The Origins of Films- Livia

The first ever film, "L' Arrive O' Un Train A La Coilat" was shown to an audience on the 28th December 1895 in France. As the film was not edited, there was no editior responsible for it.
When first watching the film, the reaction from the audience was very strange. They became scared and shocked, some of them even went as far as trying to flee the theatre in fear of actually being run over by the coming train. I feel as though they reacted in this manner as they had never expirenced anything like that before and it took the aback.

Nicked name "The Father of Cinema", Loui Lumiere was responsible for inventing the "Cinematography. This was a machine that helped screen films via projection. Auguste Lumiere was the first film star at that period. He also lended his helping hand to Loui Lumiere when he worked on the creation of the Cinematography. Contridictively, although he was involve in the devolopment of cinematography, he stated that he saw 'no future' in it.

A few years on, George Mellies  wrote a film called "La Voyage Dans La Lune". This interprets as "A Voyage To The Moon" from French to English, in 1902. In 1892 he came up with the 'stop-strick'  using numerous explosure, timelapse photography and dissolves to do this. Later on, an American Rock band showed their inspiration and appreciation for Mellies work by naming the boat they used in their music video "Tonight, Tonight" after him.

During 1902, Edwin Stanton Portor directed a classic American film called "The Great Train Robbery". The film see a train literally being robbed by a group of highjackers. The reason it was successful because it was the longest film that had been shown, at that period. It also used a lot of diffirent camera angles and shots.

Niklelodeon is a dated theatre which at the time only cost a nickle to get into.

Unit 22 3 Point Lighting

Back Light:

• The back light in a production is the light that prevents the footage on screen looking dull and lifeless. It is also used to used to stop the imgae from blending in with the background. The position of the backlight is at a 45degrees angle pointing down. However it is can be found just behind and above the image being shown on the camera. 

Key Light:

• As the most vital and important lighting of all three types, it provides the set with an a general light that makes visable everything a lit. It can sometimes be refered to as the 'primary' form of lighting. Primary, meaning first. This is light can be found located on the left hand side of the set at approximately 45degrees, depending on how spacious the set is. 

Fill Light:

• This particular peice of lighting aids the camera on picking every little deatil on screen that may have been erased or blocked out by the two previous lighting methods. This is can be found on the right side of the set. This is in order to achieve the best possible result of using a fill light. 

Single Camera Drama 'Love At First Sight'

Single Camera Drama Evaluation:

My short film see's me falling in love with Mahan, at the first sight. It shows me inside the classroom doing some work on the computer. At this point the image is in black and white the show 'my' life before meeting him (dull and gloomy). However when it gets closer to me meeting him the image turns in to colour to anticipate the next shots and also to link the contrasting background colours to 'my' feelings. As I head of out of the classroom (2nd location) I walk into Mahan, heading in. Our eyes meet and become inseparable for the remainder of the shot. Next, we cut to an elliptical edit of Mahan and I on our knees picking up some pieces of paper from the floor. This is of course suggest that we bumped into each other later on that day. There is the non-diejectic sound of Whitney Houston s- I will always love you playing in the background. I ran back, in an slow motion effect to find Mahan and came to the realisation that he's gone, and the my reaction it seems somewhat forever. I throw my papers up in the air in a wide shot and begin to spin around in a zoom, close up as the camera pans around me.

I really enjoyed making this video. The two things that I could have done better and will try and work on for future projects would be to; get the work done as soon as it's set and stop the procrastination which is seem to be making a habit of. I need to focusing on the pre-production and concentrate on the post.

Introduction To Editing

a) Watch the 'Introduction to Editing' video. Take notes about editing here:
The Gloaming

• What is editing?

Editing is the selection of different shots and putting it together in order to tell a story.• What is Elliptical editing?

• Why are long shots used?

 The usage of the longs shot in the short film is used to show the audience the location of the and remind that she is alone.

• What is ‘non-diagetic sound’?

This is sound that has been edited into the footage. An example of this would be a soundtrack of music. It is 'natural' sound that cannot be justified by the actions on screen. 

•  How do we know she is bending down to pick up the ring? (what shots are used and why?)

We know she is bending down to pick up the ring because the director uses a eye line match from the girl looking down and a to the right of the camera frame. It then cuts from the girl, to the ring and allows the audience to make the connect. This is quicker and more effective way of making the same point of just an ordinary long shot of the same action. 
Hustle

•  Overhead establishing shot – what does this achieve?

This introduces this characters to the audience and establishes their positions around the room. 

• What is Shot-Reverse-Shot?
This is a conversational edit between 2 or more characters. It sees the camera cutting back and fourth between either characters. 

•  What is Eye-line matching?

Eye-line matching is when the eye-line between two characters match. E.g In Hustle, the bar man eye-line is off screen and down as he talks to Matt De Angelo's character.  Because De Angelo's character is sitting down his eye-line is off screen and up and show that he is speaking to the barman who is standing. By the angle of their eyes, we can assume that they are looking at each other.  

• Why do we cut to the other members of the group?

The camera cuts to other members of the group in order to show the audience their reactions to the plan being laid out by 'Sean' and their reactions to each other.The director does this in one and two shots of the characters. 

• What is a wipe?

The 'wipe' effect is used in the extract to move the story along to another location. It also represent the change of time within the show. 

• What is the effect of using quick cuts?

Using quick cuts has a correlation with the kind of show Hustle is. It represents this quick working and thinking. Some of the shots last longer than others. The quick cuts keep up with the pace of the show. 


b) Now watch ‘Editing: The Invisible Art’ and take notes:

•  How can editing build tension and pace?

Editing has the ability to build tension and pace but slowing down the shots and making them last longer
• What is crosscutting?

This is when the camera cuts from two different shots in which an the same actions are taking place. Eg the cliff climbing in the 1930's film. the camera cross-cuts to show the progress of e.g. character.

•  What are reaction shots?

Reactions shot are literally what a shot of the characters face to essential, show their reactions. 

• What is seamless editing?

this effect of editing involves the audience on the story happening on screen. It sticks to the convention of hollywood editing. 

• What is a jump cut?

This is very conventional and risky as it exposes the edit of the footage. Jean Luc Goddard explored these techniques often in his films and became famous for it. 

• What is a flash back and what does it achieve?

This effect moves the audience from one point in time to the other. It reveals some thing happened in the past and makes the audience aware of what or why something is happen in the present. It feels in the backstory of the character's life. 

•  How can editing be used poetically?

Editing can be used poetically to make the audience actively think about the relation that two scene have. 

C. Watch ‘Playing with Time’ – watch the film ‘The Gloaming’. Write a short evaluation of the editing used in this film. Refer to detailed examples from the film and use the terminology you have learnt today.