Film Art - History of Film or World Cinema - Research Paper Example

Film Art - History of Film or World Cinema Introduction Films are cultural artifacts which adopt the culture, traditions and norms of the society. And on the same time define and develop motivation, humor, conviction, education and moralities of the society as it is one of the most influential medium of communication. No matter what the medium or the genre of Film Art; people almost always relate something to the content of the film. But what the general public doesn’t realize is the fact that there is so much that goes into the making of a film. People only see the end result which is merely the projection, the essence of a mammoth work. Editors show people the best visuals of a movie and leave the rest. It is those selected pieces that decide a movie’s fate at the hands of the viewers. The real question is, what is it that makes a movie move? And probably there is no certain answer or at least a unanimous satisfying answer to that however, theoretically, the “persistence of vision” (pp. 2-3) is what really makes a film move. The image that stays on the retina of the eye, its duration and most importantly the affect it has on the sensory nerves of the brain make it a complete motion picture. The art of filmmaking had now emerged into an industry, in this review various aspects of this art will be discussed in the following paragraphs. Film Form Any artistic piece of work branches out of a form; it is something that helps to create the linkage between ideas. Concreteness of an idea is the most important concept in any form of art, especially in the art of Filming. As in films one tries to synchronize various dots, in order to transform a big picture. If any of the questions remained unanswered, a communication gap arises among the audience of that art. Symmetry in the presentation of any idea is the most important part in the creation of an art. The way in which the sculpture is shaped, its volume, its color, texture and every minute detail required to address the desired audience if the Form of that art (Pp. 39). Like in any other form of art, in Film too this creation of the form is of real importance. But along with this aspect there are various other inter-related areas which are either dependent or independent on the Form, which will be discussed in the paragraphs below: Form and Content are two separate but inter-related elements in any type of art. You could form the exterior of any type but the content with which this exterior will fill in with is of the same, but at times of more importance than the Form itself. The slight difference between the form and content is that a form needs to perfectly consistent; while on the other hand the content is more subjective it could be molded according to the needs and demand of the form. As in a biographical movie the Form of the movie should jot all the joints from the very beginning to the end of that film, but the content of that film could vary along with the circumstances of the story. The narrative and stylistic elements of a film could also bring the abstract sense of the form into concreteness (Pp. 40). Expectations are being made by the audience according to the Form of the art; any interception of distortion in the communication of expected activity could frustrate the target audience. Things which are the part of the normal life and are not view in the common day-to-day life are expected to be portrayed according to the expectations of the desired audience. Any gap in this would cause damage to the creation of that art. But there might be some deliberate attempt to delay the fulfillment of expectations of the audience this element is called the Suspense and this surprise element does not necessarily need be aligned with the general expectations of the audience (pp.42). But while making this platform, which we call the Form, one need to consider its experience and should not worry about the conventions that are being followed. As no piece of art is alike, the difference helps it to evolve. In art two plus two needs not to be four. The film maker could mold, as said earlier according the demands of its Form the contents of its Film. Another aspect of any Form of art is the feelings it had delivered to the audience, if a filmmaker who had made a horror movie and the audience the cinema are laughing while watching it, there is a sever distortion or gap in the development of the Form of that Film. But if they feel in the exact manner the maker wants to make them feel it’s a concrete form. One more important thing is the meaning of the Form the creator wished to convey, it should also be considered minutely. Such as referential meaning in which the audience refer to a particular situation, implicit meaning of meaning of the film from which a moral or lesson could be derived, explicit meaning which moves around the form of the film and symptomatic meaning which gives understanding of the symptoms on which the form is based (pp. 46-48). As any piece of art a creative collection of ideas transforms the art, in the same way form is described or derived by its meaning. The last but not the least element for the completion of any Form is the feedback and response of the audience. It might come from the ratings or scores of any medium of evaluators. This third party recognition should not be taken irresponsibly, as it determines the short comings of any film maker. This response could be favorable or otherwise; but it there are always some lessons to be learnt from it (pp. 49). The criterion upon which one’s work is evaluated is of extreme importance as it is the yardstick with which the critics or evaluators value creation. Film Genre The term genre is used to categorize the various types of art i., poetry, music, films etc. Every society, culture or civilization could identify its own genres for movies based on its customs, tradition and norms (Pp. 94). These genres are not constant and keep on changing according to the need and relevance of the society or culture. There could be both revision and rejection in the old genre with the passage of time. Various sub-genres also emerge out of these genres to satisfy the demand of the audience. The factors which define the revision and rejection of any genre could vary according to different conditions. Such as the success rate of some specific genre of the movies could continue to prevail for a long time as compared to other genres, this phenomenon is said to be a Cycle of Genres in the film industry, where a large proportions of the film from a specific genre continue to be successful (Pp. 98). This situation could also add to various sub-genres of this genre according to the need. This is because of the fact that common audience compares the movies made in different time spans with each other to analyze any specific genre. Genres are considered to be of reflectionist nature as they reflect the demand of the society, genres are considered to exploit ambivalent social values and attitudes. Genres follow the cultural factors and popular vote bank prevailing in the society. The creation or removal of any genre depends on the norms of a particular society. In American Fictional Filmmaking three genres are considered to be of significant importance i.e., The Western, Horror and Musical genre. All three of them would be discussed consecutively. The western Genre defines the nature and values of the Wild West, it represents the culture dominated by the white race and it depicts the complete annihilation of the native people of this land. The white people are considered to be the rulers of this new found land where as the natives are forced to live a sorrow and grief because of the loss of their freedom. There is lawlessness, bandits, bank robberies, gunfights and cowboys all over in this genre of films (Pp. 101-102). Second would be the Horror Genre of Films, which consists of negative emotional reaction of fear, disgust and terror. These films consist of demons, vicious animals, liens and vampires. Supernatural element is considered to the most important in these movies (Pp. 103-104). Third and last genre would be the Musical Genre; this genre came to existence due to the technological advancements. It is considered to be the genre of synchronized vocal and music (Pp. 105). These films would consist of musical series of numbers during the film and the whole film would be based on this series of songs. Cinematography Cinematography usually means the use photographs in order to create the motion picture images, which might be through a video camera (Pp. 193). It is closely related to still photography but now with intervention of technology the Films now use digital imagery in filming. In cinematography the filmmaker get involved with films used to take those images and fabricates it according to nee. The color, texture, shades and toning had to be performed manually, a lot of sketching and drawing was involved in it. This type of cinematography takes a lot of time and labor. In order to achieve these different colors and textures various verities of stocks of films were available in the market. The use of which would be according to the demand of the cinema. Around the world various types of films were in use, all of them give different results when applied to same circumstances. This gave recognition to some specific film industry such as the film used in the Soviet Union used to give greenish-blue color when the film was put on the screen on the other hand the stocks of films (Kodak and Technicolor), used by the Hollywood gave much better results than any of its contemporaries (Pp. 194). Various methods were used on these films in order to get the desired prints out of them. Specially equipped Laboratories were structured to work on the imagery of these films, where textures, shades and colors are contrasted. These Laboratories were temperature and light sensitive because any exposure of the in-developed film would ruin it and it would be good for nothing. In these early days black and white movies were colored using the same technique, by putting the film in laboratory for developing, where it was impossible to develop a film in the laboratory, manual sketching of each and every frame would be performed. Films once developed were filtered using various protective chemical in order to get a better print and increase the durability of the film (pp. 195). Speed by which the film was rolled on the projector determine the jerkiness of the images, in the early 1920’s the speed was 16-20 frames per second anything above or below would cause the images to jerk around the screen, that is why silent movies were projected at this speed (pp. 196). Afterwards with the advancement in technology filmmakers were able to slow or increase the speed of the film, without disturbing the images. It is here where special effects start emerging in the cinema. Afterwards lens were used to render the perspective relationship of various items or objects used in filming according to the convenient of the filmmaker. The decision that how far should the tree be, from where the shadow had to grow thick, which of the items are needed to be shadowed or emphasized upon while filming. Short, middle and long focal length lens were used for this purpose so that different lens could be used according to the need of the situation (Pp. 198). The use of these lens gives the filmmaker an option to control the images of the objects of its film, such as objects could be widened or narrowed made more sharp or dull. These focal lenses not only defined the shapes and scales of the objects but also provide the ability to cover the depth of the lens, which means object across some certain distance could not be filmed clearly and were used to create illusions in the films. Framing is something that is of chief importance in cinematography because without proper framing the definition of any of the objects could not be defined. By frame here, we does not mean the borders of the image it is ratio used for the definition, selection, shadowing, sharpness and every other detail of an image in the film (pp. 208). A filmmaker use frames of different shapes and give them dimension according to the requirement of the scenes. It is these frames which enable the image to be projected in a panoramic, wide or narrow dimension. Anamorphic processing is used to create a widescreen image, it squeezes an image horizontally and a comparable lens is used to un-squeeze the image at a 35 mm tape (pp. 212). Whatever is the size or space of any object, these frames could also adjust it according to the convenience of the filmmaker, both off screen and on screen. But there are some pre-requisites of it which must be fulfilled by the filmmaker, such angle, level, height and distance of the frame must be set in accordance with requirements. To cover various different angels, heights and distances mobile framing came into use in which the frame along with the camera could be placed on a crane which could conveniently move according to the whims of the filmmaker (pp. 218-219). The Relation of Shot-to-Shot Editing: Film editing is normally referred to as an invisible-art, as it is the post production process of selecting and sorting the various images. In this process the un-wanted part of the images is removed and all the framed images are aligned in a sequence (pp. 249). This is one of the most creative processes, as it involves a lot of abstract knowledge. There are various dimensions at which the images could be edited; each one of it could be used according to the facility of the filmmaker. These methods are designed to assist the editor in processing almost any type of frame (pp. 251). Classical Hollywood directors gave an editing technique known as continuity editing, which ensures the film after editing must be according to the exact sequence mention in the script of the film. This responsibility however ended on the shoulder of the script writer. Because if the script is jotted together in form that sequence is maintained than editing would be according to the production plan and no further changes would be required. There are also some editing techniques developed by the directors and technician of Soviet Union, which were more or same as were used in the Hollywood, except for the detailed working they do at the end of continuity technique (Pp. 276). But not all films are narrative, so what technique would non-narrative films would use? They would use the Spatial and Temporal Discontinuity. According to which the script writer need not to bothered, all the images of the fill could be edited according to the convenience of the filmmaker and they need not to prioritize the script (pp. 280). There are also other alternatives available for Continuity Editing, which are Graphic and Rhythmic Editing. In which one need not to arrange the images in continuity of the script, but the problem here is solved by just editing the graphics as it in accordance with their appearance and then arrange the film afterwards. And on the other hand Rhythmic Editing advocates making rhythm of certain group of images and editing the film according to these groups. (pp. 278) Film Sound Sound is considered to be the most important filming technique, as it not only attracts the audience toward the films but invigorates their senses to in accordance with plot of the film. Even in 1920’s when it was an era of silent movies a separate orchestra was organized, which gives the background music to images of these movies (Pp. 291). The sound technique had enhanced perception and interception capability of the audience. This technique only had done wonders in the filming industry as it allows its audience to interact with images being projected on the screen; audience could anticipate the development of the story (pp. 292). Its expectation could be valued through the variation of different music. Even silence after some music played it role in the suspense or horror movies. The most important advantage of this technology came to light during the editing phase of filming, where not only the images but also the sound could be edited according to the demand of the scene. If there is no music in that particular scene it could be added at the spot as various acoustic elements have added the sound capacity of the Film Industry. There are also certain fundamental to the sound technique without these fundamentals this technique is useless. The most important of these all is the Pitch of the sound, as various characters in the film sound at different pitches but these pitches could be adjusted and edited according to the role of that particular character or according to the demand of the scene (pp. 294). The highness or lowness of the voice must be managed as it had reflective effect on the audience of the cinema. Another important fundamental to the sound technique is the Loudness of a certain voice or sound, this too would vary according to the demand of the scene. The loudness is of extreme importance in emotional scenes. Increase and decrease in this loudness could add to the overall performance of the film (pp.294). The third import fundamental of sound is the Timbre effect of the sound, it is considered as the support to the above two fundamentals, along with that, it focus on the improvement of the quality of these sound bites. Actually this timbre could allow the filmmaker to play with sound technique according to the Loudness and Pitch selected for every particular character in a particular scene (pp. 295). Once these fundamentals are selected now the sound technique as a whole could be edited and various other elements could be added such as rhythms, tones and special effects. Now a day due to the advancement of the technology, it is possible to create sounds of different environments just by to use of technology, it had done wonders in the field of sound technique. Film Marketing/ Promotion There could be various techniques applied to market a film, the first and most important technique applied now a days is the research involving the target audience. Such dividing the demographics of the society into various stratas and target from these selected stratas your audience of the film. Surveys, questionnaire, promotional campaigns, posters and advertisement campaigns must be launched in order to attract the audience and convey the message that this particular movie had specially be made for them. History of Film or World Cinema The world cinema is primarily an English speaking cinema, which dominates almost 3 continents of the world. This modern cinema we watch today was not like this from the very beginning. It almost starts in the late 19th century with the film with maximum 9 shots and silent movies with external sound effects. But gradually with the commercialization of the cinema and introduction of technology, the industry had done wonders as is done in the other fields. From the Kodak and Technicolor films this industry had now emerged in to digitalize shooting of the film. The laboratories where these films were developed are now taken over by the state of the art technology driven laboratories. All the techniques involved in filming had been improved since the day this industry had come into being. From the Kodak and Technicolor films this industry had now emerged in to digitalize shooting of the film. The laboratories where these films were developed are now taken over by the state of the art technology driven laboratories. All the techniques involved in filming had been improved since the day this industry had come into being (pp. 399-403). Source Bordwell, D. & Thompson, K. (2001) Film art: An introduction, New York: McGraw-Hill. Read More