|
Close-up
A close-up or closeup in filmmaking, television production, still photography, and the comic strip medium is a type of shot that tightly frames a person or object. Close-ups are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium and long shots (cinematic techniques). Close-ups display the most detail, but they do not include the broader scene. Moving toward or away from a close-up is a common type of zooming. A close up is taken from head to neck, giving the viewer a detailed view of the subject's face. History Most early filmmakers, such as Thomas Edison, Auguste and Louis Lumière and Georges Méliès, tended not to use close-ups and preferred to frame their subjects in long shots, similar to the stage. Film historians disagree as to the filmmaker who first used a close-up. One of the best claims is for George Albert Smith in Hove, who used medium close-ups in films as early as 1898 and by 1900 was incorporating extreme close-ups in films such as ''As Seen Through a Tel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shot (filmmaking)
In filmmaking and video production, a shot is a series of frames that runs for an uninterrupted period of time. Film shots are an essential aspect of a movie where angles, transitions and cuts are used to further express emotion, ideas and movement. The term "shot" can refer to two different parts of the filmmaking process: #In production, a shot is the moment that the camera starts rolling until the moment it stops. #In film editing, a shot is the continuous footage or sequence between two edits or cuts.Ascher, Steven, and Edward Pincus. ''The Filmmaker's Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for the Digital Age''. New York: Plume, 1999. p. 214. Etymology The term "shot" is derived from the early days of film production when cameras were hand-cranked, and operated similarly to the hand-cranked machine guns of the time. That is, a cameraman would "shoot" film the way someone would "shoot" bullets from a machine gun. Categories of shots Shots can be categorized in a number ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Williamson (film Pioneer)
James A. Williamson (8 November 1855 – 18 August 1933) was a Scottish photographer and a key member of the loose association of early film pioneers dubbed the Brighton School by French film historian Georges Sadoul. He is best known for ''The Big Swallow'' (1901), a trick film with innovative use of extreme close-up, as well as '' Fire!'' and ''Stop Thief!'' (both 1901), dramas with continuity established across multiple shots. Biography Early life and career Williamson was born in Pathhead near Kirkcaldy, Fife, and raised in Edinburgh, where he trained to be a master chemist. He moved to London in 1868, where he was an apprentice to a pharmacist and to Eastry, Kent in 1877, where he bought his own pharmacy and got married. He was also a keen amateur photographer who sold photographic apparatus and chemical supplies in his shop and became an agent for Kodak. In 1886, he moved his chemist's and photographic business to 144 Church Road, Hove, where he took up residence with h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grandma's Reading Glass
''Grandma's Reading Glass'' is a 1900 British short silent drama film, directed by George Albert Smith, featuring a young Willy who borrows a huge magnifying glass to focus on various objects, which was shot to demonstrate the new technique of ''close-up''. The film, according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, "was one of the first films to cut between ''medium shot'' and ''point-of-view close-up''. It was destroyed in a fire at Warwick Trading Company's studio facility in 1912. "The close-ups themselves were simulated by photographing the relevant objects inside a black circular mask fixed in front of the camera lens," according to Michael Brooke, "which also had the effect of creating a circular image that helped them stand out from the rest of the film." "Smith would develop these techniques in the more narrative-based ''As Seen Through a Telescope'' (1900), made the same year." BFI reviewer Michael Brooke states that, "there is very little narrative to speak of beside ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Lonedale Operator
''The Lonedale Operator'' is a 1911 short American drama film directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Blanche Sweet and written by Mack Sennett for the Biograph Company. The plot of the film involves a girl who takes over a telegraph station after her father takes ill. After the payroll for the town's mine is delivered, two drifters try to steal the money. Their robbery is foiled because the girl is able to telegraph for help and then hold the would-be robbers off until help arrives. ''The Lonedale Operator'' includes "elements of romance, drama, suspense, Western, and even a bit of comedy near the end." Unlike most films at the time which had a simple plot line set in one location, ''The Lonedale Operator'' "intercuts three primary spaces—the telegraph office interior, the criminals outside, and the rescue train." Although audiences in 1911 were not used to such editing, as there were more than 100 shots in the film, the use of the telegraph helped them understand the cros ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Big Swallow
''The Big Swallow'' (AKA: ''A Photographic Contortion'') is a 1901 British short silent comedy film, directed by James Williamson, featuring a man, irritated by the presence of a photographer, who solves his dilemma by swallowing him and his camera whole. The three-shot ''trick'' film is, according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, "one of the most important early British films in that it was one of the first to deliberately exploit the contrast between the eye of the camera and of the audience watching the final film". Reviews BFI Screenonline reviewer Michael Brooke points out that despite being "less bitten by the trick-film bug than his contemporaries", the director "made one of the most striking genre entries", taking the concept of extreme close-up photography pioneered by George Albert Smith in ''Grandma's Reading Glass'' and ''Spiders on a Web'' (both 1900) "a stage further by featuring a man advancing towards the camera, remaining in more or less perfect focus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soap Opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored by soap manufacturers.Bowles, p. 118. The term was preceded by "horse opera", a derogatory term for low-budget Westerns. BBC Radio's ''The Archers'', first broadcast in 1950, is the world's longest-running radio soap opera. The longest-running current television soap is '' Coronation Street'', which was first broadcast on ITV in 1960, with the record for the longest running soap opera in history being held by '' Guiding Light'', which began on radio in 1937, transitioned to television in 1952, and ended in 2009. A crucial element that defines the soap opera is the open-ended serial nature of the narrative, with stories spanning several episodes. One of the defining features that makes a television program a soap opera, according to Alber ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Albert Smith (film Pioneer)
George Albert Smith (4 January 1864 – 17 May 1959) was an English stage hypnotist, psychic, magic lantern lecturer, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, inventor and a key member of the loose association of early film pioneers dubbed the Brighton School by French film historian Georges Sadoul. He is best known for his controversial work with Edmund Gurney at the Society for Psychical Research, his short films from 1897 to 1903, which pioneered film editing and close-ups, and his development of the first successful colour film process, Kinemacolor. Biography Birth and early life Smith was born in Cripplegate, London in 1864. His father Charles Smith was a ticket-writer and artist.Hall (1964), p. 92. He moved with his family to Brighton, where his mother ran a boarding house on Grand Parade, following the death of his father. It was in Brighton in the early 1880s that Smith first came to public attention touring the city's performance halls as a stage hypnotis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sunset Boulevard (1950 Film)
''Sunset Boulevard'' (styled in the main title on-screen as ''SUNSET BLVD.'') is a 1950 American black comedy film noir directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett. It was named after a major street that runs through Hollywood, the center of the American film industry. The film stars William Holden as Joe Gillis, a struggling screenwriter, and Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, a former silent-film star who draws him into her deranged fantasy world, where she dreams of making a triumphant return to the screen. Erich von Stroheim plays Max von Mayerling, her devoted butler, and Nancy Olson, Jack Webb, Lloyd Gough, and Fred Clark appear in supporting roles. Director Cecil B. DeMille and gossip columnist Hedda Hopper play themselves, and the film includes cameo appearances by leading silent-film actors Buster Keaton, H. B. Warner, and Anna Q. Nilsson. Praised by many critics when first released, ''Sunset Boulevard'' was nominated for 11 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Long Shot
In photography, filmmaking and video production, a wide shot (sometimes referred to as a full shot or long shot) is a shot that typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surroundings. These are typically shot now using wide-angle lenses (an approximately 25 mm lens in 35 mm photography and 10 mm lens in 16 mm photography). However, due to sheer distance, establishing shots and extremely wide shots can use almost any camera type. History This type of filmmaking was a result of filmmakers trying to retain the sense of the viewer watching a play in front of them, as opposed to just a series of pictures. The wide shot has been used since films have been made as it is a very basic type of cinematography. In 1878, one of the first true motion pictures, ''Sallie Gardner at a Gallop'', was released. Even though this wouldn't be considered a film in the current motion picture industry, it was a hug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cinematic Techniques
This article contains a list of cinematic techniques that are divided into categories and briefly described. Basic definitions of terms ;180-degree rule :A continuity editorial technique in which sequential shots of two or more actors within a scene are all shot with the camera on one side of the two actors so that a coherent spatial relationship and eyeline match are maintained. ;Airborne shot :A shot taken from an aerial device, generally while moving. This technique has gained popularity in recent years due to the popularity and growing availability of drones. ;Arc :A dolly shot where the camera moves in an arc along a circular or elliptical radius in relation to the subject ("arc left" or "arc right") ;Backlighting (lighting design) :The main source of light is behind the subject, silhouetting it, and directed toward the camera. ;Bridging shot :A shot used to cover a jump in time or place or other discontinuity. Examples are a clock face showing advancing time, falling cal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cutaway (filmmaking)
In film and video, a cutaway is the interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting a view of something else. It is usually followed by a cut back to the first shot. A cutaway scene is the interruption of a scene with the insertion of another scene, generally unrelated or only peripherally related to the original scene. The interruption is usually quick, and is usually, although not always, ended by a return to the original scene. The effect is of commentary to the original scene, frequently comic in nature. Usage The most common use of cutaway shots in dramatic films is to adjust the pace of the main action, to conceal the deletion of some unwanted part of the main shot, or to allow the joining of parts of two versions of that shot. For example, a scene may be improved by cutting a few frames out of an actor's pause; a brief view of a listener can help conceal the break. Or the actor may fumble some of his lines in a group shot; rather than discarding a good version of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
As Seen Through A Telescope
''As Seen Through a Telescope'' (AKA: ''The Professor and His Field Glass'') is a 1900 British short silent comedy film, directed by George Albert Smith, featuring an elderly gentleman getting a glimpse of a woman's ankle through a telescope. The three-shot comedy, according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, "uses a similar technique to that which G.A. Smith pioneered in ''Grandma's Reading Glass ''Grandma's Reading Glass'' is a 1900 British short silent drama film, directed by George Albert Smith, featuring a young Willy who borrows a huge magnifying glass to focus on various objects, which was shot to demonstrate the new technique of ...'' (1900)," and although, "the editing is unsophisticated, the film does at least show a very early example of how to make use of point-of-view close-ups in the context of a coherent narrative (which is this film's main advance on ''Grandma's Reading Glass'')." "Smith's experiments with editing," Brooke concludes, "were ahead of most ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_(cropped).jpg "Click for more on -> Close-up")
_(7996002281)-crop.jpg "Click for more on -> George Albert Smith (film Pioneer)")
.jpg "Click for more on -> Long Shot")