Category: Uncategorized

Non-Professional Actors

Facts

A non-professional is typically an adjective attached someone or something not engaged within the profession.

Acting takes a lot of skill, but if you want to strip it back to its most basic, it can just involve talking while being filmed.

Training and education can only be a good thing in any artform, but sometimes it can take away the originality of a performer.

Their performance can be a real, authentic, and natural enthusiasm, rather than one that’s being forced through a fake smile after decades of auditions and rejections.

They give directors freedom and allow directors to play loose with the script.

Casting could effectively be a perfect fit if the non-professional’s role is actually their profession.

The concept of a non professional actor is an actor that has little or no experience acting before and they’re usually hired to save money. during production.

The larger category is just actors in general. Non professional actors contrast with professional actors because they are not as well trained, experienced, or paid as well.

If non professional actors didn’t exist, then it would be a lot more expensive to make movies. Non professional actors have proven in the past to be good actors in other films like The Florida Project, Wonderstruck, and The Rider.

The concept of non professional actors is important because it shows than you don;t have to find actors who have been groomed and trained their whole lives in order to make a good film and they are a good way to lower production costs. This reveals that finding someone to fill an important role in a movie may not be as hard as it seems to be.

Sources

https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/nonprofessional (Links to an external site.)

https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/aug/12/why-i-love-non-professional-actors (Links to an external site.)

https://nofilmschool.com/2017/09/what-you-need-know-about-directing-non-actors

https://nofilmschool.com/2017/09/what-you-need-know-about-directing-non-actors (Links to an external site.)

https://www.indiewire.com/2017/10/performances-non-professional-actors-the-florida-project-wonderstruck-1201883212/

Special effects makeup is a very important art form in the movie industry that started in the 1900’s (sreevesg).  It allows regular people to become extraordinary things like Frankenstein or a werewolf. Originally the most common items used in special effects makeup were collodion, mortician’s wax, putty, and spirit gum.

In the beginning when films were still shot in only black and white the makeup artists would have to get creative with the colors they chose because of how they would show up on screen.  For instance, Jack Pierce, a famous special effects makeup artist that took part in Frankenstein and Dracula, had to use green paint on the actors face playing Dracula in order for him to look pale and ghostly on film.

Jack Pierce said that “The sole reason for any makeup, and particularly a character makeup, is not to proclaim the skill of the artist or the actor, but to help tell the story. Therefore, makeup must not be obviously ‘makeuppy.’ This in turn demands that it be supervised by a qualified artist, for the actor, no matter how skilled he may be in the technical detail of applying his makeup, rarely has the right perspective to judge the makeup without bias” (sreevesg).  Oftentimes special effects makeup can take a very long time due to the level of care and precision it requires. For example, when Jack Pierce created Frankenstein he had to first research medical books to ensure that his end product was anatomically correct. The look took 6 hours to create each time and afterward it would take an hour and a half just to remove (sreevesg).

Since Frankenstein’s time there have been drastic improvements to both makeup and the techniques used in special effects.  For instance, “Improvements in the technical quality of film and television electronics have led to new shades of facial coloration in a very naturalistic sense for both men and women, even off the set” (Kehoe).

The art of special effects makeup is starting to take a decline as CGI technology advances.  CGI stands for Computer-Generated Imagery and it allows filmers to digitally create something as big as an entire scene or something as small as removing an imperfection from an actors face (QZ).  CGI has been used in films to edit the appearance of actors by making them look younger, altering their body to make them look thinner, or even adding artificial tears to their face (QZ).

The creation of digital enhancement and editing has placed a hardship on special effects makeup artists as they aren’t really needed anymore.  It also doesn’t help that special effects makeup takes a long time to be applied and can be easily messed up while shooting. In a documentary, Life After Pi, they stated that between 2003 and 2013 a lot of visual effects companies were forced to file for bankruptcy (QZ).  While it does seem like CGI is something that could completely erase the need for these talented artists there are still reasons to hold out. For example, In Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace there were a lot of complaints that the movie was too “cartoony” looking due to the overuse of CGI.  This has lead to most studios using a blend of both special effects makeup and CGI. However, with the fact that technology is constantly advancing and becoming cheaper there may come a time where special effects makeup artists are a thing of the past.

https://qz.com/674547/hollywoods-special-effects-industry-is-cratering-and-an-art-form-is-disappearing-along-with-it/ (Links to an external site.)

 

http://fms507sreevesgbravenewworld.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-history-of-special-effects-makeup.html (Links to an external site.)

 

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/7242593

    Mise-en-scene is a French term meaning “placing on stage”.  The actual meaning of it is anything that is seen on the screen during a film; anything visual.  To break it down into more specific categories for visuals there is the setting, lighting, space, decor, and costumes or makeup.  The purpose of taking mise en scene into consideration when analyzing a film is due to the fact that the proper imagery in a film is responsible for the mood it sets or the general vibe that it gives off.

    The biggest theme in Pick Up on South Street’s mise-en-scene is the overwhelming closeness of everything.  In the very beginning of the film they use close up shots of the actors on an overly crowded subway while Skip, the pick pocket, steals Candy’s wallet.  The trend of claustrophobia continues as they introduce more characters and their homes. Skip lived in a very tiny and run down looking shack right on the water.  Moe, the police’s informant, lived in just a small and dingy looking bedroom. Almost every scene is shot up close and personal. When Candy attempts to buy back the films from Skip but the end up making out instead (I found that to be a strange addition to the story line) the cameraman used a very close up shot of just the actors faces.

    The use of decor in the movie also added to the cramped or run down feel of the characters lives in Pick Up on South Street.  Moe’s small room was packed full of trinkets and the ties that she sells as a front to her business of trading secrets for cash.  I believe they chose to make her home look as crowded and lousy as it did in an attempt to strengthen the character’s persona of not being the happiest old lady.  In her last scene before she’s killed she gives one last heartfelt statement to Joey that he would be doing her a favor if he killed her because she was just too tired.  That’s what her surroundings really seemed to represent to me as well. It didn’t look like a home I would be comfortable and happy living in.

    An important part of mise-en-scene is the depth of space being utilized.  This is when objects are placed in certain spots to give the appearance of distance or closeness.  They also do this with camera location as well as the lens that they choose to use. A great example of when the directors switched up all the close up shots with a wide-angle shot when Joey attacks Candy.  The purpose of this is to show the severity of the situation and to make it look less confusing. Joey was throwing Candy all around the room, breaking stuff, it was a big fight. If the camera had been too close for the shot there would have been a lot of damage left out of the scene.  I think the director chose a farther back shot to incorporate all the destruction left behind as the fight continued.

    There aren’t a whole lot of special effects in Pick Up on South Street.  The main one used is the various fight scenes they have between characters.  There are two basic techniques for filming a fight scene in a movie. There’s improvised fighting where the director gives a basic guideline of what’s to happen and then the actors just sort of wing it.  And then there’s choreographed fighting where every move is planned out perfectly. Improvised fighting can end up looking more realistic than choreographed fights however it can be difficult for actors to come up with believable looking fighting without actually hurting each other.  I believe that it was choreographed fighting used in Pick Up on South Street as the fight scenes weren’t all that intense or complex. Poor Candy seemed to take the brunt of it unfortunately but with there being only a few blows thrown I just think that it would’ve been simpler to plan them out ahead of time.

https://www.lightsfilmschool.com/blog/mise-en-scene-in-film-afk

https://www.villagevoice.com/2015/05/27/relish-the-city-closing-in-with-the-noir-pickup-on-south-street/

https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/production-tip-film-fight-scene

 

Folktales are made up stories or fairy tales.  They typically have a learning message within the story to hopefully impart some wisdom on the listener.  Folk tales are popular because oftentimes they’re stories that have been passed down from generation to generation and they instill some sort of nostalgia.  For instance, when I was 1 years old my grandparents gifted me The Children’s
Book of Virtues and I still have it to this day.  It’s filled with lots of sweet stories and poems all centered around virtuous things that children can understand and be interested in.

A shining example of a classic folk tale is the story of our first president George Washington cutting down the cherry tree.  If you aren’t familiar with the story I’ll give a basic overview.  The story of George Washington and the cherry tree is one full of lessons on the importance of honesty and that telling the truth is always the best option.  In the story George is only six years old when he’s given a hatchet as a gift.  He then took the hatchet and damaged the cherry tree that his father loved.  His father demanded to know what had happened and George offered up the truth with no hesitation.  He said “I cannot tell a lie… I did cut it with my hatchet” and instead of being punished his dad was just overjoyed with the bravery of telling the truth and accepting whatever the consequences may be.  While this story seems like a children’s cautionary tale at face value it was actually created by one of Washington’s biographers.  When Washington died people wanted to know more about him and this biographer, Mason Locke Weems, decided to embellish his life a little bit by coming up with this very sweet and virtuous story.

Vladimir Propp was a Soviet folklorist in the 1900s.  He would analyze folk tales by breaking the stories down into what he called “Morphemes” and then would elaborate on 31 different narrative units that he referred to as “Narratemes”.  He believed that there are 5 distinguishable categories that can define the creation of the story.  Those 5 categories are:

“

1. Functions of dramatis personae 2. Conjuctive elements 3. Motivations 4. Forms of appearance of dramatis personae 5. Attributive elements or accessories

The 31 Narratemes can be categorized into 4 smaller categories.  The first is the introduction.  This is when the main characters are introduced along with the scene for the story.  The second category is the body of the story where the story begins.  The third section is the Donor Sequence where the main character of the story faces challenges and finds solutions to the problem at hand.  The fourth aspect is the Hero’s Return which is the end of the story typically.

 

The concept of analyzing folklore does exist in other media.  Just about every art form has different ways to analyze it.

This concept matters because it provides a set structure for understanding stories.  Not every story will fit neatly into Propp’s analysis model but the vast majority of them can be analyzed with it.  This method can be used with movies as well because they are stories.

If Vladimir Propp’s method of analyzing stories didn’t exist there would still be others finding commonalities among stories and analyzing them.

 

http://changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/plots/propp/propp.htm (Links to an external site.)

http://www2.nkfust.edu.tw/~emchen/CLit/folk_lit_type_folktale.htm (Links to an external site.)

https://files.osf.io/v1/resources/h6mt2/providers/osfstorage/59ab67cf6c613b02536a00e9?action=download&version=1&direct

https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/cherry-tree-myth/

Handheld camerawork

Handheld camerawork or handheld shooting is a video production technique described as when the camera is held in the operators hand as compared to a tripod or any other base. Using this technique gives the producer more freedom and moving motion allowing for a more realistic shot, while also being conveniently small sized.  Hand-held camera shots often result in a shaky image, unlike the stable image from a tripod-mounted camera. This was a technique used when using handheld camerawork. Shaky cam is often employed to give a film sequence an ad hoc, electronic news-gathering, or documentary film feel.

An early pioneer of the hand held camera style was John Cassavetes. His films in the late 1950’s-60’s are excellent examples of this technique. The work of Cassavetes influenced  many directors, genres and essentially started a movement called Dogme 95. This style of filmmaking was labeled as a manifesto and was created by friends Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. Written in 1995, the purpose was to contempt filmmakers to break free from the budget Hollywood films that were dominating cinema culture.

Some visual examples would be “28 Days Later”, The shots were so shaky that it made it difficult for some viewers to watch causing a gut deep visceral reaction. The shaky shots put put emphasis on the zombies, making them appear faster and more unpredictable. These shots made the zombies look truly terrifying. If Handheld camera work didn’t exist majority of known movies wouldn’t exist as well. This tactic was revolutionary for the filming industry , and since founded we’ve been building to improve this version creating better films. The destruction of this method would cripple the filming business and movies would never/ have been the same.

“In the 1960s, technology developed to the point at which the size and weight of a motion picture camera, which had formerly been large and cumbersome, was reduced so much that a camera operator could actually carry the camera while filming. These are called hand-held cameras, which create hand-held shots. In any number of ’60s (and later) films, directors used hand-held shots as a convention of realism – the jerkiness of hand-held shots seemed to suggest an unmediated reality, a lack of intervention between camera and subject” (26).

Sivok then provides an example – The Blair Witch Project(1999), in which the entire film depends on the shakiness of the camera work in order to convey that homemade quality, making it documentary-like.

“In fact, of course, a hand-held shot isn’t any more ‘realistic’ than any other kind of shot. It is a stylistic convention – a visual sign that people still read as expressing heightened realism” (27).

Source: Textbook Definition from Ed Sivok’s Film Studies: An Introduction (Film and Culture Series)

 

 

http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2014/the-15-best-movies-shot-with-a-hand-held-camera%E2%80%8F/ (Links to an external site.)

 

https://filmanalysis.coursepress.yale.edu/cinematography/ (Links to an external site.)

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand-held_camera

 

 

 

Matte Shots & Paintings

• A process shot in which two photographic images (usually background and foreground) are combined into a single image using an optical printer. Matte shots can be used to add elements to a realistic scene or to create fantasy spaces.
• Matte shooting is one of the most common techniques used in studio filmmaking, either for economical reasons (it’s cheaper to shoot a picture of the Eiffel tower than to travel to Paris) or because it would be impossible or too dangerous to try to shoot in the real space.
• A shot in which only a part of the shot, usually the area immediately surrounding any of the characters present on-screen, is a live action shot. The rest is a painting, most often used to portray a non-existent vista. Rather than build a vast set, they shoot the actors on a plain set with a few background elements, with parts of the camera frame matted off by opaque cards.
• -A matte painting is often a painted glass pane that is used to show a landscape or a larger artistic piece. Matte paintings are either filmed on set, where they are framed to look more physical, or they are merged with live Art in post-production.
• -This concepts matter because many films have used this technique. Using glass panes to create matte paintings became the standard for VFX Backgrounds, and used in almost every motion picture(s). VFX masters at ILM would use many matte paintings to bring motion films to life.  As advancements we made technologically, matte paintings became digital renderings.
• -If this form of painting and film making didn’t exist majority of paintings and scenes we know from past and present films would be the same or even exist. This invention has been pivotal for the art industry. It is the basis to studio filmmaking , and with the discontinuation of this method would cripple the art industry.

Sources

• https://filmanalysis.coursepress.yale.edu/mise-en-scene/(Links to an external site.)
• https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MatteShot(Links to an external site.)
• http://screenprism.com/insights/article/cinema-terms-how-are-matte-shots-created-in-cinema

 

Front projection and rear projection- First, rear projection is achieved on a soundstage by filming actors against the background of a film screen, onto which is projected, from behind it, an already filmed shot (P203), while front projection achieves the same effects as a rear-projection but with a more visually lifelike way. (P203) They are two common techniques used in film production. Generally, a front projection effect requires the pre-filmed materials overt the performers and backgrounds. It often needs to hang the projector from the ceiling somewhere out in the room where enough space behind the screen to place a projector is needed. Whereas, rear projection might take a bit of valuable space away from the facilities and it might cost more money than front projection screens. here is an example showing how these two are looking like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mna2iOZ88LI

 

 

 

Tracking shots suggest the camera movements parallel to the ground, defined by our textbook on page 46. Generally, tracking shots are made by a camera that follows a person or an object as they move through the scene physically that are used by the filmmakers to engage the audience to the characters. When making a tracking shot, there are a variety of methods to follow the action of the characters such as the dolly track and other camera stabilization system. At the same time, some of us feel hard to distinguish a tracking shot and a zoom. According to the textbook, one way for us to identify that difference is through the width, height, and depth the forward tracking shot and zoom can create. By understanding the lectures and the examples, there are mainly three aspects of the tracking shots, including the location, the blocking, and production design. There also three key elements that examine what the visual effects of the tracking shots would be, including the speed (help create a certain depth to a scene), duration (examines how along a tracking shot lasts), and the stability. Stability is one of the interesting elements I feel important to the dramatic effects on the screen. For example, if the camera tracks the movements of the person or objects shakily, it might create a sense of excitement, thrilling, or troubled feeling.

Slow Motion – This shooting can be done without additional equipment. The frame rate is reduced. Slow motion allows you to show on the screen any process with higher speed. An example of this type of shooting is the process of turning a bud into a flower.

Accelerated shooting – Accelerated shooting is performed with a frequency higher than 24 frames per second. As a rule, it is used for a detailed study of any rapid process.

Shooting in invisible rays – If shooting in X-rays and ultraviolet rays is made exclusively for research purposes, then infrared rays, which are contained in large numbers in the solar spectrum, make it possible to show objects not as people see them, which is used by filmmakers to create interesting effects. .

Shooting in polarized light Such shooting is used when you need a good study of the details of the object, which interferes with glare. For shooting in polarized light, special polarization filters are used.

Underwater photography For underwater types of shooting requires special equipment. Of great interest are the properties of water as a scattering and refractive medium, which differ from the properties of air. Experts recommend making underwater surveys in sunny weather and close-ups, since even clean water contains a lot of suspended particles that absorb sunlight.

Micro and Macro – A microfilm is produced using a combination of a film camera and a microscope. The main area of ​​application is scientific research. Macro shooting is called shooting an object from a close distance. It can be performed by any movie camera equipped with additional focusing equipment. Films from the life of insects and the same blooming flowers are made using macro photography.

 

 

• A process shot in which two photographic images (usually background and foreground) are combined into a single image using an optical printer. Matte shots can be used to add elements to a realistic scene or to create fantasy spaces.
• Matte shooting is one of the most common techniques used in studio filmmaking, either for economical reasons (it’s cheaper to shoot a picture of the Eiffel tower than to travel to Paris) or because it would be impossible or too dangerous to try to shoot in the real space.
• A shot in which only a part of the shot, usually the area immediately surrounding any of the characters present on-screen, is a live action shot. The rest is a painting, most often used to portray a non-existent vista. Rather than build a vast set, they shoot the actors on a plain set with a few background elements, with parts of the camera frame matted off by opaque cards.

“combining two separately shot images into one is called matte work. To create a matte, one area of the image is filmed – either by shooting a real background directly or by painting one and shooting the painting – while the remaining area is left blank by blocking a corresponding area of the lens. The blank area is then filled by filming, with the opposite area being blocked, after which the two areas are combined in processing” (Sivok 163).

Matte paintings “not only (serve as) a background for the actors, the matte serves compositionally to tie two elements together” (Lipari 53). These paintings are used to extend or modify something that exists.

The concept of special effects includes a variety of means to create on-screen effects that are impossible when shooting in certain conditions.

VFX – Visual Effects – visual effects is a combination of video taken with a camera (Live Action Footage) with objects created in computer programs (CGI) using a computer and made during the editing of a movie or clip. The main distinctive feature of VFX is getting the result only at the post-production stage (post-production is the newfangled name of the installation). VFX includes CGI and SFX.

CGI – Computer Generated Imagery – literally translated as computer-generated image, or computer-generated images. This includes all objects or images created on the computer (characters, 3D-objects, decorations, locations).

SFX – Special Effects – real special effects made on the set of a video camera. These are explosions with the help of pyrotechnics, puppet animation, make-up of actors (turning into various monsters, changing appearance, imitation of wounds).

Images

Sources

• https://filmanalysis.coursepress.yale.edu/mise-en-scene/ (Links to an external site.)
• https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MatteShot (Links to an external site.)
• http://screenprism.com/insights/article/cinema-terms-how-are-matte-shots-created-in-cinema
• https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/vfx-for-filmmakers/0/steps/13286
• https://conceptartempire.com/matte-painting/

• Steadicam is a brand of camera stabilizer mounts for motion picture cameras invented by Garrett Brownand introduced in 1975 by Cinema Products Corporation.
• It mechanically isolates the operator’s movement, allowing for a smooth shot, even when the camera moves over an irregular surface.
• The most widely used systems worldwide are Glidecam and its analogues such as Beestab, Easy Step, Flycam, Stabicam, MY Steadicam and some others.
• Steadicam operators cultivated an invisible style to formally mimic a kind of faster and cheaper dolly shot and to mitigate the apparatus’s uniquely embodied quirks.
• The Steadicam shot, like its operator, should be invisible to the audience.
• To operators, the only thing organic about Steadicam is that a human body operates it. Its mystification as a term by directors, scholars, or critics seems to point to a Steadicam shot that calls itself out as such and fails to hide under the invisibility of a dolly shot or an ultrasmooth handheld shot.
• A brand of camera stabilizer mounts for motion picture cameras
• Invented by Garrett Brown and introduced in 1975 by Cinema Products Corporations
  • Garrett Brown worked in Philadelphia ad began his filmmaking in the early 1970s
  • Sold his prototype to the first company he showed it to
• Mechanically isolates the operator’s movement, allowing for a smooth shot
  • Previously dolly tracks or cranes were used to take shots on the move
• Enables “fluid” cinematic movement
• “One key feature of film consists in its power to bodily engage the viewer. Previous research has suggested lens and camera movements to be among the most effective stylistic devices involved in such engagement” (ncbi scholarly article quote)

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steadicam (Links to an external site.)
• https://agreatreviews.com/top-best-dslr-steadicam/ (Links to an external site.)
• https://www.academia.edu/34472788/_Dancing_Flying_Camera_Jockeys_Invisible_Labor_Craft_Discourse_and_Embodied_Steadicam_and_Panaglide_Technique_from_1972_to_1985
• https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/how-and-when-to-use-a-steadicam-shot/ (Links to an external site.)
• https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/best-video-camera-stabilizers/ (Links to an external site.)
• https://www.productexpert.com/best-dslr-camera-stabilizer-steadicams/ (Links to an external site.)
• https://nofilmschool.com/2016/09/how-to-be-a-steadicam-operator (Links to an external site.)
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6415856/