History of Film
D.W Griffith - answer-Considered to be the greatest cinematic genius in history.
-Discovered, synthesized, and articulated the narrative language of film as it is practiced
even today.
-He established inventory of editing techniques. -Founding father of classical Hollywood
style of cutting film.
-He created the basis for montage. One of the first directors to compose his shots in
depth.
-Way Down East, The Birth of a Nation
The Birth of a Nation - answer- showed the American industry how effectively and
lucratively the movies could pander to public frustration, anxiety, and prejudice. Marked
the emergence of film as a potent social and political force in the modern world. First
film to be take seriously as a political statement.
"Birthdate of Cinema" 12/28/1895 - answer- a program of short films unvieled to the
public, directed and photographed by Louis Lumieres.
Interframe Narrative: - answer-meaning is created within shot by editing shots together,
think Michael Bay
- idea that narrative can be presented to the audience through more than continuous
shot change.
-Inter Frame Narrative is a way of story telling that highlights to the audience subtle
parts of the narrative. -This gives the audience an expectation and a prediction as to
where the story is going.
Intraframe Narrative - answerwhat occurred within the frames and shots of films
Agit-prop - answerWhen you agitate audience to wake up/alert audience.
Mise-en-scene - answer-the arrangement of scenery and stage properties in a play.
the setting or surroundings of an event or action.-everything that takes place on the set
prior to the editing process
Long Takes - answer- A long take with no cuts. It puts things in perspective as if you're
seeing it yourself. It makes things realistic. It preserves the actual duration of time.
Long Shots - answerSomething is way off in the distance. Opposite: extreme close up
Close Up - answer-has the effect of isolating a detail from its background and giving it
greater dramatic emphasis by making it fill the frame.
, Cinema of Attractions - answer1. emphasis on performance spectacle to show or exhibit
2. direct stimulation
-a kind of performative spectacle, or "attraction", whose function was to present rather
than to represent, to show rather than to narrate.
Diegesis/ Diegetic Absorption - answer-the plot of a film or the world of the film.
-There's diegetic sound and non diegetic sound. Diegetic absorption (gunning essay) is
when you get absorbed in the world of the film to the point where you can become
unaware that you're watching a film.
Hays Code - answerThe set of industry censorship guidelines which governed the
production of the vast majority of the United States motion pictures released by major
studios from 1930 to 1968. The Production Code spelled out what was acceptable and
what was unacceptable content for motion pictures produced for a public audience in
the United States.
Edwin Porter - answer-Porter achieved for the first time in motion-picture history—
narrative omniscience over the linear flow of time, which the cinema of all arts can most
credibly sustain (telling a story in continuity form)
-Editing Continuity
-It contains no intercutting within scenes, but Porter cut between his scenes without
dissolving or fading and most important—without playing them out to the end. --Porter
saw that a filmmaker can in fact cut away from one scene before it is dramatically
complete and simultaneously cut into another after it has already begun.
-Porter hit upon the crucial fact that cinematic narrative depends not so much upon the
arrangement of objects or actors within a scene as upon the arrangement of shots in
relation to one another.
-Like Méliés, Porter had a genius for constructing narratives that communicated with
early audiences at a certain crucial point in their developing relationship with the screen.
-Porter never uses more than one camera angle or position in any one setting, and like
those of Méliés, most of his shots are long shots showing the actors at full length
-Life of an American Fireman
-The Great Train Robbery
Parallel Editing - answer"crosscutting or intercutting"-seven shots of an interior with six
shots of an exterior to depict parallel actions occurring simultaneously. Example: Life of
An American -example: When Porter cuts from the bandit's getaway back to the bound
telegraph operator..
The Great Train Robbery - answer-The Great Train Robbery, is widely acknowledged to
be Porter's finest achievement.
-frequently credited with establishing the realistic narrative, as opposed to Méliés-style
fantasy, as the dominant cinematic form.
-Probably did more than any film made before 1912 to convince investors that the
cinema was a money making proposition and it was directly instrumental in the spread
of permanent movie theaters across the country.
D.W Griffith - answer-Considered to be the greatest cinematic genius in history.
-Discovered, synthesized, and articulated the narrative language of film as it is practiced
even today.
-He established inventory of editing techniques. -Founding father of classical Hollywood
style of cutting film.
-He created the basis for montage. One of the first directors to compose his shots in
depth.
-Way Down East, The Birth of a Nation
The Birth of a Nation - answer- showed the American industry how effectively and
lucratively the movies could pander to public frustration, anxiety, and prejudice. Marked
the emergence of film as a potent social and political force in the modern world. First
film to be take seriously as a political statement.
"Birthdate of Cinema" 12/28/1895 - answer- a program of short films unvieled to the
public, directed and photographed by Louis Lumieres.
Interframe Narrative: - answer-meaning is created within shot by editing shots together,
think Michael Bay
- idea that narrative can be presented to the audience through more than continuous
shot change.
-Inter Frame Narrative is a way of story telling that highlights to the audience subtle
parts of the narrative. -This gives the audience an expectation and a prediction as to
where the story is going.
Intraframe Narrative - answerwhat occurred within the frames and shots of films
Agit-prop - answerWhen you agitate audience to wake up/alert audience.
Mise-en-scene - answer-the arrangement of scenery and stage properties in a play.
the setting or surroundings of an event or action.-everything that takes place on the set
prior to the editing process
Long Takes - answer- A long take with no cuts. It puts things in perspective as if you're
seeing it yourself. It makes things realistic. It preserves the actual duration of time.
Long Shots - answerSomething is way off in the distance. Opposite: extreme close up
Close Up - answer-has the effect of isolating a detail from its background and giving it
greater dramatic emphasis by making it fill the frame.
, Cinema of Attractions - answer1. emphasis on performance spectacle to show or exhibit
2. direct stimulation
-a kind of performative spectacle, or "attraction", whose function was to present rather
than to represent, to show rather than to narrate.
Diegesis/ Diegetic Absorption - answer-the plot of a film or the world of the film.
-There's diegetic sound and non diegetic sound. Diegetic absorption (gunning essay) is
when you get absorbed in the world of the film to the point where you can become
unaware that you're watching a film.
Hays Code - answerThe set of industry censorship guidelines which governed the
production of the vast majority of the United States motion pictures released by major
studios from 1930 to 1968. The Production Code spelled out what was acceptable and
what was unacceptable content for motion pictures produced for a public audience in
the United States.
Edwin Porter - answer-Porter achieved for the first time in motion-picture history—
narrative omniscience over the linear flow of time, which the cinema of all arts can most
credibly sustain (telling a story in continuity form)
-Editing Continuity
-It contains no intercutting within scenes, but Porter cut between his scenes without
dissolving or fading and most important—without playing them out to the end. --Porter
saw that a filmmaker can in fact cut away from one scene before it is dramatically
complete and simultaneously cut into another after it has already begun.
-Porter hit upon the crucial fact that cinematic narrative depends not so much upon the
arrangement of objects or actors within a scene as upon the arrangement of shots in
relation to one another.
-Like Méliés, Porter had a genius for constructing narratives that communicated with
early audiences at a certain crucial point in their developing relationship with the screen.
-Porter never uses more than one camera angle or position in any one setting, and like
those of Méliés, most of his shots are long shots showing the actors at full length
-Life of an American Fireman
-The Great Train Robbery
Parallel Editing - answer"crosscutting or intercutting"-seven shots of an interior with six
shots of an exterior to depict parallel actions occurring simultaneously. Example: Life of
An American -example: When Porter cuts from the bandit's getaway back to the bound
telegraph operator..
The Great Train Robbery - answer-The Great Train Robbery, is widely acknowledged to
be Porter's finest achievement.
-frequently credited with establishing the realistic narrative, as opposed to Méliés-style
fantasy, as the dominant cinematic form.
-Probably did more than any film made before 1912 to convince investors that the
cinema was a money making proposition and it was directly instrumental in the spread
of permanent movie theaters across the country.
