FILM & TV Terminology
TERMINOLOGY USED in FILM & TELEVISION
Film is more than the twentieth-century art.
Don Delillo (b. 1926).
Visual storytelling, whether in film or in television (TV), some argue, constitutes the hardest of all the art forms. “In the making of a movie, between the idea and the finished print so much can go wrong and often does.”
Knowing the right techniques, however, as well as, the correct terminology, the researcher asserts, enhances the opportunities for a filmmaker or TV producer to more effectively produce a film/TV program. Consequently, this thesis purports:
As the terminology used in film and television production illustrates the specific lingo professionals utilize in the business, the use of this terminology may contribute to the success of the professional in the film/TV industry.
Along with the fulfilling the primary goal of the thesis, identifying, illustrating and investigating the use of the terminology in film and television production, the researcher addresses the following three research questions:
How did film terms evolve to become a vital part of contemporary film production?
What components contribute to the linguistic aspect of a sublanguage inside of the English language?
What are some terms, along with their meanings, that those in the film/TV business utilized?
Thesis Structure
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language defines a thesis as:
proposition stated or put forward for consideration, esp. one to be discussed and proved or to be maintained against objections: He vigorously defended his thesis on the causes of war.
A dissertation on a particular subject in which one has done original research, as one presented by a candidate for a diploma or degree.
The structure of this thesis adheres to the following format:
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER II: FILM and TV HISTORY
CHAPTER III: FILM and TV SUBLANGUAGE
CHAPTER IV: FILM and TV TERMONLOOGY
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION
Methodology
Through the review of the literature, this thesis examines the terminology used in film and television production; specifically incorporating a minimum of 20 sample film terms. This thesis also includes several short conversations about the production of a film, found in film magazines, books and/or DVD commentaries to illustrate the specific lingo professionals utilize in the business.
Table 1 presents the Criteria for a Good Thesis:
Table 1: Criteria for a Good Thesis:
Arguable:
The thesis should express an idea that can be doubted.
Clear:
The thesis should use precise, unambiguous language, and thus it should contain no metaphors, similes, or other figures of speech.
Predictive:
The thesis should predict the paper’s plan of development, usually by mentioning the paper’s main subtopics in order of appearance.
Unified:
The thesis should make a unified statement expressed as a single sentence.
Narrow:
The thesis should be about a topic that you can master thoroughly.
Original:
The thesis should be original (at least to some degree).
If one cannot answer yes the following six questions, when designing his/her thesis, he/she may not yet have a solid tentative thesis:
Does the thesis inspire a reasonable reader to ask “how” or “why”? (arguable)
Would a reasonable reader not respond with “huh”? (clear)
Does the thesis lead the reader toward the topic sentences or subtopics needed to prove the thesis? (predictive)
Does the thesis avoid general phrasing and/or sweeping words such as “all” or “none” or “every”? (narrow)
Can the thesis be adequately developed in the required length of the paper or project? (narrow)
Would a reasonable reader not respond with “duh”? (original)
The researcher asserts an affirmative answer for each of the aforementioned questions. During the next section of this thesis, the researcher also presents affirmative considerations during the process of addressing the query designed to help the researcher maintain this study’s focus: How did film terms evolve to become a vital part of contemporary film production?
CHAPTER II
FILM and TV HISTORY
It’s another part of the twentieth-century mind.
It’s the world seen from inside.”
INTRODUCTION
Throughout the history of film, Hollywood tended to produce films that utilized and depended on a vast array of technical powers; making movies that emphasized special effects.
For a culture such as that of filmmakers to thrive, a broad range of artistic production must exist, along with outlets for this assortment to reach a massive audience. During the older days of Hollywood, filmmakers reportedly attempted to make a variety of movies, “from classy a films to B’s and shorts. Most of these were populist, even the top-grade ones, however there appeared to usually be a semblance of some conscience about what was being given to the public.”
As time passed, producers made only tepid attempts to make “family entertainment.” Serious films that dealt with vital moral issues rarely received genuine consideration among most Hollywood filmmakers and studios. Films produced to become blockbusters aimed to proffer astonishing spectacles. The bottom line became the overriding issue. As the cost of producing films skyrockets, filmmakers accepted fewer risks. Back in 1998, sex, violence, and foul language proved to be epidemic.
A www.filmsite.org/birt.html” the Birth of a Nation (1915), one of the first silent films in the U.S., although considered controversial, is noted as a ground-breaking, landmark American epic film masterpiece: The reportedly reprehensible, explicitly racist, film that D.W. Griffith produced:
is remarkable for its cinematic feel and spectacle of splendidly-staged Civil War battle scenes with historical costuming and hundreds of extras. On the battlefield, eldest son Benjamin Cameron (Henry B. Wathall), known as “the Little Colonel” leads a final desperate assault against the Union command of Capt. Phil Stoneman (Elmer Clifton) and charges down a road leading his troops, in a dramatic moving-camera shot, taken from a high angle. Cameron is wounded in action when he leads a final assault carrying the Confederate flag against the Union entrenchment line. After being hospitalized, the scene of the Little Colonel’s return to his ruined home is touching and poignant – one of the greatest scenes in early film history. Weary, Ben arrives at the front fence of his home, pausing to notice its disrepair. As he stands there, “Little Sister” Flora (Mae Marsh) and other family members expectantly await his arrival inside. Ben slowly enters the fence gate and approaches the front porch. Flora bounces joyfully out of the front door – but then hesitates when she sees his anguished expression. They both feign happiness at first, and he notices the raw cotton that she is wearing. Both succumb to grateful tears and the two sadly embrace on the front porch. She guides him into the front door. From a side view, the tender hand of his mother reaches out through the door and gradually draws him inside. [the concluding Ku Klux Klan ride – with extensive cross-cutting between the scenes to create excitement and suspense – although glorifying the role of the white supremacist group, is a justly-celebrated piece of film-making that builds the film to a dramatic climax.]
Scenes include:
Scenes from the Birth of a Nation (1915)
During television’s early days, critical theorists purported that the ruling elite utilized the media as a tool to maintain the social hierarchy’s legitimacy. “In line with this goal, the products of the mass media bear certain values, stereotypes and ideas that aim at shaping the perception of social reality by individuals and the society in general.”
The critical theory founders reflected on the relations of power and hierarchy within the boundaries of nation states and traditional classes. Contemporary critical theory considers “the development of rules of inclusiveness and exclusivity that guide the production of media content and, in particular, the ways these rules shape and are shaped by the changing relations of power, which is becoming global by its nature.”
This chapter, in a sense, reflects a glimpse of the start of the terminology used in film and TV, as seen from inside; the terminology “rules” that contribute to the inclusiveness and exclusivity that guide the production of media. Lingo of a profession infiltrates the character’s dialogue in film and television. When cops are part of the film/TV script, the actors recite pretend police report; when nurses or doctors are part of the script, the actors recite/refer to a chart.
In the arts and sciences, a na vete has always existed about language. Exceptions abound, however, historians traditionally perceive that their linguistic constructs constitute facts, while scientists contend that language, particularly the way they use, serves as a clear glass between an otherwise unmediated reality and themselves. The most naive of all, albeit may be the verbal artists who imagine they merely use language to “express” themselves. “Expression” consists of an ancient idea which initially presumes that a Truth prior to language resides within. Second, expression assumes that language serves as a tool for the expression of that Truth. Barthes, according to Watman, notes that “Classical art,” could not possess a sense of being a language, as it was language. In other words, the language, transparent as it flowed, did not leave a deposit.
Communication and symbolism, the first two levels of language, make up the sphere of the signified. In this area, meanings with their endless referrals evolve. These include meanings form discourses, as well as cultural systems of knowledge which structure beliefs, feelings, and values, i.e., ideologies. Language, in turn, produces these temporal “products.”
During the next section of this thesis, the researcher relates a number of products (terminology) the film/TV industry produced, in answer to the question: What components contribute to the linguistic aspect of a sublanguage inside of the English language?
CHAPTER III
FILM and TV SUBLANGUAGE
We’ve come to a certain point in the history of film.
Introduction
In the writing of the script for film/TV, a sublanguage, the writer’s deep collection of his/her responses to life. Under specific circumstances, individuals in a particular area of expertise alter/change/utilize a language, in this case, English, to fit their profession, in turn making it easier of those in the profession to understand. This practice of altering specific words/terms also makes it more difficult for those on the outside to understand the profession’s inside jargon.
The term, to “pan” out, for example, denotes this practice. A pan in “normal” English would refer to the cooking utensil. In film terminology, however, the term “pan” refers to the camera zooming out, therefore creating a “panoramic” view of the scene. Another example: The “can” in film terms refers to the container used to store film rolls; incidentally manufactured from aluminum, just like a “can.” Basically, it’s just reusing words from English but putting them into a different context, thus creating a bit of a sublanguage inside of the English language itself.
Specific Terms the following depicts a number of terms relating to the film TV sublanguage.
Academy leader: A leader positioned at the head of release prints which relates information for the projectionist. It also features black numbers on a clear background; counting from 11 to 3 at 16 frame intervals (see SMPTE leader). Big Close-up (BCU): A shot taken extremely close to the subject, closer than necessary for a close-up. A BCU reveals extreme detail, such as a specific (i.e., part of the human face) Bridging shot: A bridging shot (cut) covers a break in time, or other break in continuity. Clapper: Clappers are the sticks slapped together in view of the camera to synchronize film sound. Usually, however, not always, a clapper attaches to the slate, and appears at the head or tail of a sync sound take. Close-up (CU): A CU is a shot taken extremely close to the subject, or with the subject of the shot extremely large in the frame. A CU reveals a specific detail, for example, the human face, or a person’s hands. The following figure from Greed (1924) relates a CU.
A www.filmsite.org/gree.html” Greed (1924)
Coding: When the workprint and sound stock (mag) are placed in sync, the rolls are coded with matching yellow edge numbers so they may be later matched up, after being cut up into pieces. Conforming: Conforming constitutes the cutting of the OCN to match the final cut of a film.
Contact print: A contract is a print made in a contact printer “where the original element and duplicate element actually are pressed together at the point of expose (no lens involved). Workprints and ‘dirty dupes’ are made this way.”
Continuity of motion: Continuity of motion consists of the flow of action from one shot to the next as it is positioned on the screen at the cut point. This occurs when the significant action is positioned at the end of a shot in the same area of the screen where the significant action will begin in the next shot. Cross-cut: A cross-cut is the intercutting of shots from two or more scenes. This is done the viewers will see the fragments of each scene alternately (also, parallel action). Cut: In editing, a cut is a single unbroken strip of film.
Dissolve: In a dissolve, the end of one shot is gradually merged with the beginning of another. A fade-out onto a fade-in of equal length produces this superimposition.
Dolly shot: A dolly shot is a shot filmed when the camera on a dolly is in motion. Dupe negative: “Release prints are printed from a dupe negative.” dupe negative portrays a negative element, printed from a positive print (an inter-positive). Establishing shot: An establishing shot, utilized near the beginning of a scene, establishes the inter-relationship of details which will be subsequently revealed in closer shots. Fade-in – 1. (n.) as a noun, a fade-in a shot starts in total darkness; gradually lightens to full brightness. 2. (v.) as a verb, fade-in means to gradually bring sound from inaudibility to the required volume.
Fade-out: Fade-out constitutes the opposite of a fade-in.
Inter-positive print (IP): An IP, a fine grain print developed from the conformed original negative, maintains the orange cast of the OCN. The IP produces ensuing dupe negatives. KeyKode: KeyKode relates an extension of the latent edge numbers whereby each frame receives a number, recorded as a barcode on the negative. The numbers may be read by a special reader in the lab or transfer house. Lab roll: Lab roll are rolls of OCN the lab compiles for printing. These may consist of several camera rolls.
Latent edge numbers: Latent edge numbers denote numbers the manufacturer prints onto the edge of the negative through onto the workprint. The negative matchers (conformers) uses these numbers to match the OCN to the final cut of the picture. Legal effects: The legal effects note the lengths for fades and dissolves which most printers may execute (16, 24, 32, 48, 64 and 96 frames). Library shot: A library shot depicts a shot utilzed in a film, although it was not originally taken for that film. Long shot (abbr. LS): Frequently an LS, a shot taken from a considerable distance, serves as an establishing shot. An example would be a human figure filmed to be shorter than the height of the screen. Low-Con print: A low-con print is a print made on a print stock; flashed evenly white light prior to the image being exposed on it. This yields a lower contrast print (brings up the black levels) which in turn yields a more attractive video transfer. Mag stock – Mag stock depicts magnetic sound recording stock with edge perforations that match the picture stock’s perforations. This in turn permits it to be pulled along; maintaining the picture at the same speed and relative position. Master shot: A master shot, generally a long or wide shot, covers an entire segment of dramatic action. Medium close-up (MCU): A MCU shot is a shot between a MS and a CU.. This could be, for example, a human figure filmed from the chest up. Medium shot (MS): MS a shot denotes a shot between a LS and a MCU. For instance, this could be a human figure, filmed from the waist up. Married print: A married print, a positive print, carries both picture and sound on it. A married print is sometimes referred to a composite print. Mute print: A mute print is a positive print which carries the picture only (silent print). Montage: (1) a montage depicts the juxtaposition of ostensibly unrelated shots/scenes which, when combined, reveal meaning. Shot a and shot B. together, for example, stimulate a third idea, consequently supported by shot C, etc…. (2) a montage denotes a series of related shots which help lead the viewer to a desired conclusion. For example, shot a leads to shot B; leads to shot C…; leads to shot X…. Shot X denotes the outcome of the sequence. Optical: Optical represents any device the optical department of a lab carries out, utilizing an optical printer; for example, dissolves, wipes, and double exposure effects. Optical printer: An optical printer is used in printing the image from one piece of film onto another by means of a lens. Original camera negative (OCN): OCN is the negative film initially passed through the camera. Pan: When someone makes a pan, he/she rotates the camera about on its vertical axis. Parallel action: Parallel action indicates a device of narrative construction, where the development of two pieces of action are concurrently presented.
Relational editing: The relational editing of shots proposes the association of ideas between the shots. Rough cut: Rough cut depicts the first assembly of a film which the editor prepares from selected takes, in script order. Finer points in/of timing, along with editing are completed at a later stage. Rushes: Rushes, a.k.a. dailies, portray prints completed immediately after a day’s shooting so they may be viewed the next day. Scene: A scene reflects action occurring in one location at one time. Slate: A slate (board) displays key information about a shot, such as the scene and take numbers, the show’s title; whether the scene takes place at day or night, sync or MOS…. This board, held in view of the camera, either at the head or tail of a shot, identifies the information to the lab, and to the editor. When appearing at the tail of a shot, the slate will be held upside-down. Shot: A shot: a recording of a single take. SMPTE leader: A SMPTE leader, a leader placed at the head of release prints, contains information for the projectionist and features numbers; black on a medium density background. “These numbers count down from 8 to 2 at 24 frame intervals ending at the first frame of the “2” followed by 47 frames of black..” Sync pop: Sync pop indicates a single frame tone placed on the sound track to correspond with the SMPTE leader’s “2” frame. Synchronize (sync): Synchronize means to place sound and picture in their proper relationships. Take: Take denotes the recording of a single shot. Tilt: Tilt means to turn or rotate the camera up or down during the shooting. Timing: After the negative has been conformed, timing is the process of adjusting the color balance for the printing of each scene (also known as grading).
The timing for the next section of this thesis, now, presents considerations for answering the question: What are some terms, along with their meanings, that those in the film/TV business utilized?
CHAPTER IV:
FILM and TV TERMONOLOGY
If a thing can be filmed, the film is implied in the thing itself.
This is where we are.
The words do not transmit the right message or say anything of substance. Those words appear to relate the perception Max Watman presents in “Too Much of Nothing,” regarding Rick Moody’s novel, the Diviners. Watman asserts that “Moody’s prose is vague, forced, and pompous.”
Using some of the terminology or “language of film” to describe Moody’s words, Watman states: “Every scene in this book concerns the introduction of a new character in an unfamiliar place….every opening shot is out of focus, and incredibly wide.”
During this section of this thesis, the researcher, unlike Moody, continues to expand upon a previously introduced area of focus; something the reader has “seen” before, film terminology or the “language of film.” Similar to the portion of the quote introducing this chapter, at this point in the history of this thesis, the researcher presents a number of film and TV terms that, to the layman, may not appear to say anything of substance. To those in the profession, however, the terms transcend meanings of everyday words as they represent a language of their own.
Animation (and animator, animated films): In this filmmaking form/process, the videographer films inanimate, static objects or individual drawings (hand-drawn or CGI) “frame by frame”; one frame at a time (contrary to shooting “live”). As each frame slightly differs from the previous frame, it creates the illusion of motion in a sequence. In filming, the videographer films naturally-occurring action and/or live objects at a regular frame rate. Producers frequently utilize animation as “a synonym for cartoons (or toons for short), although animation includes other media such as claymation, computer animation.”
The film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), depicts the first of Disney’s full-length animated feature films.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), which totals 83 minutes of animation, followed the Three Little Pigs (1933), Disney earlier animated short. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, adapted from the original Brothers Grimms’ Fairy Tales, was the first commercially successful animated film and also the first film to release a motion picture soundtrack album. This familiar story portrays a vain, wicked Queen (voice of Lucille La Verne). The queen orders that Snow White (voice of nineteen-year-old Adriana Caselotti), the beautiful “star,” be murdered in the forest. The Huntsman (voice of Stuart Buchanan), however, cannot murder Snow White. Consequently, Snow White escapes the queen’s evil plan. She secures refuge in the home of seven diamond-mine workers/dwarfs. The seven dwarfs include:
Doc (voice of Roy Atwell)
Happy (voice of Otis Harlan)
Bashful (voice of Scotty Mattraw)
Sneezy (voice of Billy Gilbert)
Sleepy (voice of Pinto Colvig)
Grumpy (voice of Pinto Colvig)
Dopey (mute) – originally a buck-toothed buffoon named Deafy
Before long, the Queen discovers Snow White escaped and transforms herself into an ugly, old hag. She takes a poisonous apple to Snow White, which induces a deep sleep. Prince Charming (voice of Harry Stockwell), however, rouses Snow White from her deep slumber, however, with his kiss. Producing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs required four years and $1.7 million (considered an astronomical amount of money at the time). Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered during the 1937 Christmas season and was “recognized as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field for the motion picture cartoon.”
Walt Disney received an Honorary Oscar for this animated film. Aladdin (1992), a Walt Disney feature film animation merited considerable controversy for portraying a pro-Western version of Aladdin and Jasmine, who was always unveiled. Other controversial concerns evolved from “the fact that turbaned characters were bald, and all the villainous characters were Arab caricatures. Another conflict arose, following protests from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), regarding the lyrics in one of the verses of the opening song ‘Arabian Nights’.” Originally, the lyric about the film’s Arabian setting was: “Where they cut off your ears if they don’t like your face/it’s barbaric, but, hey, it’s home.” These lines, however, were censored/dubbed out. The new lines proclaimed:
Where it’s flat and immense and the heat is intense/it’s barbaric, but, hey, it’s home.” This version was subsequently released for video in 1993, along with the he re-released soundtrack.
Aladdin (1992)
Alternate ending:
The studio usually produces an alternate ending, the shooting/re-shooting of a film’s ending for its theatrical release, for a variety reasons. Studios usually enforce the making of alternate endings, tentatively to use, depending on audience preview results; response(s) to controversial or unpopular subject matter, potentially provide a ‘happy’ ending, etc..
Films which later incorporated alternate endings include:
www.filmsite.org/magn.html” the Magnificent Ambersons (1942), www.filmsite.org/kiss.html” Kiss Me Deadly (1955), www.filmsite.org/inva.html” Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), www.filmsite.org/blad.html” Blade Runner (1982),
Little Shop of Horrors (1986),
Fatal Attraction (1987), and Army of Darkness (1993).
Originally Blade Runner (1982), which Ridley Scott directed, became a popular and influential science-fiction film; reportedly an enduring cult classic favorite. Originally, albeit, Blade Runner was a box-office financial failure. Film critics called the film muddled and baffling, as it received primarily negative reviews.
Stylistically, the film was arresting with fantastic, imaginative visual effects of a future Los Angeles conceived by futurist design artist Syd Mead, and influenced by the vision of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) and Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)…. The Bladerunner, set in the year 2014 [portrays the story] about people who sold medical equipment and supplies to ‘outlaw’ doctors who were unable to obtain them legally. Many films have attempted to duplicate the dystopic, cyberpunkish look of Blade Runner, including Batman (1989), Johnny Mnemonic (1995), Strange Days (1995), the Fifth Element (1997), Dark City (1998), the Matrix (1999), and I, Robot (2004).
Stylize (d) refers to the artificial exaggeration or elimination of details to purposely create an effect. Instead of being realistic or naturalistic, a stylized film/segment interprets or makes a person, his/her face, a figure, a tree, or something as “grotesque,” “disturbing, ” or “overbright’.”
James Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein (1935), for example, stylized film noir classics T-Men (1947), and also He Walked by Night (1948), as well as Joseph Mankiewicz’s Guys and Dolls (1955), or Fellini’s 8 1/2 (1963).
Soliloquy depicts a dramatic monologue a single actor (along on stage) delivers. This is sometimes expressed as a “thinking aloud’ dialogue of inner reflections; delivered by a character to him or herself, or directly to the audience; contrast to an aside.”
Sequence denotes a scene, or connected series of related scenes within a film’s narrative, edited together to comprise one single, unified setting, event, or story. Sequence also refers to “scenes that structurally fit together in the plot; sequence usually refers to a longer segment of film than a scene; sequences are often grouped into acts (like a three-act play).”
Like a chapter in a book, sequence which has a beginning, middle and end, a sequence shot denotes a long, generally complicated shot with complex camera movements and actions. The wedding sequence in the Godfather (1974), and the drug-bust sequence in GoodFellas (190) portray good examples. Francis Ford Coppola, Italian-American director of (1972), effectively inaugurated the three-part gangster saga into a sequence.
The first two segments of the lush, grand saga rate among the most celebrated, landmark films in film history. “Many film reviewers consider the second part equal or superior to the original, although the first part was a tremendous critical and commercial success – and the highest grossing film of its time.”
Following a decade of competition from foreign cinema, the Godfather helped stimulate a resurgence in the American film industry, Coppola collaborated on the Godfather’s screenplay with Mario Puzo, author of a best-selling novel with the same name; recounting the story of a Mafia dynasty (the Corleones). Along with catapulting Coppola to directorial superstardom, the Godfather popularized the following euphemistic phrase (of brutal coercion): “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
Sepia tone constitutes a black-and-white image, converted to a sepia tone or color (ranges from brownish gray to a dark olive brown) to enhance the dramatic effect and/or craft an “antique” appearance.
The black and white print for Cabin in the Sky (1943), for example underwent reprocessing as sepia-toned. The sepia tone was utilized to flatter the actors’ skin tones. An opening sequence in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) is also in sepia. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, an entertaining, amusing comedy/drama, portrays the camaraderie / friendship shared between the two humorous handsome buddy leads, “legendary, turn-of-the-century Western outlaws and their “Hole in the Wall” gang. Historical antecedents for the two daring “Robin Hood” outlaws actually existed, two notorious figures who were sadly anachronistic for their turn-of-the-century times:
Butch Cassidy” (outlaw Robert Leroy Parker)
The Sundance Kid” (outlaw Harry Longbaugh).”
Real time depicts actual time for an event to occur in reality. Real time contrasts to filmic time, which may be sped up or slowed down. Real and filmic time often coincide for long sequences within a film; also see running time.
High Noon (1952) reflects a film specifically shot in real-time. The film often refers clocks ticking closer…closer… To the showdown at noon-time. Some contend High Noon to possibly qualify as the all-time best Western film ever produced. Stanley Kramer and Fred Zinnemann directed this Western genre, employed to spotlight an uncharacteristic social problem account of civic responsibility. This western, however, did not include much of the characteristic frontier violence, nor did it fill scenes with panoramic landscapes. No tribes of marauding Indians were noted in this film. Prior to Carl Foreman’s blacklist exile to London, he wrote the screenplay for High Noon. This film was written during a politically-oppressive atmosphere in the United States during the early 1950s. At this time, McCarthyism and political persecution pervaded. High Noon was loosely adapted from the Tin Star by John W. Cunningham, published in December 1947 as a Collier’s Magazine story. Some consider High Noon as a parable or morality play, or perhaps “a metaphor for the threatened Hollywood blacklisted artists (one of whom was screenwriter Foreman) who faced political persecution from the HUAC during the McCarthy era due to actual or imagined connections to the Communist Party.”
Characters in the film committed to life-altering decisions, following their consciences, stood their ground to defend moral principles they believed in.
Punchline, a funny, witty line, culminates a story, joke or scene; contrast with payoff and one-liner. In the movie, When H. www.filmsite.org/when.html” arry Met Sally…(1989), for example, the request of a female patron in the deli purports a punchline after Sally’s fake orgasm: “I’ll have what she’s having.”
As the romantic comedy, When Harry Met Sally… (1989) observed romance, and relationships between males and females, as well as friendship and sex, it aimed to address the sexual politics question, “Can two friends sleep together and still love each other in the morning?”
The love experienced by two long-time acquaintances Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) and Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) takes years to develop as they grapple with this question over a 12-year period, which began during the spring of 1977. A number of jump cuts are used in this film. As a jump cut jumps forward from one part of an action to another, it breaks the continuity of time.
Potboiler depicts a literary reference to “pulp fiction” or “dime novels”; the hard-edged, American detective/crime thrillers quickly written that are filled with sex, violence, and crime, to symbolically “boil the pot.” This term may also mean hard-boiled.
A www.filmsite.org/bigs.html” the Big Sleep (1939), the Maltese Falcon (1941), and Kiss Me Deadly (1955), along with the majority of the films based on Mickey Spillane’s, Raymond Chandler’s, and Dashiell Hammett’s film-noirish crime novels with feature “private dicks” and “femme fatales” are characterized as potboilers. The Big Sleep constitutes the best example of a classic Warner Bros. mystery, as it portrays a confusing, complex, illogical whodunit, infused with a quintessential private detective (Marlowe), along with false leads, relating memorable dialogue and wisecracks, raw-edged characters. This movie also features sexy women, two who are heirs to a dying millionaire, along with a bookseller, and other females. ough action, gunplay, a series of electrifying scenes, and screen violence. Although a classic film noir, it has no flashbacks, no voice-over narration, and little evidence of expressionistic images. The film was not recognized by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in any of its award categories.
Pitch (es): Screenwriters, attempting to sell a screenplay idea; independent producers for studio producers; executives, seeking to obtain financial backing regularly make oral or written pitches, sales proposals for film project. The pitch traditionally ranges from a one-line description of the proposed film, to a two- to three-page treatment of an idea, prior to it becoming a script. A pitch “also refers to short phrases that capture or succinctly sum up the script.”
In regard to film, pitch (film stock), depicts the spacing between perforations.
An example of a pitch for Jaws (1975) could consist of only one sentence: ” Man afraid of water pursues killer shark; or T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982): Loveable alien is left behind; or Toy Story (1995): Toys come to life.”
Parody: In an absurd, non-sensical way, a parody portrays a comedy that emulates or pokes makes fun of an existing work(s). It also exaggerates its characteristics. Two examples inclulde Airplane! (1980) and Blazing Saddles (1974). Airplane! Constitutes a parody of disaster films, while Blazing Saddles portrays a parody of westerns.
Morph: Using computer animation, Morphing occurs. Morph denotes the transformation of one digital image into another with computer animation. Examples of a morph include the Mask (1994); Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991); Stargate (1994); Interview with the Vampire (1994).
A www.filmsite.org/melodramafilms.html”Melodrama: Originally, melodrama referred to a film exemplified by expressive plots with strong and intensified emotion; “a drama accompanied by music.” A melodrama frequently contained elements of illness, pathos, and hardship. During the 1940s, they were sometimes knowm as “women’s films'” or “weepies” (tearjerkers). Melodrama is also known as meller, with the term sometimes disparagingly describing manipulative films that crudely appeal to one’s emotions.
Some major “weepies” include: Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948) and Mildred Pierce (1945). Director Douglas Sirk’s reportedly produced a number of lurid melodramas during the 50s. Magnificent Obsession (1954), All That Heaven Allows (1956), Imitation of Life (1959), and Written on the Wind (1956) were some of these titles. Documentary: John Grierson initially coined the term, documentary, when he described Robert Flaherty’s film, Moana (1926), which relates facts about the daily life of a Polynesian youth. The term evolved from documentative, a word the French used to describe travelogues. In time, although they cover a wide variety of styles, documentary has come to denote all non-fiction films.
Michael Renov, professor of critical studies at the USC School of Cinema-Television, purports the following regarding the documentary:
The documentary, a genre as old as cinema itself, has traditionally aspired to objectivity. Whether making ethnographic, propagandistic, or educational films, documentarians have pointed the camera outward, drawing as little attention to themselves as possible. In recent decades, however, a new kind of documentary has emerged in which the filmmaker has become the subject of the work. Whether chronicling family history, sexual identity, or a personal or social world, this new generation of nonfiction filmmakers has defiantly embraced autobiography.
The following list, suggested by Michael Renov, depicts four distinct purposes of documentary film, that may at times overlap:
to record, reveal, or preserve to persuade or promote to analyze or interrogate to express
Some of the various ‘modes of documentary, identified by a range of various academics include: The termsexpository; observational; poetic; reflexive; participatory.
CHAPTER IV
DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS, and RECOMMENDATIONS
The twentieth century is on film.
You have to ask yourself if there’s anything about us more important than the fact that we’re constantly on film, constantly watching ourselves.”
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Discussion
5.3 Conclusions
5.4 Recommendations
Customer to complete.
Film is more than the twentieth-century art.
It’s another part of the twentieth-century mind. it’s the world seen from inside.
We’ve come to a certain point in the history of film.
If a thing can be filmed, the film is implied in the thing itself.
This is where we are. The twentieth century is on film.
You have to ask yourself if there’s anything about us more important than the fact that we’re constantly on film, constantly watching ourselves.”
Works Cited
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Berry, Ralph. “Understanding Hamlet through the Soliloquies.” Contemporary Review, August 2003, 115+. Database online. Available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001998288.Internet. Accessed 4 March 2009. www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5026836367
Bregent-Heald, Dominique. “The Redcoat and the Ranger: Screening Bilateral Friendship in Cecil B. DeMille’s North West Mounted Police.” American Review of Canadian Studies 38, no. 1 (2008): 43+. Database online. Available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5026836367.Internet. Accessed 4 March 2009.
Dirks, Tim. AMC filmsite. 2009 American Movie Classics Company LLC, 2009. Available at http://www.filmsite.org/filmterms19.html. Internet. Accessed 4 March 2009. www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5002295362
Eby, Lloyd. “Hollywood’s Techno-Blockbuster Mentality.” World and I, September 1998, 124+. Database online. Available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5002295362.Internet. Accessed 4 March 2009. www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001022549
Erickson, Leann. “Boundaries and Beyond: The Termite TV Collective.” Afterimage 28, no. 6 (2001): 5. Database online. Available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001022549.Internet. Accessed 4 March 2009. www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5009470998
Fulford, Robert. “A Box Full of History: TV and Our Sense of the Past.” Queen’s Quarterly, Spring 2005, 88+. Database online. Available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5009470998.Internet. Accessed 4 March 2009.
KS5 Film and Media Studies. BFI. 2008. Available at http://www.screenonline.org.uk/education/id/1271387/index.html. Internet. Accessed 9 March 2009. www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001649702
Michels, James. “Roland Barthes: Against Language.” ETC.: A Review of General Semantics 52, no. 2 (1995): 155+. Database online. Available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001649702.Internet. Accessed 4 March 2009.
Renov, Michael. “The Subject of Documentary.” University of Minnesota Press. 2004. Available at http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/R/renov_subject.html. Internet. Accessed 9 March 2009.
Stewart, Alan. Film / Editing Terms, N.d.. Available at http://www.zerocut.com/tech/film_terms.html. Internet. Accessed 9 March 2009.
Thesis. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company. 2006. Available at http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/thesis?qsrc=2888.Internet. Accessed 4 March 2009. www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5011503192
Watman, Max. “Too Much of Nothing.” New Criterion, November 2005, 56+. Database online. Available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5011503192.Internet. Accessed 4 March 2009.
The Columbia World. Columbia University Press. New York. 1996. Available from www.bartleby.com/66/;Internet; accessed 4 March 2009.
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Thesis Statements. Criteria for a Good Thesis Statement section.
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Dirks.
Julia Rozanova, “Behind the Screen: The Role of State-TV Relationships in Russia, 1990-2000,” the Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology 43, no. 2 (2006). Behind the Screen section, ¶2. [database online]; available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5016795280;Internet; accessed 4 March 2009. www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5016795280
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Watman.
Columbia World.
Dirks.
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Stewart.
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