DOCSLIB.ORG

Specification of Cinematic Idioms

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Specification of Cinematic Idioms D 5.1 SPECIFICATION OF CINEMATIC IDIOMS Project Number FP7-ICT-231824 Project Title Integrating Research in Interactive Storytelling (NoE) Deliverable Number D5.1 Title of Deliverable Specification of Cinematic Idioms (Revised Version) Workpackage No. and Title WP5 - Cinematography Workpackage Leader UNEW Deliverable Nature Report Dissemination Level Public Status Final Contractual Delivery Date 30th June 2009 (original submission) Actual Delivery Date 15th July 2010 (revised submission) Guy Schofield (UNEW), Patrick Olivier (UNEW) Author(s) / Contributor(s) Marc Christie (INRIA) Number of Pages 65 IRIS—INTEGRATING RESEARCH IN INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING (PROJECT: 231834) DOCUMENT HISTORY Version Date Comment Author(s) 1.1 August 30, 2009 Draft version for approval UNEW: Guy Schofield and Patrick Oliver; INRIA: Marc Christie 1.2 July 15 2010 Revised version for approval UNEW: Guy Schofield and Patrick Oliver; INRIA: Marc Christie UNEW 20/08/2009 D5.1 – Specification of Cinematic Idioms Page 2 of 65 IRIS—INTEGRATING RESEARCH IN INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING (PROJECT: 231834) LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ICT Information & Communication Technology IS Interactive Storytelling FOV Field of view POV Point of view LOI Line of interest UNEW 20/08/2009 D5.1 – Specification of Cinematic Idioms Page 3 of 65 IRIS—INTEGRATING RESEARCH IN INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING (PROJECT: 231834) TABLE OF CONTENTS DOCUMENT HISTORY ................................................................................................................. 2 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................. 4 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................... 6 1.0 Cinematography and narrative ........................................................................................ 7 2.0 Basic cinematographic devices ........................................................................................ 8 2.1 Identification of canonical properties ..................................................................................... 8 2.2 Framing ............................................................................................................................... 10 2.3 Composition and balance ..................................................................................................... 12 2.4 Line of interest ..................................................................................................................... 13 2.5 Camera placement for two characters .................................................................................. 14 2.6 Camera placement for three characters ................................................................................ 19 2.7 Character movement ........................................................................................................... 20 2.8 Camera movement............................................................................................................... 23 2.9 Editing ................................................................................................................................. 25 2.10 Translation of basic cinematographic devices to Interactive Storytelling ................................ 25 3.0 Advanced narrative devices ........................................................................................... 27 3.1 Information pertaining to the characters and plot development. ........................................... 27 3.2 Information about the world ................................................................................................ 28 3.3 Composition and proportion ................................................................................................ 28 3.2 Depth of field ....................................................................................................................... 29 3.3 Occlusion and isolation ........................................................................................................ 30 3.4 Objects ................................................................................................................................ 30 3.5 Direction of gaze .................................................................................................................. 31 3.6 Translation of narrative devices to Interactive Storytelling .................................................... 32 4.1 Further editing issues ........................................................................................................... 33 4.2 Cinematography and narrative ............................................................................................. 35 5.0 Contemporary Cinematographic Techniques .................................................................. 38 6.0 Notable Genres ............................................................................................................. 39 6.1 Television Drama, Soap Opera and Situation Comedy ........................................................... 39 6.2 Action Films ......................................................................................................................... 41 6.3 ‘Found Footage’ and Pseudo-documentary style. .................................................................. 42 6.4 Application to IS ................................................................................................................... 43 UNEW 20/08/2009 D5.1 – Specification of Cinematic Idioms Page 4 of 65 IRIS—INTEGRATING RESEARCH IN INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING (PROJECT: 231834) 7.0 Handheld and Moving Cameras ..................................................................................... 43 7.1 Application to IS ................................................................................................................... 44 8.0 Editing and Time Manipulation ..................................................................................... 44 8.1 ‘Bullet Time’ and Extreme Slow Motion ................................................................................ 44 8.2 Time Ramping ...................................................................................................................... 45 8.3 Application to IS ................................................................................................................... 46 9.0 Transitions .................................................................................................................... 46 9.1 Application to IS ................................................................................................................... 46 10.0 Colour and Image Quality .............................................................................................. 47 10.1 Application to IS ................................................................................................................... 47 11.0 Cinematography in Games ............................................................................................ 48 12.0 Soundtrack and Interactive Media ................................................................................. 51 13.0 Classical Hollywood Approaches .................................................................................... 52 14.0 Alternative Approaches ................................................................................................. 52 15.0 Techniques and Conventions: supporting the diagesis with music. ................................. 53 15.1 Style and Allusion ................................................................................................................ 53 15.2 Leitmotifs ............................................................................................................................ 53 15.3 Rhythm, Tempo and Timing .................................................................................................. 54 15.4 Dynamic Range .................................................................................................................... 54 15.5 Pitch and Timbre .................................................................................................................. 55 15.6 Instrumentation and Orchestration ...................................................................................... 56 16.0 Soundtrack for Interactive Media .................................................................................. 56 16.1 Non-dynamic Approaches .................................................................................................... 56 16.2 Dynamic Approaches............................................................................................................ 57 17.0 Interaction between Narrative and Soundtrack in IS .......................................................... 60 17.1 Suggested approaches for soundtrack in IS ........................................................................... 60 18.0 Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 63 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 64 UNEW 20/08/2009 D5.1 – Specification of Cinematic
Load more

Recommended publications
  • See It Big! Action Features More Than 30 Action Movie Favorites on the Big
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ‘SEE IT BIG! ACTION’ FEATURES MORE THAN 30 ACTION MOVIE FAVORITES ON THE BIG SCREEN April 19–July 7, 2019 Astoria, New York, April 16, 2019—Museum of the Moving Image presents See It Big! Action, a major screening series featuring more than 30 action films, from April 19 through July 7, 2019. Programmed by Curator of Film Eric Hynes and Reverse Shot editors Jeff Reichert and Michael Koresky, the series opens with cinematic swashbucklers and continues with movies from around the world featuring white- knuckle chase sequences and thrilling stuntwork. It highlights work from some of the form's greatest practitioners, including John Woo, Michael Mann, Steven Spielberg, Akira Kurosawa, Kathryn Bigelow, Jackie Chan, and much more. As the curators note, “In a sense, all movies are ’action’ movies; cinema is movement and light, after all. Since nearly the very beginning, spectacle and stunt work have been essential parts of the form. There is nothing quite like watching physical feats, pulse-pounding drama, and epic confrontations on a large screen alongside other astonished moviegoers. See It Big! Action offers up some of our favorites of the genre.” In all, 32 films will be shown, many of them in 35mm prints. Among the highlights are two classic Technicolor swashbucklers, Michael Curtiz’s The Adventures of Robin Hood and Jacques Tourneur’s Anne of the Indies (April 20); Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (April 21); back-to-back screenings of Mad Max: Fury Road and Aliens on Mother’s Day (May 12); all six Mission: Impossible films
    [Show full text]
  • Euromasters Reports I and II Glasnost Surprises
    NEWS FOR OPERA TORS AND OWNERS Volume 2 Number 3 Jan 1990 ac?iU~ n Glasnost • I Surprises In November 1989, while visiting Moscow on a fi lm distribution deal, Ian Woolston-Smith arranged to meet cameramen whenever he could. Armed with a translator, a Sony GV-9 TVIVCR , and a book of Steadicam production stills, Ian discussed the virtues ofSteadieam with Vertical I and Vertical II plans from Mosfilm . -Do not duplicate! everyone he met in thefilm industry. EuroMasters Reports I and II "Equipment such as this is only a dream in the Soviet Union," said a cameraman who shot major Soviet 1989 European Masters Nicola Pecorini writes fr om Italy; music videos. conducted at Castle Brolio European Steadicam Operators At Mosfilm, a government studio Association proposed in Moscow, I received a camera ---- ---- -- - - demonstration by the man in charge of In October, 25 of Europe's best camera equipmen t. When I pulled out assembled near Siena and spent a Siena, 12/31/89 a still of a IIe in low mode, his eyes rewardi ng time studying and collec­ Strange but true, we made it! lit up. "Ahhh! Steadicam! " Yuri , my tively advancing the art and scie nce of We have been able to put together tour guide, expressed to him my Steadicam. The cameraderie, the for one week, a whol e week, 25 of the interest and then told me, "He says weath er, the food and the wine were busiest men on earth. Eu ropean and that we have this, a Steadicam, and all excellent. Castle Brolio, particu­ American operators were cloistered will arran ge a meeting between you larly in the fall when the great stone inside a medieval cas tle in the heart of and the man who does this." walls retain the heat of summer, Chianti, drinki ng wine and dissectin g Alas, it wasn't until my last day in offered a friendly and fasci nating every possible aspect of their profes­ Russia that the meet ing could be atmo sphere, and the portraits of 11th sion .
    [Show full text]
  • Thematic, Moral and Ethical Connections Between the Matrix and Inception
    Thematic, Moral and Ethical Connections Between the Matrix and Inception. Modern Day science and technology has been crucial in the development of the modern film industry. In the past, directors have been confined by unwieldy, primitive cameras and the most basic of special effects. The contemporary possibilities now available has enabled modern film to become more dynamic and versatile, whilst also being able to better capture the performance of actors, and better display scenes and settings using special effects. As the prevalence of technology in society increases, film makers have used their medium to express thematic, moral and ethical concerns of technology in human life. The films I will be looking at: The Matrix, directed by the Wachowskis, and Inception, directed by Christopher Nolan, both explore strong themes of technology. The theme of technology is expanded upon as the directors of both films explore the use of augmented reality and its effects on the human condition. Through the use of camera angles, costuming and lighting, the Witkowski brothers represent the idea that technology is dangerous. During the sequence where neo is unplugged from the Matrix, the directors have cleverly combines lighting, visual and special effects to craft an ominous and unpleasant setting in which the technology is present. Upon Neo’s confrontation with the spider drone, the use of camera angles to establishes the dominance of technology. The low-angle shot of the drone places the viewer in a subordinate position, making the drone appear powerful. The dingy lighting and poor mis-en-scene in the set further reinforces the idea that technology is dangerous.
    [Show full text]
  • What's in a Name? the Matrix As an Introduction to Mathematics
    St. John Fisher College Fisher Digital Publications Mathematical and Computing Sciences Faculty/Staff Publications Mathematical and Computing Sciences 9-2008 What's in a Name? The Matrix as an Introduction to Mathematics Kris H. Green St. John Fisher College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/math_facpub Part of the Mathematics Commons How has open access to Fisher Digital Publications benefited ou?y Publication Information Green, Kris H. (2008). "What's in a Name? The Matrix as an Introduction to Mathematics." Math Horizons 16.1, 18-21. Please note that the Publication Information provides general citation information and may not be appropriate for your discipline. To receive help in creating a citation based on your discipline, please visit http://libguides.sjfc.edu/citations. This document is posted at https://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/math_facpub/12 and is brought to you for free and open access by Fisher Digital Publications at St. John Fisher College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. What's in a Name? The Matrix as an Introduction to Mathematics Abstract In lieu of an abstract, here is the article's first paragraph: In my classes on the nature of scientific thought, I have often used the movie The Matrix to illustrate the nature of evidence and how it shapes the reality we perceive (or think we perceive). As a mathematician, I usually field questions elatedr to the movie whenever the subject of linear algebra arises, since this field is the study of matrices and their properties. So it is natural to ask, why does the movie title reference a mathematical object? Disciplines Mathematics Comments Article copyright 2008 by Math Horizons.
    [Show full text]
  • The Matrix As an Introduction to Mathematics
    St. John Fisher College Fisher Digital Publications Mathematical and Computing Sciences Faculty/Staff Publications Mathematical and Computing Sciences 2012 What's in a Name? The Matrix as an Introduction to Mathematics Kris H. Green St. John Fisher College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/math_facpub Part of the Mathematics Commons How has open access to Fisher Digital Publications benefited ou?y Publication Information Green, Kris H. (2012). "What's in a Name? The Matrix as an Introduction to Mathematics." Mathematics in Popular Culture: Essays on Appearances in Film, Fiction, Games, Television and Other Media , 44-54. Please note that the Publication Information provides general citation information and may not be appropriate for your discipline. To receive help in creating a citation based on your discipline, please visit http://libguides.sjfc.edu/citations. This document is posted at https://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/math_facpub/18 and is brought to you for free and open access by Fisher Digital Publications at St. John Fisher College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. What's in a Name? The Matrix as an Introduction to Mathematics Abstract In my classes on the nature of scientific thought, I have often used the movie The Matrix (1999) to illustrate how evidence shapes the reality we perceive (or think we perceive). As a mathematician and self-confessed science fiction fan, I usually field questionselated r to the movie whenever the subject of linear algebra arises, since this field is the study of matrices and their properties. So it is natural to ask, why does the movie title reference a mathematical object? Of course, there are many possible explanations for this, each of which probably contributed a little to the naming decision.
    [Show full text]
  • Cue the Music: Music in Movies Kelsey M
    Cedarville University DigitalCommons@Cedarville The Research and Scholarship Symposium The 2017 yS mposium Apr 12th, 3:00 PM - 3:30 PM Cue the Music: Music in Movies Kelsey M. DePree Cedarville University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/ research_scholarship_symposium Part of the Composition Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, and the Other Music Commons DePree, Kelsey M., "Cue the Music: Music in Movies" (2017). The Research and Scholarship Symposium. 5. http://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/research_scholarship_symposium/2017/podium_presentations/5 This Podium Presentation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@Cedarville, a service of the Centennial Library. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Research and Scholarship Symposium by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Cedarville. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Music We Watch Kelsey De Pree Music History II April 5, 2017 Music is universal. It is present from the beginning of history appearing in all cultures, nations, economic classes, and styles. Music in America is heard on radios, in cars, on phones, and in stores. Television commercials feature jingles so viewers can remember the products; radio ads sing phone numbers so that listeners can recall them. In schools, students sing songs to learn subjects like math, history, and English, and also to learn about general knowledge like the days of the week, months of the year, and presidents of the United States. With the amount of music that is available, it is not surprising that music has also made its way into movie theatres and has become one of the primary agents for conveying emotion and plot during a cinematic production.
    [Show full text]
  • Hiperencuadre/Hiperrelato: Apuntes Para Una Narratologia Del Film Postclásico1
    Hiperencuadre/Hiperrelato: Apuntes para una narratologia del film postclásico1 Jose Antonio Palao Errando Universitat Jaume I de Castelló [email protected] Resumen: El discurso cinematográfico no ha dejado de luchar por adaptarse y competir con las pantallas rivales que le han surgido con la revolución digital, lo cual ha transformado su propia textura. Podemos clasificar estas transformaciones en dos grandes órdenes. Por un lado, la puesta en escena y la propia concepción del raccord han dado lugar a lo que denominaremos hiperencuadre, en el que la pantalla fílmica se ofrece como receptáculo de todas las pantallas con las que rivaliza (ordenador, vídeos de vigilancia, imágines de satélite, etc.). Por otro lado, el cine posclásico opta por la deconstrucción de la linealidad narrativa y el despliegue de distintas tramas y niveles de acción y representación que nos llevan a la noción de hiperrelato. Palabras clave: Hiperencuadre, Hiperrelato, Pantalla, Hipernúcleo, Narratología. Abstract: The film discourse has constantly fought to adapt and struggle with the competitor screens that have arisen with the digital revolution, which has transformed its own texture. We can sort these transformations in two large kinds. On the one hand, the staging and conception of the raccord have given rise to what we'll denominate hyperframe, in which the cinematic screen is being offered as enclosure of all the screens that contends with (computer, video surveillance, satellite images, etc. ). On the other hand, the cinema postclassic chooses the deconstruction of the narrative linearity and the deployment of different plots and levels of action and representation that lead us to the notion of hipernarration.
    [Show full text]
  • 10 Tips on How to Master the Cinematic Tools And
    10 TIPS ON HOW TO MASTER THE CINEMATIC TOOLS AND ENHANCE YOUR DANCE FILM - the cinematographer point of view Your skills at the service of the movement and the choreographer - understand the language of the Dance and be able to transmute it into filmic images. 1. ​The Subject -​ ​The Dance is the Star When you film, frame and light ​the Dance​, the primary subject is the Dance and the related movement, not the dancers, not the scenography, not the music, just the Dance nothing else. The Dance is about movement not about positions: when you film the dance you are filming the movement not a sequence of positions and in order to completely comprehend this concept you must understand what movement is: like the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze said “w​ e always tend to confuse movement with traversed space…” ​1.​ The movement is the act of traversing, when you film the Dance you film an act not an aestheticizing image of a subject. At the beginning it is difficult to understand how to film something that is abstract like the movement but with practice you will start to focus on what really matters and you will start to forget about the dancers. Movement is life and the more you can capture it the more the characters are alive therefore more real in a way that you can almost touch them, almost dance with them. The Dance is a movement with a rhythm and when you film it you have to become part of the whole rhythm, like when you add an instrument to a music composition, the vocabulary of cinema is just another layer on the whole art work.
    [Show full text]
  • The Soundtrack: Putting Music in Its Place
    The Soundtrack: Putting Music in its Place. Professor Stephen Deutsch The Soundtrack Vol 1, No 1, 2008 tbc Intellect Press http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals.php?issn=17514193 Abstract There are currently many books and journals on film music in print, most of which describe music as a separate activity from film, applied to images most often at the very end of the production process by composers normally resident outside the filmic world. This article endeavours to modify this practice by placing music within the larger notion of “the soundtrack”. This new model assumes that irrespective of industrial determinants, the soundtrack is perceived by an audience as such a unity; that music, dialogue, effects and atmospheres are heard as interdependent layers in the sonification of the film. We often can identify the individual sonic elements when they appear, but we are more aware of the blending they produce when sounding together, much as we are when we hear an orchestra. To begin, one can posit a definition of the word ‘soundtrack’. For the purposes of this discussion, a soundtrack is intentional sound which accompanies moving images in narrative film1. This intentionality does not exclude sounds which are captured accidentally (such as the ambient noise most often associated with documentary footage); rather it suggests that any such sounds, however recorded, are deliberately presented with images by film-makers.2 All elements of the soundtrack operate on the viewer in complex ways, both emotionally and cognitively. Recognition of this potential to alter a viewer’s reading of a film might encourage directors to become more mindful of a soundtrack’s content, especially of its musical elements, which, as we shall see below, are likely to affect the emotional environment through which the viewer experiences film.
    [Show full text]
  • DIGITAL Filmmaking an Introduction Pete Shaner
    DIGITAL FILMMAKING An Introduction LICENSE, DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY, AND LIMITED WARRANTY By purchasing or using this book (the “Work”), you agree that this license grants permission to use the contents contained herein, but does not give you the right of ownership to any of the textual content in the book or ownership to any of the information or products contained in it. This license does not permit uploading of the Work onto the Internet or on a network (of any kind) without the written consent of the Publisher. Duplication or dissemination of any text, code, simulations, images, etc. contained herein is limited to and subject to licensing terms for the respective products, and permission must be obtained from the Publisher or the owner of the content, etc., in order to reproduce or network any portion of the textual material (in any media) that is contained in the Work. MERCURY LEARNING AND INFORMATION (“MLI” or “the Publisher”) and anyone involved in the creation, writing, or production of the companion disc, accompanying algorithms, code, or computer programs (“the software”), and any accompanying Web site or software of the Work, cannot and do not warrant the performance or results that might be obtained by using the contents of the Work. The author, developers, and the Publisher have used their best efforts to insure the accuracy and functionality of the textual material and/or programs contained in this package; we, however, make no warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the performance of these contents or programs. The Work is sold “as is” without warranty (except for defective materials used in manufacturing the book or due to faulty workmanship).
    [Show full text]
  • Mcconkey on Thailand Jour, Supplanting Any and All Spurious History Continued on Page 8
    NEWS FOR OPERA TORS AND OWNERS olume 1, number 3 Dec. '88 Ancient History "The Brown Stabilizer" That's what I wanted to call it. It wasn't just ego (that came later!). I thought it needed a simple, honest, "70's" kind of natural name, a pure name, not a stupid, gimmicky name like "Steadicam." It was Ed DiGiulio's suggestion, which I hated immediately. Of course, as he predicted, the word has now become simply a word, a noble word, meaning exactly what it says, and in fact , I am daily (well, yearly...), grateful that he prevailed and that we didn't call it the bloody Brown Stabilizer! In any event, I recently unearthed some early pictures, and have been inspired to relate the one-and-only true version of the birth of our noble gadget. So here it is: the truth du McConkey on Thailand jour, supplanting any and all spurious History continued on page 8 For three months in the Spring of McCONKEY: The first day it 1988, Larry McConkey worked on was 1200 in the sun, and the humidity Brian De Palma's new feature, made it feel like it was virtually "Casualties ofWar." Thefilm is raining all the time. I had a long coming out in early 1989. tracking shot down a dirt street in the Vietnamese village set. Now, I tend to be very careful not to wear myself LEITER: Was it any fun? out during a shoot, and I get as much McCONKEY: Yes. I had never rest as possible between takes and as been to Southeast Asia before, and much help from the crew as I can, but Thailand is now one of my favorite even so, after four or five takes I was places in the world.
    [Show full text]
  • To Film Sound Maps: the Evolution of Live Tone’S Creative Alliance with Bong Joon-Ho
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Repository@Nottingham From ‘Screenwriting for Sound’ to Film Sound Maps: The Evolution of Live Tone’s Creative Alliance with Bong Joon-ho Nikki J. Y. Lee and Julian Stringer Abstract: In his article ‘Screenwriting for Sound’, Randy Thom makes a persuasive case that sound designers should be involved in film production ‘as early as the screenplay…early participation of sound can make a big difference’. Drawing on a critically neglected yet internationally significant example of a creative alliance between a director and post- production team, this article demonstrates that early participation happens in innovative ways in today’s globally competitive South Korean film industry. This key argument is presented through close analysis of the ongoing collaboration between Live Tone - the leading audio postproduction studio in South Korea – and internationally acclaimed director Bong Joon-ho, who has worked with the company on all six of his feature films to date. Their creative alliance has recently ventured into new and ambitious territory as audio studio and director have risen to the challenge of designing the sound for the two biggest films in Korean movie history, Snowpiercer and Okja. Both of these large-scale multi-language movies were planned at the screenplay stage via coordinated use of Live Tone’s singular development of ‘film sound maps’. It is this close and efficient interaction between audio company and client that has helped Bong and Live Tone bring to maturity their plans for the two films’ highly challenging soundscapes.
    [Show full text]