Key Terms and Concepts:

-Bazin thought that abstraction and artifice ought to be minimum. The materials in reality should be able to speak for themselves.

-Bazin belived that reality must be heightend somewhat in cinema, director must reveal

-Cinema occupies a unique middle position between the sprawl of raw life and the artifically re-created worlds of the traditional arts.

-Filmaker can also preserve actual time and space by panning, craning, tilting, or trcking rather than cutting to individual shots.

Pg: 183-185

• Technology tends to alter the technique
• Since sound became part of the film itself directors had to edit more whether they wished to or not.
• Microphones not had to be placed on the set restricting the mobility of the camera and the actors
• Since sound now had to be synchronized with the visuals, scenes were now becoming sequence shots so there would be less cuts in the scenes.
• Blimps were sound proof camera housings that allowed to move with ease and the audio could later be dubbed.
• Bazin believed that with the incorporation of sound into film could be more realistic than before. The actors did not have to exaggerate movement as much, which revolutionized the acting from theatrical to film acting.
• Films could convey ideas and information much quicker through dialogue.
• Deep –Focus allowed for depth with in the composition of the shot It is most effective when it is used in a time and space has not been altered
• Deep focus is seen more as a theatrical technique than cinematic because is helps mise en scene rather the simple juxtaposition of shots.
• Widescreen helped to preserve spatial and temporal continuity
  Nouvelle vague or New Wave: a group of French directors who came to prominence in the 1950's. they believed that technique was meanigful only in terms of subject matter. they popularized the idea that what a movie says has to do with how its said. they insisted that editing styles should be determined by the essence of the subject matter.

Pg. 186-188

• Ambiguity of life: audiences aren't led to an inevitable conclusion but are forced to evaluate on their own.
• neorealism: a style of filming prominent in Italy after World War II, characterized by a concern for social issues and often shot on location with untrained actors.
• deep focus photography: tighter apertures to create very large depth of field in the scenes, often rendering every detail of the foreground and background of the sets in sharp focus.
• Widescreen provoked a wail of protest from many critics and directors.
• Filmmakers discovered that the most expressive parts of a person's face were the eyes and mouth, and consequently close-ups that chopped off the tops and bottoms of actors' faces weren't as disastrous as had been predicted.
  

Films Referenced

Safety Last (USA, 1923)
Bazin believed that scenes gained emotional impact through the unity of space, not the juxtaposition of shots. The hero and the street are kept in the same frame. the distance between the two is exaggerated due to the placement of the camera; but the presentaion of the scene is realistic

Utamaro and His Five Women (Japan, 1955)
MIzoguchi prefered lenghty shots and only used cuts when a psychological shift occured within the scene. This preserves the realism of the scene and hightened the dramatic impact

Clerks (USA, 1994)
Legnthy shots require one setup, and when money is an issue in creating a movie, it may be smarter to have you actors memorize lengthy scenes in orde r to save money and not have to deal with the reposition of the camera and the waste of film. Clerks was shot for $27575.


The Straight Story (USA, 1999)
American movies are usually edited at a fast pace w/o any slackness or "dead spots" between the shots. The straight Story is an exception because it is cut at a very, very slow pace- to approximate the chugging progress of the tractor.




Amelie (France, 2001)
The exuberant tone of the movie is mostly due to Jeunet's playful editing, but the special effects also contribute.



Stranger than paradise (U.S.A., 1984)
Far form being primitive, the sequence-shot technique produces a sophisticated, wry effect, bizarre, and funny.

-Dog Day Afternoon (U.S.A., 1975)- Director was a relist but used an obtrusive style of editing, using jump cuts and shaky fotage.

-Jurassic Park (U.S.A., 1993)- Very realistic bcuase it had life size dinosarous in the same rame as the scared actors, this is somthing unique because having sperate shots for the characters and the feared object was cost eficent. Bazin would have applauded Spielbergs ability to do this.

-The Sorrow and the Pity (France/Switzerland/W. Germany 1970)- Marcel Ophuls thought that keeping editing to the minimum was key becuase if you used extenisve editing, it can compromise the authenticity of the documentary.

-Looking for Richard (U.S.A., 1996)- Directed by Al Pacino, it is a documentary about him, most of the shots have a voice over describing each thing. Movie was dazzling to teachers and students alike.

Critical Questions for Review with Answers

What are the defaults to haveing sound in a film?

1. it restrics the mobility of the camera as well as the actors
2. it causes more of the scenes to be shot from stationary wide positions, usually showing more than need be
3. more editing is involved due to synchronizing sound with movement

What are some of the advantages to having sound in films?

1. It allows for the story to be developed quicker (dialouge)
2. it is more realistic

What invention allowed for more movement of the camera?

The Blimp: a soundproof camera housing that muffles the noise of the camera's motor so sound can be clearly recorded on set

Links-
More info on Andre Bazin
Tutorial on how to Synchronize sound in certain applications
infor on Dubbing techniques

Introduction of widescreen films
Website that shows the advantages of widescreen films.