Lessons

Mastering Composition + Cinematography (video)

• Pattern recognition 

• Composition is the arrangement of the elements that make up an image 

• If you take elements of an image and arranged them together with a method you end with a composition that is aesthetic

• You can draw attention to specific things 

• Everything you see is about arranging elements to drawing the eye to certain things 

• Rule of thirds: divide the frame into two vertical lines and two horizontal lines creating 9 boxes 

  • The two most important things to consider  are: what is the main point of interest and where 

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German expressionism

• reflection theory 

• expressionist -> trying to express something about the word, very unrealistic 

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Freytags pyramid 

1. exposition - explaining what is happening

2.  inciting incident

3. rising action 

4. falling action 

5. denouement - tying up of lose ends 

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Barthes' Enigma Code 

• enigma - mystery and questions 

• The narrative must have loose ends so the audience's questions keeps them interested 

• blocked narratives - more than one enigma that go on at once 

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Levis-Strauss' Binary Opposition 

• Without any conflict there is no drama which leads to no narrative 

• This theory states that a narrative will not be successful if it is not structured around a series of conflicts at every level 

• examples: white v black, young v old, powerless v powerful, good v evil 

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Continuity editing 

• We use continuity editing because it makes you forget it is artificial: diegesis, a created world 

• temporal continuity: 

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Sound bridge 

• hearing something before we see it

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Montage editing 

• series of discontinuous place, different places and different times 

• not trying to hide the edit 

• it is used to pass the time 

• Montage editing is usually associated with an art like and edgy approach

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Rhythmic editing/MTV 

• cutting shots on the beat of the music 

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Kuleshov Effect 

• Shots don't mean anything until they are put in order

• the order and assembly of the shots impact the audiences knowledge of what is happening 

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Why do people make films? 

• to make money 

• with that money they make more films 

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Institutional mode of representation 

• invented by Noel Burch 

• dominant mode of film construction 

• became the norm by 1914 

• everything happens for a reason 

• American mainstream films have been very commercial, it must make a profit 

  • They must attract the audience themselves 

• Russia just went through a war 

  • They wanted a different style, which became the soviet montage ​

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Marxist theory 

• Examining a films narrative though the lens of power structures and class conflict 

• collectivism: communists believe that everything is collectively owned

• Gramscian ideologies: we could maintain control not only through violence and politics, and economic coercion but also through ideology

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