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1. The Frame
Key Terms and Concepts:
1. Aspect Ratio-the ratio between the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the screen.
2. Widescreen-a movie image that has an aspect ratio of approximate 5: 3, though some widescreens possess horizontal dimensions that extend as wide as 2.5 times the vertical dimension of the screen.
3. Masking- a technique whereby a portion of the movie image is blocked out, thus temporarily alters the dimensions of the screen’s aspect ratio.
"Masking a movie is just like using a cookie cutter on a piece of dough. You have a flat chunk of dough rolled out into a square. You grab a cookie cutter - perhaps a circle - and press down on the dough. When you lift up, the only thing that has changed about the dough is the shape. You didn’t change the flavor or the look of it - just the shape.
Masking a movie is the same."
4. Iris– a masking device that black out portions of the screen, permitting only a part of the image to be seen. Usually, the iris is circular or oval in shape and can be expanded or contracted.
5. Viewfinder- an eyepiece on the camera that defines the playing area and the framing of the action to be photographed.
6. Formalists –a style of filmmaking in which aesthetic forms take precedence over the subject matter as content. Time and space as ordinarily perceived are often distorted. Emphasis is on the essential, symbolic characteristics of objects and people, not necessarily on their superficial appearance. Formalists are often lyrical, self –consciously heightening their style to call attention to it as a value for its own sake.
7. Deep-focus long shot- a technique of photography that permits all distance planes to remain clearly in focus, from close-up ranges to infinity.
8. Medium Shot- a relatively close shot, revealing the human figure from the knees or waist up.
FILM REFERENCES
Title: Manhattan
Year of Production (YoP): USA, 1979; directed by Woody Allen.
Reason: The staging shows characters conversing, and in combination with low key lighting and set image, it gives the scene a romantic atmosphere. This is an example of main points the are covered when talking about Mise en scene.
Title: Notorious
YoP: USA, 1946; directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Reason: Hitchcock is a formailst who calculates effects with precision. In the frame used in the book the Mise en scene is in perfect comparison to the heroine's entrapment.
Title: Production photo from Shaft
YoP: USA, 2000; directd by John Singleton
Reason: This shows that anything off-frame is not important for the duration of the shot, therefore each shot must be framed with a purpose to be the best it can.
Title: Bend It Like Beckham
YoP: Britain, 2003; directed by Gurinder Chadha
Reason: It shows that the top frame is often connected to something powerful, or having prestige or "god-like qualities."
Title: Gosford Park
YoP: USA/Britain, 2001; directed by Robert Altman
Reason: It shows that Widescreen is especially effective on showing a large cast (ensemble cast) or large set. When using widescreen, you must be careful, because some of your shots may get goofed up because the different aspect ratio that the widescreen format uses.
Title: The Indian in the Cuphoard
YoP: USA, 1995; directed by Frank Oz
Reason: The Mise en scene of live theater is typically scaled in proportion to the human figure. Mise en Scene can be both cosmic (big) or microscopic, depending on the subject of the shot.
Title: Greed
YoP: USA, 1924; Erich von Stroheim
Reason: This shows that "highly symmertrical designs are often used when a director wishes to stress stability and harmony" (Giannetti, 59). This can both hurt or help the shot, depending on how it is framed and used, and must agree with what the shot it is trying to accomplish.
Critical Thinking Questions:
1) Why would someone want to take a still frame of a movie?
2) Why would a Frame of the shot be also called an isolation device?
3) What different effects would object placing do to a frame of an extreme long shot?
4) Why would the edges of the frame be considered insignificant and what would directors place in that section?
5) What areas of the movie set would bring a different feeling into the viewer? and emotions do those areas give?
Links
1) The different dimentions of the camera frame along with the types of film used, as well as a simple definition of what a film frame is.
2) A more in depth coverage of widescreen which gives information on the types of lenses used and the type of film used from the 1920s to today.
3) A more indepth definition of
formalism.
Bigue's Additions-
The Frame
1. Aspect Ratio-the ratio between the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the screen.
2. Widescreen-a movie image that has an aspect ratio of approximate 5: 3, though some widescreens possess horizontal dimensions that extend as wide as 2.5 times the vertical dimension of the screen.
3. Masking- a technique whereby a portion of the movie image is blocked out, thus temporarily alters the dimensions of the screen’s aspect ratio.
"Masking a movie is just like using a cookie cutter on a piece of dough. You have a flat chunk of dough rolled out into a square. You grab a cookie cutter - perhaps a circle - and press down on the dough. When you lift up, the only thing that has changed about the dough is the shape. You didn’t change the flavor or the look of it - just the shape.
Masking a movie is the same."
4. Iris– a masking device that black out portions of the screen, permitting only a part of the image to be seen. Usually, the iris is circular or oval in shape and can be expanded or contracted.
"This is an iris shot, a device that was popular in silent films."
5. Viewfinder- an eyepiece on the camera that defines the playing area and the framing of the action to be photographed.
6. Formalists –a style of filmmaking in which aesthetic forms take precedence over the subject matter as content. Time and space as ordinarily perceived are often distorted. Emphasis is on the essential, symbolic characteristics of objects and people, not necessarily on their superficial appearance. Formalists are often lyrical, self –consciously heightening their style to call attention to it as a value for its own sake.
7. Deep-focus long shot- a technique of photography that permits all distance planes to remain clearly in focus, from close-up ranges to infinity.
8. Medium Shot- a relatively close shot, revealing the human figure from the knees or waist up.
FILM REFERENCES
Title: Manhattan
Year of Production (YoP): USA, 1979; directed by Woody Allen.
Reason: The staging shows characters conversing, and in combination with low key lighting and set image, it gives the scene a romantic atmosphere. This is an example of main points the are covered when talking about Mise en scene.
Title: Notorious
YoP: USA, 1946; directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Reason: Hitchcock is a formailst who calculates effects with precision. In the frame used in the book the Mise en scene is in perfect comparison to the heroine's entrapment.
Title: Production photo from Shaft
YoP: USA, 2000; directd by John Singleton
Reason: This shows that anything off-frame is not important for the duration of the shot, therefore each shot must be framed with a purpose to be the best it can.
Title: Bend It Like Beckham
YoP: Britain, 2003; directed by Gurinder Chadha
Reason: It shows that the top frame is often connected to something powerful, or having prestige or "god-like qualities."
Title: Gosford Park
YoP: USA/Britain, 2001; directed by Robert Altman
Reason: It shows that Widescreen is especially effective on showing a large cast (ensemble cast) or large set. When using widescreen, you must be careful, because some of your shots may get goofed up because the different aspect ratio that the widescreen format uses.
Title: The Indian in the Cuphoard
YoP: USA, 1995; directed by Frank Oz
Reason: The Mise en scene of live theater is typically scaled in proportion to the human figure. Mise en Scene can be both cosmic (big) or microscopic, depending on the subject of the shot.
Title: Greed
YoP: USA, 1924; Erich von Stroheim
Reason: This shows that "highly symmertrical designs are often used when a director wishes to stress stability and harmony" (Giannetti, 59). This can both hurt or help the shot, depending on how it is framed and used, and must agree with what the shot it is trying to accomplish.
Critical Thinking Questions:
1) Why would someone want to take a still frame of a movie?
2) Why would a Frame of the shot be also called an isolation device?
3) What different effects would object placing do to a frame of an extreme long shot?
4) Why would the edges of the frame be considered insignificant and what would directors place in that section?
5) What areas of the movie set would bring a different feeling into the viewer? and emotions do those areas give?
Links
1) The different dimentions of the camera frame along with the types of film used, as well as a simple definition of what a film frame is.
2) A more in depth coverage of widescreen which gives information on the types of lenses used and the type of film used from the 1920s to today.
3) A more indepth definition of
formalism.
Bigue's Additions-
The Frame
- The frame defines the world of the film, separating from audience….film is temporal as well as spatial, visuals are constantly in motion. Frames are meant to be shown within the context of their movement.
- Aspect Ratio is the horizontal and vertical width of the frame.
- Widescreen in 1950’s widened aspect ratio…2:35:1 or 16:9
- Hitchcock the Formalist thought that an unmanipulated reality is filled with irrelevancies…”I do not follow the geography of the set, I follow the geography of the screen”….psychological tensions are conveyed by the placement of the camera and the way the actors are arranged in space….(see pic p. 50)
- When technique and subject matter are fused together, our aesthetic pleasure is heightened because we can appreciate the challenge in the expression.
- Masking is method used to hide portions of the frame with black.
- The frame delineates reality, it is an isolating device.
- Frame can be used as a spying device
- Center, Top, bottom and sides can be used to for symbolic purposes
- Center is the intrinsic interest of the frame but it is the “norm” and therefore is visually undramatic. Central dominance is desired when the subject matter is intrinsically compelling.
- Top of the frame is associated with ideas dealing with power, authority and aspiration
- Mis En Scene is essentially an art of the long and extreme long shot because moving in any closer eliminates the options for distributing visual elements.
- Bottom of the frame can signify submissiveness, weakness,
- Left and right edges can show insignificance
- The outside of the frame can also be used or spaced behind the set or in front of the camera.
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Latest page update: made by dbigue
, Oct 10 2006, 10:26 PM EDT
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