FILMS

• Film, also called a movie, motion picture, theatrical film, or photoplay, is a series of still
images that when shown on a screen create an illusion of motion images.

A film is created -

1. by photographing actual scenes with a motion picture camera

2. by photographing drawings or miniature models using traditional animation techniques

3. by means of computer animation

4. by a combination of some or all of these

techniques and other visual effects.

➢ The word "cinema" short for cinematography, is often used to refer to the industry of films
and filmmaking.

➢ The contemporary definition of cinema is the art of simulating experiences to communicate

ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty or atmosphere by the means of recorded or
programmed moving images along with other sensory stimulations.

➢ Films were originally recorded onto plastic film through a photochemical process and then
shown through a movie projector onto a large screen.

➢ Contemporary films are now often fully digital through the entire process of production,
distribution and exhibition from start to finish.

➢ Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures. They reflect those cultures and in
turn, affect them.

➢ Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment, and a

powerful medium for educating or indoctrinating citizens.

History of Indian Cinema

Silent cinema (1910–1920)

➢ Lumière and Robert Paul moving pictures in London (1896).

➢ Animated photography became a worldwide sensation and by mid-1896 both Lumière and
Robert Paul films had been shown in Bombay.

➢ Later film presentation by Professor Stevenson featured a stage show at Calcutta's Star
Theatre.

➢ With Stevenson's encouragement Hiralal Sen, an Indian photographer, made a film of scenes
from that show, namely The Flower of Persia (1898).

➢ The Wrestlers (1899) by H. S. Bhatavdekar showing a wrestling match at the Hanging

Gardens in Bombay was the first film ever to be shot by an Indian. It was also the first Indian
documentary film.

➢ The first Indian film released was Shree Pundalik a silent film in Marathi by Dadasaheb
Torne on 18th May 1912 at 'Coronation Cinematograph‘ Bombay.
 ➢ Pundalik does not deserve the honour – because it was a photographic recording of a
popular Marathi play, and cameraman named Johnson was a British national and the film
was processed in London.

➢ The first full-length motion picture in India was produced by Dadasaheb Phalke.

➢ He is the pioneer of Indian film industry a scholar on India's languages and culture, who
brought together elements from Sanskrit epics to produce his Raja Harishchandra (1913), a
silent film in Marathi.

➢ The female roles in the film were played by male actors. The film marked a historic
benchmark in the film industry in India.

➢ Only one print of the film was made and shown at the Coronation Cinematograph on 3rd
May 1913.

➢ It was a commercial success and paved the way for more such films. The first silent film
in Tamil, Keechaka Vadham was made by R. Nataraja Mudaliar in 1916.

➢ Jamshedji Framji Mada

▪ Founded Elphinstone Bioscope Company in Calcutta.

▪ Elphinstone merged into Madan Theatres Limited in

1919 which brought many of Bengal's most popular

literary works to the stage.

▪ He also produced Satyawadi Raja Harishchandra

in 1917, a remake of Phalke's Raja Harishchandra (1913).

➢ Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu was an Indian artist and a pioneer in the production of silent
Indian movies and talkies.

➢ Starting from 1909, he was involved in many aspects of Indian cinema's history, like
travelling to different regions in Asia, to promote film work.

➢ He was the first to build and own cinema halls in Madras.

➢ He was widely known as the father of Telugu cinema.

➢ In South India, the first Tamil talkie Kalidas which released on 31st October 1931, barely 7
months after India's first talking picture Alam Ara and Nataraja Mudaliar also established
South India's first film studio in Madras.

➢ Early 20th century cinema - gained popularity across India.

➢ Tickets were made affordable to the common man at a low price and for the financially
capable additional comforts meant additional admission ticket price.

➢ Audiences crowd to cinema halls because its an affordable medium of entertainment.

➢ The content of Indian commercial cinema was on India's social life and culture.

➢ This leads to global audiences and markets became aware of India's film industry.
 ➢ In 1927, the British Government, formed the Indian Cinematograph Enquiry Committee.

➢ The ICC consisted of three British and three Indians, led by T. Rangachari, a Madras lawyer.
This committee failed to support the desired recommendations of supporting British Film,
instead recommending support for the fledgling Indian film industry.

Early sound cinema (1930s–1940s)

✓ Ardeshir Irani released Alam Ara which was the first Indian talkie film, on 14 March 1931.

✓ Irani later produced the first south Indian talkie film Kalidas directed by H. M. Reddy
released on 31 October 1931.

✓ Jumai Shasthi was the first Bengali talkie.

✓ Following the inception of 'talkies' in India some film stars were highly sought after and
earned comfortable incomes through acting.

✓ Actor of the time, Chittor V. Nagaiah, was one of the first multilingual film actor, singer,
music composer, producer and directors in India. He was known as the Paul Muni of India in
the media.

✓ In 1932, the name "Tollywood" was coined for the Bengali film industry.

✓ In 1933, East India Film Company has produced its first Indian film in Telugu Savitri, Based
on a stage play by Mylavaram Bala Bharathi Samajam, the film was directed by C. Pullaiah.

✓ The blockbuster film has received an honorary diploma at the 2nd Venice International Film
Festival.

✓ The first film studio in South India, Durga Cinetone was built in 1936 by Nidamarthi Surayya
in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh.

✓ As sound technology advanced, the 1930s saw the rise of music in Indian cinema with
musicals such as Indra Sabha and Devi Devyani marking the beginning of song-and-dance in
India's films.

✓ Studios emerged across major cities such as Madras, Calcutta and Bombay as film making
became an established craft by 1935, exemplified by the success of Devdas, which had
managed to enthrall audiences nationwide.

✓ In 1937, Kisan Kanya directed by Moti B was released. It is the first colour film made in
India.

✓ 1940 film, Vishwa Mohini is the first Indian film, depicting the Indian movie world. The film
was directed by Y. V. Rao and scripted by Balijepalli Lakshmikanta Kavi.

✓ Swamikannu Vincent built the first cinema of South India in Coimbatore, introduced the
concept of "Tent Cinema” stretch of open land close to a town or village to screen the films.

✓ The first of its kind was established in Madras called "Edison's Grand Cinema megaphone".

✓ This was due to the fact that electric carbons were used for motion picture projectors.

✓ Bombay Talkies in 1934, Prabhat Studios in Pune had begun production of films meant for
the Marathi language audience.
 ✓ Filmmaker R. S. D. Choudhury produced Wrath (1930), banned by the British ,an
expression censored during the days of the Indian independence movement.

✓ 1938, Gudavalli Ramabrahmam has co-produced and directed the social problem
film, Raithu Bidda, which was banned by the British administration in the region, for
depicting the up rise of the peasantry among the Zamindars during the British raj.

✓ South Indian cinema gained prominence throughout India with the release of S.S.
Vasan's Chandralekha.

S. K. Patil Commission -

✓ He head of the commission, viewed cinema as a 'combination of art, industry, and

showmanship‘ its commercial value.

✓ He set up of a Film Finance Corporation under the Ministry of Finance.

✓ To finance talents – leads to production of over 200 short documentaries, each released in
18 languages with 9000 prints for permanent film theatres across the country.

Golden Age of Indian Cinema (1940s–1960s)

✓ Satyajit Ray is one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century.

✓ His period saw the emergence of a new Parallel Cinema movement (bollywood), led
by Bengali cinema.

✓ The movement emphasized social realism.

Early examples of films in this movement include Dharti Ke Lal1946) directed by Khwaja Ahmad
Abbas and based on the Bengal famine of 1943, Neecha Nagar (1946) directed by Chetan Anand and
written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, Ritwik Ghatak's Nagarik (1952),and Bimal Roy's Do Bigha
Zamin (1953), laying the foundations for Indian neorealism and the "Indian New Wave".Pather
Panchali (1955), the first part of The Apu Trilogy (1955–1959).

✓ The Apu Trilogy won major prizes at all the major international film festivals and led to the
Parallel Cinema movement being firmly established in Indian cinema.

✓ Its influence on world cinema can also be felt in the "youthful coming-of-age dramas.

✓ The cinematographer Subrata Mitra, who made his debut with Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy,
also had an important influence on cinematography across the world.

✓ One of his most important techniques was bounce lighting to recreate the effect of daylight
on sets.

✓ He pioneered the technique while filming Aparajito (1956), the second part of The Apu
Trilogy.

✓ Some of the experimental techniques which Satyajit Ray pioneered include photo-
negative flashbacks and X-ray digressions while filming Pratidwandi (1972).

✓ Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak went on to direct many more critically acclaimed art films,
and they were followed by other acclaimed Indian independent filmmakers such as M. S.
 Sathyu, Mrinal Sen, Mani Kaul, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G. Aravindan, Girish
Kasaravalli and Buddhadeb Dasgupta.

✓ Commercial Hindi cinema - include Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz Ke Phool(1959) directed
by Guru Dutt and Awaara (1951) and Shree 420 (1955) directed by Raj Kapoor.

✓ These films expressed social themes mainly dealing with working-class urban life in India.

✓ Some epic films - Mehboob Khan's Mother India (1957), which was nominated for
the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and K. Asif's Mughal-e-Azam (1960). V.
Shantaram's Do Aankhen Barah Haath (1957) is believed to have inspired
the Hollywood film The Dirty Dozen (1967).

➢ Dilip Kumar, who debuted in the 1940s and rose to fame in the 1950s, was one of the
biggest Indian movie stars.

✓ He was a pioneer of method acting, predating Hollywood method actors such as Marlon
Brando.

✓ Much like Brando's influence on New Hollywood actors such as Al Pacino and Robert De
Niro, Kumar inspired many famous Indian actors, from Amitabh Bachchan and Naseeruddin
Shah to Shah Rukh Khan to Nawazuddin Siddiqui.

✓ Kumar was described as "the ultimate method actor" (natural actor) by Satyajit Ray.

✓ Ever since the social realist film Neecha Nagar, directed by Chetan Anand and written by
Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, won the Grand Prize at Cannes Film Festival in 1946.

✓ Satyajit Ray also won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for Aparajito (1956), the
second part of The Apu Trilogy, and the Golden Bear and two Silver Bears for Best
Director at the Berlin International Film Festival.

✓ The films of Khwaja Ahmad Abbas were nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film
Festival three times, with Neecha Nagar winning it, along with nominations
for Awaara and Pardesi (1957).

✓ Ray's contemporaries, Ritwik Ghatak and Guru Dutt, were overlooked in their own lifetimes
but had belatedly generated international recognition much later in the 1980s and 1990s.

✓ A number of Indian films from this era are often included among the greatest films of all
time in various critics' and directors' polls.

✓ South Indian cinema - production works based on the epic Mahabharata, such
as Mayabazar, Narthanasala received awards for best production design and best actor to S.
V. Ranga Rao, at the Indonesian Film Festival.

✓ Sivaji Ganesan became India's first actor to receive an international award when he won the
"Best Actor" award at the Afro-Asian film festival in 1960 and was awarded the title
of Chevalier in the Legion of Honour by the French Government in 1995.

✓ Tamil cinema is also influenced by Dravidian politics with prominent film personalities like C
N Annadurai, M G Ramachandran, Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa becoming Chief Ministers
of Tamil Nadu.

Contemporary Indian cinema (1970s–present)

✓ Filmmakers like Shyam Benegal continued to produce realistic Parallel Cinema throughout
the 1970s.

✓ Alongside Satyajit Ray, M. S. Sathyu, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, Buddhadeb

Dasgupta and Gautam Ghose in Bengali cinema.

✓ K Balachandar, Balu Mahendra, Bharathiraaja and Mani Ratnam in Tamil cinema.

✓ Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Shaji N. Karun, John Abraham and G.

Aravindan , Bharathan and Padmarajan in Malayalam cinema.

✓ Nirad Mohapatra in Oriya cinema, K. N. T. Sastry and B. Narsing Rao in Telugu cinema

✓ Mani Kaul, Kumar Shahani, Ketan Mehta, Govind Nihalani, Ram Gopal Varma and Vijaya
Mehta in Hindi cinema.

✓ The late 1960s to early 1970s saw the rise of Hindi commercial cinema in form of enduring
films such as Aradhana (1969), Sachaa Jhutha (1970), Haathi Mere
Saathi (1971), Anand(1971), Kati Patang (1971) and Amar
Prem (1972), Dushman (1972), Daag (1973), establishing Rajesh Khanna as the first actor to
be labeled a "superstar" in Indian cinema.

✓ Early 1970s, Hindi cinema was experiencing thematic stagnation, dominated by

musical romance films.

✓ After the arrival of screenplay writer duo Salim-Javed – film genre of gritty, violent, Bombay
underworld crime.

✓ Mid-1970s, crime-action films like Zanjeer and Sholay (1975) solidified Amitabh Bachchan's
position as a lead actor.

✓ The 1970s Commercial film genre, which combines elements of multiple genres
(action, comedy, romance, drama, melodrama, musical).

✓ Masala films launched Amitabh Bachchan in1970s and 1980s. A landmark for the masala film
genre was Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), directed by Manmohan Desai.

✓ Salim-Javed was influential in South Indian cinema and remake concept came into play.

✓ 1980 Telugu film, Sankarabharanam, which dealt with the revival of Indian classical music,
has won the Prize of the Public at the Besancon Film Festival of France in 1981.

✓ Many Tamil-language films selected as special presentations at various film festivals across
the globe - Mani Ratnam's Kannathil Muthamittal, Vasanthabalan's Veyyil and Ameer
Sultan's Paruthiveeran. Kanchivaram (2009) at Toronto International Film Festival.

✓ Mani Ratnam’s Nayagan (1987) was included in Time magazine's "All-TIME" 100 best
movies list.

✓ In 1991, Marupakkam directed by K.S. Sethu Madhavan, became the first Tamil film to win
the National Film Award for Best Feature Film.

✓ Malayalam cinema own 'Golden Age' in the 1980s & 1990s. Some of the most acclaimed
Indian filmmakers at the time were - Adoor Gopalakrishnan G. Aravindan, T. V.
Chandran and Shaji N. Karun.
 ✓ Adoor Gopalakrishnan, who is often considered to be Satyajit Ray's spiritual heir, directed
some of his most acclaimed films during this period, including Elippathayam (1981) which
won the Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival, as well as Mathilukal(1989) which
won major prizes at the Venice Film Festival.

✓ In 1990s, 'Parallel Cinema' began in Hindi cinema - critical and commercial success
of Satya (1998). A crime film based on the Bombay underworld, written and directed by Ram
Gopal Varma.

✓ The "Three Khans“ - Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, and Salman Khan.

✓ List of New Director from Tamil Industry who created benchmarks or trend setter…

Balachander

Bharathiraja

Bhagiyaraj

BaluMahendra

Bala

Maniratnam

Selvaraghavan and so on….

Balachander - Style, critique and public perception

➢ He is one of the best directors in India. His ideas were original and his subjects were complex
ideas expressed. He is also known for introducing over 100 actors/new faces to the film
industry- Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth Sridevi, Srividhya, Jayapradha, Jayasudha, Jayachithra,
Sujatha, Saritha, Nassar, Delhi Ganesh, Charlie, Madan Bob, Prakash raj, Vivek, A.R.Rahman
etc

➢ Balachander had long associations with some senior artists in the South Indian film industry
like Gemini Ganesan, Sowcar Janaki, Nagesh and Muthuraman. Even though he was not the
one to discover them, he played a prominent role in shaping their careers.

➢ Balachander directed socially themed films with women as protagonist usually centered on
unusual or complicated interpersonal relationships and social themes.

➢ He portrayed women as headstrong, intelligent and independent people.

➢ Balachander revealed that many of his messages from his films, he has drawn inspiration
from poet Subramaniya Bharathi whom he had admired since his childhood.

➢ In his film career, Balachander had won nine National Film Awards and 13 Filmfare Awards.
He was honored with the Padma Shri(1987), India's fourth highest civilian award, and
the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award in cinema.

Bharathiraja

➢ An Indian film director who works in the Tamil film industry.

➢ His debut in 1977 with 16 Vayathinile, he is known for realistic and sensitive portrayals of
rural life in his films.
 ➢ As of 2017, he has won six National Film Awards, four Filmfare Awards South, two Tamil
Nadu State Film Awards and a Nandi Award.

➢ The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri award in 2004 for his
contribution to the film industry.

➢ Bala

➢ He is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer, working in Tamil cinema.

➢ Bala is widely acclaimed for revolutionizing Tamil cinema.

➢ Through his realistic, dark and disturbing depiction of the working class on celluloid screen.

➢ He has received several awards and recognition for his work, including the National Film
Award for Best Director for his fourth feature film Naan Kadavul (2009).

CONTEMPORARY CINEMA (2000 – PRESENT)

▪ The 21st century was when Indian cinema finally found some sort of a balance between the
ever genres of popular commercial and parallel cinema.

▪ Several new films were produced which brought to light the fact that Indian cinema could be
meaningful and yet be commercially successful.

▪ Some of the best movies of the past decade have been – Lagaan (2001), Devdas (2002), Koi...
Mil Gaya (2003), Rang De Basanti (2006), Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006), Chak De India
(2007), etc

▪ Among the mainstream films, Lagaan won the Audience Award at the Locarno International
Film Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 74th Academy
Awards, while Devdas and Rang De Basanti were both nominated for the BAFTA Award for
Best Foreign Language Film.

▪ The 2000’s saw a growth in the popularity of Indian cinema all over the world.

▪ After a very long time mainstream Indian films seemed to have caught the fancy of the
international markets.

▪ The lines of distribution which had been silently working towards commercial distribution of
Indian films Add on …

▪ Film makers

▪ Film making styles

▪ Technological developments

▪ Emergence of Actors

▪ Scripts

▪ Genre of films

▪ Third World Cinema:

 ▪ Alternatives to Hollywood movies

▪ European movies

▪ Realistic movies – social realistic portrayal of life

▪ Neo realism

▪ abroad found themselves in demand in over 90 countries outside of its own.

Early Cinema 1895

Eadweard Muybridge

• First pioneer of cinema

• American photographer Fame through trip-wire

horse movement experience

• Invented early slideshow for motion studies

• Presented studies of animals, humans, scientific inquiries

Thaumatrope

• First expression of cinematic movement

• Disks spin to reveal combined image

• First setting on U.S. President to appear in cinema - William McKinley

Thomas Edison

• "The Black Maria" —his first movie production studio, recognized as America's first film
production studio.

• Structure covered in black tar paper, had retractable roof to allow sunlight for filming, built
on a turn-table so it could follow the sun and provide continuous light for filming

• Established the Motion Picture Patent Company (MPPC) in 1908

Edison Kinetoscope Films

• Invented kinetoscope in 1891 -"individual viewing machines"

• Hired from others nation to bring art into cinema

Auguste and Louis Lumiere (The Lumiere Brothers)

• Bought patent to cinematographe, a 3-in-1 device that is a film camera, developer and
projector

• Filmed actualities - "slices of life"

• The Sprinkler Sprinkled (1895) - first attempt at narrative cinema

The Demolition of a Wall - Lumiere Brothers

• Disaster Film genre - blowing up of buildings is staple aspect of these films

 • Actuality/Documentary - early "slice of life"

• Special Effects Development - projectionists reversed the reel after a bit and showed the
wall "magically" coming back together again, an early special effect

Al Jolson

• Popular live performer since the mid 1910s

• Incorporated minstrel style blackface into his acts that was not considered racist like today

• Blackface was a tribute to African Americans

• "crossover star" - bringing African American music and traditions into the mainstream and
also known for nostalgic story songs

Warner Brothers

• Studio known for films for the "working class"

• Gangster films

• Low budget crime films in the early sound era which eventually became film noir in the
1940's

• Produced The Jazz Singer, ushering in the era of the talkie

Edwin S. Porter

• One of Edison's directors

• Directed The Great Train Robbery - 1903

• The Great Train Robbery (1903)"prototype" for the

classical American film action develops with a linear time,

space, and cause-effect logic

• The Dance Interlude - element of this film carried over from 19th century theater

• The Cheat (1915) early narrative feature film directed by Cecil B. De Mille

• American silent film drama - film reflected the important changes in studio style happening
between 1914 and 1917

• Lighting effects achieved through the use of artificial indoor lighting allowing for nuanced
shadows (no fill light)

• linear pattern of narrative - present stories in a logical manner by telling what happens from
one point in time to the next without using flashbacks or flash-forwards and then returning
to the present.

• film showed how Hollywood films were moving towards a greater complexity

• Lighting Effects used in The Cheat (1915)

• Rembrandt lighting - used in studio portrait photography

 • Chiaroscuro lighting - strong contrasts between light/dark

• North Lighting

D.W. Griffith

• Entered film industry as an actor

• Directed his first film in 1908 under the guidance of Edwin S. Porter

• The Birth of a Nation (1915)

• Used black actors but speaking roles were done by white actors in blackface

• People of mixed race were always represented as corrupt

• Gave his movies documentary credibility by including historical reenactments

• Used tinted coloring for different scenes - red = fire/battle, blue = night

• Promoted an anti-war message

• Directed: Intolerance, Broken Blossoms, The Birth of a Nation

• Ways that D.W. Griffith tries to convey his first feature film as a work of high art:

• Listing the cast as "players" like in theater

• Opening film inter titles relate to Bible or Works of Shakespeare

• Inter titles signed to highlight "artistic signature" of work

• Historical reenactments - famous paintings of key historical moments like the Emancipation
Proclamation

• Specially composed score for screenings,

• Higher production values with more detailed costumes/sets than in typical production

Classical Hollywood Cinema 1917–1960s

➢ Major figures D. W. Griffith, John Ford, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks,
Billy Wilder, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford Humphrey Bogart

➢ Classical Hollywood cinema, classical Hollywood narrative, and classical continuity are
terms used in film criticism which designate both a narrative and visual style of film-making
which developed in and characterized American cinema between 1917 and the early 1960s
and eventually became the most powerful and pervasive style of film-making worldwide.

▪ Early narrative film (1895–1913)

➢ Only visual standard of narrative storytelling was the theatre.

➢ Visually, early narrative films had adapted little from the stage, and their narratives had
adapted very little from melodrama (a sensational dramatic piece with exaggerated
characters and exciting events intended to appeal to the emotions).
 ➢ Before the visual style which would become known as "classical continuity", scenes were
filmed in full shot and used carefully choreographed staging to portray plot and character
relationships.

➢ Cutting was extremely limited, and mostly consisted of close-ups of writing on objects for
their legibility.

Maturation of the silent's (1913–1917)

➢ Though lacking the reality inherent to the stage, film (unlike stage) offers the freedom to
manipulate apparent time and space, and thus to create the illusion of realism.

➢ In America, this artistic change is attributed to filmmakers like David W. Griffith finally
breaking the grip of the Edison Trust to make films independent of the manufacturing
monopoly.

➢ Films worldwide began to noticeably adopt visual and narrative elements which would be
found in classical Hollywood cinema.

➢ In the world, the influence of Griffith on film-making was unmatched. Equally influential
were his actors in adapting their performances to the new medium.

➢ Griffith's 1915 epic The Birth of a Nation was groundbreaking for film as a means of
storytelling a masterpiece of literary narrative with numerous innovative visual
techniques. The film initiated so many advances in American cinema that it was rendered
obsolete within a few years

CLASSICAL HOLLYWOOD CINEMA IN THE SOUND ERA (late 1920s – 1960s)

➢ The narrative and visual style of classical Hollywood style would further develop after the
transition to sound-film production.

➢ The beginning of the sound era itself is ambiguously defined.

➢ It began with The Jazz Singer, which was released in 1927 and increased box-office profits
for films as sound was introduced to feature films.

➢ Most Hollywood pictures from the late 1920s to 1960s adhered closely to a genre—
Western, slapstick comedy, musical, animated cartoon, and biopic (biographical picture)—
and the same creative teams often worked on films made by the same studio.

➢ Many great works of cinema that emerged from this

period were of highly regimented filmmaking. One reason

this was possible is that, with so many films being made, not

all to be a big hit.

Alfred Hitchcock

▪ Themes

▪ Representation of Woman

▪ Relationship with Actors

 ▪ Writing, storyboards and production

German Expressionism

➢ German Expressionism consisted of a number of related creative movements in Germany

before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s.

➢ These developments in Germany were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and
central European culture in fields such as architecture, dance, painting, sculpture, as well as
cinema.

➢ The German Expressionist movement was initially confined to Germany due to the isolation
the country experienced during World War I. In 1916, the government had banned foreign
films. The demand from theaters to generate films led to an increase in domestic film
production from 24 films in 1914 to 130 films in 1918.

➢ Besides the films' popularity within Germany, by 1922 the international audience had begun
to appreciate German cinema, in part due to a decreasing anti-German sentiment following
the end of World WarI.

➢ Various European cultures of the 1920s embraced an ethic of change and a willingness to
look to the future by experimenting with bold, new ideas and artistic styles.

➢ The first Expressionist films made up for a lack of lavish budgets by using set designs with
wildly non-realistic, geometrically absurd angles, along with designs painted on walls and
floors to represent lights, shadows, and objects. The plots and stories of the Expressionist
films often dealt with madness, insanity, betrayal and other "intellectual" topics triggered by
the experiences of World War I (as opposed to standard action-adventure and romantic
films).

➢ Two genres that were especially influenced by Expressionism are horror film and film noir-
Influence and legacy

➢ The German silent cinema was arguably far ahead of Hollywood during the same period. The
cinema outside Germany benefited both from the emigration of German film makers and
from German expressionist developments in style and technique that were apparent on the
screen.

➢ The new look and techniques impressed other contemporary film makers, artists and
cinematographers, and they began to incorporate the new style into their work.

➢ German expressionism would continue to influence Hitchcock throughout his career.

➢ In his third film, The Lodger, Hitchcock introduced expressionist set designs, lighting
techniques, and trick camera work to the British public against the wishes of his studio.

➢ His visual experimentation included the use of an image of a man walking across a glass
floor shot from below, a concept representing someone pacing upstairs.

➢ This influence continued through the highly successful movie Psycho in 1960, wherein
Norman Bates' blurred image, seen through a shower curtain, is reminiscent of Nosferatu
shown through his shadow.
 ➢ Hitchcock's film-making in turn influenced many other film makers, and so has been one of
the vehicles that propelled the continued use of German expressionist techniques, albeit less
frequently.

FRENCH IMPRESSIONISM AND SURREALISM (1918-1930)

IMPRESSIONISM

➢ After World War I, the French film industry was in crisis.

➢ No money, no support from the government and by

the end of 1917, the Hollywood cinema dominated their market.

➢ But in the 1920s, they tried several ways to recapture their market.

➢ Younger French directors - Abel Gance, Louis Delluc, Germaine Dulac, Marcel L’Herbier, and
Jean Epstein, contributed the most significant move and experimented with cinema that
eventually created a new movement of film which is “Impressionism”.

➢ The Impressionism gives the films’ narratives psychological focus and displays the
exploration of the characters’ emotion onscreen which shows subjectivity that makes the
impressionist films more striking.

➢ Through the cinematography and editing style of impressionism, the subjectivity of the film
could be intensified.

For instance, through the style of camera movement, one can get inside a character’s head that
suggests its perceptual experience and point of view. Another technique used by this film is rhythmic
editing which suggests the pace of an experience as what the character feels. For example, fast
cutting can show that the character’s consciousness or mental state is unstable.

➢ Because of the subjective shooting and editing patterns in Impressionist films to reinforce
the narrative treatment of psychological states, technological innovations were demanded
that helped to improve their films.

➢ But unfortunately, in 1929, Impressionism as a distinct movement came to an end.

SURREALISM

▪ Surrealism was a more radical art movement emerged in 1920s producing unrealistic films,
shocks the audiences and sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind.

▪ The surrealist movement was founded by Andre Breton. He was fascinated by Sigmund
Freud and his ideas about dream analysis. Automatic writing, the search for strange or
strong imagery and unpredictable shots are the features of Surrealism as it developed.

▪ Since surrealist films are intended to show the logic (which is absent) and flow of dreams,
these films are naturally structure less and also the character psychology is non-existent.

Soviet Montage

❖ Montage is a serious tool of filmmakers and has been for many years. One of the most
interesting and different theories of montage is known as Soviet montage.
 ❖ Soviet montage is the editing of clips or photos together in order to get a certain point
across.

❖ The goal of soviet montage is to create an idea which is clearer when all the images are
viewed together than when they are viewed separately.

❖ Sergei Eisenstein is considered to be the most famous filmmaker associated with Soviet
montage.

❖ His main goal was to take propaganda and present it in a different way in order to harness
the emotion of the Russian people and lead them towards a new revolutionized society.

➢ He would take images and alter how long they would stay on the screen, specific movement
and change of scenery and would associate certain images with particular emotions.

Soviet montage can not only be used to illustrate a philosophical point, but can also manipulate how
a viewer perceives a certain event.

▪ After the first world war, the country doesn’t have much of film stock in hand and also not
able to produce it.

▪ Hence the big industrialist planned the concept called “Experiment Cinema”

1. How long were the shots?

2. What was the camera angle?

3. How was the image composed?

4. How did they do the things?

5. How were the shots edited together?

6. In what order and why?

▪ The government started the first school for cinema in 1919, VGIK or State Institute of
Cinematography.

▪ Teachers in the school were Lev Kuleshov and he discovered Kuleshov effect.

▪ Two images create real time meaning and sometimes unrelated meaning and this can
happen only in cinema medium.

▪ Georges miles, master of illusion has experimented on creative geography or artificial

landscape.

Montage

▪ The term Montage comes from French word meaning assembling or editing or montage.

▪ How series of shots cut together and how powerful meaning or ideas or information
transferred to audience. The cuts involves major four steps – Order, Duration, Repetition
and Rhythm.

▪ Soviet montage strongly believes the cuts in the film should be true potential visible to the
audience.

Types of Montage:
 1. Intellectual Montage

2. Tonal Montage

3. Metric Montage

4. Rhythmic Montage

5. Overtonal Montage

➢ Intellectual Montage

Two unrelated images creates a third idea in the mind. Purest form of soviet montage.

➢ Tonal Montage

Two or more shots are similar or tonal related to thematic quality. Emotional or psychological
meaning will be conveyed.

➢ Metric Montage

Dictates the shot cuts after the specific no. of frames regardless of what happening in the shots.
Rhythm of editing itself its psychological effect.

➢ Rhythmic Montage

Matches the cuts to the music, sound effects and action on the screen.

➢ Overtonal Montage

Combination of Metric, Tonal and Rhythmic montage.

Italian neo-realism

➢ Italian neo-realism is the Golden Age, is a national film movement characterized by stories
set amongst the poor and the working class, filmed on location, frequently using non-
professional actors.

➢ Italian neo-realism films mostly contend with the difficult economic and moral conditions of
post-World War II.

➢ Italy representing changes in the Italian psyche and conditions of everyday life, including
poverty, oppression, injustice and desperation.

History

➢ Italian neo-realism came about as World War II ended and Benito Mussolini's government
fell, causing the Italian film industry to lose its centre.

➢ Neo-realism was a sign of cultural change and social progress in Italy. Its films presented
contemporary stories and ideas and were often shot in streets.

➢ More contemporary theorists of Italian neo-realism characterize it less as a consistent set of

stylistic characteristics and more as the relationship between film practice and the social
reality of post-war Italy.

Characteristics
Bicycle Thieves (1948)

➢ Neorealist films were generally filmed with

nonprofessional actors.

➢ In number of cases, Well-known actors were cast in leading

roles.

➢ Playing strongly against their normal character types in front of a background populated by
local people rather than extras brought in for the film.

➢ Neorealist films typically explore the conditions of the poor and the lower working class.

➢ Characters often times exist within simple social order where survival is the primary
objective.

➢ Performances are mostly constructed from scenes of people performing fairly mundane and
quotidian activities, devoid of the self-consciousness that amateur acting usually entails.

➢ Neorealist films often feature children in major roles, though their characters are frequently
more observational than participatory.

Impact

➢ Its impact nevertheless has been enormous not only on Italian film but also on French New
Wave cinema, the Polish Film School and ultimately on films all over the world.

➢ It also influenced film directors of India's Parallel Cinema movement, including Satyajit Ray
(who directed the award-winning Apu Trilogy) and Bimal Roy, both heavily influenced by
Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves (1948).

➢ Cinema seems to be constituted as a new subject of knowledge, which it-self builds and
develops.

➢ It produces a new world in which the main elements have not so many narrative functions
as they have their own aesthetic value, related with the eye that is watching them and not
with the action they are coming from.

➢ The Neorealist period is often simply referred to as "The Golden Age" of Italian cinema by
critics, filmmakers and scholars.

French New Wave

➢ The New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of the literary
period pieces being made in France and written by novelists, their spirit of youthful
iconoclasm, the desire to shoot more current social issues on location, and their intention
of experimenting with the film form.

➢ "New Wave" is an example of European art cinema. Many also engaged in their work with
the social and political confusion of the era, making their radical experiments with editing,
visual style and narrative part of a general break with the conservative paradigm.

➢ Using portable equipment and requiring little or no set up time, the New Wave way of
filmmaking presented a documentary style.
 ➢ The films exhibited direct sounds on film stock that required less light.

➢ Filming techniques included fragmented (split), discontinuous editing, and long takes.

➢ The combination of objective realism, subjective realism, and authorial commentary

created a narrative ambiguity in the sense that questions that arise in a film are not
answered in the end.

Film techniques

➢ The movies featured unprecedented methods of expression, such as long tracking shots.

➢ The movies featured existential themes, such as stressing the individual and the
acceptance of the absurdity (illogicality) of human existence. Filled with irony and sarcasm,
the films also tend to reference other films.

➢ Many of the French New Wave films were produced on tight budgets; often shot in a
friend's apartment or yard, using the director's friends as the cast and crew.

➢ Directors were also forced to improvise with equipment. The cost of film was also a major
concern; thus, efforts to save film turned into stylistic innovations.

➢ French New Wave brought a fresh look to cinema with improvised dialogue, rapid changes
of scene, and shots that broke the common 180° axis of camera movement.

➢ In many films of the French New Wave, the camera was used not to mesmerize the audience
with elaborate narrative and illusory images, but rather to play with audience
expectations.

➢ New Wave filmmakers made no attempts to suspend the viewer's disbelief; in fact, they
took steps to constantly remind the viewer that a film is just a sequence of moving images,
no matter how clever the use of light and shadow.

➢ The result is a set of oddly disjointed scenes without attempt at unity; or an actor whose
character changes from one scene to the next; or sets in which onlookers accidentally make
their way onto camera along with extras, who in fact were hired to do just the same.

CLASSIC JAPANESE FILMS AND FILMMAKERS

Japanese films are unique:

➢ Japanese film expert Donald Richie said, “While Western plot stresses occurrence, causality
and responsibility.

➢ Japanese traditional narrative - emphasizes sequential flow, connection, association.

➢ The idea of narrative proceeding through harmony and similarity, not often encountered in
Western cinema.

➢ Japanese film companies especially big studios like Toho and Shochiku have been loath to
issue their classic films.

Early History of Japanese Film

▪ The first foreign motion pictures were shown in Japan in 1896.

 ▪ One of the Lumiere Brothers, the inventors of film, visited Osaka in 1897.

▪ By 1899, Japanese filmmakers were making their own films. During the silent era, for both
foreign and domestic films, dialogues and explanations were provided by a narrator, called
a benshi, whose duties were not all that different from a narrators.

▪ Japanese films were mainly traditional theater captured on film.

▪ After the Tokyo earthquake in 1923, a number or historic films and films with modern
themes were produced.

▪ Before World War II, the government became more involved in filmmaking and the result
were a lot of propaganda pieces.

▪ Teinosuke Kinugasa was a master Japanese silent film.

▪ He created A Page of Madness (1926), "a hallucinatory tale of an old man who works at an
asylum in the hope of freeing his wife who is confined there. It has been said that his use of
montage technique rivaled that of Eisenstein in Battleship Potemkin.

▪ Ozu's Tokyo Story Early Japanese films dealt with traditional themes such as love versus
duty, double suicides, family troubles and responsibility prevailing over emotion.
Unfortunately 90 percent of Japanese films made before 1945 were destroyed, either by
waves of firebombing in World War II

Golden Age of Japanese Film

➢ After World War II, films with militaristic and nationalist themes were banned.

➢ In their place came comedies, monster films, animation and serious works. The Japanese
were known for making first-rate, realistic-looking costume dramas the late 1940s.

➢ Acclaimed Japanese directors like Akira Kurosawa, Yaujiro Ozu and Kenji Mizoguschi did
some of their best work.

➢ It was also a time when Japanese rushed to the theater to see the latest samurai dramas,
yakuza action movies, comedies and song-and-dance movie.

➢ Over 1.1 billion people attended films at around 7,000 theaters in 1958.

➢ Directors such as Oshima, Yoshishige Yoshida and Masahiro Shionada were leaders in the
Japanese new wave in the 1960s.

➢ During the 1950s movies were the principal form of popular entertainment, but in the 1960s
many people purchased their first television and stopped going to the movies.

Yasujiro Ozu

▪ Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963) is one of Japan's great film makers.

▪ He made melodramatic films about Japanese families dealing with modernization and is
known for blending modern and traditional techniques and using single-frame, low-
positioned “tatami” camera shots to great effect.
 ▪ Ozu's films include I Was Born (1932), Early Summer (1951), Early Spring (1956), Good
Morning(1959), and An Autumn Afternoon (1962). Floating Weeds (1959), a remake of his
silent classic pieces..

▪ Tokyo Story (1957) is considered a masterpiece and was selected by Time magazine as one
of the “All-Time 100 Movies." It is about parents who are disillusioned with their self-
centered, grown up children.

▪ One critic wrote it “breaks our hearts with all the things it isn’t showing us. Everything is
nuanced, delicate; the way a man sips his sake says as much about his soul as a soliloquy.“

Kenji Mizoguchi

▪ He is also regarded as one of the great Japanese directors.

▪ He explored the role individualism in traditional Japan, was partial to protracted shots,
routinely fired assistants, required sets to be built with extraordinary detail and was so
demanding he once complained to a writer that his script “failed to portray people so real
that the audience could smell their body odor."

▪ Mizoguschi was greatly admired by French New Wave directors for his skill at blending
realism with aesthetics. Among his films are Resurrection of Love (1922), The Sister of
Gion (1936), Osaka Elegy(1936), Genroku Chushinguraa (“The Loyal 47 Ronin," 1941-42).

Unit II

▪ Planning, pre-production- Concept / Story development, Scripting / Screen play writing,

Budgeting, Casting, Locations, Financing. Production-Shooting, Direction & Cinematography.
Post production- Editing, Sound recording, Dubbing, Special effects, Graphics & Final mixing.
Distribution & Exhibition.

▪ The seven stages of film production

▪ 1. Development

▪ The start of a project varies, but generally will begin with development of a script, be that an
existing script, a book, a brief story outline. Development may also start with a Director
and/or Writer pitching an idea to a Producer.

▪ 2. Pre-Production

▪ To narrow down the options of the production. It is where all the planning takes place
before the camera rolls and sets the overall vision of the project. Pre-production also
includes working out the shoot location and casting. The Producer will now hire a Line
Manager or Production Manager to create the schedule and budget for the film.

▪ 3. Production

▪ The primary aim is to stick to the budget and schedule, this requires constant vigilance.
Communication is key between location, set, office, production company, distributors - in
short, all parties involved

▪ 4. Principal Photography
▪ Communication between all parties is crucial during the shoot & the production maintain a
full set of records and strive to remain on time and on budget.

▪ 5. Wrap

▪ The period immediately after shooting ends. It is when we strike (dismantle) the set and
clear the location. Everything must be returned in good order to suppliers and there must be
a full set of records of the shoot.

▪ 6. Post-Production

▪ This stage overlaps principal photography. The bulk of post-production consists of reviewing
the footage and assembling the movie - editing. There will be contributions as required from
Visual Effects (VFX), Music and Sound Design. The picture will now be locked and delivery
elements will be created.

▪ 7. Distribution

▪ Once the film is completed, it must be distributed. This is how producers make their money
back and a considerable amount of time and energy will be invested to secure the right
distribution deals for their projects.

Stages of production in Detail:

Film production consists of five major stages

➢ Development: The first stage in which the ideas for the film are created, rights to
books/plays are bought etc., and the screenplay is written. Financing for the project has to
be sought and obtained

➢ Pre-production: Arrangements and preparations are made for the shoot, such as hiring cast
and film crew, selecting locations and constructing sets.

➢ Production: The raw footage and other elements for the film are recorded during the film
shoot.

➢ Post-production: The images, sound, and visual effects of the recorded film are edited and
combined into a finished product.

➢ Distribution: The completed film is distributed, marketed, and screened in cinemas and/or
released to home video.

Development

➢ The project producer selects a story –

may come from a book, play, another

film, true story, video game, comic book,

graphic novel, or an original idea.

➢ After identifying a theme or message, the producer works with writers to prepare a
synopsis.

➢ Next, produce a step outline which breaks the story down into one-paragraph scenes that
concentrate on dramatic structure.
➢ 25-to-30-page description of the story, its mood, and characters.

➢ This usually has little dialogue and stage direction, but often contains drawings that help
visualize key points.

➢ A screenwriter writes a screenplay over a period of several months. The screenwriter may
rewrite it several times to improve dramatization, clarity, structure, characters, dialogue,
and overall style.

➢ However, producers often skip the previous steps and develop submitted screenplays which
investors, studios, and other interested parties assess through a process called script
coverage.

➢ A film distributor may be contacted at an early stage to assess the likely market and
potential financial success of the film.

➢ The producer and screenwriter prepare a film pitch. or treatment, and present it to potential
financiers.

➢ They will also pitch the film to actors and directors (especially so-called bankable stars) in
order to "attach" them to the project (that is, obtain a binding promise to work on the film if
financing is ever secured).

➢ Many projects fail to move beyond this stage and enter so-called development hell. If a pitch
succeeds, a film receives a "green light", meaning someone offers financial backing: typically
a major film studio, film council, or independent investor. The parties involved negotiate a
deal and sign contracts.

➢ Once all parties have met and the deal has been set, the film may proceed into the pre-
production period.

Pre-production

➢ Every step of actually creating the film is carefully designed and planned.

➢ The production company is created and a production office established.

➢ The film is pre-visualized by the director.

➢ A production budget is drawn up to plan expenditures for the film.

➢ For major productions, insurance is procured to protect against accidents.

➢ The nature of the film, and the budget, determine the size and type of crew used during
filmmaking.

➢ These are typical crew positions:

➢ Storyboard artist: creates visual images to help the director and production designer
communicate their ideas to the production team.

➢ Director: is primarily responsible for the storytelling, creative decisions and acting of the
film.

➢ Assistant director (AD): manages the shooting schedule and logistics of the production,
among other tasks. There are several types of AD, each with different responsibilities.
➢ Film producer: hires the film's crew.

➢ Unit production manager: manages the production budget and production schedule. They
also report, on behalf of the production office, to the studio executives or financiers of the
film.

➢ Location manager: finds and manages film locations. Nearly all pictures feature segments
that are shot in the controllable environment of a studio sound stage, while outdoor
sequences call for filming on location.

➢ Production designer: the one who creates the visual conception of the film, working with
the art director, who manages the art department, which makes production sets.

➢ Costume designer: creates the clothing for the characters in the film working closely with
the actors, as well as other departments.

➢ Makeup and hair designer: works closely with the costume designer in order to create a
certain look for a character.

➢ Casting director: finds actors to fill the parts in the script. This normally requires that actors
audition.

➢ Choreographer: creates and coordinates the movement and dance - typically for musicals.
Some films also credit a fight choreographer.

➢ Director of photography (DP): the head of the photography of the entire film, supervises
all cinematographers and Camera Operators.

➢ Production sound mixer: the head of the sound department during the production stage of
filmmaking. They record and mix the audio on set - dialogue, presence and sound
effects in mono and ambience in stereo. They work with the boom operator, Director, DA,
DP, and First AD.

➢ Sound designer: creates the aural conception of the film, working with the supervising
sound editor. On Bollywood-style Indian productions the sound designer plays the role of
a director of audiography.

➢ Composer: creates new music for the film. (usually not until post-production)

Production

➢ In production the video production/film is created and shot.

➢ More crew will be recruited at this stage, such as the property master, script
supervisor, assistant directors, stills photographer, picture editor, and sound editors.

➢ A typical day's shooting begins with the crew arriving on the set/location by their call time.

➢ Actors usually have their own separate call times. Since set
construction, dressing and lighting can take

many hours or even days, they are often set up

in advance.

➢ The grip, electric and production design crews are

typically a step ahead of the camera and sound

departments: for efficiency's sake, while a scene is

being filmed, they are already preparing the next

one.

➢ While the crew prepare their equipment, the actors done their costumes and the hair and
make-up.

➢ The actors rehearse the script and blocking with the director, and the camera and sound
crews rehearse with them and make final.

➢ The assistant director (AD) calls "picture is up!" to inform everyone that a take is about to
be recorded, and then "quiet, everyone!"

➢ Once everyone is ready to shoot, the

AD calls "roll sound” and the production

sound mixer will start their equipment.

➢ The AD follows with "roll camera", by the

camera operator once the camera is recording.

➢ The clapper, who is already in front of the camera with the clapperboard, calls "marker!"
and slaps it shut.

➢ If the take involves extras or background action, the AD will cue them ("action
background!"), and last is the director,

telling the actors "action!". The AD may echo "action“

louder on large sets.

➢ A take is over when the director calls "cut!", and camera and sound stop recording.

➢ The script supervisor will note any continuity issues and the sound and camera teams log
technical notes for the take on their respective report sheets.

➢ If the director decides additional takes are required, the whole process repeats.

➢ When shooting is finished for the scene, the assistant director declares a "wrap" or "moving
on," and the crew will "strike," or dismantle, the set for that scene.

➢ At the end of the day, the director approves the next day's shooting schedule and a daily
progress report is sent to the production office.

➢ This includes the report sheets from continuity, sound, and camera teams.

➢ Call sheets are distributed to the cast and crew to tell them when and where to turn up the
next shooting day.

➢ With workdays often lasting 14 or 18 hours in

remote locations, film production tends to create

 a team spirit.

Post-production

➢ The video/film is assembled by the video/film editor.

➢ The shot film material is edited.

➢ The production sound (dialogue) is also edited, music tracks and songs are composed and
recorded if a film is sought to have a score, sound effects are designed and recorded.

➢ Any computer-graphic visual effects are digitally added.

➢ Finally, all sound elements are mixed into "stems", which are then married to picture, and
the film is fully completed.

➢ Post-production is many different processes grouped under-

• Video editing the picture of a television program using an edit decision list (EDL)

• Writing, (re)recording, and editing the soundtrack.

• Adding visual special effects - mainly computer-generated imagery (CGI) and digital copy
from which release prints will be made.

• Sound design, sound effects, foley (sound effects added to film e.g. glass breaking, washing
clothes, etc music, culminating in a process known as sound re-recording or mixing
with professional audio equipment.

• Transfer of colour motion picture film to video or DPX (Digital picture exchange) with
a telecine and color grading (correction) in a color suite.

Distribution

➢ The final stage, where the film is released to cinemas or, occasionally, directly to consumer
media (VHS, VCD, DVD, Blu-ray) or direct download from a digital media provider.

➢ The film is duplicated as required (either onto film or hard disk drives) and distributed to
cinemas for exhibition (screening).

➢ Press kits, posters, and other advertising materials are published, and the film is advertised
and promoted.

➢ A B-roll clip may be released to the press based on raw footage shot for a "making of"
documentary, which may include making-of clips as well as on-set interviews.

➢ Film distributors usually release a film with a launch party, a red-carpet premiere, press
releases, interviews with the press, press preview screenings, and film festival screenings.

➢ Most films are also promoted with their own special website separate from those of the
production company or distributor.

➢ For major films, key TV, print, and online journalists. The largest productions may require
more than one promotional tour, in order to rejuvenate audience demand at each release
window.
 ➢ A film may first be released to a few select cinemas, or if it tests well enough, may go
directly into wide release.

➢ It is released, normally at different times several weeks (or months) apart, into different
market segments like rental, retail, pay-per-view, in-flight entertainment, cable, satellite,
or free-to-air broadcast television.

➢ The distribution rights for the film are also usually sold for worldwide distribution. The
distributor and the production company share profits and manage losses.

Scripting / Screen play writing

Screenplay

• It is a 90-120 page document written in 12pt font on 8 1/2" x 11" bright white three-hole
punched paper.

• A screenplay can be an original piece, or based on a true story or previously written piece,
like a novel, stage play or newspaper article.

• At its heart, a screenplay is a blueprint for the film it will one day become.

• Professionals on the set including the producer, director, set designer and actors all translate
the screenwriter's vision using their individual talents.

• Since the creation of a film is ultimately a collaborative art, the screenwriter must be aware
of each person's role and as such, the script should reflect the writer's knowledge.

Screenplay Elements

➢ Scene Heading

A scene heading is a one-line description of the location and time of day of a scene, also known as a
"slugline." It should always be in CAPS.

Example: EXT. WRITERS STORE - DAY reveals that the action takes place outside The Writers Store
during the daytime.

➢ Subheader
When a new scene heading is not necessary, but some distinction needs to be made in the action,
you can use a subheader.

A good example is when there are a series of quick cuts between two locations, you would use the
term INTERCUT and the scene locations.

➢ Action

The narrative description of the events of a scene, written in the present tense. Also less commonly
known as direction, visual exposition, description or scene direction.

Remember - only things that can be seen and heard should be included in the action.

➢ Character
When a character is introduced, his name should be capitalized within the action.

For example: The door opens and in walks LIAM, a thirty-something hipster with attitude to spare.

A character's name is CAPPED and always listed above his lines of dialogue. Minor characters may be
listed without names, for example "TAXI DRIVER" or "CUSTOMER."

➢ Dialogue
Lines of speech for each character. Dialogue format is used anytime a character is heard
speaking, even for off-screen and voice-overs.

➢ Parenthetical

A parenthetical is direction for the character - attitude or action-oriented

Two reasons - First, if you need to use a parenthetical to convey what's going on with your dialogue,
then it probably just needs a good re-write.

Second, it's the director's job to instruct an actor on how to deliver a line, and everyone knows not
to encroach on the director.

➢ Extension
Placed after the character's name, in parentheses

An abbreviated technical note placed after the character's name to indicate how the voice will be
heard onscreen, for example, if the character is speaking as a voice-over, it would appear as LIAM
(V.O.).

➢ Transition
Transitions are film editing instructions, and generally only appear in a shooting script.
Transition includes:

CUT TO: DISSOLVE TO: SMASH CUT: QUICK CUT: FADE TO:

As a spec script writer, you should avoid using a transition unless there is no other way to indicate a
story element. For example, you might need to use DISSOLVE TO: to indicate that a large amount of
time has passed.

➢ Shot
A shot tells the reader the focal point within a scene has changed. Like a transition, there's
rarely a time when a spec screenwriter should insert shot directions.
 Examples of Shots:

ANGLE ON --

EXTREME CLOSE UP --

PAN TO –

➢ Film budgeting

It refers to the process by which a line producer, unit production manager,

or production accountant prepares a budget for a film production.

This document which could be over 134 pages long, is used to secure financing for and lead to pre-
production and production of the film.

➢ Casting

In the performing arts industry such as Theatre, Film, or Television, a casting (or casting call) is a pre-
production process for selecting a certain type of actor, dancer, singer, or extra for a particular role
or part in a script, screenplay, or teleplay.

This process is typically utilized for a motion picture, television program, documentary, music
video, play, or television advertisement, etc.

This involvement in a dramatic production, advertisement, and or industrial video is intended for
an audience, or studio audience.

➢ Financing

In the development of a film project is to turn a rough idea or story into a final script ready for
production.

Development money is the financial sum that you need to invest in your idea, until it is in a form
suitable for presenting to investors and capable of attracting production financing.

➢ Direction

A film director is a person who directs the making of a film.

A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script)
while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of that vision.

The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, production design, and the creative
aspects of filmmaking.

The film director gives direction to the cast and crew and creates an overall vision through which a
film eventually becomes realized, or noticed.

Directors need to be able to mediate differences in creative visions and stay within the boundaries
of the film's budget.

There are many pathways to becoming a film director. Some film directors started as
screenwriters, cinematographers, film editors or actors.
Directors use different approaches. Some outline a general plotline and let the actors improvise
dialogue, while others control every aspect, and demand that the actors and crew follow
instructions precisely.

Some directors also write their own screenplays or collaborate on screenplays with long-standing
writing partners. Some directors edit or appear in their films, or compose the music score for their
films.

➢ Cinematography

It (also called Direction of Photography) is the science or art of motion-picture photography by

recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image
sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as film stock.

Cinematography finds uses in many fields of science and business as well as for entertainment
purposes and mass communication.

The word "cinematography" was created from the Greek words κίνημα (kinema), meaning
"movement, motion" and γράφειν (graphein) meaning "to record", together meaning "recording
motion."

The word used to refer to the art, process, or job of filming movies, but later its meaning was
restricted to "motion picture photography."

➢ Film editing

▪ It is a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking.

▪ The film editor works with the raw footage, selecting shots and combines them into
sequences which create a finished motion picture.

▪ On its most fundamental level, film editing is the art, technique and practice of assembling
shots into a coherent sequence.

▪ The job of an editor is not simply to mechanically put pieces of a film together, cut off film
slates or edit dialogue scenes.

▪ A film editor must creatively work with the layers of images, story, dialogue, music, pacing,
as well as the actors' performances to effectively "re-imagine" and even rewrite the film to
craft a cohesive whole. Editors usually play a dynamic role in the making of a film.

▪ Sound, music and (more recently) visual effects editors dealt with the practicalities of other
aspects of the editing process, usually under the direction of the picture editor and director.

Unit III

Mise-En-Scene

Definition: The staging of events for the camera

• what is put into the frame - a concept for understanding how a director controls what
appears in the film frame.

• OUR MODIFICATION: a concept for understanding how the elements within the frame come
to signify.
 • Mise-en-scene is a group of elements that work in relation with other film elements to
signify.

• Mise-en-scene functions across a spectrum of Realism to Expressionism

• Realism: specify and detail

• Expressionism: the representation of character consciousness, thought processes, or

emotions (The representation of character consciousness is a major sub-theme of the
course)

FOUR ASPECTS OF MISE-EN-SCENE:

• Setting: Those elements within the frame that function to depict space, place, and time
period.

• In the cinema, setting can take on an active role, it need not be only a container for the
action.

• Setting can be an already existing locale, or a studio construction-either way critical

decisions are made as to how the setting will signify in what way.

• the overall design of a setting can significantly shape how we understand story action.

• setting also includes props: those objects within the setting that function within the ongoing
action. (Lotto tickets, motorcycles, whiskey bottles).

• Costume and Make-Up: The clothing and attire of characters or lack thereof.

• It can function to express character situation, mood, or consciousness.

• costume functions through three properties: color, texture, and movement

• costume can play important motivating and causal roles in the narrative

• Make-Up: Pigments and materials applied to figures to construct their characters.

• functions to define and articulate character and frequently strives for invisibility and realism.

• Lighting: Illumination by which objects within the frame can be seen.

• In terms of its signifying function, lighting is more than just illumination.

• Lighter and darker areas within the frame help create the overall composition of each shot,
guiding our attention within the frame.

• Lighting can also convey textures.

• Lighting shapes objects by creating highlights and shadows.

• There are four characteristics to lighting:

• quality: refers to the relative intensity of the light its harshness or softness

• direction: refers to the path the light takes from its source to the object being directions like
front, back, side, top, and under.

• source: refers to how many points of light illuminate an object.

 • color: refers to the hue of light: invisible white, soft yellow, or tinted through filters and gels.

Cinematographer

• A cinematographer or director of photography

• (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the chief

• over the camera and light crews working on a

• film, television production or other live action piece.

• DOP is responsible for making artistic and technical decisions related to the image. The study
and practice of this field is referred to as cinematography.

• The cinematographer selects the camera, film stock, lens, filters, etc., to realize the scene in
accordance with the intentions of the director.

• Relations between the cinematographer and director vary; in some instances the director
will allow the cinematographer complete independence; in others, the director allows little
to none, even going so far as to specify exact camera placement and lens selection.

• Such a level of involvement is not common once the director and cinematographer have
become comfortable with each other; the director will typically convey to the
cinematographer what is wanted from a scene visually, and allow the cinematographer
latitude in achieving that effect.

Framing (visual arts)

• In visual arts and particularly cinematography, framing is the presentation of visual elements
in an image, especially the placement of the subject in relation to other objects.

• Framing can make an image more aesthetically pleasing and keep the viewer's focus on the
framed object(s).

• It can also be used to direct attention back into the scene. It can add depth to an image, and
can add interest to the picture when the frame is thematically related to the object being
framed.

Film Sound

• Sound in Cinema -DIEGETIC ( from inside the DIEGESIS ) refers to sound that BOTH the
audience and the characters can hear. This would be sound effects or music played in the
scene. NON-DIEGETIC refers to sound that ONLY the audience can hear.

• Typically, this would be Soundtrack music – played for effect, to build tension in the
audience but not part of the scene itself.

• The Powers of Sound - Sound is a powerful film technique for many reasons. To begin, sound
engages a distinct sense which can lead to a “synchronization of senses” -- making a single
rhythm or expressive quality unify both image and sound.

• Secondly, film sound can direct our attention quite specifically within the image. For
example, our attention on the foreground not the background. The soundtrack can clarify
image events, contradict them, or render them ambiguous. In all cases, the sound track can
 enter into an active relation with the image track. For an example of how sound can change
meaning.

• Thirdly, sound cues us to form expectations. For example, a door creaking would make us
expect someone or something has entered the room. The use of sound can creatively cheat
or redirect the viewer’s expectations.

• Sound gives a new value to silence. For example, a quiet passage in a film can create almost
unbearable tension, forcing the viewer to concentrate on the screen and wait in anticipation
for whatever sound will emerge.

• Fundamentals of Film Sound - Perceptual Properties: The three aspects of sound we

perceive are: Loudness, Pitch, Timbre.

• Fundamentals of Film Sound components of film sound, loudness, pitch and timbre interact
to define the overall sonic texture of a film. At the most basic level, these three acoustic
factors enable us to distinguish the various sounds in film. For example, these qualities
enable us to recognize different characters' voices.

• Selection, Alteration and Combination - Sound in cinema is categorized into three types:
Dialogue, Music, Sound effects.

• Choosing and Manipulating Sounds - The creation of the sound track is similar to and
demands as much choice and control as the editing of the image track. Sometimes the sound
track is conceived before the image track. For example, studio-made animation and
experimental film.

• Sound guides the viewer’s attention. Normally, this means clarifying and simplifying the
sound track so that important material stands out. Dialogue, the transmitter of story
information, is usually recorded and reproduced for maximum clarity.

• Important lines should not have to compete with music or background noise. Sound effects
are usually less important and supply an overall sense of a realistic environment. However, if
they were missing the silence would be distracting. Music is also subordinate to dialogue,
noticeable during pauses in dialogue and transitions. Foley work – where re-recorded sound
is used to enhance ‘real’ sound

• Dialogue does not always rank highest in importance. Sound effects are central to action
sequences. Imagine a car chase without squealing tyres. Music can dominate dance scenes,
transitions, or very emotional moments with no dialogue.

• In creating a sound track, the filmmaker must select sounds that will fulfill a particular
function. Usually, the filmmaker will provide a clearer, simpler sound world than that of
everyday life. This helps the audience to focus on only the sound which is important and not
needless background noise.

• The microphone is unselective; like the camera lens, it does not automatically filter out what
is distracting. Directional and shielded microphones absorb motor noise. Foley work – which
re-creates the specific diegetic sounds. Editing from libraries of stock sounds. All of these
allow the filmmaker to choose exactly what the sound track requires.

• By choosing certain sounds, the filmmaker guides our perception of the image and the
action. If you notice how the filmmaker’s selection of sound shapes the viewer’s perception,
 you will also notice that they use sound unrealistically. This is to shift the viewer’s attention
to what is narratively or visually important.

• Today, film sound is normally reprocessed to produce exactly the qualities desired. A dry
recording of the sound will be changed electronically to produce the desired effect. For
example, the voice of someone on a telephone will be digitally filtered to make it more tinny
and muffled.

• Sound Mixing - Guiding the viewer’s attention, depends on selecting and reworking sounds.
It also depends on mixing , or combining them. The sound track is not a set of discrete sound
units but an ongoing stream of auditory information.

• Sound Mixing - Combining sounds is usually done after shooting, in the mixing process called
Audio Post. The mixer can precisely control the volume, duration, and tone quality of each
sound.

• Sound Mixing - Today, a dozen or more separate tracks may be mixed in layers at any
moment. The mix can be quite dense, like in a busy airport or very sparse with an occasional
sound emerging against a quiet background. These choices reflect the mood of the film the
filmmaker aims to achieve. Layers of Audio built up to create the right mood

• Sound and Film Form - The choice and combination of sound materials can also create
patterns and motifs that run through the film as a whole. This is most easily seen by
examining how the filmmaker uses a musical score. They can select preexisting music to
accompany the images or compose new music for the film. Opening titles to Batman The
Movie (1989) Opening titles to Spiderman (2002)

• Sound and Film Form - The rhythm, melody, harmony and instrumentation of the music can
strongly affect the viewer’s emotional reactions. Also, a melody, musical phrase or sound
effect can be associated with a particular character, setting, situation or idea creating a
sound motif.

Unit IV

Concept of form in films

➢ Whether concrete or abstract, the subject matter of an artwork must be expressed with
form – a set of conventions of patterned relationships used to perceive, evaluate, and
define an artwork.

➢ Filmmakers have two basic senses to explore in their movies: sight and hearing. The
elements that stimulate these two senses are innumerous.

➢ Consequently, the combination of them generates infinite different styles and stories. But all
these different possibilities are found in one of three possible film forms.

1. Narrative form tells stories.

2. Documentary form exposes reality.

3. Experimental form experiments on the medium.

Unit V:

Narrative forms

1. Autobiography – a detailed description or account of the storyteller's own life.

2. Biography – a detailed description or account of someone's life.

3. Captivity narrative – a story in which the protagonist is captured and describes their
experience with the culture of their captors.

4. Epic – a very long narrative poem, often written about a hero or heroine and their exploits.

5. Epic poem – a lengthy story of heroic exploits in the form of a poem.

6. Fantasy – a story about characters that may not be realistic and about events that could not
really happen.

7. Folk tale – an old story which has been passed down orally and which reveals the customs of
a culture.

8. Historical fiction – stories which take place in real historical settings and which often feature
real historical figures and events, but which center around fictional characters and/or
events.

9. Legend – a story that is based on fact but often includes exaggerations about the hero (e.g.
the East African legend of Fumo Liyongo in the coast of Kenya).

10. Myth – an ancient story often meant to explain the mysteries of life or nature.

11. News – information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or
word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.

12 Novel – a long, written narrative, normally in prose, which describes fictional characters and
events, usually in the form of a sequential story.

13 Play – a story that is told mostly through dialogue and is meant to be performed on stage.

14 Quest narrative – a story in which the characters must achieve a goal. This includes some
illness narratives.

15 Realistic fiction – stories which portray fictional characters, settings, and events that could
exist in real life.

16 Short story – a brief story that usually focuses on one character and one event.

17 Tall tale – a humorous story that tells about impossible happenings, exaggerating the hero's
accomplishments.

Non-narrative film

1. Non-narrative film is an aesthetic of film that does not narrate, or relate "an event, whether
real or imaginary".

2. The aesthetic strives to be nonrepresentational; "This is to say one would not recognize
anything in the image and that temporal, sequential, or cause-and-effect relations could not
be perceived between the shots or the elements of the image."
3. Narrative film is the dominant aesthetic, though non-narrative film is not fully distinct from
that aesthetic.

4. While the non-narrative film avoids "certain traits" of the narrative film, it "still retains a
number of narrative characteristics".

5. Narrative film also occasionally uses "visual materials that are not representational".