THE LENS
Four main functions controlled by the lens:
The lens and perception (size constancy)
STILL PHOTOGRAPHY
Basic operations of a single lens reflex 35mm still camera
Exposure and interrelationships of shutter, aperture and film speed
VISUAL DESIGN AND STRUCTURE
THE FRAME AND ASPECT RATIO
The 7 visual components:
1) Space
2) Line
3) Shape
4) Tone
Control though:
Coincidence and Non-coincidence
5) Color
6) Movement
7) Rhythm
Graphing Components + Subcomponents
Balance
THE SHOT
The shot described by movement
The shot described in terms of coverage
SCREEN GRAMMAR
Rabiger's approach to screen grammar as a reproduction of human consciousness
DIRECTORIAL COMMUNICATION TOOLS
SCREENWRITING AND DOCUMENTARY PROPOSALS
Foundations: Premise , treatment , step outline
Story and thematic Archetypes
Documentary research and the documentary proposal
SCRIPT ANALYSIS
The immutables - facts and images
Imaginative choices (antecedent action, objectives and actions, what's at stake, subtext etc)
FILM/VIDEO INTERFACE
Film Camera
The Film Image
Video
CONTINUITY/SHOOTING TO EDIT
Types of continuity
Maintaining continuity
LIGHTING
Other lights (eye-light, set light, kicker, practicals etc.)
Qualities of light (specular, diffused etc.)
Kelvin scale and color temperature
Electricity Basics : Watts ÷ Volts = Amps
EDITING
Classic Hollywood Continuity Editing
Seeing Around the Edge of the Frame
THE DIRECTOR/ACTOR DYNAMIC
The System and the Method: Stanislavsky to Griffith to Kazan
The actor's preparation
System of wants: life needs, objectives and actions
Moment-to-moment
Personalization
Casting :
Getting actors:
Casting Directors v. Talent Agents
CREW ROLES
Crew positions and functions
OBJECTIVE SOUND
Sound and audio distinguished (sound = acoustical energy, audio=electrical signals and
various types of recordings)
Properties of physical sound:
Influences on Sound Propagation
Room acoustics/the three sound fields:
Movies and the three sound fields
Noise: unwanted sound added to the original sound (airborne and structure-borne)
Distortion: unwanted modification of the original sound
PSYCHOACOUSTICS
Auditory Sensitivity and Frequency (most sensitive in 2-4 kHz range)
Equal Loudness Curves (more energy is required at lower frequencies to sound equally as loud as midrange and higher frequency sounds)
Loudness effect (at a lower level, sound seems to lack bass when compared with playing it as its original level)
Loudness vs Time (it takes a high level sound 1-8 frames at 24 fps to reach its full perceived loudness)
Speech perception : panning dialogue across the screen to match action v. centering it
AUDIO FUNDAMENTALS
Digital audio:
SOUND RECORDING
Microphones:
Single System + Double System Recording
Audio Mixers (between the mics and the recorder)
SOUND DESIGN
Objective vs. Subjective Sound
Diegetic sound / Non-diegetic sound
SOUND EDITING
Traditional (southern California) approach: vertical â?? one editor per reel
Alternative (northern California) approach: horizontal â?? editors cut like fx in all reels
Dialogue
Sound effects: non-musical, non-dialogue sounds from the environment
INTRODUCTION TO DOCUMENTARY
Traditional narration-based documentary
Cinema Véritécinema verite
Historical documentary and problems of access
MUSIC VIDEO
Traditions: Busby Berkeley to the Beatles to Bowie
Cinematic v. Photographic
Performance based/non-performance based
Laws of Note
Down here I am going to link to all of the "laws" and "rules" that I think we will definitely need to know.