakhage taped dried moth wings (and fragments of leaves and branches) directly onto the film stock and then made prints. Below are what some of the original strips of film look like.

Rewatch “Heart of the World” considering various contrasts – image size, direction, compositions, etc – from shot to shot. As you watch the film a second or third time - and you should probably watch it multiple times; it goes by so fast - notice things like contrast of image size from shot to shot and contrast of direction and orientation of line from shot to shot (for example, as Anna slides down into the Earth's core).

UNIT 24 redaction criticism - two versions of the "same" material subjective camera - the camera could literally show only what the narrator sees mindscreen - Instead of the camera showing us what the narrator literally sees exactly how he or she sees it, the camera shows us what the narrator "thinks"! Describe the ways Kubrick changed the characterization of Burgess’ cat lady. What about her home and its furnishings? her dialogue? On the whole, in the novel the picture of the catlady is one of a defenseless, slightly senile old woman. But in Kubrick's movie, she's an aggressive "cut-the-shit sonny" type woman. Her home is way mo...