Film

Communications 100 Interpersonal Analysis Effective interpersonal communication is crucial to development of all denominations of relationships between two or more individuals; from roll relationships shared between a doctor and patient, to platonic relationships shared between friends. Chiefly, interpersonal communication is arguably the most essential aspect contributing to the success or failure of a romantic relationship between a dyad.

Communication directly influences the type of relationship participants share, how the relationship unfolds, and how satisfying that relationship is to the individuals sharing it. A lack of communication between individuals in an intimate relationship, such as one shared between a boyfriends and a girlfriend, typically results in mutual dissatisfaction which can lead to a decline in health of the individuals, both physically and emotionally, and ultimately, the disintegration of the relationship altogether.

Read also Analysis of Characters in Flannery O’Connor’s “”

Romantic relationships develop and change over time as people communicate with one another. The evolution of the relationship can be depicted through four specific models; Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor’s Social Penetration Theory, Mark Knapp and Anita Vangelisti’s Knapp’s Stage Model, Leslie Baxter and Connie Bullis’s Turning Point Model and, Leslie Baxter’s Dialectical Theory. The progression of romantic relationships can easily be analyzed in films because they are vividly depicted and often over exaggerated.

Michael Mann’s 2009 film, Public Enemies, an adaptation of the non-fiction book by Bryan Burrough, Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34, chronicles the progression of the romantic relationship between the notorious bank robber John Dillinger and Billie Frechette while he is pursued by FBI agent Melvin Purvis in the midst of the Great Depression. The relationship Frechette and Dillinger carry out in the film perfectly displays the natural progression of an intimate relationship through the first five steps of the staircase in Knapp’s Stage Model.

Knapp’s Stage Model is a communication model that conceptualizes relational development as a staircase consisting of five steps, with each step representing a respective stage of the relationship, that lead up toward commitment followed by five steps that descend from commitment towards the end of a relationship. The five steps that lead upwards towards commitment in chronological order are: initiating, experimenting, intensifying, integrating, and bonding. John Dillinger and Billie Frechette met one night at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago where the initiating stage occurred.

Initiating is when the individuals try to establish as positive an impression of oneself as possible to appear likeable and pleasant. This stage is where the first impressions are made from a greetings and physical appearance. However, in order for the initiating stage to occur, the individuals need to signal interest in initiating contact at all. In our society, especially historically in time periods like the Great Depression, men typically initiate heterosexual romantic relationships, but only after the woman sends cues that they are single and interested primarily through kinesics nonverbal communication like eye contact and smiles.

Dellinger can’t see Billie anymore. Billie reappears, dancing with a young man. Dillinger keeps his eye on Billie. Music ends. Young man escorts her to her table. He tries to join her. She turns him down. Dillinger finishes his drink, approaches. He now sees how beautiful Billie is. She looks Dillinger straight in the eye. Clear skin, dark eyes with humor playing about the edges. He unexpectedly starts to feel nervous. He gives her his best grin. Next is the initiating stage where Dillinger initiates communication following a standard interpersonal script for meeting a new person consisting of an icebreaker and beginning an introduction.

Billie forms a first impression of Dillinger based on her perceptions of him. Billie categorizes him by labeling him in her mind as “Not a hustler” and interprets that “he’s holding something back” from the sensory input she selected to focus on. She then provides feedback showing her mutual interest to proceed to the experimenting stage. DILLINGER I don’t know what you said to your friend, but I sure am glad you did. What’s your name? Billie looks him over: a well-made man in a good suit with a great smile. And, paradoxes: he easily talks to women but he’s not a hustler. He’s young, but there’s a world of experience in his face.

Open, but he’s holding something back. BILLIE Billie Frechette. DILLINGER Can I buy you a drink? Billie rises and they cross the bar. Is that French? BILLIE On my father’s side. There’s an “e” at the end. Do you have a name? DILLINGER Jack Harris. Music changes to “Bye Bye Blackbird. ” The experimenting stage on relational development is when the participants try to learn more about each other by asking questions and start to self-disclose information to establish common interests. Typically, the proxemics observed between two people who are just beginning to become acquainted is at a personal distance of eighteen inches to four feet.

However, because the progression of relationship between Dillinger and Frechette is depicted in a film that is just under two hours in duration, the experimenting stage is combined with the proceeding intensifying stage. Thus, Billie and Dillinger quickly move to an intimate distance while dancing to increase their connectedness. This stage is full of “tests. ” First, individuals test the potential of progressing the relationship further by increasing self-disclosure to see if the other reciprocates the same level of disclosure and gain feedback on their impressions.

Billie tests Dillinger to see how he reacts to her ethnicity in era in which darker physical characteristics were not valued as highly on the social comparison scale of attractiveness. Billie expresses her self-concept perceptions that that been influenced by the reflected appraisals from society when she shares her primary identity by stating “I’m Menominee Indian,” and secondary identity by stating “I check coats at the Steuben Club. ” BILLIE Do you dance, Jack? DILLINGER I don’t know how. BILLIE How come you don’t know how to dance? It’s easy. Follow me.

This is a two-step. She smiles a pretty smile at him. She stays an inch or two distant in his arms. It’s slow and languorous. He follows her with little difficulty. DILLINGER My, but you are pretty. They look into each other’s eyes. He pulls her closer, wants to kiss her long smooth neck. He almost can’t resist… Their lips are an inch apart. And then she rests her cheek on his shoulder and the kiss that wasn’t hangs in the air around them. He whispers… Daddy’s French, what’s on the other side? BILLIE Im Menominee Indian OK. But most men don’t like that…

She glares at him. DILLINGER I’m not most men. BILLIE And I check coats at the Steuben Club. What do you do, Jack? DILLINGER I’m catching up. BILLIE Catching up on what? DILLINGER On life, meeting someone like you. Dark, beautiful, like the black bird in that song He touches her hair. She laughs at the flattery. Holds his eyes a beat with an ironic look. He returns the look. They look away. Say, how’d you like some dinner? Billy nods. He nods courteously to her girlfriends, grabs her coat, puts a hand around Billie’s waist and steers her out. It’s cold in the street.

Dillinger pulls her close. Following, is the integration stage of relationship growth. During the fourth step, the deepest levels of self-disclosure begin signaling trust and intimacy and the individuals portray themselves as couple. Billie and Dillinger go to a restaurant together appearing to others as a couple. This scene also perfectly illustrates the three key factors necessary in the influence of one’s attraction to another: proximity, physical attractiveness, and similarity. GOLD COAST RESTAURANT – NIGHT Dillinger slips him bills. He and Billie are shown to a table.

The clientele is North Shore old money and businessmen. Some of the women are in dazzling dresses even though it’s mid-Depression. A few stare at Billie. She’s out of her class. BILLIE What is it, exactly that you do for a living? She stares at him, ignoring her menu. He looks over the top of his menu DILLINGER. I’m John Dillinger. I rob banks. That’s where all these people here put their money. BILLIE Why’d you tell me that? You could have made up a story… DILLINGER ‘Cause I ain’t gonna lie to you. BILLIE That’s a pretty serious thing to say to a girl you just met.

DILLINGER I know you. BILLIE Well, I don’t know you…I haven’t been any place or done anything. DILLINGER Some of the places I been ain’t so hot. Where I’m going is a lot better. Wanna come along? BILLIE Boy, you are in a hurry. DILLINGER If you were looking at what I am looking at, you’d be in a hurry too. Laughs at his flattery, which she is also finding persuasive, then leans in. BILLIE Well, it’s me they’re looking at this time. DILLINGER That’s ’cause you’re beautiful. BILLIE They’re looking at me because they’re not used to having a girl in their restaurant in a three-dollar dress.

He takes her hand DILLINGER Listen, doll, that’s ’cause they’re all about where people come from. Only thing important is where somebody’s going. She smiles excitedly BILLIE Where are you going? DILLINGER Anywhere I want. Let’s get out of here. She nods. They get up, get their things and he leads her with his hand on the small of her back. On their way… a man intercepts Dillinger. (To Billie): Go wait outside. I’ll be right there. Billie turns and walks out of the restaurant. Finally, the fifth stage of the relational development incline towards commitment is bonding.

The bonding stage is where the relationship is characterized by public commitment. STEUBEN CLUB- NIGHT Dillinger enters, sees Billie talking with another hostess checking coats and hats. BILLIE (Without looking up at Dillinger): May I check your coat, sir? DILLINGER You ran out on me. BILLIE You left me standing alone on the sidewalk. She places her hand on her hip DILLINGER If you’re going to be my girl, you have to swear you’ll never, ever do that again. A CUSTOMER comes up and puts his ticket on the counter. BILLIE (Ignoring customer) Hey! I’m not your girl!

And I’m not going to say that DILLINGER I’m waiting. CUSTOMER So am I. DILLINGER (to Billie) “I am not ever going to run out on you again. ” Say it. BILLIE No. DILLINGER Well, I ain’t ever gonna run out on you. And that’s a promise. CUSTOMER Well, I want to run out of here. So, lady, will you get my coat…? Dillinger swings him to the counter, grabs the man’s ticket, slams through the half door, finds the man’s coat, tosses it at him… DILLINGER (To Customer): Hit the road Sport. Beat the tip. (To Billie): You ain’t getting other people’s hats and coats no more either.

You’re with me now. He takes her coat and holds it for her. She doesn’t move. BILLIE I don’t know anything about you. DILLINGER I was raised on a farm in Mooresville, Indiana. My ma died when I was three. My daddy beat the hell out of me because he didn’t know no better way to raise me I like baseball, movies, good clothes, fast cars, and you. What else do you need to know? She gets into her coat. Dillinger opens the door for her. Although this interaction is fictional, John Dillinger and Billie Frechette really did carry out a relationship that progressed much like the one depicted above.

How does mise-en-scene create meaning and provoke response in the opening of American Beauty? The opening scene of American Beauty shows a teenage girl lying in a bed, venting her feelings towards her father. In this, the audience sees her in dull clothing and colours, minimal make-up and has greasy-looking hair. As she sits up, her hair falls around her face and she stares directly into the camera, giving a sense of unease to the audience. The next shot is an establishing shot, showing the street where the main character, Leister, lives.

Its fall/autumn time and the trees are bare or dying, possibly indicating and foreshadowing a death later on in the movie. Also the streets are very linear, all vertical and in uniform, as it were. The opening very much portrays emptiness and dysfunctional family relationships. A perfect example of this would be the bedroom shot; the room is very empty and bland. The colour scheme looks very neutral as the walls, carpets, sheets and even lamps are creams and white- a clean look.

The bedroom is also divided and symmetrical; the audience gets the feel that the relationship between Leister and his wife is not very close and intimacy is lacking. Also, the lamps and bedside tables placed either side of the bed suggests separation and how their relationship seems very “Mr&Mrs”. Leister is also a disruption to the room- his checked pyjamas are in linear and in uniform with the rest of the room- as he looks out of place, sprawled in the bed, sheets ruffled and contrasting with the colour scheme of the room.

When Leister then moves into the shower, the audience sees him ease his face into the pouring water, suggesting how he might ease his way into life situations slowly and cautiously. The next shot pans across the room as Leister masturbates in the shower, indicating the lack of intimacy in his relationship and that he feels the need and obligation to satisfy his own sexual needs. The shot shows the shower doors and the vertical lines around the door frame, looking like bars almost, suggesting he is enclosed. This sense of enclosure and being trapped is repeated and a recurring theme throughout the sequence.

This opening introduces the family’s lifestyle and sets the scene for the audience, from the shot following Leister’s shower, the audience gets the sense that the wife is the head of the house as she gardens in a bright, contemporary looking garden. The camera goes to a close up on the rose as the woman clips it from the bush. This rose is called American Beauty which is also the name of the film. She is dressed in a plain grey suit and a clean white apron, again fitting in with the colour scheme of the interior decor.

She also wears pearl earrings and a pearl necklace with her hair perfectly framing this and has impeccable make up, indicating what the perfect American housewife should resemble. She also converses with the homosexual neighbours about the secret to her roses flourishing so well; she seems happy and overly enthusiastic. The audience then see a shot of Leister, again, enclosed in an environment- this time the window. The audience sees him behind the window panes, in between two bright blue shutters, indicating his isolation and loneliness within his own home. The colour blue is also an interesting choice by the director.

Blue suggests calm and tranquillity within the home, and also reflects on the colour of the perfect blue sky. Leister seems to fit in as he reflects on his own life and his past happiness, and also seems unsettled within himself, contrasting to the natural connotations of the colour blue. Following this shot, the daughter, Janey, is introduced as she types on her computer in her bedroom. Janey wears a jumper with roses embellished across the top half, with stripes down the arms, it is a very ‘busy’ jumper and again her sleeves represents a similar linear lifestyle to that of the rest of the house.

The camera then moves to a point of view shot so the audience can see what she is looking at- as she shuts down a list of some sort, a web page on ‘Breast Augmentation’ is shown for a few seconds, giving the audience enough time to read the title of the page and respond. This is deemed to be something a teenaged girl uncomfortable in her own body would typically look at. Janey then walks over to her mirror and turns to the side and stares at her breast and visually inspects them in disgust.

She seems disheartened and is dressed in a pair of beige/khaki trousers which completely contrast to her jumper, making her look ‘frumpy’ and out of place. The outside of the house is then shown in a long shot as Janey and Leister exit the house to the family car. The house looks bright and contemporary with bright blue shutters, a red door to compliment the roses in the bushes, perfect green lawn and a white picket fence, again representing enclosure, the feeling that Leister is trapped in a cage. The house looks like a family home that wishes to portray friendliness and welcome guests.

Also, the family car is much too large for the family; there is too much space inside. This shows how empty the family life is and suggests the proximity of relationships within the family. The family positioning in the car is also odd, the wife in the front seat driving, Janey in the passenger seat and Leister taking a nap, hugging his suitcase to his chest in the back seat; Leister has almost taken the child’s role in the family. The camera then shows the audience the view from the back window, and focuses on one small, lonesome cloud that has broken away from the others.

This could show Leister’s isolation and how he feels like he is ‘sedated’, cast away from the other people and disconnected and alone. Overall, this opening sequence really uses mise-en scene to provoke empathy for Leister and to an extent, Janey, and show a deeper meaning into the family’s lifestyle. The director has used mise-en-scene throughout the opening sequence to show how dysfunctional a seemingly ‘perfect’ family is and unravels family problems and struggles within the first four minutes just by using props, patterns and structuring settings.

Elizabeth. Loachamin 06 February 2013 Movies are one of my favorite hobbies. ? Each film has its own beauty and meaning, it’s really hard for me to pick one to be the movie that I enjoy the most. However, according to some films I have recently watched, ‘the pursuit of happiness’ which has great influence on me, the beauty of a relationship between father and his son is what interest me the most. The pursuit of happiness’ tell us the story of a father and his son after a failed investment, the father that plays on the movie was actor, is Will Smith loses everything his wife, his house, and his money. The only thing that helps the man keep on living is his son. The whole movie describes the bad days of his life when he had no money, no place to live, not even a place to sleep; the father and son had to sleep in a public rest room. I really like the way the main character protects his son, the way he fights against fate and the way he tries to attain the life he once had.

Thanks to the directors that make these types of movies and show so much passion and drama on movies like ‘the pursuit of happiness’. Will Smith is famous for action films but this time, he shows the audience a new appearance. I actually can see such a wonderful movie about the relationship between father and son like this. It is a bit embarrassing to admitted but I cried watching this movie it was very emotional for me, If you are the type of people who like movies about family, you should not miss this movie ‘the pursuit of happiness’

Jack Johnson the first Afro-american Heavyweight Champion of the World, whose laterality over his white oppositions spurred ferocious arguments and race public violences in the early twentieth century enters the ring one time once more in January 2005 when PBS airs Inexcusable Black: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, a provocative new PBS docudrama by acclaimed film maker Ken Burns. The bipartite movie poses on PBS Monday-Tuesday January 17-18, 2005, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET ( look into local listings ) .

Burns, whose past movies on PBS ( The Civil War, Baseball, JAZZ, etc. ) are among the most-watched docudramas of all time made, shows the farinaceous inside informations of Johnson ‘s life through archival footage, still snap, and the commentary of packaging experts such as Stanley Crouch, Bert Sugar, the late George Plimpton, Jack Newfield, Randy Roberts, Gerald Early and James Earl Jones, who portrayed Johnson in the Broadway drama and movie based on Johnson ‘s life, “ The Great White Hope. ”

“ Johnson in many ways is an incarnation of the Afro-american battle to be genuinely free in this state economically, socially and politically, ” said Burns. “ He perfectly refused to play by the regulations set by the white constitution, or even those of the black community. In that sense, he fought for freedom non merely as a black adult male, but as an person. ”

Johnson, who was born in 1878 in Galveston, Texas, began packaging as a immature adolescent in the Jim Crow-era South. Boxing was a comparatively new athletics in America, and was banned in many provinces. African americans were permitted to vie for most rubrics, but non for the rubric that whites considered their sole sphere: Heavyweight Champion of the World. African-Americans were considered unworthy to vie for the rubric non for deficiency of endowment, but merely by virtuousness of non being white.

Despite this, Johnson was relentless in disputing James J. Jeffries the heavyweight title-holder at the clip, who was considered by many to be the greatest heavyweight in history for a shooting at the rubric. For 14 old ages, Johnson had made a name for himself every bit good as a considerable sum of money with his ability to crush black and white oppositions with flooring easiness. Jeffries, nevertheless, refused to contend a black pugilist and alternatively decided to retire undefeated.

Then in 1908, after get the better ofing most other white oppositions, the new title-holder Tommy Burns agreed to contend Johnson in Australia for the unheard of amount of $ 30,000. In the 14th unit of ammunition, after crushing Burns unrelentingly, the battle was stopped and Johnson became the first Afro-american Heavyweight Champion of the World.

In Inexcusable Blackness, Johnson biographer Randy Roberts observes, “ The imperativeness reacted [ to Johnson ‘s triumph ] as if Armageddon was here. That this may be the minute when it all starts to fall apart for white society. ”

His triumph spurred a hunt among Whites for a “ great white hope ” who could crush Johnson and win back the rubric. They eventually found him in Johnson ‘s old Nemesis, Jim Jeffries, who decided to return from retirement and give Johnson the battle he had ever wanted. This battle was particularly of import to Johnson, because many Whites had dismissed his claim to the rubric as invalid ; Burns, it was argued, was ne’er the true title-holder because he did n’t win the rubric by crushing Jeffries. No 1 had beaten Jeffries, and most idea he was certain to repossess the rubric for Whites.

The Johnson-Jeffries battle, dubbed the “ Battle of the Century, ” took topographic point on July 4, 1910, in Reno, Nevada. Johnson knocked out Jeffries in the 15th unit of ammunition. Johnson ‘s triumph sparked a moving ridge of countrywide race public violences across in which legion African americans died. Newspaper columns warned Johnson and the black community non to be excessively proud. Congress finally passed an act censoring the interstate conveyance of battle movies for fright that the images of Johnson crushing his white oppositions would arouse farther agitation.

Possibly even more distressing for white America than Johnson ‘s laterality over his white oppositions in the pugilism ring were his romantic webs with white adult females. One of his frequent going comrades was Hattie McClay, a white cocotte. They were subsequently joined by Belle Schreiber, besides a white cocotte whom Johnson met in Chicago. “ He would n’t allow anybody specify him, ” says James Earl Jones in Unforgivable Blackness. “ He was a self-defined adult male. And this issue of his being black was non that relevant to him. But the issue of his being free was really relevant. ”

Johnson finally married a white adult female, Etta Duryea. Their relationship was troubled ; Johnson drank to a great extent and abused her ; she was a victim of chronic depression. Duryea finally committed self-destruction in 1912. Three months subsequently, Johnson married Lucille Cameron, another white adult female and a former cocotte. In 1910, Congress passed the Mann Act, which outlawed the transit of adult females in interstate or foreign commercialism “ for the intent of harlotry, orgy, or for any other immoral intent. ” While the jurisprudence was intended to be used against commercialised frailty, the U.S. authorities used it to do Jack Johnson wage for his success and his life style.

In 1913, Johnson was convicted of go againsting the Mann Act. His former lover, Belle Schreiber, testified against him. Even at the clip it was widely thought to be a assumed test, with the prosecuting officer himself stating after the finding of fact, “ This Negro, in the eyes of many, has been persecuted. Possibly as an person he was. But it was his bad luck to be the first illustration of the immorality in allowing the exogamy of Whites and inkinesss. ”

Johnson fled the state and exhausted several old ages as a runaway in Europe. In 1914 he lost his rubric to Jess Willard in Cuba.

In 1920, Johnson returned to the U.S. , surrendered to governments and served his clip in prison. He was ne’er once more given a shooting at the heavyweight rubric, and in 1946, after being angered by a racialist incident at a diner, drove his auto excessively fast around a bend in North Carolina and was killed.

“ Johnson ‘s narrative is more than the narrative of a enormous jock, or even one who broke a colour line, ” said Ken Burns. “ It is the narrative of a adult male who forced America to face its definition of freedom, and that is an issue with which we continue to fight. ”

Inexcusable Black: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson is a production of Florentine Films and WETA Washington, D.C. Corporate support provided by General Motors Corporation. Additional support provided by PBS, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations and Rosalind P. Walter.

I am going to talk about the camera shots and angles for each scene; the different mise-en-scenes and the unusual narrative in the beginning, I will also mention the different typefaces (text) used; the Characters; the language; colours and music

The Fresh Prince of Bel-air is a typical American teenage show, with a big multi-media star. The show has been a long-running success and is famous all over the world. I am going to begin this essay by addressing the unusual narrative. This goes on for the whole of the title sequence. It explains the story in RAP (Rhythm And Poetry). It begins off by saying: “Now this is a story all about how my life got twisted upside down, and I’d like to take a minute so just sit right there and I’ll tell you about how I became a prince of a town called Bel-air.” The music is an easy beat to attract all types of teenagers.

The first mise-en-scene which is Will Smith who plays the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air sitting on a rotating throne with the graffiti wall in the background. The titles and The graffiti are brightly coloured to attract teenagers to the show. The graffiti is also usually very popular to teenagers. A majority of teenagers will also see graffiti in their country as well as America where the show is filmed. The camera angles (high/medium angle) adds meaning to the shot and links the props to the theme. The throne is there to emphasise the phrase Prince and it also represents teenagers thoughts and dreams about being rich.

The second mise-en-scene has about ten seconds filming time, in this short scene Will Smith is seen writing graffiti on the wall and the policeman is shaking his baton constantly at him to stop. The directors make the policeman look silly because many teenagers think people with high authority such as policeman can easily be made fun of.

The third mise-en-scene is the basketball court scene, in this scene Will Smith is playing basketball when the ball swerved off course and hit some bullies in the head. The camera angle shows the bullies expressions as they approach Will Smith. Will Smiths clothes are bright and colourful and stands out against the bullies black clothes and complexion. The directors made the bullies dress in black to indicate that they are bad people.

In the same scene the bullies grab Will Smith and start spinning him around. The camera angle is a high shot, the camera was placed above to make Will look submissive.

The fourth mise-en-scene is Will Smith’s ugly mother waving her finger at the camera saying” Your moving with your auntie and uncle in Bel-Air.” The camera shot was a close up to reflect her expression. The fifth scene is the scene when Will Smith is about to leave for Bel-Air. Will Smith is shown whistling for a cab, the camera is directed at the licence plate which reads ‘FRESH’ and the camera is directed back at Will Smith. The yellow American taxi pulls up besides him, he slaps the drivers hand and walks over to the passenger door, climbs in and calls out “Yo home to Bel-Air!”

The last scene is the scene where the taxi pulls up to the Bel-Air mansion and Will climbs out of the taxi and calls to him “Yo ho smell ya later”. He turns to the Bel-Air mansion and says:

“Looked at my kingdom and I was finally there to settle my throne as the prince of Bel-Air!”

This show does target teenagers successfully because the RAP story narrative is what many teenagers will like and take more notice of. The colours are bright and loud not dull and boring to make the audience take more notice.

The typefaces(text) are usually in graffiti style writing to attract teenagers to read it and to be more aware of what they are reading. The music throughout the narrative was an easy beat because its fun and easy to listen to. Many teenagers in America listen to RAP/R&B so the music in the beginning is similar to what they would usually listen to.

All the mise-en-scenes have a meaning, they show teenagers things they associate with and things they would like to have. All camera angles are positioned to show either:

Meaning to an object, Emotion towards the subject or link themes to their backgrounds. This show has been proved to target teenagers successfully because it is now very highly rated by many teenagers.

FMS 100 Midterm Review You should be familiar with the plots of all the films we watched in class. You should also be familiar with the main ideas from The Cutting Edge documentary. Moreover, anything discussed in class in the lectures could be on exam. You will have to answer 50 multiple choice items. Review Chapter 1: Looking at Movies Cinematic Language: The accepted systems, methods, or customs by which movies communicate. Cinematic conventions are flexible; they are not “rules”.

Difference between movie, film, cinema: Film is applied to a motion picture that is considered by critics and scholars to be more serious or challenging. Movies entertain the masses at the multiplex. Cinemas are considered to be works of art Shot: One uninterrupted run of the camera. Editing: The process by which the editor combines and coordinates individual shots into a cinematic whole; the basic creative force of cinema. Cut: A direct change from one shot to another. Close-up: A shot that often shows a part of the body filling the frame—traditionally a face, but possibly a hand, eye, or mouth.

Define: Fadeout/fade in, when is it used? Transitional devices in which a shot fades in from a black field on black-and-white film or from a color field on color film, or fades out to a black field. These are used to convey a passage of time between scenes. Define: Low-angle shot, when is it used? A shot that is made with the camera below the action and that typically places the observer in a position of inferiority. Why is cutting on action important? Cutting on action is important because it hides the instantaneous and potentially jarring shift from one camera viewpoint to another.

What is cultural invisibility? Is it always calculated? Cultural Invisibility is used by a filmmaker to make the movie more appealing by implying certain shared beliefs with the viewers without them knowing. What is the difference between implicit and explicit meaning? Implicit meaning: An inference that a viewer makes on the basis of the given (explicit) meaning conveyed by the story and form of a film. Explicit meaning: Everything that a movie presents on its surface. How do viewer expectations relate to viewership of a film? What is formal analysis?

Define: theme (motif), dollies in, duration, point of view What type of “alternative approaches” to formal analysis does the book highlight? Comparative cultural analysis. Chapter 2: Principles of Film Form What are elements that make up film form? Mise-en-scene, sound, narrative, editing, shots, sequences and scenes. What is the difference between form and content? Form: the means by which that subject is expressed and experienced. Content: the subject of an artwork. How do expectations play into film form? What is a MacGuffin?

Which director came up with the term? MacGuffin: refers to an object, document, or secret within a story that is of vital importance to the characters. Alfred Hitchcock came up with the term What are patterns? Why are important? How is editing used to create patterns? Three fundamental principles of film form? Movies depend on light, movies provide an illusion of movement, and movies manipulate space and time in unique ways Persistence of vision: The process by which the human brain retains an image for a fraction of a second longer than the eye records it.

Phi phenomenon: the illusion of movement created by events that succeed each other rapidly, as when two adjacent lights flash on and off alternately and we seem to see a single light shifting back and forth. Critical flicker fusion: Occurs when a single light flickers on and off with such speed that the individual pulses of light fuse together to give the illusion of continuous light. Mediation: The process by which an agent, structure, or other formal element, whether human or technological, transfers something from one place to another.

Freeze frame: When a still image is shown on-screen for a period of time Realism: An interest in or concern for the actual or real. Anti-Realism: an interest in or concern for the abstract, speculative, or fantastic. Verisimilitude: A convincing appearance of truth. Chapter 3: Types of Movies What is narrative? Narrative is a story, narrative is a type of movie, narrative is a way of structuring fictional or fictionalized stories presented in narrative films, narrative is a broader concept that both includes and goes beyond any of these applications.

Types of Movies: Narrative Movies (tell stories), Documentary Movies (record the real), Experimental Movies Documentary Movies: Key types – factual films (present people, places, or processes in straightforward ways meant to entertain and instruct without influencing audiences), instructional films (educate viewers about common interests, rather than persuading them to accept particular ideas), persuasive films (addresses social injustices), propaganda films (systematically disseminate deceptive or distorted information), direct cinema (eschew interviews and even limit the use of narrators).

Experimental films – what are they? What are some of their common qualities? What are Hybrid Movies? The cross-pollination among experimental, documentary, and narrative movies. An example of this is Borat, which is a documentary/narrative fusion. What is definition of genre? The categorization of narrative films by the stories they tell and the ways they tell them. How are films categorized? They are characterized by the form and content. What are genre conventions? Aspects of storytelling such as recurring themes and situations, setting, character types, and story formula, as well as aspects of presentation and visual style.

Story formulas (the way a movie’s story is structured—its plot), character types, setting (where a movie’s action is located and how that environment is portrayed), presentation, stars Six Major American Genres: Gangster (striving for the American dream), Film Noir (classic detective movie), Science Fiction, Horror (frightening), The Western, The Musical Evolution and transformation of genre: Writers and directors, recognizing genre’s narrative, thematic, and aesthetic potential, blend ingredients gleaned from multiple styles in an attempt to invent exciting new hybrids.

What is generic transformation? The process by which a particular genre is adapted to meet the expectations of a changing society. Can you identify how a genre has transformed over time? Comic-book movies have grown darker and more effects-laden since the modern genre’s birth. Mixed genre: Blending seemingly incompatible genres. Chapter 4: Elements of Narrative What is narrative? The Story What is narration? The act of telling the story What is narrator? Who or what tells the story Who/what is the primary narrator in all films? The camera is the primary narrator in every movie.

First person narrator: A character in the narrative who typically imparts information in the form of voice-over narration. Voice over narration: When we hear a character’s voice over the picture without actually seeing the character speak the words. Direct-address: A form of narration in which an on-screen character looks and speaks directly to the audience. Third-person narrator: Narration delivered by a narrator who is not a character in the movie. Omniscient narration: provides any character’s experiences and perceptions, as well as information that no character knows.

Restricted narration: Limits the information it provides the audience to things known only to a single character. What two essential elements does virtually every film narrative depend on? A character pursuing a goal. Round Character: A complex character possessing numerous, subtle, repressed, or contradictory traits. Flat Character: Exhibit few distinct traits and do not change significantly Protagonists, anti-heroes, antagonists Three Act Structure What is the normal world? Narrative Structure Schematic: Can you identify the elements within the three acts?

What are the purposes of the three acts? What does a screenwriter do? Do you understand the differences and similarities between story and plot? (Use Fig. 4. 2 to help you) Diegesis/diegetic elements versus non diegetic elements – Can you identify examples? Backstory Story order versus plot order. Which one of these can be manipulated? Why? Two categories of Events Duration: Story duration, plot duration, screen duration; do you know the difference between these? Relationship between plot duration and story duration – is it stable or unstable? Why?

Relationship between screen duration and plot duration: Summary relationship vs. real time vs. stretch relationship What is Cinematic time? Suspense versus Surprise – define the difference, example? Define: Repetition, familiar image – why are they used? Define: Setting, scope Chapter 8: Editing Define: Editing, what is it? Why is it important? Cutting and Splicing definition – manual process vs. digital process Lev Kuleshov and the Kuleshov effect – what is it? Who is he? Why is it important? What is job description and goals of the Film Editor?

What are the editor’s responsibilities? 3 items, do you understand what these mean? Define: flashback, flash-forward – when are they used? Define: Ellipsis – Why is it used? Define: montage – why is it used? Why is rhythm important? Define: content curve Define: Continuity and Discontinuity editing – When are they used? Which is more common? Why? Why is continuity editing used? Master Scene Technique – Define coverage, master shot, why are these important for editing? Screen Direction – define screen direction, 180-degree system, axis of action Is 180 degree a rule or a convention?

Is it ever broken? Define: Reverse-Angle Shot Continuity Editing Techniques: shot/reverse shot, match cuts, match-on-action cut, graphical match cut, eye-line match cut, parallel editing (crosscutting), intercutting, point-of-view editing Transitions between shots – Define jump cut, fade-in fade-out, dissolve, wipe, iris shot (iris in, iris out), freeze-frame, split screen, (make sure you understand why they are used) Chapter 5: Mise-en-Scene What is mise-en-scene in reference to movies? The two visual components of mise-en-scene. Design and Composition – define them.

Understand why they are important to mise-en-scene. Is Mise-en-scene planned or unplanned? Why? What is the purpose of design? Who is the production designer? What does he or she do? Who is the art director? When was it common to have an “art director”? Why did it change? Describe the importance of previsualization done by the director and production designer Elements of Design – setting, decor, and properties; lighting; costume, makeup, hairstyle Define: setting, on location, decor, props (properties), and soundstage In early Hollywood, did they prefer to shot on location or on a set?

Why? What do production designers do with regard to lighting? Define: chiaroscuro Costumes – why are they important? Are they always accurate to the historical setting and period? Makeup – Why have stars have a contemporary look even during historical films? Who is Max Factor? Hairstyles and historical accuracy International Styles of Design – What is German Expressionism? What is the first great German Expressionist film? Which genres has it influenced?

British Films, Italian Neorealism, Japanese Films – basic characteristics of design Define: Composition; why is it important? Define: figures, framing, reframing, moving frame, point of view Define: viewfinder Define: off-screen space and on-screen space; can you describe their relationship? Define: open and closed framing; when and why are they used? What is Kinesis? When do we perceive movement (2 ways) Define: figure Define: Blocking

Appropriation is defined as: The artistic pattern or technique of make overing images from well-known pictures, exposure, etc. , in one ‘s ain work. David Salle and Julian Schnabel are considered to be the most identifiable American Neo-Expressionist creative persons. These creative persons use appropriation to make new images from history, pop civilization and modern-day art. By borrowing imagination from a assortment of beginnings, their graphics is set apart from work by other creative persons. What sets Salle and Schnabel apart is that they do non merely put the borrowed images into a montage but they redraw or repaint the images taking their ownership of the objects. They non merely make an image that looks new, they besides create artworks the emotionally experience different as good.

David Salle deliberately and carefully topographic points images that “ mention to plan, to older art, to current political events, to foreign civilizations, to movie noir and, above all, to the slippery terrain of human dealingss, particularly those between adult females and work forces. ” Salle ‘s pictures are most frequently physically divided into two or more parts. His pictures are officially big nevertheless emotionally intimate. There is normally a background that interacts with overlying images. While the background is slightly quiet or filtered, the overlying images are brighter and bolder. Womans are a favourite topic. In his abstract pictures the original context seems to be really vague. In other words, even if you know where the original image was taken from, it does nil to assist understand the significance it takes in his diversion of it. It can be thwarting to the spectator to digest all the images of Salle ‘s art. The imagination is a changeless conflict between big and little, painted and drawn, one colour and another, shut up and far off.

For illustration in Salle ‘s picture, Tennyson, he is able to get married together figuration with pictural linguistic communication. As kind of court, Salle often incorporates images and objects found in Jasper John ‘s work, including the name “ Tennyson. ” He besides uses a readymade object ( wooden ear ) to perchance cite John ‘s, Target with Plaster Casts ” 1955. I instantly question the significance of the stick outing ear to the connexion of the rubric. The out of use letters across the picture perplex the enigma of the ear by spelling out the name of a Victorian poet. The wooden alleviation of the ear bids your attending over the picture of the bare adult female. The female figure lies in a field of a chocolate-brown xanthous colour. The colour field is interrupted by spots of greenish blue and ruddy which seem to border the out of use letters. The ear is placed in the upper right manus corner and is framed and highlighted by the bold spot of greenish blue. The ear seems to be listening to the rubric of the picture. There is a sense of wrongness given by the bold picture of the poets name across the organic structure of the bare female. The first two missive of the rubric are painted different colourss. This suggests importance of the remainder of the letters. Is the ear hearing to the rubric as a whole or merely listening to “ T… Tocopherol… ” ? If so, how is it related to sensualness of the bare female?

As with many other of Salle ‘s artworks the inquiries provoked are without simple replies. Salle appropriates images because he is attracted to them and insists that there is no narrative to them. He chooses images based by the temper of the scene and it is temper that he is after in his ain picture. Although his disconnected imagination does non ever seem to add up as a whole, he is still able to put an implicit in temper between the images.

Much like David Salle, Julian Schnabel ‘s work draws on a broad assortment of beginnings and stuffs. Schnabel besides normally uses the technique of overlapping images and multiple canvases like Salle. Formally, his pictures are tremendous and over painted with heavy pigments. Schnabel chooses to picture images appropriated from bing art and the mass media which besides included attaching existent objects to his canvases. He seems to desire his pictures to do contact with the outer universe by presenting existent things and existent topics. His attack is non to arise against art of the past and alternatively to unite past manners. His combinative attack became his chief manner of picture.

In contrast to Salle ‘s thoughts that self-expression is inappropriate, Schnabel ‘s holds high respect to non merely appropriation of imagination but besides to self-expression in his plant. He often features spiritual and, in peculiar, Catholic iconography and subjects. He wants to undertake issues of life and decease, agony, spiritualty, as in Exile,1980.

Schnabel is drawn to the Baroque manner of picture and derives imagination from it. In the picture named Exile, a immature adult male is keeping a basket of fruit. This is a copied image from Caravaggio, Boy with a Basket of Fruit, 1594. The other piece of imagination is from a kid ‘s amusing book. These combined images are presumed to pull on the analogues between the Italian creative person ‘s isolation and his ain in downtown NY. Antlers are absolutely positioned on the canvas. The “ utilize the antlers non to disjoin the surface of the picture as the home bases do but to add another distinguishable component of pulling to the composing. If cubism can be understood as the effort to capture 3-dimensional infinite on a planar surface, so Schnabel ‘s pictures seek to change by reversal that procedure. ” ( 2 ) Merely as Salle was successful in impairing figuration with pictural linguistic communication, Schnabel ‘s success came with blending saintly subjects with a sign technique.

Neo-expressionists as a whole are brave, bold and make bolding. Formally the pictures are typically big and are rapidly executed. They feel free to paint their ain desires, memories and frights. They detested the impression of painting “ about nil. ” Neo-expressionism brought back the romantic topics and traditional signifiers. Their ends were to make emotionality of narrative and historical content. Another common land shared between Italian, German and American creative persons is their ability to intermix tradition and invention, history and current events, emotion and look. What begins to put them apart is that creative persons tended to pay most attending to their ain heritage. “ Peoples have withdrawn into their ain histories to seek to happen meaningsaˆ¦ When Italians and Germans go back into their history, they ‘re traveling back to their strengths. A batch of Americans are traveling back to their beginnings excessively ” ( 3 )

Although Neo-expressionism art can non be classified as holding merely one expression, the nationalities of the creative persons are reflected in their work. Anselm Kiefer borrows from Germany ‘s history, mythology and romantic symbols with work such as Nigrede, 1984. In the tremendous picture Kiefer expresses the centuries of struggle and desolation that occurred on German dirt. The canvas is enourmous in graduated table with a textured surface of straw and lead.

American creative persons were besides bring forthing art along the same pathways nevertheless the procedures of allowing images were different. American painter Eric Fischl produced plants that distinctively have American mentions as in Fischl ‘s Dining Room, Scene 2, 2003.

Transavantguardia creative person Mimmo Paladino, conveys the subject of life and decease through crude images by the usage of fables and myths as motives. For illustration in Baal, 1986, he paints an ancient Phoenician myth. The myths of his heritage are spirits that “ have the signifier of the human being, and they control the life, aging, unwellness and decease of adult male with their mighty ruling power over nature. ” ( 4 )