Film 110

1. The Beginnings
a. Thomas Edison developed one of the first film recorders/viewers
i. Kinectograph (camera)
ii. Kinectoscope (viewer)
iii. The Lumiere brothers developed a similar process in Paris
b. Edwin S. Porter and George Melies were the first producers to tell a
story with their movies
c. Peep shows Nickelodeons Theater
d. Move to Hollywood because of TAX BREAKS and CLIMATE in 1915-1920
e. D. W. Griffith Grandfather of modern motion pictures
i. Full length feature films
ii. Developed most film techniques
iii. Created Birth of a Nation
1. First 10 reeler
2. About the KKK
iv. Also created Intolerance which is one of the best movies from
the silent era
f. United Artists Studio
i. Charlie Chaplin
ii. Douglas Fairbanks
iii. Mary Pickford
g. Studio Systems Production Process
i. Owned by NY corporations
ii. Managed by onsite studio executives
iii. Everything was owned by the studio
iv. Studio supervised all aspects
v. Exclusive contracts with studios
2. The Studio Era
a. Five Major Studios (made 95% of films)
a. Fox
b. MGM
c. Warner Brothers
d. RKO
e. Paramount
ii. Vertical Integration
1. Production (made the film)
2. Distribution (sold the film)
3. Exhibition (showed the film)
iii. Henry Fords Dream Factory made 52 movies a year!
b. 1925-1945 Theater Box Office
i. 60-80 million viewers a week
c. Minor Studios (only made movies)
i. Columbia
ii. Universal
iii. United Artists
3. Movies
a. Lumiere Brothers
i. Arrival of the Train

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b. Edwin S. Porter
i. The Great Train Robbery
ii. Painted color frame by frame on certain scenes
iii. Final scene popular
c. George Melies
i. A Trip to the Moon
ii. The movie Hugo is based off of him
iii. Also hand painted scenes
Film Genres (French for Type of film)
i. A film is defined by its particular traits or conventions
ii. Film conventions are the traits audiences expect to see in a
certain genre (hopefully in a fresh way)
iii. As genres develop, they change/evolve based on audience
acceptance
b. Cycles of Genres
i. Primitive
ii. Classical
iii. Revisionist
iv. Parodic
c. Comedy Genres
i. Slapstick (Mack Sennett , Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton)
1. The General
ii. Satire (using humor to state a point)
1. Dr. Strangelove
iii. Moron
1. Dumb and Dumber
iv. Parody
1. Young Frankenstein
v. Romantic
1. Hitch
Prestige
a. Magic trick
i. Pledge
ii. Turn
iii. Prestige
b. Movie stories (Classical Paradigm Sid Fields 3 act structure)
i. Beginning (Exposition)
ii. Middle (Conflict)
iii. End (Resolution)
The System Begins To Crack
a. World War II
b. Unionization
c. Paramount case (1948) Pick 2 out of the 3
d. Tax laws change
e. Television
i. Michael Izner showed movies on the TV
Independent Era (1965-present)
a. Anyone can form a production company
b. You can get financing wherever

c. You hire all film artist, equipment, space, locations, distribution

company, and ad agency
d. Organization dissolves
8. The story
a. Screenplays
i. ORIGINAL - Stories written originally for the screen
ii. ADAPTION - Stories adapted from novels or plays
1. Faithful
2. Loose
b. Interpreting/Reading a Film
i. Plot Sequence of events
ii. Characters The people IN the story
iii. Manner The form of the movie (music, camera)
iv. Themes The underlying meaning/message of the film
9. From Page to Screen
a. The Usual Process
i. Screenplay
ii. Storyboards/shot list
iii. Shooting script
b. North by Northwest
10.Film Characters
a. Protagonist/Hero: Main character
b. Antagonist/Villain: The character or force opposing the hero
i. Conflict
1. Hero vs. Self
2. Hero vs. Another character
3. Hero vs. The Environment
ii. Characters can be
1. Round or Flat
2. Dynamic or Static
iii. Characters are developed by
1. Physical action
2. Dialogue
3. Thought
4. Memory
c. Character Archetypes
i. Universal types of characters that serve a narrative purpose
ii. Represent human traits
iii. These people used them frequently:
1. Joseph Campbell
2. Vladimir Prop
3. Carl Jung
iv. Hero/Heroine, Prince/Princess, Sidekick(s), Dispatcher(s),
Enabler(s), False Hero(s), Villain, Villains agent(s)
11.Motifs - Any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story
a. Film motifs are often repeated details Objects, situations, colors,
musical passages, dialogue, film techniques, etc. that act as vehicles
to deliver a films themes

b. In other words, motifs are the way films make their thematic
statements
c. Repetition is vital
d. Motifs are cinematic symbols used to illustrate themes within a single
story
12.Film Subjects and Themes (they are different)
a. Film SUBJECTS are the human virtues or vices that a movie addresses
i. The issues, questions, or problems the film makers want us to
think/feel about
1. Loyalty, friendship, love, evil, death
b. Film THEMES are what a specific film says about a subject
i. A film may have one themes, several themes, or no themes
ii. For tests, the theme should be stated in one sentence at the
start of the response
iii. Theme: Chaplins Modern Times suggests that in spite of the
brutal conditions of Americas great economic depression, every
individual had the opportunity to obtain the American dream of
home, family, and most importantly, love.
13.Homework
a. The American Dream by John Truslow Adams
i. The dream of a land in which life is better, richer and fuller for
everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or
achievement.
b. Hays Production Code
i. No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards
of those who see it
ii. Caused by May West
14.Charlie Chaplin Modern Times
a. He was born into a family of entertainers in England
b. Best known for his career in the silent era
c. His movies (silent era):
i. The Immigrant, The Tramp, The Kid, and The Goldrush
d. Sound era
i. He resisted it at first, then created city lights (only partial sound)
ii. Modern Times (first time he speaks in a film; Last time he plays
the tramp)
iii. The Great Dictator (full sound), Limelight
iv. Made long build up then a quick punchline
v. Closing shot of Modern Times is one of the most famous
e. Motifs in Modern Times
i. Clocks
ii. Food
iii. Arrests
iv. Strikes
v. Machinery
vi. Other repeated/paralleled situations
f. Ending scene redefines the American Dream
i. Happiness is the true American Dream

g. Mickey Mousing Chaplin turn/hop

Book Readings
Chapter 8 (story)

Aristotles two types of fictional narrative

o Mimesis (showing) The area of live theater where the events tell
themselves
o Diegesis (telling) The area of novels where there is a narrator telling
the story
Genres
o Types of stories
Conventions
o Tradition, history, the norm
The film plot structure known as the classical paradigm, as illustrated by
Buster Keatons film, The General
o Exposition Climax Closure
Realist and Formalist films
o Realistic narration The implied author is invisible and the events
speak for themselves. Used a lot in stage plays
o Formalist narration The author is overtly manipulative, sometimes
scrambling the story or restructuring events to maximize a thematic
idea
The Horatio Alger myth as illustrated by Sylvester Stallones film, Rocky
o Horatio Alger myth The inspiring tale of a social nobody who works
hard and is able to succeed after many hardships
The four cycles through which genre films evolve over time
o 1. Primitive Nave but powerful due to its novelty
o 2. Classical The values are assured and widely shared by audiences
o 3. Revisionist More complex and less certain in its values
o 4. Parodic An outright mockery of its conventions
How are documentary films different from fictional films?
o Documentary films are rarely recreated, often have narration, dont tell
a story, are factual real people, events, places, not creating a world
but instead reporting on the one that already exists
A rite-of-passage film
o Focus on birth, puberty, first love, first job, marriage, painful
separation, death
In what ways do viewers pre-judge a film before actually seeing it?

Chapter 9 (writing)

Motif

o Submerged or invisible symbols with a symbolic significance

What are the two most important types of screenplay adaptations?
o Loose
o Faithful
What Alfred Hitchcock film is used as an example of a screenplay?
o North by Northwest
The film making process in Hollywood encouraged scripts to be written
by.whom?
o Multiple authorship
Know the two members of a film crew that are considered the authors of a
film
o Screenwriters and directors
Novelization
o Commissioned novel versions of popular films that are often written by
hired hacks to cash in of a movies popularity
Homage
o An overt reference to another movie, director, or memorable scene
Allusion
o A common type of literary parallel. (Protagonist of Scarface was
modeled off of Al Capone)
Camera Angles
o POV First Person
o Single reaction Close up
o Several characters Long shot
o Connect various time periods and locations Parallel editing
o Superimpose different time periods Dissolve/Multiple exposure
Which point of view is almost inevitable in most movies?
o Omniscient narration
mise en scene
o The arrangement of all the visual elements