Understanding Cinema

It elaborates the definition of Cinema, explains the qualities of Cinema, describes the Characteristics of Cinema.

1. UNDERSTANDING CINEMA Dr. JANARDHAN JUVVIGUNTA

2. WHAT IS CINEMA Cinema is considered as the Seventh Art Form after cave painting , sculpture , painting , dance , music , and theatre. The art of motion pictures is extremely complex Requiring contributions from nearly all the other arts as well as countless technical skills (for example, in sound recording , photography , and optics ). Emerging at the end of the 19th century ( Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat-1895) This new art form became one of the most popular and influential media of the 20th century and beyond.

3. WHAT IS CINEMA? The illusion of movement that holds the attention and may even lower critical resistance

4. WHAT IS CINEMA Series of still photographs on film, projected in rapid succession onto a screen by means of light. Because of the optical phenomenon known as persistence of vision This gives the illusion of actual , smooth , and continuous movement . It is a remarkably effective medium in conveying drama and especially in the evocation of emotion.

5. The motion picture gives a strong sense of being present The film image always appears to be in the present tense. It appears to show actual people and things UNDERSTANDING CINEMA BEING PRESENT

6. Audience are taken from their everyday environment into a dark auditorium . The darkness concentrates their attention and prevents comparison of the image on the screen with surrounding objects or people. UNDERSTANDING CINEMA

7. QUALITIES OF CINEMA Its derives from its power to hold the complete attention of the spectator INTENSITY 01 Related to the camera’s ability to see things in greater detail than the eye can INTIMACY 02 Freedom to move from place to place or to approach or withdraw instantaneously UBIQUITY 03 A film image may be less ambiguous than the language of words PARTICULARITY 04

8. The motion picture itself is non-human or even superhuman in its passive reception of information 05 NEUTRALITY

9. Characteristics of the Medium The attempt of the motion picture to reproduce three-dimensional reality on a flat screen The appeal of a luminous picture projected by powerful light Realism Luminosity Montage is what distinguishes motion pictures from the performing arts Montage Composition in the motion picture is kinetic rather than static Movement

10. Types of Montage M ontage may be distinguished— Metric , Rhythmic , Tonal , O vertonal/Associational and Intellectual Metric Montage -October: Ten Days That Shook the World (1927). Rhythmic Montage -Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin Tonal Montage -Titanic's Last stand Overtonal Montage - Alfred Hitchcock‘ Psycho (1960) “intellectual” montage -October (Sergei Eisenstein, 1928)

11. Expressive elements of motion pictures

12. Pictures reinforce the concept Jean Cocteau called the cinema “ picture writing ” The language of film, however, is not the language of words , even though spoken dialogue has been an integral part of motion pictures since the late 1920s Various codes of expression have been categorized into those affecting cinematography , editing , sound, the script , acting, and Production design

13. Cinematographic expression The camera may take the viewpoint of the Pickpocket (1959) The process of framing is intended to eliminate what is unessential in the motion picture Seven Samurai (1954) Shooting angle Framing The entire film is seen from the camera/character’s point of view so that the audience sees only what the camera/character sees Rear Window (1954) PoV Scale may have a marked effect on the emotional tone of a scene King Kong (1933) Scale

14. The effect of camera movement depends on the context and the pace of movement At a deliberate pace the camera can explore a scene and reveal significant details The camera may simply turn away from a scene to leave to the spectator’s imagination Camera movement is one of the key indicators of the presence of a narrator CAMERA MOVEMENT

15. The documentary Travelogues and ethnographic films Newsreels and documentaries Propaganda The experimental and animated film Fictional genres Hollywood genres The serial Types of film

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