Thursday, March 12, 2009

READING A FILM

READING FILM15.10Reading film-film is a language, has to be learnt-communicative, there is a grammar, structure-words/sentances/paragraphs-lighting/shots/etc etc-visual medium; every element is visually present-you get the directors' vision, not so much your own-perception can be different-DENOTATIVE VS CONNOTATIVE OBSERVATION-(direct)vs(associative)-two levels in which our mind works-connotative viewing requires the observer to draw upon his culture educational & psychological background in order to interpret that image-the more film literate you are the more you will lend yourself to the connotative level-a filmmakers greatest challenge is to create a perfect combination..........[trilogy:fire earth water]-cultural background has large effect on opinion"CONNOTATIVE"-METONYMY VS SYNECDOCHE-These two terms are drawn form literature& are closely related; they compliment each other as the two main ways to use connotative meaning in film.-met...[from Greek, means "substitute -film is not just a linear medium, but also spatial-it draws our attention to the frame, and how objects are placed in the scene-This was named by Bazin in the 50s as "mis-en-scene"-the time based story is called "mantage" which means "putting together"MIS-EN-SCENE-because we work within a confined frame the first factor we need to mention is our aspect ratio. various AR's work better for various scenes (eg, cinescope & landscapes)Closed vs Open Form:does the shot remain static, leading is to believe there is nothing outside the fame, or are we panning & tracking around the room, giving it a more open feel.-does the camera move at all? are we getting closer or further from the action? Or are we staying at the same place throughout-brain can only digest 2.5 images in a frame-there is always one element in a shot which draws our attention first"dominent element"-the element can be a key clue for the plot, it can be bright light that contrasts a dark scene, an action-size does matter..the bigger an object in the frame the greater its importance/focus-rule of thirds-position of camera;from below empowers charactor-by using spatial framing, we can create dominance in relationships \-vertical alignment-the higher an object/person in the frame, the more dominant it is-space head of charactor fills up-focus:soft/harsh........../lolita, stanley coubrickclocky org -lines, symetry
Evon Productions