2.5: Demonstrate understanding of narrative conventions in media texts within a medium Narrative The conventions have evolved in the hundred year plus history of the film and movie industry. To understand the conventions we need to know the history of film. Narrative All media texts tell stories. The use of an image can convey much within a greater story. What does this still from Charlie Chaplins The Immigrant (1915) tell you? What are meant to think about these people? How do you know? Film Narrative The first audience to experience a moving film did so in The film, by the Lumiere brothers was called Workers leaving the Lumiere Factory (1895) Their film Train Entering the Gare de Ciotat (1895) caused people to faint with fear as the train loomed from the screen into the theatre auditorium. These films did not carry a story or narrative - they merely showed a moving image on the screen. The first audience to experience a moving film did so in The film, by the Lumiere brothers was called Workers leaving the Lumiere Factory (1895) Their film Train Entering the Gare de Ciotat (1895) caused people to faint with fear as the train loomed from the screen into the theatre auditorium. These films did not carry a story or narrative - they merely showed a moving image on the screen. Film Narrative August ( ) & Louis ( ) Lumiere A colourised still of the Train Entering the Gare de Ciotat Station. Playing petanque (1895) Film Narrative - Melies Realising the potential of a good story George Melies ( ) utilised film to create fantastic stories that took his characters and audiences to the moon and beyond. Realising the potential of a good story George Melies ( ) utilised film to create fantastic stories that took his characters and audiences to the moon and beyond. Melies Melies used special effects to create fantastic spectacles in his films The changing process of cinema. Melies appears in his own film observing the action through the set window. The changing process of cinema The changes in film process involve several factors. George Huaco indentifies four factors: 1.Current events & achievements. (political climate) 2.The creativity of the film- makers who influenced the team of crafts-people involed in the films. 3.The technical developments that could be exploited. 4.The capacity of a sufficient audience to appreciate the results. The changes in film process involve several factors. George Huaco indentifies four factors: 1.Current events & achievements. (political climate) 2.The creativity of the film- makers who influenced the team of crafts-people involed in the films. 3.The technical developments that could be exploited. 4.The capacity of a sufficient audience to appreciate the results. Changing process of cinema The division between film and movie creates two views of quality and purpose. MOVIES = This is a commercial differentiation = popular entertainment with a mass circulation of copies of the movie. The audience being largely passive. . The product of an industry dominated by the producer (money) in which there is no individual film-maker but a team under the producers control. (The studio system.) The director is hired to create the movie from the script. The final version is, however, the responsibility of the Producer and Editor. The director of a movie is known as: metteur en scene = an interpreter of a score / script. The division between film and movie creates two views of quality and purpose. MOVIES = This is a commercial differentiation = popular entertainment with a mass circulation of copies of the movie. The audience being largely passive. . The product of an industry dominated by the producer (money) in which there is no individual film-maker but a team under the producers control. (The studio system.) The director is hired to create the movie from the script. The final version is, however, the responsibility of the Producer and Editor. The director of a movie is known as: metteur en scene = an interpreter of a score / script. Changing process of cinema The Film on the other hand is an individual creation. Often defined as being where a limited number of copies are in circulation - probably no more than five - at any one time. Film demands the audience to be actively involved in the experience. It makes demands on its audience and is seen to be the personal statement of an artist, film-maker or realisateur. The United Artists Company was set up by the actors who felt the demands of the studio were limiting their ability to make films that had personal meaning. Note : Movie is a phenomena of the USA. Film is a European phenomena. The Film on the other hand is an individual creation. Often defined as being where a limited number of copies are in circulation - probably no more than five - at any one time. Film demands the audience to be actively involved in the experience. It makes demands on its audience and is seen to be the personal statement of an artist, film-maker or realisateur. The United Artists Company was set up by the actors who felt the demands of the studio were limiting their ability to make films that had personal meaning. Note : Movie is a phenomena of the USA. Film is a European phenomena. Progressions - The Silent Film Film makers experimented with the use of the camera to develop new techniques that would enhance their ability to tell a story. 1913: Giovanni Pastrone ( Cabiria ) moved his camera laterally and slightly above the level of the forreground thus changing the perspective of the audience from that theyd previously had in the Luniere films. 1923: Carl Mayer directing Last Laugh for F.W.Murnau proposed a forward movement of the camera at dramatic moments as if to thrust the audience into the action. Progressions - The Silent Film Early film-makers often filmed theatre (le film dart) which produced a theatre without voice or depth. This failed to entertain and was replaced with naturalist film - the film of people in their streets and houses. The exaggeration of performance was out of place in such films but underplaying was inexpressive when the actor was far enough away to be seen at full height as dictated by le film dart. This style also dictated that actors did not cross the line marked on the stage. The line showed the point at which the actor could be seen full size. Progressions - The Silent Film To overcome the problem of under-playing the camera was moved closer to the actor which thus accentuated the actors personality. The technique also changed the audiences perspective of the action by: Shifting within a scene. Fragmentation of the field of view. Changing the rhythm and tempo of the action. The use of montage - the juxtaposition of picture against picture during editing for aesthetic or intellectual reason. Other changes came about with the improvement of film stock. Early stock made red look black which meant that skin tones were rendered black. The only way around this was for the actors to wear thick cream- white makeup which meant that subtle facial expressions were lost thus forcing the actors to exaggerate their facial movements to convey an emotion. Progressions - The Silent Film The great artists of the silent film are: Max Linder ( ) D.W.Griffith ( ) Charles Chaplin ( ) S.M.Eisenstein ( ) Victor Sjostrom ( ) G.W.Pabst ( ) F.W.Murnau.( ) All of whom grew up in the theatre but found greater satisfaction in the silent film. Progressions - The Silent Film The man who exploited this change was D.W. Griffith ( USA) whose film The Birth of a Nation (1914) created an explosive examination of the development of the American nation from the Civil War. The films until then were narrative and anecdotal this followed several threads of narrative - the friendly families in the North & South, political events in Washington, warfare with friends in opposite camps, exploitation of the South, white & black, carpet baggers from the North and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. Progressions- The Silent Film Scenes from The Birth of a Nation (1914) {cost:$110,000. Profit: $20 million.) One of Griffiths techniques was developed to show war scenes - He kept one group of combatants on one and the same side of the screen and the opposing forces on the other thus ensuring clarity of understanding by the audience. Progressions - The Silent Film Despite improvements in film-stock Griffith had problems with his female actors. The early film could make a pleasing photographic image only with smooth open-faced teenagers.Thus the actresses were all 15 year olds. They had to pad themselves to appear adult. An actress was a femme fatale by 18, a character actress at 25 and a grandmother at 40. Adult performances were beyond the reach of young actresses so only the surface of things could be explored - leading to melodramatic acting. Progressions - The Silent Film Griffiths success was also his undoing. His films - Intolerance - The Mother & The Law and The Fall of Babylon put him into debt. As a result Financiers ceased to regard the film-makers as the king-pins of production and decided to build up the film-star in their place - to put control in the hands of the producer, aided by his team of organisers and writers. (The Hollywood system). This favoured the movie over the film and reduced the risk for the banks. It also meant that the actor was out of place in the movie world as his / her versatility would make them unrecognisable and therefore valueless commercially. But they also introduced the langage (french = way of speaking) of the film- long shot / mid shot/ close-up and their variations.These terms allowed the editor to construct a movie or film to produce identified reactions from the audience. Progressions - The Silent Film Intolerance and The Birth of a Nation reached Russia and served to inspire Sergei Eisenstein - the great Russian film-maker. He became involved with film in 1924 with a film called Strike. His techniques included developing the use of a detail of a scene to symbolise a greater concept or truth. He also experimented with montage, a technique born of necessity as film negative was initially in short supply in post revolution Russia.. Eisenstein also used shock tactics in the selection of his material to confront his audience with images of such symbolic content that they had to become involved in the film. Consider these clips from The Battleship Potemkin for these narrative conventions. Progressions - The Silent Film Eisenstein is known for his pursuit of persuasion through generalisation and symbolism which evolved intoi the documentary film. The Odessa steps sequence from the previous slide is a symbolic construct rather than reality. The height and length of the steps and the speed of the soldiers descent would show that Eisenstein expanded the length of time taken by a factor of 4. By intercutting between the faces of the people, the soldiers steps and actions, the pram and its contents, and the general movement of the crowd on the steps. Progressions - The Silent Film Robert Flaherty ( ) introduced an innovation that revolutionised film as much as the later introduction of sound. He was making a film (Moana) using orthochromatic film as well as experimenting with a new colour process called Prizmacolor. Orthochromatic film mmade the Polynesians look negroid. The colour camera broke so Flaherty experimented with the panchromatic film used for Prizmacolor in the B/W camera resulting in a beautiful image that made him abandon the colour filming and film Moana in panchromatic b/w. Nanook of the North.(1922) Orthochromatic film Moana (1926) filmed in panchromatic film. Progressions - The Silent Film F.W.Marnau ( ) influenced the film making process with the introduction of the design tool - the storyboard. This is a script visualised by drawings of every basic change of camera angles in the film. Marnau was influenced by the swing to the right in Germany post W/W I where business took advantage of the high inflation rate to mass produce films at cheap rates. F.W.Marnau ( ) influenced the film making process with the introduction of the design tool - the storyboard. This is a script visualised by drawings of every basic change of camera angles in the film. Marnau was influenced by the swing to the right in Germany post W/W I where business took advantage of the high inflation rate to mass produce films at cheap rates. Progressions - The Silent Film The storyboard design focus introduced techniques like visual punning that (e.g) involved showing the passage of time by tracking towards a candle flame then dissolving into a lighted gas jet or electric bulb from which they would track away to the next sequence of the story. This technique was replaced by nouvelle vague that introduced jump cuts to show or allow the passage of time and space. This was known as kultur-film in Germany. World War I signaled the advance of the movie from the USA. This was because while Europe was fighting a four year long war, costing 10 million dead, the Americans only fought for six months at a cost of 115,000 dead. The 10 years of prosperity in the USA allowed the industry to gain dominance. The storyboard design focus introduced techniques like visual punning that (e.g) involved showing the passage of time by tracking towards a candle flame then dissolving into a lighted gas jet or electric bulb from which they would track away to the next sequence of the story. This technique was replaced by nouvelle vague that introduced jump cuts to show or allow the passage of time and space. This was known as kultur-film in Germany. World War I signaled the advance of the movie from the USA. This was because while Europe was fighting a four year long war, costing 10 million dead, the Americans only fought for six months at a cost of 115,000 dead. The 10 years of prosperity in the USA allowed the industry to gain dominance. Progressions - The Silent Film Interesting asides: Post W/WI the cult of following the film star trend developed: e.g. The singlet began to disappear once the film star removed his shirt to reveal a bare torso, the use of the safety razor in film signaled the end of the cut throat razor. The distortion of body shape caused by the cinema screen and the positioning of the audience in the theatre lead to the perception that slim is beautiful. Marlene Dietrich started the trend for women to wear trousers when she wore them on screen. Quota Quickies (6000 ft films) appeared when the UK Government attempted to boost the UK film industry by setting a 5% quota on US films. The US industry responded by making these cheap films in the UK to get around the quota limit. These films were often badly made but did encourage film- makers like Alfred Hitchcock and John Grierson (Empire Marketing Board). Interesting asides: Post W/WI the cult of following the film star trend developed: e.g. The singlet began to disappear once the film star removed his shirt to reveal a bare torso, the use of the safety razor in film signaled the end of the cut throat razor. The distortion of body shape caused by the cinema screen and the positioning of the audience in the theatre lead to the perception that slim is beautiful. Marlene Dietrich started the trend for women to wear trousers when she wore them on screen. Quota Quickies (6000 ft films) appeared when the UK Government attempted to boost the UK film industry by setting a 5% quota on US films. The US industry responded by making these cheap films in the UK to get around the quota limit. These films were often badly made but did encourage film- makers like Alfred Hitchcock and John Grierson (Empire Marketing Board). Progressions - The Silent Film Interesting asides: European film actors were forced to move to the USA to get access to longer, more involved movies. The lack of sound track proved a limitation to film as the development of character or comment could not be properly exploited. This meant that the two forms of film / movie that were able to exploit the industry were Westerns and Comedies as they were often made away from the Studio and were able to tell their stories in an original fashion without complex complications of plot. It is in this medium that Charlie Chaplin began his career along with such greats as: Buster Keaton, Harold Llyod, Harry Langdon and W.C. Fields. The silent comedy gave birth to avant garde cinema - with a focus on the original and unusual. This interest sparked the development of the Film Society (1920 Canudo and 1922 Delluc in Paris, Ivor Montagu in London.) This mobement encouraged the development of the short film. (less than 60 minute film) Interesting asides: European film actors were forced to move to the USA to get access to longer, more involved movies. The lack of sound track proved a limitation to film as the development of character or comment could not be properly exploited. This meant that the two forms of film / movie that were able to exploit the industry were Westerns and Comedies as they were often made away from the Studio and were able to tell their stories in an original fashion without complex complications of plot. It is in this medium that Charlie Chaplin began his career along with such greats as: Buster Keaton, Harold Llyod, Harry Langdon and W.C. Fields. The silent comedy gave birth to avant garde cinema - with a focus on the original and unusual. This interest sparked the development of the Film Society (1920 Canudo and 1922 Delluc in Paris, Ivor Montagu in London.) This mobement encouraged the development of the short film. (less than 60 minute film) Progressions - The Silent Film The end of silent film came as the audiences demanded depth of characterisation, of plot and, consequently, more than comedy as film fare. Sound, however, was introduced as a publicity stunt. An effort to bring the audience back to the theatre. The producers did not believe sound had a future because no one could see how to solve the problem of language translation- Silent film could just drop in an inter-title in the appropriate language very cheaply. The end of silent film came as the audiences demanded depth of characterisation, of plot and, consequently, more than comedy as film fare. Sound, however, was introduced as a publicity stunt. An effort to bring the audience back to the theatre. The producers did not believe sound had a future because no one could see how to solve the problem of language translation- Silent film could just drop in an inter-title in the appropriate language very cheaply. Silent Movies The Advent of Sound Sound and film were slow to accommodate each other. Sound technology was clumsy and difficult to link to the speed of the film. Sound made it difficult to film in the open air, to film without interfering with lighting, without interfering with the way the actors spoke and with the number of cameras able to be used. Sound forced film to adapt and develop new narrative techniques. Sound and film were slow to accommodate each other. Sound technology was clumsy and difficult to link to the speed of the film. Sound made it difficult to film in the open air, to film without interfering with lighting, without interfering with the way the actors spoke and with the number of cameras able to be used. Sound forced film to adapt and develop new narrative techniques. Sound Improvements: Restoring the single camera with scene lit and recorded from a single viewpoint - allowing perspective into sound recording as the microphone and camera could be moved together. Development of the mixed sound track (1932) allowed synchronisation of dialogue and image. Also provided for aural differentiations: sound close ups, distant sound, Sound effects, music. Sound Effects: Sound in unison with image creates tempo changes. Climaxes can be signaled by increasing the music tempo and cutting the duration of the images by several %s. Studios developed techniques like back projection to allow sound to be recorded while giving the appearance of being filmed out doors or in a moving vehicle. Sound enhanced the effect of the montage to compress and direct the story line. The French called this aural / visual montage fragmentation. Sound Sound also changed the way a film was scripted. From long action sequences to dialogue sequences to achieve dramatic effect. Scripts were formated like: Visual Dialogue Shots and duration of What the actors say Exterior and interior work began to be filmed separately along with the plates for back projection use. Thus making the team more important in movie making. Sound Notes: Initially early sound film used a square image (aspect ratio) shape around 3 x3.5 because the sound track took up a % of the 3 x 4 frame used in silent film. 1932 Hollywood introduced a masking of the top and bottom of the frame to restore the older aspect ratio This allowed the viewer to see the action within a more natural perspective / focal depth.. Sound Historical events and the sound film. The depression ( ) encouraged the development of the conventions of the gangster movie (the urban western ) and comedies that saw ordinary folk standing up against corrupt big business. World War II encouraged the development of the propaganda film and again helped the USA gain dominance of the movie making business. The impact of the technology is seen in Citizen Kane (Oson Welles 1941) Modern Sound Film The modern phase of film making is a development of the technologies available, the influence of commerce, sophistication of the audiences, and the advent of neo-realism in film- making. Aspect ratio has moved to 2.35:1 on 35mm film and 2.2:1 on 70mm film. To allow the audience to see the whole screen without having it cut by the balcony. The invention of a wide angle lens (anamorphic lens) allowed cameras to see in 180 o Coupled with improved film stock which gave a better depth of focus film- makers could develop new ways to tell their stories. Modern Sound Film The effect of wide screens is to force the audience to make decisions about events for themselves as they are exposed to more information than the older, more traditional aspect ratios allowed. This means that the plan-sequence of the script is even more important. The modern film also allows the film-maker to tame time. By manipulating past and present into the present of the film. The effect of wide screens is to force the audience to make decisions about events for themselves as they are exposed to more information than the older, more traditional aspect ratios allowed. This means that the plan-sequence of the script is even more important. The modern film also allows the film-maker to tame time. By manipulating past and present into the present of the film. Film becomes more introspective. Often manipulating fact and fantasy within the scenes. (Fellini. La Dolce Vita ) The centre for such films being European. Movies become more action orientated and special effects dominated. The centre for such films being American. Sound Entertainment moved from being voluntary and positive and became a compulsory avoidance of any political or social point of view - a negative occupation. The impact of the car and television on the movie industry was heavy post war. The audiences for movies fell 40% between This signaled the advent of a wider aspect ration (cinemascope) A demand for SFX heralded the use of CGI (Lord of the Rings / Matrix) Post World War II Effects on Film making were: A rejection of the American formula film by European audiences who demanded realism rather than artificial surroundings and situations. Political events arising from W.W II - the film industry had supported the Allies (Soviet Union & UK)against Germany. The withdrawal of Russia post war allowed the rise of McCarthyism in the USA. Film makers were accused of Un American Activities ( ) Post World War II Effects on Film making were: A rejection of the American formula film by European audiences who demanded realism rather than artificial surroundings and situations. Political events arising from W.W II - the film industry had supported the Allies (Soviet Union & UK)against Germany. The withdrawal of Russia post war allowed the rise of McCarthyism in the USA. Film makers were accused of Un American Activities ( )