Storyboards

http://linoit.com/users/markp99/canvases/Storyboards

Click to access storyboarding.pdf

Story Boards must include: dialogue, camera movements, lighting, soundtrack, and a brief summary of the action

A Taste of Honey

http://prezi.com/j0nounqtohjw/a-taste-of-honey/

A Taste of Honey Follows Todorov’s Classic Narrative Theory because a new equilibrium is established and the narrative has a closed ending.

1. EQUILIBRIUM

is set out

2.  DISEQUILIBRIUM:

the equilibrium is broken or disrupted

3.  RECOGNITION:

the characters recognize the disequilibrium

4.  REPAIR:

the characters attempt to resolve the problem

5.  RESOLUTION:

equilibrium is restored

Sources: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vbBX6PWI2L8/UnP3qfz24KI/AAAAAAAAANw/qwG8id7aGU4/s1600/TODOROV_ZOMBIESLOIS.png                                                                                                                   Mark’s Narrative theory PP

Flashbacks

Source: Mark’s Powerpoint (WEEK 3)

The Godfather: Part 2 (1974) clip:

Django Unchained (2012) clip:

Batman Begins (2005) clip:

Narrative Structure

Narrative- A spoken or written account of connected events; a story.                         Source: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/narrative

Structure- The arrangement and relations between the parts or elements of something complex.                                                                                                      Source: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/structure

Narrative Structure- Narrative structure is about two things: the content of a story and the form used to tell the story. Two common ways to describe these two parts of narrative structure are story and plot.
Story refers to the raw materials of dramatic action as they might be described in
chronological order. Plot refers to how the story is told — the form of storytelling, or
the structure, that the story follows.
If we want to analyze narrative structure, we can use “who,” “what,” and “where”
questions to look at the story or content of a movie. “How” and “when” questions are used to examine plot structure.
Conventionally, both story and plot are described in terms of how a character’s life is disrupted by an event or change in his/her situation; this causes a series of conicts that the character(s) must face, including the major conict that is eventually resolved at the end of the lm. “Conict” in this model can take many forms, be it emotional, interpersonal, or even between the character and his/her physical environment.
To describe story in a lm, we would need to answer the following questions:
• Where is the story set?
• What event starts the story?
• Who are the main characters?
• What conict(s) do they face? What is at stake?
• What happens to the characters as they face this conict?
• What is the outcome of this conict?
• What is the ultimate impact on the characters?
To describe the plot structure of the movie, we would need to answer these questions:
• How and when is the major conict in the story set up?
• How and when are the main characters introduced?
• How is the story moved along so that the characters must face the central conict?
• How and when is the major concit set up to propel the lm to its conclusion?
• How and when does the lm resolve most of the major conicts set up at the outset?
In each case, story and plot are slightly different ways of analyzing a movie.
From the audience’s perspective, story and plot refer to the different ways movie
narratives construct meaning for spectators. Story is about trying to determine the
key conicts, main characters, setting and events. Plot is about how, and at what
stages, the key conicts are set up and resolved. What’s interesting about most of the movies made in Hollywood is that, while the stories may change, the fundamental plot structure is virtually identical.                                                            Source: http://thecinematheque.ca/education/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/LanguageofFilm01.pdf

Transitions

Cut- The most basic and common type of transition is the cut. A cut happens when one shot instantly replaces the other. Cuts are so widely used that feature movies normally count thousands of them.                                                                              Cuts are essential for the effects of juxtaposition, especially as demonstrated by the Kuleshov Experiment. Although most cuts exist simply for a technical need, the abrupt replacement of one shot by the other often demands a certain interpretation from the viewer.                                                                       Kuleshov Effect:

Fade- Fade ins and fade outs are the second most common type of transition. Fade outs happen when the picture is gradually replaced by black screen or any other solid color. Traditionally, fade outs have been used to conclude movies. Fade ins are the opposite: a solid color gradually gives way to picture, commonly used in the beginning of movies.

Despite being the second most used transition, fades are seldom adopted by editors. An average feature film will have only a couple of fades, if that. Fades are used sparingly because they imply the end of a major story segment. Also, fades are welcome to allow the audience to catch their breath after an intense sequence. In Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994), one fade out happens right after Butch (Bruce Willis) rams his car into Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), an unexpected accident that drastically alters the lives of those two characters.                                Pulp Fiction (1994) clip: 

Dissolve- Also known as overlapping, dissolves happen when one shot gradually replaces by the next. One disappears as the following appears. For a few seconds, they overlap, and both are visible. Commonly used to signify the passage of time.    The Shining (1980) clip (1:33): 

Wipe- Wipes are dynamic. They happen when one shot pushes the other off frame. George Lucas deliberately used them throughout the Star Wars series.                      Star Wars Episode III (2005) clip: 

Iris- An old-fashioned transition hardly employed nowadays is the iris, when a circulars masking closes the picture to a black screen. Irises are found in some cartoons like this example from Betty Boop:                                                                 

Source: http://www.elementsofcinema.com/editing/types-of-transition.html

Film sound and music

Sound, voice and music are integral to most films and/or film viewing experiences. Even the earliest silent films were often shown with live musical accompaniment. Sound enhances the imaginary world, it can provide depth, establish character and environment, introduce a new scene or cue the viewer to important information.        Source: http://collegefilmandmediastudies.com/film-sound-and-music/

How sound can build a story- Many kind of sound have direct storytelling role in film making. Dialog and narration tell the story and narrative sound effects can be used in such capacity too, for example to draw the attention of the characters for an off screen event. Such direct narrative sound effects are often written into the script, since their use can influence when and where actors have to take some corresponding action.                                                                                           

Sound has a subliminal role. Sound is working on its audience unconsciously. 
While all viewers can tell apart the various objects in a picture – an actor, a table, the walls of a room, listeners barely ever perceive sound so analytically. They tend to take sound in as a whole, despite it actually being deliberately constructed from many pieces. 

Herein lies the key to an important storytelling power of sound
The inability of listeners to separate sound into different parts can easily produce ” a willing  suspension of disbelief” in audience, since they can not separately discern the function of various sound elements. These factors can be manipulated by filmmakers to produce a route to emotional involvement in the material by the audience 

The most direct example this effect is often the film score. Heard in isolation, the actual score played with the film often do not make much sense. The music is deliberately written to enhance the mood of a scene and to underscore the action not as a foreground activity, but a background one. The function of the music is to “tell” the audience how to feel, from moment to moment: Soaring strings mean one thing, a single snare drum, another.                                                               Source: http://filmsound.org/articles/roles_of_sound.htm

5 types of TV programs (In German and English)

Sitcom (English)- Sitcom (German) Genre

Drama (English)- Drama (German) Genre

Talk Show (English)- Talk Show (German) Format

Soap Opera (English)- Seifenoper (German) Format

News (English)- Nachrichten (German) Format

Synchronous Sound

Synchronous sound is sound that is matched with the action and movements being viewed. An oft-used example portrays a character playing the piano, and the viewer hears the sounds of the piano simultaneously. In this clip from The Pianist, Adrien Brody finishes up a piece in front of a German guard.

Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane is widely regarded by critics as the best film ever made. I will be discussing the shots and lighting of this “masterpiece”.

Lighting:

Lighting was an important aspect of Citizen Kane. In this shot,the strong back lighting is used to make the character in front appear as only a silhouette and therefore anonymous to the viewer. The smoke that fills the room helps to show the light beams coming from the projectors as well as the lamp on the table.

This use of lighting can also be seen in this image in which the high-contrast lighting creates a foreboding atmosphere.

The film Citizen Kane took this issue of lighting in film a step forward based on the expressionist work of the twenties and on the fact that they
couldn’t afford expensive props. Many of the scenes were cast in shadow to hide half empty sets. The unintended effect was to give the film a
uniform dark feeling of constant foreboding that couldn’t be conveyed in dialog or even music. With the use of camera angles that had never
been used before such as in one memorable scene in which Charles Foster Kane is filmed from below but lit from the sides he is made to look not
sinister as lighting from below would do but larger than life in a bloated over stuffed way, again making the character look too full of himself in a
way no words could.

Shots:

Dutch angle shots- This is achieved by tilting the camera slightly, it can convey a sense of urgency or fear to a scene especially when it illustrates a characters reaction.

Low angle shots- The low-angle setup was dominant in Orson Welles’s CITIZEN KANE to suggest the titanic dimension of the tycoon protagonist. To permit the frequent use of the low-angle, Welles had to build his sets complete with ceilings, and the omnipresence of ceilings in the background is one of the many unusual features of CITIZEN KANE. By merely shifting camera angles, a director can suggest not only the ups and downs in a character’s fortune but also the attitude an audience should adopt toward any personality or action in the film.

Deep Focus Shot-

For example, during the scene in Citizen Kane when Charles Foster Kane is signing away his fortune, he stands and walks away from the camera toward a bank of windows and then returns. At the beginning of the scene the windows look as though they are a normal distance from the floor. However, as Kane walks toward them, we realize that the windows are actually more than six feet from the floor. When he stands in front of these now enormous windows, he is absolutely diminished. Through the use of deep focus, Orson Welles is able to keep everything in the shot in focus and illustrates just how defeated and broken Kane is at that moment. The technique (deep focus and mise-en-scene) MAKES the meaning (Kane’s admission of his insignificance) in that scene in the same way irony
or simile or sound devices do in literature.

Source: http://www.frankwbaker.com/citizen_kane.htm

Primary and Secondary Research

Primary research means collecting your own original data. This is usually due to the researcher having an insight on the issue form looking at secondary data or by referring back to previously collected primary data.                                                     en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_research 

Types of primary sources:
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS: Diaries, speeches, manuscripts, letters, interviews, news film footage, autobiographies, official records
CREATIVE WORKS: Poetry, drama, novels, music, art
RELICS OR ARTIFACTS: Pottery, furniture, clothing, buildings

An example of a primary source is: The Bible

Secondary research (also known as desk research) involves the summary of existing research rather than primary research.                                                          en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_research

Some types of secondary sources include:                                                                   PUBLICATIONS: Textbooks, magazine articles, histories, criticisms, commentaries, encyclopedias.

An example of a secondary source is: Wikipedia

http://www.princeton.edu/~refdesk/primary2.html