Good Morning! Please get out your notes on Cinematic and Film terms. Remember that Friday is a READING DAY!

Sounds Sound can achieve strong effects yet remain unnoticeable. There are 4 main kinds of sound in movies: Dialogue Sound effects Music Voice-over Some of these are diegetic sounds-sounds that could be heard logically by the characters within a film. These are nondiegetic. These are sounds that could not be heard by characters; sound given directly to the audience by the director. McComb 2013

Lighting Lighting really sets the stage for the feeling of the movie. Lighting can be bright, natural, neutral, dim, scary, romantic, dream-like, or anything else. The use of light in film is very deliberate. McComb 2013

This example of low light, from the 1999 version of The Mummy, creates a feeling of mystery. Low-key lighting is when the scene is flooded with shadows and darkness. Usually this creates suspense or suspicion.

McComb 2013 High-key light is when the scene is flooded with light, creating a bright and open looking scene. Free from shadows

McComb 2013 Neutral-key light is neither light nor dark. The goal is even lighting throughout the shot.

McComb 2013 Bottom or side-key light is direct light from below or from one side; often this creates a dangerous or evil-looking picture. Symbolically, it may convey split personality or moral ambiguity. This example is side –key lighting.

McComb 2013 Another example of side key-light from the film poster for Martin Scorsese’s 2010 Shutter Island.

McComb 2013 This movie still (also from Shutter Island) is an example of Front / Rear-key light. This is direct lighting on the face or back of a subject. It may suggest innocence due to the “halo” effect on the subject.

“Special effects are characters. Special effects are essential elements. Just because you can't see them doesn't mean they aren't there.” Laurence Fishburne McComb 2013

A “cut” One piece of film is cut and attached to another piece. The result is a second of black before the next scene appears. This is a lot like the blink of an eye! McComb 2013

Contrast: cutting between two different scenarios to highlight the contrast between them

Parallelism Connecting two seemingly unrelated scenes by cutting between them and focusing on parallel or similar features.

Symbolism Again, more intercutting, you move from your main scene to something which creates a symbolic connection for the audience.

Simultaneity or a “cross-cut” This is used lots in Hollywood today: cutting between two simultaneous events (happening at the same time) as a way of driving up the suspense.

Leit motif This ‘reiteration of theme’ involves repeating a shot or sequence at key moments as a sort of code. Usually associated with the “theme” music of the movie.

Pudovkin's Editing Techniques

Fade The on-screen image slowly fades away and the entire screen is black for a time before a new image fades in. McComb 2013

Significance… This edit may be used to show the end of one scene or the passing of time. McComb 2013

Dissolve A lot like the fade, the image slowly disappears, instead of fading away completely, the image is replaced with another image that slowly fades in. McComb 2013

Dissolve Example

Other types of editing… Flash-back or flash-forward Eye-line match or Point-of-View McComb 2013