Introduction 

=Day 1 For discussion:=

**How and Why of Film**

 * [[image:Zoetrope.jpg width="357" height="333" caption="Advertisement for the zoetrope"]] || [[image:Pâques florentines.jpg width="300" height="402" caption="Pâques florentines (di. Louis Feuillade, Gaumont, 1910): tinted & stenciled"]] ||
 * How and Why did filmmaking begin?
 * What is the point of film?
 * How does film affect the individual & society?
 * How does film challenge assumptions & conventions?

**What is the nature of our engagement with Cinema?**

 * How is film different from a book, play, painting or photograph?
 * How is an outing to a public movie theatre different from watching a film on a private TV or computer monitor? How would you characterize a ‘Cinematic experience’?
 * How do we define ‘Cinematic’ and what elements make it up?

**How do we as film students understand film?**



 * [[image:Searchers.jpg width="579" height="348" caption="The Searchers (1956) John Ford- The Western genre includes conventions of mise en scene such as the landscape of the west, Stetson hats, the Colt 45, horses, isolated ranches, etc."]] || [[image:eyeb-filmstudies/drive.jpg width="674" height="329" caption="Drive (2011) Nicolas Winding Refn - What does this still express? How is it expressed?"]] ||


 * How do you define cinematic language?
 * How can we describe elements that makeup cinematic language and the how they work?
 * How can we analyze cinematic patterns & conventions?

**How and Why of Film questions**

 * // How and Why did filmmaking begin? //
 * // What is the point of film? //
 * // How does film affect the individual & society? //
 * // How does film challenge assumptions & conventions? //

__Origins of Cinema__
**Persistence of vision** is the phenomenon of the eye by which an afterimage is thought to persist for approximately one twenty-fifth of a second on the retina. The theory of persistence of vision is the belief that human perception of motion (brain centered) is the result of persistence of vision (eye centered). The theory was disproved in 1912 by Wertheimer but persists in many citations in many classic and modern film-theory texts. A more plausible theory to explain motion perception (at least on a descriptive level) are two distinct perceptual illusions: phi phenomenon and beta movement.

Persistence of vision is still the accepted term for this phenomenon in the realm of cinema history and theory. In the early days of film innovation, it was scientifically determined that a frame rate of less than 16 frames per second caused the mind to see flashing images though audiences still interpret motion at rates as low as ten frames per second or slower as in a flipbook. Source: wikipedia.org

Many optical toys and entertainments that took advantage of the fact that we are prone to percieve certain kinds of illusions, led to the development of cinematographic technology. The videos below start with a demonstration of a **Fantascope, a** stroboscopic toy and proceeds through a number of examples of early developments towards Cinema proper. media type="custom" key="23716550"

Photography is used in a proto-cinematic manner by Eadweard Muybridge in his motion studies one of which has been animated for us here and below. media type="custom" key="23716506"

The **actuality film** is a non-fiction film genre that like the documentary film uses footage of real events, places, and things, yet unlike the documentary is not structured into a larger argument, picture of the phenomenon or coherent whole. In practice, actuality films preceded the emergence of the documentary.The //Lumière Brothers// in France were the principal advocates for this genre and also coined the term "Actualités" and used it as a descriptor in the printed catalogues of their films. source: wikipedia

The first film below, // La sortie des usines Lumière/Workers leaving the //// Lumière factory // (1895 // Lumière Brothers // ) is claimed to be the first film of its type screened for the public. media type="custom" key="23716488" Sandow (1894 William K.L. Dickson). " Eugen Sandow was a famous Prussian bodybuilder. In 1894 he had a brief stint in a vaudeville show before he came to the [|Black Maria] to shoot this film. Consider the composition in this film and the elements in the frame. How does the **mise-en-scene** work to draw attention to Sandow’s body? This body was considered a spectacle in 1894. Would a contemporary subject look different than Sandow?" source: [|Kate Fortmueller] media type="custom" key="23765684" The delightful "A Chess Dispute" (1903 Robert W. Paul) features acting, a narrative, comic elements and a comic resolution. The static camera frame is used to good effect as some of the action is designed to be offscreen. media type="youtube" key="2sjoyeCtMF8" width="420" height="315"


 * ** What are these examples of proto-cinema designed to do? Document?, Amaze?, Entertain?, Express? ..... **
 * ** How did the original audience respond to them? **
 * ** How should/can we engage them? **

**How do we as film students understand film? Part 2**
// How do you define cinematic language? How to describe elements that makeup cinematic language and the how they work? How to analyze cinematic patterns & conventions? //

The Basic Elements of Cinematic Language:

 * 1) ==== Narrative ====
 * 2) ==== Direction ====
 * 3) ==== Cinematography ====
 * 4) ==== Mise-En-Scene ====
 * 5) ==== Lighting (which is often, but not always, considered part of mise-en-scene) ====
 * 6) ==== Camera Movement ====
 * 7) ==== Editing ====
 * 8) ==== Sound (Diagetic & Non-Diagetic) ====
 * 9) ==== Acting ====

Provide link to resource here
=Class Screening: Le Voyage dans la Lune/A trip to the Moon (1902) **Georges Méliès **=



Méliès' restored mas terpiece is presented with it's original hand tinting (so it's in color) and a new soundtrack by Air (Yes, those French guys). It’s credited as the first Science Fiction film and as the first film stolen (pirated) screened for profit around the world. For our first viewing of this film we are going to focus primarily on **Mise-En-Scene** of each scene in the film (which are individual tableaux). Note taking in detail is key to this exercise.

Extension Readings: http://drnorth.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/a-trip-to-the-moon-le-voyage-dans-la-lune/

=Production Project: The Edison and Lumiére Assignment =

Assigned Readings:
[|The Early History of Film]


 * ===== **Textual Analysis** ===== || ===== **Theory & History** ===== || ===== **Film Production (Creative Process)** ===== ||
 * ===== Analysis: Early Lumiere Bros & George Melies ‘Trip to the Moon’ =====

HW: Elements of Film vocabulary
|| ===== How & Why did filmmaking begin? What is the point of film? How does film affect the individual & society? How does film challenge assumptions & conventions? ===== || ===== **Option A** =====

Exercise: Edison Lumiere Project
|| Lumiere Bros shorts/actualities
 * Key Vocabulary: Narrative, Direction, Cinematography, Mise-En-Scene, Lighting, Acting, Composition, Frame, Actuality, Fantastique, ||  ||   ||
 * Resources:

Video: [|**Mise-en-scène, The Lumière brothers 'Actualités'**] George Melies ‘Trip to the Moon’

Text: [|The Early History of Film] ||