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Camera, Light, and Motion


This is the class resource page for MPFV389, Camera, Light, and Motion, Spring, 2010 at MassArt.

Instructor: David Tames (contact)

Content and notes and the occasional link will be added each week as the semester progresses.

Course description

An introduction to fundamental visual language elements and construction of cinematic sequences. Exploration of codes and genre conventions filmmakers express in narrative, documentary, or experimental form. Study of space, line, shape, color, tone, movement, rhythm and how these elements are structured through the process of observation, writing, directing, acting, lighting, camerawork, editing, and production design. Final projects build on cinematic literacy in the form of a research paper or a dynamic media, machinima, or video game prototype exploring the future of cinema in a post-film context. You will learn how to apply cinematic language to your work in video, design, or inter-related media forms.

Required Texts
The Visual Story, Second Edition: Creating the Visual Structure of Film, TV and Digital Media by Bruce Block (Focal Press, 2009)

Grammar of the Edit, Second Edition by Roy Thompson and Christopher Bowen (Focal Press, 2009)

Download Syllabus (PDF)

January 21st, Meeting 1: Introduction to Cinematic Language

Review of syllabus.

Introduction and discussion of cinematic language, clips were screened from the following films:

  • Fallen Angels (Wong Kar-wai, 1995), blocking, color, use of wide lens, hand-held camerawork
  • Notebook on Cities and Clothes (Wim Wenders, 1989), film/video textures, personal essay, alternative structures
  • American Beauty (Sam Mendes, 1999), “Pass the Asparagus” scene, coverage, production design, seamless editing

Assignment due next week: Purchase Books, Visual Biography Exploration
Reading due next week: The Visual Story, Ch. 1 “The Visual Components,” Ch. 2 “Contrast & Affinity,” Ch. 5 “Tone,” and Ch. 6 “Color”

February 1st, Meeting 2: Tone and Color

Screening and critique of Visual Biography Explorations

Discussion of Contrast/Affinity, Tone, and Color, clips were screened from the following films:

  • Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940), tone, use of strong contrast in black and white photography (introduction and first scene following)
  • Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001), color, production design, emotional tone
  • Visions of Light (Arnold Glassman, Todd McCarthy, and Stuart Samuels, 1992), sections on German Expressionism, Conrad Hall, and “mistakes”
  • Speaking Parts (Atom Egoyan, 1989), introduction sequence (approximately 8 minutes), film/video textures, muted colors, very selective use of red, overall cool tone, no dialog, characters and context introduced visually

Assignment due next week: Tone & Color Exploration
Reading due next week: The Visual Story, Ch. 3 “Space”

February 8th, Meeting 3: Space & Frame

Screening and critique of Tone/Color Explorations

Discussion of Space, clips were screened from the following films:

No class on February 15th (President’s Day)

Assignment due next meeting: Space and Frame Exploration

Reading due next meeting: The Visual Story,Ch. 4 Line and Shape

February 22nd, Meeting 4: Line and Shape

Screening and critique of Space and Frame Exploration

Assignment for next week: Line and Shape Exploration (2 minute visual essay illustrating the key ideas in the reading)

March 1st, Meeting 5: Movement

Screening and critique of Tone/Color Explorations

Discussion of Movement (Rhythm will be covered with Editing discussion after Spring Break), clips were screened from the following films:

  • Fearless (Peter Weir, 1993) opening sequence, both camera and actor’s movement
  • Raising Arizona (Joel Coen, 1987) convenience store robbery and subsequent chase sequence, construction of the chase sequence in terms of camera movement, cuts to convey action, how characters are framed and followed by the camera

Assignment due next meeting: Space Exploration (convey a character moving through one space to another, e.g. from one room to another, or between an interior or exterior, cover the scene and introduce multiple angles that convey the action without following the character, refer to the discussion in class of the sequences from Fearless and Raising Arizona, thinking about how one can cover the action of a character moving from one space to another without the camera simply following them.

Reading due next meeting: The Grammar of the Edit, Chapters 1 through 5

No class on March 8th (Spring Break)

March 15th, Meeting 6: Montage

Screening of Movement Exploration

Discussion of Editing, clips were screened from the following films:

  • Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982) “I need you Dekard” sequence in police station, note the use of framing to emphasize the realtionship between the characters, and the pace of the editing with the ebb-and flow of the conversation and subtext.
  • American Beauty (Sam Mendes, 1999), we revisited the “Pass the Asparagus” scene we watched eariler, taking a closer look at the coverage strategy, cut on movement, composition, editing to show reactions
  • Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick, 1993) “The Farmer” sequence, towards the beginning of the film, slow pace, wide shots, stable camera, hand-held emphasizes the tension of the fight between two farm hands, then back to stable camerawork, note the rhythm of the editing and the composition for the large screen.

Exploration Assignment (due next week): Rework the Movement Exploration, this time, pay close attention to the editing rules we discussed, including the 30-degree rule, the 180-degree rule, eyeline matches, cuts on movement, etc. In the rework, make sure that the sequence starts or ends with a conversation between two characters, implementing a shot-reverse-shot style, covering the conversation with a minimum of an establishing two shot and then over-the-shoulder shots of the conversation.

Some details regarding The Final Project were discussed, get in touch with a fellow student if you missed class, it’s critical you start thinking about this. It’s an option to collaborate with other students on this project, the effort must be commensurate, and the collaboration must be approved in advance.

Some details regarding The Film Analysis Project were discussed, get in touch with a fellow student if you missed class, it’s critical you start thinking about this. It’s an option to collaborate with other students on this project, the effort must be commensurate, and the collaboration must be approved in advance.

There is no reading assignment this week, focus on the Editing Exploration and thinking about what you would like to do for the Final Project and the Film Analysis Assignment. Final Project Proposals are due April 5th and you will be presenting your Film Analysis on April 12th.

March 22nd, Meeting 7: Sound Design

Screening of Editing Exploration

Discussion of Sound Design and viewing and discussion of clips from the following films:

  • Apocalypse Now (opening sequence, through half of the lunch in trailer scene)
  • The Piano (opening sequence, through leaving the beach)

Assignments:

(1) Sound Design Exploration Assignment due next week

(2) Sound Design Reading Assignment(links to articles online):

All of the above readings except for the last one are from FilmSound.org, an excellent resource for topics related to film sound and a good place to start if you are interested in exploring this topic further. An excellent textbook on the nuts and bolts of sound recording and mixing is Producing Great Sound for Film and Video, Third Edition by Jay Rose.

March 29th Meeting 8: Narrative, Documentary, and Experimental Strategies

This section will be updated in the future.

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