Chapter 1 Film as Art: creativity, Technology, and Business

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Basic content

1 • Mechanics of the Movie-- Illusion Machines

2 •Making the Movie: Film Production

4 • Bringing the Film to the Audience

3 • Modes of Production

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Form and Style

The Shadow of a Doubt

directed by Alfred Hitchcock

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One night at dinner, Uncle Charlie praises small-town living. Women keepbusy in towns like Santa Rosa, he says, not like the rich, spoiled women one findsin cities. He slowly slips into a venomous monologue. And what do the wives do, these useless women? You see them in the hotels, the best hotels, every day by the thousands. Drinking the money, eating the money, losing the money at bridge, playing all day and all night. Smelling of money. Proud of their jewelry but nothing else. Horrible . . . fat, faded, greedy women. Reacting to this, Little Charlie blurts out, "But they're alive! They're humanbeings!" Uncle Charlie replies,‘ Are they? Are they, Charlie? Are they human or are they fat, wheezing animals? And what happens to animals when they get too fat and too old?" As if realizing he's gone too far, Uncle Charlie smiles and switches back to his ingratiating manner.

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Mechanics of the Movie-- Illusion Machines

1 • Cameras

2 •Lighting equipment

4 • Computer-generated special effects

3 • Multitrack sound-mixing studios

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临界闪烁融合

• 光刺激在眼睛内所留下的兴奋并不随着刺激的终止而消失，而是要维持若干时间，当刺激停止后所留下来的感觉称作为视觉后象或称视觉残留（ persistence of vision ）。所以视网膜的反应并不能随着闪光的开始而开始，也不能随着闪光的结束而结束。

• 对于一个亮的和一个暗的时相组成的一个周期的断续光，当频率低时，观察者看到的是一系列的闪光：当频率增加时，变为粗闪、细闪；直到闪光增加到某一频率，人眼看到的不再是闪光，而是一种固定或连续的光。这个频率就叫做闪光融合频率或临界闪烁频率，简称 CFF ，是人眼对光刺激时间分辨能力的指标。

critical flicker fusion

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• 20 世纪初，德国心理学家 M. 韦特海默用实验方法研究了似动现象。他相继呈现一条垂直 (a) 和一条水平（ b ）的发亮线段 , 改变两条线段呈现的时距，并测量对它们的知觉经验。结果发现，当两条线段的距离短于 30 毫秒时，人们看到 a 、 b 同时出现；当时距长于 200 毫秒时，看到 a 、b 先后出现；当时距约为 60 毫秒时，看到线段从 a 向 b 运动。韦特海默说，当视网膜受到两条线段的刺激后，会引起皮层相应区域的兴奋。在适当的时空条件下，这两个兴奋回路之间发生融合，形成短路，因而得到运动的印象。

似动现象

Apparent motion

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• The size and placement of the perforations and the area occupied by the sound track have been standardized around the world. So, too, has the width of the film strip, which is called the gauge and is measured in millimeters. Commercial theaters use 35mm film, but other gauges also have been standardized internationally: Super 8 mm, 16mm, and 70mm (1.20-1.24).

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Usually image quality increases with the width of the film because the greater picture area gives the images better definition and detail. All other things being equal, 35mm provides significantly better picture quality than does l6mm, and 70mm is superior to both. The finest image quality currently available for public screenings is that offered by the Imax system (1.25).

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Making the Movie: Film production

1 •Scripting and funding

•Preparation for film making2

4 •Assembly

3 • shooting

•As the French director Robert Bresson puts it, “A film is born in my head and I kill it on paper. It is brought back to life by the actors and then killed in the camera. It is then resurrected into a third and final life in the editing room where the dismembered pieces are assembled into their finished form."

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1. Scripting and funding phase

• The idea for the film is developed and a screenplay is written. The filmmakers also acquire financial support for the project.

• Two roles are central at this phase: producer (executive producer; line producer) and screenwriter.

执行制片

在线制片

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2. The preparation phase

• When funding is more or less secure and the script is solid enough to start filming, the filmmakers can prepare for the physical production. In commercial filmmaking, this stage of activity is called preproduction.

• Personnel(1) Casting supervisor(2) Screenplay(3) Set unit/ Production design unit

Production designer

Graphic artist

Art director

Set decorator

Set dresser

Costume designer

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3. Shooting phase

• The filmmakers create the film's images and sounds.• During shooting, the director supervises what is called the director's crew, consisting of these personnel1. Script supervisor2. First assistant director3. Second assistant director4. Third assistant director5. Dialogue coach6. Second unit director

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3. Shooting phase

• Cast Supportive players

Minor playersextras

Stars

• Others Stunt coordinator

choreographerwrangler

Stunt artist

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3. Shooting phase

• Photography unit

Camera operator

Key gripCinematographer/Director of photography

• Sound unit

Boom operator

Third man

leader

Gaffer

leaderProduction recordist/Sound mixer

Sound designer

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3. Shooting phase

• Visual-effects unit Visual effects supervisor

• Miscellaneous unitMakeup staff

Costume staff

leader

Hairdresser

Because scenes seldom ate filmed in story order, the director and crew must have some way of labeling each take. As soon as the camera starts, one of the cinematographer's staff holds up a slate before the lens. On the slate is written the production, scene, shot, and take. A hinged arm at the top, the clapboard, makes a sharp smack that allows the recordist to synchronize the sound track with the footage in the assembly phase (1.30). Thus every take is identified for future reference.There are also electronic slates that keep track of each take automatically and provide digital readouts.

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4. The assembly phase-postproduction

• The images and sounds are combined in their final form. This involves cutting picture and sound, executing special effects, inserting music or extra dialogue, and adding titles.

• Relative terms (1) editor—supervising editor (2) dailies; rushes (3) rough cut; final cut (4) work print; nonlinear system (5) sound editor; spotting; automated dialogue replacement; dubbing;

nonsynchronized dialogue; composer; temp dub

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Modes of production

1 •Large-scale production

studio

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Modes of production

1 •Large-scale production

•Small-scale production3

4 • Artistic implications of different modes of production

•Exploitation and independent production2

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Artistic implications of different modes of production

• On the basis of how the films are made, they can be classified as

Documentary film fiction film animated film

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Bringing the film to the audience: distribution and exhibition

1 •Distribution—the center of power

• Six Hollywood firms remain the world's major distributors. The names are familiar: Warner Bros., Paramount, Walt Disney/Buena Vista, Sony/Columbia, Twentieth Century Fox, and Universal.

• These firms provide mainstream entertainment to theaters around the world.

• The films they release account for 95 percent of ticket sales in the United States and Canada, and more than half of the international market.

The major distributors have won such power because large companies can bestendure the risks of theatrical moviemaking. Filmmaking is costly, and most filmsdon't earn profits in theatrical release. Worldwide, the top l0 percent of all films releasedgarners 50 percent of all box office receipts. The most popular 30 percent offilms accounts for 80 percent of receipts. Typically, a film breaks even or shows aprofit only after it has been released on cable, satellite, and home video.

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Bringing the film to the audience: distribution and exhibition

•Distribution—the center of power

Majors and minors Ancillary marketsSelling the film

trailer

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Bringing the film to the audience: distribution and exhibition

2 •Exhibition: theatrical and nontheatrical

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Bringing the film to the audience: distribution and exhibition

3 •Artistic implications of distribution and exhibition

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Summary

The art of film depends on technology, from the earliest experiments in apparent motion to the most recent computer programs. It also depends on people who use that technology, who come together to make films, distribute them, and show them.As long as a film is aimed at a public, however small, it enters into the social dynamic of production, distribution, and exhibition. Out of technology and work processes, filmmakers create an experience for audiences. Along the way, they inevitably make choices about form and style. What options are available to them?How might filmmakers organize the film as a whole? How might they draw on the techniques of the medium? The next two parts of this book survey the possibilities.