MOTION PICTURE

Motion Pictureis a series of images that are

projected onto a screen to create the illusion of motion. Motion pictures—also called movies, films, or the cinema—are one of the most popular forms of entertainment, enabling people to immerse themselves in an imaginary world for a short period of time..

• But movies can also teach peopleabout history, science, humanbehavior, and many other subjects.Some films combine entertainmentwith instruction, to make thelearning process more enjoyable. Inall its forms, cinema is an art as wellas a business, and those who makemotion pictures take great pride intheir creations

• The images that make up a motion pictureare all individual photographs. But when theyappear rapidly in succession, the human eyedoes not detect that they are separateimages. This results from persistence ofvision, a phenomenon whereby the eyeretains a visual image for a fraction of asecond after the source has been removed.Although we do not experience the images asindividual photographs, we do notice thedifferences between them. The brain thenperceives these differences as motion.

• Motion pictures are recorded usingspecially designed cameras thatcapture the images on rolls of film.After being processed andprinted, the film is run through aprojector, which shines lightthrough the film so that the imagesare displayed on a screen. Mostmovies have accompanying sound.

TYPES OF MOTION PICTURES

There are many types of motionpictures, but the most significantcategories are featurefilms, animatedfilms, documentaries, experimental films, industrial films, andeducational

Feature films

are the movies most commonlyshown in large movie theaters.They typically last at least oneand one-half hours and tell afictional story or a story based onreal events but portrayed byactors.

BEST KNOWN FEATURE FILMSThe Birth of a Nation (1914),

Metropolis (1926) Citizen Kane (1941)Casablanca (1942)

On the Waterfront (1954)The Sound of Music (1965)

The Godfather (1972)Star Wars (1977)

Gandhi (1982)Jurassic Park (1993) and

Titanic (1997).

Animated movies

follow the same format asfeatures, but use images created byartists. These films create the illusionof movement from a series of two-dimensional drawings, three-dimensional objects, or computer-generated images.

NOTABLE ANIMATED FILMS

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Dumbo (1941)

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Yellow Submarine (1968)

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Lion King (1994).

In some films, animated characters interact with human actors, as in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).

DOCUMENTARY FILMS

deals primarily with fact, notfiction. Documentaries do notoften appear in theaters, butthey are seen regularly oncable and broadcast television.

WELL-KNOWN DOCUMENTARY FILMS

Some are Nanook of the North (1922)

The Silent World (1956)

Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976)

Eyes on the Prize (1987),

and Hoop Dreams (1994).

EXPERIMENTAL FILM

• It is a sequence of images, literal orabstract, which do not necessarilyform a narrative. An experimentalfilm can be animated, liveaction, computer generated, or acombination of all three.

Five noteworthy experimental films

French film Un Chien Andalou (An AndalusianDog, 1929)

Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)

A Movie (1958)

Eraserhead (1978)

Privilege (1991).

Industrial films

are made by companies that wish topublicize their products or generate afavorable public image. Educationalfilms are specifically intended to beshown in classrooms. Their aim is toinstruct, on subjects from history todriving skills.

PEOPLE WHO MAKE MOTION PICTURE

1. PRODUCER

The producer is responsible for turning a filmidea into a successful motion picture. Theproducer must find money to pay for theproduction, hire actors and the productionteam, supervise the production process, andmake arrangements for distributing thefinished film to theaters.

2. Screenwriters

develop original ideas for the screen or adapt previously written pieces of work as motion pictures. Adaptations may come from novels, stage plays, musicals, or many other sources. Screenwriters work in two ways. They can be commissioned to write a script or they can write a script on spec (short for “on speculation”), meaning that the screenwriter is hoping that someone will like the independently written script enough to buy the rights to it and arrange for production. Once a screenplay has been purchased, the producer may decide to have it rewritten either by the original writer or by new writers.

3. DIRECTORanalyzes the script, visualizes how the film shouldlook, and guides the actors and the productioncrew as they carry out that vision. Many peopleimagine the director as the person who controlsevery aspect of film production, but the director’srole is usually not quite this broad. Instead, a filmis a cooperative project between the director, theproducer, the actors, and the crew members. Agood director balances his or her desires withother people’s to produce the best filmpossible, while all the time remaining as true aspossible to his or her initial vision.

4. UNIT PRODUCTION MANAGER

THE (UPM), who reports to the producer, isresponsible forscheduling, budgeting, selecting many of thecrew members, and arranging for permitsfrom various authorities and owners to shootat locations outside the studio. The UPM alsooversees the purchase of goods andservices, handles the day-to-day business ofrunning the production office, and ensuresthat the project stays within its budget.

5. CASTING DIRECTOR

selects actors and negotiates contracts during

the hiring process, although the final choice

particularly when selecting stars for lead roles

usually falls to the director and the producer.

When selecting actors for a film, casting

directors take many factors into account, such as

an actor’s suitability for the role, box-office

appeal, acting ability, and experience.

6. ACTORSplay the roles of the film. To create believablecharacters, they rely on the details in thescript, the director’s vision, and their own sense ofthe role. In most films, the actor’s job is to makethe audience believe that the character is a realperson speaking unrehearsed lines in a naturalsetting. An actor normally accomplishes thisthrough voice, movement, and the portrayal ofemotion. But other artistic qualities also affect theaudience's judgment. These qualities are oftendifficult to describe or define, but they includecharm, depth offeeling, originality, plausibility, and physicalappearance.

Acting is a complex art. The masteryof voice projection, various mannersof speaking, gesture, movement, andother abilities is only part of the craft.Other basic acting skills include anability to memorize lines, develop asense of timing, and express acharacter’s social status, age, andtemperament.

7. STUNT PEOPLE

• Many films involve actions that could result ininjury. These actions may be as dramatic asjumping off a cliff or as commonplace as trippingand falling down. During many potentiallydangerous scenes, specially trained stuntmen andstuntwomen fill in for the actors. This ensuresthat the stunt will be performed as safely aspossible, and that the actors will not risk injury.Nevertheless, some stars, such as Chinese actorJackie Chan, insist on doing their own stunts.

8. ANIMAL ACTORS

• For scenes in which animals mustperform, specially trained animal “actors” appear.These animals obey commands from their trainerwhile being filmed. In many cases, multipleanimals appear in the same part, because of longhours of filming or because the animal grows orchanges in appearance or in some other wayduring a filming schedule. Animals that act infilms range from ducks to elephants. Memorableroles played by animals include the dog Lassie (inLassie Come Home, 1943), the dog Benji (inBenji, 1974), and the pig Babe (in Babe, 1995)

9. DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

(DP), also known as the cinematographer, worksclosely with the director and interprets theaction of the story in terms oflight, shade, composition, and cameramovement. Other responsibilities includeselecting the type of lens to be used for ashot, which influences the appearance of theimage, and determining the camera’s positionand angle. The DP rarely operates the cameradirectly; this function usually falls to a cameraoperator.

10. PRODUCTION MANAGERsometimes called the art director, is responsiblefor the set designs and the overall look of the film.In some films, creating sets involves a great deal ofwork. For example, a realistic Western may call forthe construction of the façade of an entire mainstreet, along with the interiors of asaloon, hotel, and other buildings. The clothingthat the actors wear also contributes to the look ofa film, so the costume designer is a key member ofthe production team. He or she designsappropriate costumes or searches out vintageclothing in stores or costume houses. Additionaldesigners deal with lighting, makeup, and othervisual aspects of the production.

11. ASSISTANT DIRECTORS• Most motion pictures have at least one assistant director

(AD). The ADs assist the director in almost every task. Thehighest-ranking AD, called the first AD, has several duties. Heor she creates the overall shooting schedule, which lists thedays for filming each scene, and manages many of the day-to-day problems that arise on the set. Each day the first ADalso submits the following day’s call sheet (schedule for castand crew) to the UPM and the director for approval. And thefirst AD works with the director during shooting, assisting inthe preparation for each shot. The second AD assists the firstAD by getting the cast and crew to the right places at theright times, looking after extras (people who appear in thebackground to lend reality to the film), and taking care ofmany of the details involved in preparing for the next day’sfilming.

12. FILM AND SOUND EDITORS• Motion pictures are filmed in hundreds of brief

shots, which must be arranged into a final product thatfulfills the vision of the director and producer. Thisresponsibility falls to the editor. The editor first screenseach day’s film footage (called dailies or rushes) for thedirector and key members of the crew. Preparation ofthe dailies continues throughout the productionperiod, meaning that the film is being edited at thesame time that it is being shot. Screening the dailiesenables the director and producer to choose the bestshots and to decide if they need to reshoot any scenesfor technical or artistic reasons. After the principalfilming is done, the editor finishes the editing of the filmand supervises optical effects (such as freeze-frames)and titles that are to be inserted into the motionpicture.

• The director, producer, or editor also may decidethat parts of the film have inferior sound quality. Asound editor then re-records the actors’ voices inthese scenes. The actors speak the lines in thestudio while viewing the scene on-screen, in aprocess called automatic dialogue replacement(ADR). Sound editors also add recorded soundeffects to complete an environment for the film.For example, if a scene takes place on a citystreet, the editors may add honking horns andother appropriate background traffic noises. Oneof the final steps in the editing process is thepreparation and mixing of the separate soundtracks so that all the tracks—dialogue, music, andsound effects—are blended together to create aseamless unified sound experience for theaudience.

13. MUSIC COMPOSER

The composer works with the director and editor to create a musical score that provides transitions between scenes and an emotional point of view for scenes and the film as a whole. Music is often used to enhance the dramatic content. For example, music can identify a person as suspicious when there is nothing visible on the screen to suggest such a characteristic.

OTHER POSITIONSIn addition to the positions listed above, many otherpeople take part in movie production. Foley artists helpcreate background or peripheral noises, such asfootsteps. A gaffer supervises electrical work and isassisted by the best boy. The key grip supervises thegrips, who set up and adjust production equipment onthe set. The production sound mixer supervises thesound recording during a shoot, and the sound mixerputs together all the sound for the final track byadjusting volume, fading noises in and out, andcreating any other necessary audio effects. Dependingon a movie’s genre and budget, it can require manyother professionals, includingassistants, carpenters, drivers, etiquettecoaches, historical consultants, housingcoordinators, medics, and so on.

GENERAL FILMING PROCESS

1. FIRST STAGE: DEVELOPMENT

A development stage precedesproduction. In this stage, thescreenwriter writes the script and theproducer hires the director and keyactors, prepares a budget and shootingschedule, and raises the necessary fundsto pay for the production.

2. PREPRODUCTIONThe next stage, preproduction, involves the remaining

preparatory work before production begins. Duringpreproduction, the producer approves the finalversion of the script, the rest of the cast and crewmembers are hired, and shooting locations arefinalized. The director, assistant director, unitproduction manager, and producer plan the sequencefor shooting the individual scenes. If possible, theactors hold rehearsals. The producer, director, anddesigners work together to outline the visual look ofthe film—how the scenes will be staged, setconstruction and decoration, costumes, makeup andhair design, and lighting.

3. PRODUCTION• When preproduction is completed, production can

begin. A movie is filmed scene by scene, and a sceneis filmed shot by shot. These scenes and shots are notusually filmed in the order that they appear in thefilm. This is because filming depends on factors suchas weather conditions, actors' availability, and theset-construction schedule. Scenes that involvelarge, complicated sets often are filmed near the endof the shooting schedule, because these sets takelonger to be completed. Sets can be elaborate. InTitanic, for example, the filmmakers built majorinterior rooms such as the grand staircase and diningsaloon over a 19 million liter (5 million gallon) tank ofwater. The sets were supported by hydraulic systemsthat lowered them into the water to simulate thesinking of the ship.

Preparing for a film shot involves five main operations:

The art department and property masterprepare the set furnishings and the props theactors will use; the actors run through theirlines and movements; the director ofphotography selects and arranges the lights;the camera operator rehearses the variouscamera angles and movements to be used inthe shot; and the sound crew determines thevolume level and placement of microphones.The director oversees and coordinates allthese activities.

Each filmed shot is called a take. Forcomplicated shots such as battlefieldsequences, the director may use multiplecameras to minimize the number of takes.Even with multiple cameras, however, thedirector may require many takes before he orshe is satisfied. After each take the directorconfers with the camera operator andproduction sound mixer. If the director ispleased by the performances and if thecamera and sound work are good, the directorinstructs that the take be printed. If it is notgood, it is not printed

• In high-budget productions that involve complicatedscenes, it is customary to film an entire sequence in onelong master shot, which includes all the major action.Cover shots are brief shots that, edited into the mastershot, give the scene proper dramatic emphasis andmeaningful detail from moment to moment. Cover shotsinclude close-ups, medium shots, long shots, trackingshots (shots in which the camera is moving whilefilming), and panning shots (shots in which the cameraswivels while filming). Shooting this array of shots iscalled shooting coverage. Each cover shot, howeverminor, necessitates a new camera setup and a newplacement of lights, microphones, and actors. Action fromshot to shot must always match when edited into the film.For example, if the heroine has set down a glass with herleft hand in the master shot, she must not set it downwith her right hand in a close-up.

• At the end of the day, the shots that the director likesare printed. The following day, thedirector, producer, cinematographer, and editor lookat these dailies. During these screenings the directorand editor begin to assemble shots into scenes andthe scenes into a sequence. Early versions ofsequences, or early cuts, often contain alternativetakes for certain shots. As the director and editormake final decisions during the editing process, theyeliminate the extra takes, so that the structure of thefinal picture emerges in the form of a rough cut.Then, as scenes are polished and transitionssmoothed, the rough cut gradually becomes the firstcut.

• During the postproduction work, the director and editorsolve problems. For example, if a shot went out of focusfor a moment in a close-up, they may cover the lapse bycutting to a medium shot if they do not have anothersatisfactory take of the close-up. While editing the firstcut, the director weighs the editor’s recommendationsbut keeps the overall plan of the picture in mind. Theproducer also contributes, especially when the directorand editor are considering reshooting scenes; this maycause the picture to go over budget. When all the scenesare shot and the first cut finished, the producer mayapprove it or work with the editor and/or the director tomake further refinements. The finished product is thefinal cut. The film is then ready for soundediting, finalizing of the musical score, and mixing.

TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF FILMING

1. OPERATING THE CAMERA

• The photographic process in which motion-picture film is exposed to light to create an image corresponds to conventional still photography. Camera lenses of different focal length are used as required to gain the desired perspective or photographic effect, and changing the lens aperture (opening) controls the amount of light that reaches the film. Shutter speed, which determines how long the film is exposed to light, and aperture together affect the relative lightness or darkness of the image.

• The most important elements of a motion-picture camera are the lens, the shutter, andthe two reels that supply the film and take itup again. When a motion-picture camera is inoperation, the shutter opens and exposes thefilm, which receives an image formed by thelens. The shutter then closes and a mechanismcalled a pull-down claw moves the film alongso that it can be exposed once again. In normaloperation this cycle occurs 24 times persecond, creating 24 separate still photos.

By operating the camera at speeds much faster ormuch slower than 24 frames per second, theapparent time of a motion can be lengthened orshortened. For example, filming a scene at 72frames per second, but projecting it at thenormal speed of 24 frames per second, slowsdown the action so that what happens in onesecond takes three seconds on screen. Operatingthe camera at a slow frame speed produces theopposite effect and is useful for viewing a veryslow process, such as the growth of a plant.When a plant's growth is filmed at one frameevery three hours and the film is projected at 24frames per second, 72 hours of growth arecompressed into every second, and on film theplant will appear to spring from the earth.

• The steadiness of the image the camera records comesfrom the camera mount and a device in the camera motorcalled the registration pin, which holds each frame stillwhile it is exposed to light. Three-legged stands calledtripods usually support the camera, and a platform onwheels called a dolly holds the camera steady while itmoves across the floor or ground. A crane or supportingarm called a boom raises and lowers the camera duringfilming. A Steadicam is a camera mount for producingsmooth shots in places where using a dolly or cranepresents difficulties, such as on a staircase. The Steadicamuses gyroscopes and other advanced electronic equipmentto prevent the camera from shaking. When the filmmakerdoes not want the camera to be steady, the cameraoperator simply holds the camera in his or her hands. Thistechnique is used in documentary films to capture a fast-moving event or in feature films to create a documentary-like feel.

2. LIGHTING THE SCENE

• A scene can be shot in a studio or on location, meaning that it is filmed in a place that has not been specially constructed for the film.

• Two types of light source are used for interior shooting, whether in a studio or on location. Incandescent lamps, which range from a few watts to 10,000 watts in power, resemble household light bulbs and are used for most filming. Arc lamps are stronger and cast a wider and more direct beam of light. They are used when the crew must illuminate a large area or when the scene demands extremely bright light.

• Much location shooting occursoutdoors, where unpredictable weather canmake lighting difficult. Even in daylight, thefilm crew uses lights and reflectors to increasethe brightness of the scene or to fill in patchesof darkness or shadow. When the shootingenvironment outside is too bright, film crewsuse devices such as butterflies, large pieces ofsilk or diffusion material, to cut down onbrightness or to create shadow.

• Sometimes a director elects to use day-for-night shooting, in which a scene isshot during the day but made to look as ifit occurred at night. To achieve thiseffect, the film crew must manipulate theamount of light that reaches the film.Their methods include placing the subjectin shade, positioning the camera so thatit does not shoot the sky, and choosingcertain types of filters to place on thelens.

3. RECORDING THE SOUND

• In filmmaking, sounds are picked up bymicrophone and recorded on tape. Duringproduction a boom generally holds themicrophone above the actors and out ofcamera range so that it is not seen on screen.Whenever possible, the original recordingincludes only dialogue. Additional sound canobscure the dialogue.

• Sometimes shooting outdoorsresults in too much noise, renderingsome of the dialogue unusable. Inthis case, the actors later recordreplacement dialogue, and theirlines are then synchronized with thepicture. Duringpostproduction, sound expertscreate special sounds, such as a trainwreck or the clinking of silverwareand dishes during a dinner scene.

• A complete sound track is built fromtracks that have been recordedseparately. The dialogue is on severaltracks, the music on others, and soundeffects on yet others. Manylarge, elaborate productions such asmusicals have 30 or more separatetracks. Sound engineers combine, ormix, the individual tracks electronicallyin a recording studio while viewing thefinal cut of the picture.

4. MOTION PICTURE FILM

• Motion-picture film is manufactured in long ribbons that are stored and handled in rolls. Perforations along the edge of the film help move it through the camera, printer, and projector at a constant speed, typically 24 frames per second. When the sound track is mixed and the visual optical effects completed, the picture and sound are printed onto one piece of film for release to theaters.

• The greater a filmstrip's width, the sharper theimage that is projected onto the screen. Thestandard width of film used for a feature-lengthmotion picture is 35 mm (1.38 in). An occasionallarge-scale production appears on 70-millimeter(2.76-in) film, whereas low-budget and someexperimental films are typically shot on lessexpensive 16-millimeter (0.63-in) film.(Filmmakers now shoot most documentaries andsome experimental films on digitalvideotape, because its quality is almost that offilm, and it is cheaper to buy and does not needto be processed.)

• The film itself consists of a thin layer of light-sensitive material called an emulsion, which coats a transparent base of flexible cellulose. Most emulsions contain silver bromide suspended in gelatin. Color-film emulsion consists of three layers, each containing silver bromide along with a chemical dye sensitive to one color—red, green, or blue. During processing the images formed on the three layers combine to produce a single image on film. The exposed rolls of film pass over a series of rollers and through a developing solution, a wash, fixing baths, a second wash, and a drying chamber. Finally, the developed and dried film is rewound into a roll. (Videotape, by contrast, requires no processing. Video cameras record sound and images electronically onto magnetic tape, which can be played back immediately.)

• When the emulsion is exposed to light, alatent image is formed. Duringprocessing, the developer changes the silverhalide in the emulsion to metallic silverwhere light touched the emulsion. In the nextstage of processing, the silver halide crystalsthat were not exposed are washed out of theemulsion by a chemical solution called thehypo or the fixer. What remains, the metallicsilver, forms a negative image of thesubject—darkest where the most light struckthe emulsion, and lightest where the leastlight struck.

• To make a positive image, light is passedthrough the negative to expose another roll offilm. Where the negative is thickest, little lightstrikes the print film. In processing the printfilm, the unexposed silver halides are washedaway, leaving the reverse of the negativeimage—a thin emulsion in the print where thenegative was thick. This corresponds to thelight areas of the subject. Where the subjectwas dark, the negative is thin and the printfilm thick.

5. SPECIAL EFFECTS