The cinema is an attraction now known for its stability and ability to make the audience marvel at its technological feats. In addition, it is a technology that has kept audiences entertained through its method of escapism, arguably more than any other form of machinery to date. Furthermore, how, through the innate feeling of competition and the desire to enlighten the general public with a new type of illusion, cinema went on to spur a new meaning for amusement and a valid form of distraction that had previously been impossible through established entertainment strategies. The cinema was able to bring magic into the real world, and through tricks of the magician trade, as well as the use of pioneering and developing technologies, audiences …show more content…
A relatively successful illusionist, and avid user of the magic lantern technique, Melies is the pioneer of special effects that create the extended realities present in film today. While the Lumiere brothers only wanted to show what they’re development of cinematic technology could do, Melies was interested in showing the audience a new world of fantasy. What he had at his disposal was a mind that ‘mythically credits creative contingency to a purely machinic vision’ (Cubitt 119). Melies brought his fantasy into his films, making his actors appear and disappear through the use of stop motion, as well as through clever camera angling and shot design. His success continues to grow as the audience, not only became tired of the Lumiere brothers breaking of illusion, but also because his events would bring about a new narrative allowing audiences to travel into different worlds. His incorporation of his theatre credits, as well as the spectacle gave audience a feeling of awe at what they were witnessing (Popple & Kember 72-73). Seen as a step forward not only in entertainment but in culture, his special effects gave the viewing public what they had been missing since the lack of life that had entered the theatre, and other live performances. Through the dreamlike reality presented, audiences were able to, for the first time, experience their lives through different individuals. Thus, the thrill of the cinema was born and the production that dominates the entertainment industry was spurred into the greatest magic trick ever
The Bolshevik Revolution was a defining turning point in Russian history. This overall revolution consisted of two individual revolutions in 1917 which resulted in the overthrow of the Tsarist government and the formation of a socialist society led by Vladimir Lenin’s radical Bolsheviks. For a moment with such enormous weight like the Bolshevik Revolution, there will be various interpretations on the true results of that moment and the meaning and value of these results. The film Man with a Movie Camera deals with the results of the Bolshevik Revolution and the early Soviet Society it birthed as it utilizes footage of one day in this early Soviet Union, thus making it worthy of examination. In the film Man With a Movie Camera, Vertov impressively
Due to a federal antitrust law, production companies and distributors lost power and profits, and independent companies, such as the United Artists Corporation, gained traction. The antitrust law, combined with “the postwar downturn and above all the imperative of competing effectively with television,” led to the implementation of various widescreen formats, 3-D, and Technicolor in order to innovate film and engage the spectator. In doing so, this period imbalanced the emerging power of narrative with the resurgence of spectacle. Widescreen, especially, also contributed to a sense of realism, actively engaging the audience in the visual expanse of cinema. As a result, Some Like It Hot’s mode of spectatorial address, though not as focused on “attraction” as early cinem...
Movies have been one of the most popular pastimes for Americans for decades. They are the topics of conversation, a place for lovers to go on dates, and an industry that the general public seems to have a fascination for. However although we think of movies as another entertainment source, they were not always as socially accepted by the people. In 1904, Harry Davis opened the first freestanding moving-picture theater. Although he was met with much skepticism, his idea would have a lasting effect on America's culture. When they first opened, the people were not immediately accepting. Safety, cleanliness, and price were a few of the concerns the public had. After a few changes however, the "nickelodeons", as they were called, started booming. Flashing lights were put up wherever there was room on the façade of the buildings. Ventilation systems assured people that they were br...
According to Munsterberg’s film theory, the motion picture is an original medium in that it aesthetically stimulates the spectator’s senses. Although both still picture and theatrical play can possibly leave images on the spectator’s retina or brain, each element of motion picture, including camera angle and work, lighting, editing, music, and the story itself, appeals to somewhere more than just retina or brain— the element of motion picture truly operates upon the spectator’s mind. Speaking of Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, the film unfolds a story of physically and mentally repressed ballerina’s life. Due to the film’s effective filming and editing techniques, the film successfully increases excitement as well as suspense in the story. Since Black Swan captures not only the real world the ballerina lives in but also the other side of the world the ballerina has within her mind, its spectator would experience a fantastic world where one ballerina lives in two different worlds at the same time. Even though the still picture and the theatrical play also give the spectator either a visual or an aural image, motion picture is the one that stimulates the spectator’s senses with its story, color, sound, acting, filming, and editing.
As time and people are continually changing, so is knowledge and information; and in the film industry there are inevitable technological advances necessary to keep the attraction of the public. It is through graphic effects, sounds and visual recordings that all individuals see how we have evolved to present day digital technology; and it is because of the efforts and ideas of the first and latest great innovators of the twentieth century that we have advanced in film and computers.
With the discovery of techniques such as continuous editing, multiple camera angles, montage editing, and more, silent filmmaking developed from simple minute-long films to some of the most beautiful, awe-inspiring films that have ever been created—in only a few decades. In Visions of Light, someone alluded that if the invention of sound had come along a mere ten years later, visual storytelling would be years ahead of what it is today. This statement rings true. When looking at the immense amount of progress that was made during the silent era of films, one must consider where the art of film has been, where it is, and where it is
Stanley, Robert H. The Movie Idiom: Film as a Popular Art Form. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. 2011. Print
The mise-en-scene describes many of the film’s design aspects, including moments of choice, production design, use of colour, props and costume. More significantly, the staging performance, lighting and realism and anti-naturalism within the mise-en-scene will also be looked at closely. With the analysis of the cinematography, it will have an insight into the art of photography and camerawork in the filmmaking, which will give a better idea of how magic realism is translated through the medium of film. Understanding how the films technically communicate magic realism will be crucial to this
Across the globe watching movies started as an asylum for the working class, but slowly the ideas being portrayed onscreen have evolved resulting in movie going to become almost religious. Movies have the ability to leave us in awe as a result of their ability to give us a glimpse of a dream, however unrealistic. I myself am a huge fan of the film industry. I started to feel a certain reverence for it because of the way it inspired me to dream and gave birth to my ambitions. This ultimately led to me to go into an in depth investigation of whether I was the only one who felt this way and what affects had been created because of this feeling.
In the early 1900’s Georges Melies introduced his film “A Trip To The Moon” to audiences in France. This film, when first seen by viewers at this time, was jawdropping. Melies who happened to be a magician, and illusionist before becoming a filmmaker, made one of the first-ever narratives in motion picture history. Similarily throughout “Trip To The Moon” and many of his later films, Melies, who also worked in theatre, took full advantage of what is known as Mise-en-scene. Mise-en-scene is defined as: All the elements placed in front of the camera to be photographed: the settings and props, lighting, costumes and make-up, and figure behavior. In “Trip to the Moon” Melies created a world to which no one had ever seen on film, and utilized all the characteristics to which mise-en-scene is based upon.
Edwin S. Porter contributed the following editing styles and techniques to film. He used a dissolve between every shot just and he frequently had the same action repeated across the dissolves. According to Filmrefrence.com “Edison Company’s new Vitascope projector in Indiana and California, and Porter worked with them as a projectionist in Los Angeles and Indianapolis. Later that year he went to work for Raff & Gammon in New York but left after the Edison Company broke with Raff & Gammon. He then toured with entertainers through the Caribbean as an exhibitor of motion pictures, and in early 1897 he helped build the projector at the Eden Musée”(Filmrefrence.com.2014).
Georges Melies was a talented magician, and one of the first great pioneers of motion pictures that has influenced modern American films profoundly. His work is very significant to modern American cinema today, as we use the same techniques and elements Georges had pioneered more than 100 years ago. His moment in the limelight during his lifetime was short, but little did he know his legacy and work would be carried on so prominently and all over the globe. We have much to learn about from this extraordinary man.
If we go back beyond Lumière Brothers’ projection of their cinematography in Paris over Christmas 1895, which is too straightforward birth narration of cinema; ancient visual forms like Egyptian hieroglyphics or pre-cinematic technologies of image capture and projection, known as magic lanterns, employing a series of lenses and light sources, were early proof of humanity mesmerised by the play and tricks of light and shades.
Since the dawn of man, entertainment has come shortly after food, water, and shelter on our list of priorities. When the first humans were hunting and gathering in the Great Rift Valley, they passed the time by communicating stories and drawing on cave walls. Not only were these the first forms of entertainment, but were also important in passing down history and cultural values. Many other forms of entertainment can be linked to other aspects of history such as sports, politics, theatre, and art. Entertainment is often the motivation behind history’s greatest spectacles. The Roman Colosseum, one of the 7 Wonders of the World, was built to host huge events that could hold thousands of spectators. Even today’s laptops, computers, and cell phones are used for amusement. But all these inventions stem from one common purpose; entertainment.
A mere mention of the term theatre acts as a relief to many people. It is in this place that a m...