Movies and Meaning- Pearson New International Edition

by Stephen Prince

  minutes, closely approximating that film’s running time.

  from an existing film that a director uses early in production

  Structure The audiovisual design of a film. The elements

  to show the composer the type of musical composition he or

  of structure include the camera, lights and color, production

  she wants.

  design, performance style, editing, sound, and narrative.

  Thematic Montage A style of editing that draws an explicit

  Subjective Shot Also known as a point-of-view shot. The comparison between two or more images, as when Charles

  camera’s position and angle represent the exact viewpoint of

  Chaplin compares workers and sheep in a pair of shots at

  a character in the narrative.

  the beginning of Modern Times.

  Subtractive Color Mixing The method for creating color in

  Tilt A type of camera movement in which the camera

  film. Magenta, cyan, and yellow dyes combined in color film

  pivots up and down on a fixed tripod or base. Tilts produce

  produce all other hues.

  vertical movement on screen and are often used to follow

  Super 35 Widescreen format that captures a 2:1 aspect

  action and reveal detail.

  ratio image on the camera negative. This image is then

  Tracking Shot A camera movement in which the camera

  typically cropped to 2.35:1 for theatrical release and to

  physically moves along the ground to follow action or to re-

  1.33:1 for full-frame home video release.

  veal significant narrative information. Tracking shots can be

  Supervising Art Director During the classical Hollywood

  executed by pushing the camera along tracks, by attaching

  era, this was the head of the art department who supervised

  the camera to a moving vehicle such as a car, or by using a

  art design in all the films under production at a studio.

  handheld Steadicam mount, in which case the camera opera-

  Supporting Player A performer in a secondary role who

  tor runs or walks alongside the action. Tracking shots are

  does not receive either the billing or the pay of a major

  sometimes called dolly shots , after the “dolly” or movable

  star. Many performers first establish themselves as sup-

  platform on which the camera is sometimes mounted.

  porting players before they become stars.

  Translite A photographic image, enlarged and backlit, this

  Surprise A narrative technique used to jolt or startle the

  is one of the basic tools of production design, used to simu-

  viewer. Creating surprise depends on withholding crucial

  late a large, scenic view in the background of a set.

  11

  Glossary

  Traveling Matte Travelling mattes enable filmmakers

  narrative or, as sometimes occurs in documentary films, the

  to insert moving foreground figures into a landscape

  narrator may exist independently of characters in the story.

  or other type of background that has been filmed sepa-

  Voyeurism A basic pleasure offered by cinema, derived

  rately. Accordingly, travelling mattes are an extremely

  from looking at the characters and situations on screen.

  valuable and widely-used tool of visual effects. They in-

  Wavelength The characteristic of light that corresponds to

  volve the application of a matte and counter-matte in or-

  color. Colors are visible when white light is broken down

  der to prevent double-exposures. These are composed of

  into component wavelengths.

  male and female mattes. A male matte, also known as a

  White Telephone Films Derogatory term for the glossy

  holdout matte, is a black silhouette of the foreground el-

  studio films produced by Cinecitta, Italy’s national studio,

  ement with all other areas of the film frame being trans-

  during the Mussolini period.

  parent. The opaque silhouette will block light from being

  transmitted through the film in this area during printing

  Wide-Angle Lens A short focal length lens that exagger-

  (or, if working digitally, during compositing). A f emale

  ates depth of field by increasing the size of near objects

  matte (also known as a cover matte) is the inverse of the

  and minimizing the size of distant objects. Because they

  male. The female matte is an opaque frame in which the

  can focus on near and far objects, wide-angle lenses can

  foreground figure is transparent. Tromp l’Oeil Optical

  capture great depth of field.

  illusions created by painting or other visual media. Matte

  Widescreen Ratios Any of a large number of aspect ra-

  paintings in cinema routinely employ tromp l’oeil tech-

  tios that exceed the nearly square, 1.37:1 ratio of classical

  niques to achieve the effects of perspective, scale, depth

  Hollywood film and 1.33:1 ratio of conventional television.

  and distance.

  Wide-screen films must be reformatted for video release us-

  Typage The manipulation of a screen character’s visual

  ing methods of letterboxing or panning-and-scanning.

  or physical characteristics to suggest psychological or social

  Wipe An editing transition prevalent in earlier decades of

  themes or ideas.

  sound film. A hard- or soft-edged line (generally vertical)

  Unit Art Director In the classic Hollywood studio system

  traveling across the frame marked the border of the outgoing

  in the 1930s and 1940s, the unit art director oversaw the

  and incoming shots. Although wipes are rare in contempo-

  creation of sets and costumes for a given production. The

  rary film, George Lucas used them extensively in Star Wars

  unit art director worked under a studio’s supervising art

  Episode I: The Phantom Menace to evoke the style of old

  director who supervised set and costume design on all of

  movie serials.

  the studio’s productions.

  Z-Axis Specifies the amount of depth in a digital image

  Virtual Camera Simulation via computer of the many ways

  along which objects are arranged or through which they

  in which a camera might view a scene. 2D animated films are

  move.

  shot with a real camera. 3D computer animation uses a vir-

  Z-Depth Map An image that supplies a graphic render-

  tual camera, mimicking the optical effects of different lenses,

  ing of depth values in a shot. It uses gray-scale values to

  depth of field, rack focusing, and panning-and-tracking

  visualize distances, ranging from white (objects nearest the

  movements. These are far more vivid in digital animation

  camera) to shades of gray to black (objects farthest from the

  than in 2D animation.

  camera).

  Visual Effects Supervisor Member of the production crew

  Zoom Lens A lens capable of shifting from short (wide-

  who oversees the design of a film’s special effects.

  angle) to long (telephoto) focal lengths. Using a zoom to

  Voice-Over Narration Dialogue spoken by an off-screen

  change focal lengths within a shot produces the impression

  narrator. This narrator may be a character reflecting in

  of camera mov
ement, making it seem as if the camera is

  voice-over on story events from some later point in the

  moving closer to or farther from its subject.

  12

  Film Structure

  OBJECTIVES

  After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

  ■ explain the nature of film structure and its

  ■ distinguish the three basic camera angles

  relation to the ways movies express meaning

  and describe the ways they influence viewer

  response

  ■ describe the production process and its

  relation to film structure

  ■ differentiate telephoto, wide-angle, and zoom

  lenses and explain their optical effects

  ■ describe the relation between film structure

  and the cinema’s properties of time and space

  ■ explain the basic categories of camera

  movement and their expressive functions

  ■ distinguish the three basic camera positions

  and their expressive functions

  ■ explain how a film’s structural design is

  shaped by a filmmaker’s choices about how to

  ■ describe how camera position can clarify the

  use the tools of style

  meaning of an actor’s facial expression and

  gestures

  From Chapter 1 of Movies and Meaning: An Introduction to Film, Sixth Edition. Stephen Prince.

  Copyright © 2013 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

  13

  Film Structure

  ■ describe the relation between the

  ■ explain how the camera creates images that

  camera’s view of things and human

  both correspond with and transform the

  perception

  viewer’s visual experience

  The shark in Jaws (1975) and the digital characters in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2004) thrilled and amused moviegoers throughout the world. Audiences have embraced films as diverse as Toy Story 3 (2010), True Grit (2010), The Social Network (2010), and The Dark Knight (2008). Each of these pictures provided its viewers with a strong cinematic experience, crafted by filmmakers using the elements of film structure: camerawork, lighting, sound, editing. To understand how movies express meanings and elicit emotions, one must begin by understanding their structural design. This chapter explains the concept of film structure, the camera’s role as an element of structure, and the relation between the camera’s method of seeing and a viewer’s understanding of cinema.

  ELEMENTS OF FILM STRUCTURE

  Structure refers to the audiovisual design of a film and the particular tools and techniques used to create that design. (Scholars sometimes refer to this by the term film form . Thus, one might speak of formal design or of structural design. The terminol-ogy is interchangeable.) A convenient way to illustrate this concept is to make a distinction between structure and content. Consider the average newspaper movie review. It provides a description of a film’s story and a paragraph or two about the characters and the actors who play them. In addition, the reviewer might mention the theme or themes of the film. These descriptions of story, character, and theme address the content of the movie.

  Now, instead of thinking about content, one could ask about those things that help to create the story, give shape to the characters, and illustrate and visualize the themes.

  These are questions about the elements of cinema—the camera, lights and color, production design, performance, editing, sound—and their organization in a given film.

  The Production Process

  A helpful way of understanding film structure is to map its components according to their place in the production process. When does production design occur? Cinematography? Editing? Filmmaking involves three basic steps or stages.

  Preproduction designates the planning and preparation stage. It typically involves the writing of a script; hiring of cast and crew; production design of sets, costumes, and locales; and planning the style of cinematography. Set design and camera style are both previsualized using software programs that enable filmmakers to “see”

  in advance how camera setups and lenses will look on the sets that are planned.

  Preproduction also sometimes includes a brief period of rehearsal for the actors.

  Production designates the work of filming the script (cinematography) and sound recording of the action. The director may request a temp track, a temporary musical score that is similar to the one that will be created for the film. Postproduction involves the editing of sound and image, composition and recording of the music score, additional sound recording for effects (Foley) and dialogue replacement (ADR), creation of digital visual effects (these also may occur during production), and color timing to achieve proper color balance in the images. This may be done digitally (known 14

  Film Structure

  PREPRODUCTION

  PRODUCTION

  POSTPRODUCTION

  Script

  Shooting & Sound

  Editing of Sound & Image

  optioning

  Recording of Scenes

  Music Scoring

  writing

  Foley

  revisions

  ADR

  Hiring of Cast and Crew

  Digital Effects

  Design of Sets and Costumes

  Color Timing (Digital/Lab)

  Plan Style of Cinematography

  Release Prints

  Rehearsals

  FIGURE 1

  The production process.

  as digital grading) or using traditional lab methods. Copies of the film are then made for exhibition, either as prints (on film) or as digital video.

  Because filmmakers apply the elements of structure at different points in the production process, these elements can be used to modify or influence one another. A director might realize that a scene as filmed lacks emotional force and may turn to the composer for music to supply the missing emotion or to the editor to sharpen its dramatic focus. A cinematographer in postproduction may alter the image captured on film by using digital grading to adjust color, contrast, and other elements.

  TITANIC (PARAMOUNT/20TH CENTURY FOX, 1997)

  Titanic’s production design evokes a now-vanished early-twentieth-century world.

  Meticulously detailed costumes and sets are an essential part of the film’s structural design.

  Frame enlargement.

  15

  Film Structure

  The Role of the Director

  A wide range of creative personnel design picture and sound on any given production. While filmmaking is a collaborative enterprise, one individual has chief artistic authority, and this is usually the director . The director coordinates and organizes the artistic inputs of other members of the production team, who generally subordinate their artistic tastes or preferences to a director’s stated wishes or vision. The director, in turn, answers to the producer , who generally has administrative control over a production (e.g., making sure the production stays on schedule and within budget).

  In practice, though, many producers hold more than administrative authority and are actively engaged with the director’s creative decisions, especially if the producer is a powerful figure in the industry.

  Great variety exists in the working methods of directors. Some directors, such as Robert Altman ( Gosford Park , 2001; The Player , 1992), welcome input from other production team members in a spirit of shared collective artistry. Other directors, such as Alfred Hitchcock or Charles Chaplin, tend to be more autocratic and commanding in their creative approaches. Some directors, such as Woody Allen ( Match Point , 2005; Deconstructing Harry , 1997), Steven Spielberg ( The War of the Worlds , 2005; Saving Private Ryan , 1998), and Stanley Kubrick ( Full Metal Jacket , 1987; Eyes Wide Shut , 1999), take an active role in the editing of their pictures. Most directors pla
ce special emphasis on the quality of the script, believing a polished script to be essential to making a good film. Clint Eastwood’s best films as director, Million Dollar Baby (2004), Mystic River (2003), and Unforgiven (1993), feature exquisitely written scripts.

  Most directors maintain enduring relationships with key production personnel.

  As these relationships deepen over the course of several productions, the creative, collaborative work that results becomes richer. Steven Spielberg, for example, has used cinematographer Janusz Kaminski for War Horse (2011), Munich (2005), The War of the Worlds (2005), The Terminal (2004), Saving Private Ryan (1998), and others. Clint Eastwood relied on production designer Henry Bumstead for eleven films, including Million Dollar Baby (2004), Mystic River (2003), and Unforgiven (1993). Woody Allen invariably relies on editor Susan E. Morse, as does Martin Scorsese with editor Thelma THE IMMIGRANT (MUTUAL FILM

  CORP., 1917)

  Charles Chaplin was the complete film-

  maker. He wrote, directed, performed

  in, edited, and composed the music for

  his films. Many said that, were it pos-

  sible, he’d have played all the characters

  as well. He rarely worked from a com-

  pleted script. He preferred to build a set,

  dress it with props, and then explore

  its comic possibilities, making up gags

  as he went along. Performance, not

  camerawork, was the centerpiece of his

  films. Here, Charlie and his companion

  (Edna Purviance) have no cash to pay for

  the meal they’ve just eaten. The hulk-

  ing waiter (Eric Campbell) suspects the

  worst. Frame enlargement.

  16

  Film Structure

  Schoonmaker. George Lucas relied on Ben Burtt as the sound designer for all six of the Star Wars films. The continuities established by these professional relationships are vitally important to a director’s ability to get what he or she wants on the screen.

  Time and Space in Cinema

  The elements of cinematic structure, organized by directors and their production teams, help to shape the distinctive properties of time and space in a film. A convenient way of thinking about the arts is to consider the properties of time and/or space that they possess. Music, for example, is primarily an art of time. Its effects arise through the arrangement of tones in a musical composition that has some duration or length. Movies, by contrast, are an art of time as well as space.