EVOLUTION OF CINEMA

Week 1: Early Cinema

3 Films Analysis

One common element of early cinema is the one static camera filming the location in front of the lens. In this film, the fixed camera is in Herald Square, New York in 1896. The 11-second-long film shows the daily life of the residents and tourists of Herald Square which shows another common element of early cinema: filming something happen such as a train arriving or a horse running. The quality of the film is poor compared to films that are produced today in 2022 and is in black and white due to the lack of technology not allowing them to film in colour. There is also no sound due to the minimal technology people had in the 19th century, so it is completely silent.

This film differs from the contemporary entertainment we receive today as it doesn’t have sound, colour or the high-quality visuals that we are now used to. It also doesn’t tell a story unlike films or television productions that are created today and instead is almost like a short documentary on the lives of people who lived over 100 years ago.

The shot of people walking round and getting on with their lives shares a sense of familiarity as we get them type of shots in films today, even if they are used to introduce a setting to lead onto the next scene.

It’s unusual for films nowadays to be produced with a poor-quality camera, no sound, black and white colour and for the film to be so short. It would be considered a short video today as films in the modern day are regularly over 1 hour long.

The absence of the sound kills the atmosphere that could be created even if it was just music. Also, the lack of storyline could make the viewer uninterested if they watched it these days however, I’m sure it was revolutionary in 1896.

Old Man Drinking a Glass of Beer (1897) | BFI - YouTube

The still camera that produces bad quality film yet good enough to view what’s happening is a common element in film which is found in this 1897 film. The 39-second-long film shows an enthusiastic and joyful man drinking beer, laughing and having fun. The quality of the film is poor compared to films that are produced today in 2022 and is in black and white due to the lack of technology not allowing them to film in colour. There is also no sound due to the minimal technology people had in the 19th century, so it is completely silent. There is also still no distinct story to this film which leaves the meaning of the film up to the viewers interpretation.

The man being happy and drinking beer gives a sense of familiarity as there are scenes that are being produced in contemporary films today that have a similar shot of characters laughing and drinking. It can also be seen as relatable and an experience that most likely every has faced as well.

Brighton Beach 1896 - YouTube

Similarly, to the first film I analysed set in Herald Square, New York City, the main common early cinema element this film follows is the static camera filming the location and people in front. Set on Brighton Beach, 1896, we see multiple people roaming around and families enjoying their time. The quality of the film is poor compared to films that are produced today in 2022 and is in black and white due to the lack of technology not allowing them to film in colour. There is also no sound due to the minimal technology people had in the 19th century, so it is completely silent.

As someone who has visited Brighton Beach, it is a sense of familiarity as I have experienced the same events as they have in this film. Also, the shot of people walking round and getting on with their lives shares a sense of familiarity as we get them type of shots in films today, even if they are used to introduce a setting to lead onto the next scene.

Evolution of Cinema – 30 Second Early Cinema Film

This task was to create a 30-second long film in small groups. However, it had to be in an early cinema style. This means the requirements were to have no editing, sound or intertitles and to have 1 single wide shot.

30-Second Early Cinema Film Plan:

Actors: James (Character A), Jacob (Character C) and Hallum (Character A)

Where: TV Studio (if available) or around college

Storyline: Character A is walking and Character B while walking the opposite direction trips them up. Character A is confused and mad and pushes Character B, then Character B retaliates and pushes him back. Both Character’s start punching each other until Character C comes over and breaks them up. Then Character A and B look at each other for a second start fighting Character C for no reason at all. Character C runs away and hides and then Character A and B run the opposite way to try and find him.

Final Product:

Evaluation:

The reason why I done this task was to see the barriers filmmakers had to overcome in the 19th century when filming first became possible. We had restrictions on our film so we couldn’t edit, have sound or any intertitles in our film and we could only film our story in 30 seconds with one singular wide shot.

First, I planned a story idea which is in the plan above. My whole idea was based off “Slapstick Comedy” originally from Punch and Judy. I thought it would be much easier to have a comical storyline due to the time limit, limited space and harsh requirements we were set for this task. It was also because of the type of films that were made in the 19th century, comedy or a type of documentary were most common. After reviewing the idea and finding my actors, I went to the TV studio and gave my actors the plan on how to act out the scene.

I believe that my film went well for the requirements I had to meet. The story was inspired from older films yet still had an original twist to it and it successfully told a comical story which is easy to understand. However, it could be considered out of focus. This was on purpose as it gave a worse quality to the film which I was trying to meet to make it seem like the film was filmed quite a while in the past however, for future projects, I must make sure the camera is in focused if I’m making a film that’s produced in modern time.

I’ve learnt that filmmakers such as Edison and the Lumiere Brothers had so many barriers in the 19th century which would be difficult to overcome with the high expectation films that are being produced today have. However, I also realise that in the time they were in their prime, it was revolutionary to even have moving picture.

Week 2: Early Classical Cinema

2 Films Analysis

Charlie Chaplin: Charlot pompiere (1916) - YouTube

The Man Who Never Made Good (1914) | BFI National Archive - YouTube

The major difference between this film from early classical cinema and the films I analysed from the pre-classical cinema is the multiple shots being used. Due to the lack of technology towards the ends of the 19th century, filmmakers were unable to have more than one shot in a film. Now we’ve evolved by 10-20 years by this point and technology is now allowing of multiple shots in one film. Another difference is that quality. Even though the quality still isn’t the standard that we see in modern day contemporary films, however it has improved. Finally, another difference is the longer films that are being produced. In the 1890’s, the average length of a film was roughly 30 seconds. Now we are receiving longer films with a length of 10 minutes or more. There is still an absence of dialogue however due to the multiple shots and longer time length, the storytelling through film has improved and it’s easier to gather what the director is trying to tell. Compared to previous films, it seems that these films that were produced in the 1910s to 1920s are more fiction than documentary like than the 1890s films. Instead of filming people in a location or someone completing an action, these films have multiple actors playing a character, which suggests they could be taking inspiration from theatre.

Evolution of Cinema – 45 Second Early Classical Cinema Film

This task was to create a 45-second long film recreating the film "Partie de Cartes" by the Lumière Brothers in small groups. However, it had to be in an early classical cinema style. This means the requirements were to have 6 shots with only the use of wide shots, medium shots and close-ups and we weren't allowed to have dialogue.

45-Second Early Cinema Film Plan:

Actors: James, Molly, Phoebe and Erin (Me) with Hallum on the Camera

Where: TV Studio (if available) or around college

Storyboard:

We used Phoebe's storyboard for this project however, I did create my own which was used for another group's 45 second film.

My Storyboard:

Final Product

Evaluation:

The reason why I had to complete this task was because it was to see the difference between filmmaking in the period of early cinema (around the 1890s) and the period of early classical cinema (around the early 1900s). Despite still having restrictions like no dialogue, no more than 6 shots and no more or less than 45 seconds long, and only being able to use wide shots, medium shots or close-ups, it was much easier to film due to the increased freedom we were given as we were given more shots, time and options. It was much easier to tell the story that we were trying to tell.

The film had to be a recreation of the film "Partie de Cartes" by the Lumière Brothers. In the film, it's 3 people playing cards. We improvised and added extra narrative due to having an extra person. There were still 3 people playing cards however we added a Card Dealer. One of the 3 players was cheating as well which was made obvious to the reader from the beginning which added ironic comedy as the other players. The Cheater, despite being exposed for cheating, still tries to grab the prize which is when we is stopped by the 2 players and Card Dealer before the Card Dealer grabs the prize and walks away.

This was planned through storyboards. Before we were able to begin the filming process, we had to create a storyboard explaining the shots we were using, how long they were going to be and what the characters were acting out in that shot. I made it so my first shot out of the six was a 10 second establishing shot which introduces the characters and setting. That meant the 5 shots after that first shot had to be 7 seconds to make it exactly 45 seconds. For my final product, our group decided we would use Phoebe's storyboard with some changes in the filming process due to difficulties that needed to be fixed such as moving the table so no ones face is completely covered and certain actions in the film.

After filming, we had to edit using Avid. In this part, I started by putting all my clips together and making sure it's continuous throughout with matching on action to not take the viewer out of the atmosphere. I then removed the sound (due to the restrictions) and changed the saturation with the colour correct feature on Avid to 0 to give the black and white effect.

Overall, I am pleased with how this film turned out as it represented an early classical cinema film style. We overcame the problems we faced efficiently however we do need to film quicker with less mistakes or we may not have time to edit and complete the rest of the work - such as the evaluation. I've learnt that despite having more freedom than the filmmakers of the early cinema period had, there is still a major lack of technology than what we have today.

Week 3: Sound

Sound: Impression vs Expression

Impression sound is sound that represent the actual physical sound/quality of something which gives the film a sense of solidity. The sounds that can be included as impression sound are natural sounds, human sounds, mechanical sounds, signals, and acoustics.

Impression Example 1: How the Sound Effects In 'A Quiet Place' Were Made | Movies Insider - YouTube

“A Quiet Place” (2018) is an American post-apocalyptic horror film which includes aliens which have taken over the planet and killed most of the human population. They have sharp hearing and if they hear you, you will be killed: hence, why the film is named “A Quiet Place”. For this film, a lot of noise wasn’t needed due to the plot however, the sound effects were mainly done by foley artists. The reason why all the sounds these artists are making are impression sounds is because they need to portray the atmosphere, quality, and solidity of the area around them to make the film seem like reality. If they were to use expression sounds, they would lose that suspense atmosphere and it would seem like an awful comedy. Some sounds are easy to create such as a gun loading or water splashing as it just takes them copying the actions of the actors with the same objects, however they had to get creative for other sounds. To create the sound of a monster walking, they used crab legs and twisted and snapped them to get a crackling effect. Furthermore, to create the sound of the monster’s ear opening, they twisted celery and lettuce to get the crunch. These sounds would all fall under natural, human, and mechanical sounds which all create impression sounds.

Impression Example 2: How The Sounds In 'Transformers' Movies Are Made | Movies Insider - YouTube

“Bumblebee” (2018) is a movie in the “Transformers” franchise which requires a lot of sound design due to explosions and mechanical movement from the Transformers and area around them. Impression sounds are important here as if they were to use expression sounds, it would take the viewer out of the reality that they are immersing themselves in and again, like with “A Quiet Place” would turn into a bad comedy. With impression sounds, they can create the solidity, quality, and atmosphere of the objects and space around the characters to give a sense of reality to the viewer while watching the film. Some sounds the foley artists create is Bumblebee sitting on Charlie’s sofa and breaking it. To create this sound, they use an old lawnmower and a seat cushion and slam it down to create the effect of Bumblebee’s weight and the breaking of the sofa. Furthermore, to create the sound of Bumblebee hitting his head against a lamp, they use multiple sounds and layer them over each other in the edit. The two separate tracks use multiple different objects. The first track uses a helmet hitting a car door, then the second track uses a lamp shade swaying back and forth.

Expression sound is sound that expresses ideas such as the mood, tone and theme and has qualities of it being a metaphorical sound with emotional quality rather than physical quality like impression sound creates. These sounds can be made with music and special effects.

Expression Example 1: 'Tom & Jerry Encore' live at Prague Conservatory - YouTube

In this video, we see a perfect representation of expressive sound, as these musicians from Prague perform a live show of them playing their instruments to the cartoon show, “Tom & Jerry”. The piece begins with the pianist playing the main background sound to accompany the animation. However, the first example of expressive sound is the instrument which represents the dog breathing out and relaxing. Putting the sound of the dog exhaling and the piano together expresses the comedic tone and theme of the performance. If the band were to use impression sounds, the cartoon would lose its playful and childish effect and would seem more serious and realistic – which is not usually tended for child friendly animations. The band uses percussion instruments and woodwind instruments to create their sounds. For example, to portray Jerry (the small, mischievous mouse) quick and light footsteps, the percussionist on the xylophone uses two high notes which quickly alternate from one another, with each note representing a foot on the ground.

Expression Example 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZj1mYLC7h0

This video provides how the popular and recognisable sound of the lightsaber was created by the Sound Designer of Star Wars, Ben Burtt. This is an expressive sound owing to the fact that lightsabers weren’t a physical object back in the 1980s when this film was produced, and still aren’t a proper object today in 2022 despite being so popular and demanded for however, there are safe and plastic recreations. Burtt had to create the sound of the lightsaber with only the inspiration of a drawing. The first sound to contribute to the final product was the sound of an idled inner-plex motor from a simplex projector which was located in the projection booth at his college that he was a graduate at – University of Southern California. However, despite that sound being the inspiration for the sound of the lightsaber, “it wasn’t quite enough” and it was missing a “buzzy, sparkling sound”. This sound was created by transmission from a television set on the floor which the microphone was able to pick up. Finally, to create the sound of lightsaber moving, the original two sounds were combined and played over a speaker in a room, and then move the microphone close and away in a motion to get the sense of movement.

Evolution of Cinema – Steamboat Willie - The Paper Cut

The practical task this week was to choose a 10 to 20 second clip from Steamboat Willie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBgghnQF6E4) and using one piece of paper per group member only, recreate the sounds which are in your chosen 10 to 20 second clip. My group chose from 0:19 to 0:30 for our clip. We recorded these sounds using a zoom microphone. After recording the sound effects, we use Avid to overlay our sound effects onto the clip and muting the original sound to see if we matched our sounds well.

Before we actually recorded our sounds, we created a table which showed our sound design choices and how we are going to create them.

Final Product

Evaluation:

The reason why I had to complete this task was to explore Foley work and how Foley artists create sound using different objects. To make it harder yet more suitable to complete in college, we used 1 piece of paper to create all the sounds in the video. My group used the first bit of the film as we only had to create the sound of the boat moving, which we thought would be easy to do with paper rather than imitating characters. Before we filmed, we made a table of the sounds we were going to use and how we were going to create them. We stuck to this table well and successfully created all the sounds we said we would. We filmed it in a quiet space on the top floor of the college. We used a zoom mic and used the video which was cut down to our clip for reference. The recording process went well especially when we didn't have a quiet space for long however, it slightly didn't stick to the video and it slightly goes out of time with the chimneys on the boat. After, we had to edit it in Avid, and that consisted of getting the original video and cutting it down to our clip size, then adding our sounds on top of the video to replace the original audio. I think this went well as all the sounds match up as well as they can be.

Overall, I think I successfully completed this task with my group and I successfully edited the sound to the video to replace the original audio. I can use these skills I learnt this week in future projects involving Foley or sound.

Week 4: Foley

This week's practical was to watch a scene from "The Princess Bride" (1987) and choose a suitable sequence between 45 seconds and 1 minute to recrate the sound using Foley. My group used from 2:37 on to the end, which gave us a 45 second clip to work with. We had to dub the sound using objects and record them to later sync them with video in Avid.

This is the sound design table we had to make.

Final Product

Evaluation:

The reason for this practical task was that it continued on from the previous week when we studied Foley and impression and expression sound. We were able to explore our creativity to see what sounds we could create and what sounds could be created out of the objects at hand that we had. I believe my group and I done well in recreating the sounds however, I think some sounds aren't properly synced to the video and it could've been better. We then had to sync the video into Avid after gathering the audio recordings. This went well as I managed to find all the sounds and sync them up correctly.

Week 5: Colour

3 Films Colour Analysis:

In this task, we had to identify three shots from three different films and critically analyse the colour in these shots.

This iconic scene from “Avengers: Endgame” shows Black Widow and Hawkeye discussing and fighting on who is going to sacrifice themselves to receive the soul stone and save half the population of the Universe. The scene ends with Hawkeye, Clint Barton, in tears, as he wakes up in water with a soul stone in his hand and Black Widow is nowhere to be seen.

In this lighting, the costumes and props look dark, quite close to looking black. This could suggest that the director and cinematographer wanted the scene to be related to death or funeral, due to black being a symbol of mourning and sadness.

However, the set or location is almost opposite to what the costume and props suggest. The purple around the two characters suggests courage and bravery, as they both fight to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the Universe. However, the purple sky also allows the viewer to remember that these characters are far from Earth due to it not being a regular blue, grey or black.

The bright light between the two characters could mean to the viewer their connection, and due to it being more on the white side, it could suggest that their connection is pure and nothing but good.

The lighting reflects the genre of the film as the purple sky suggests that they aren’t on Earth, relating to the science-fiction, fantasy, and adventure genre. The costumes, props and whole plot of the film suggests that this is an action, superhero film as well.

(Marvel Studios, 2021)

This scene from “Joker” shows Joker, played by Joaquin Phoenix, looking outside of a police car window, and watching the world around him partake riots and start fires, which he initiated in the first place – explaining his sinful smile.

His costume which we can see is green, long, greasy hair and clown makeup which has been applied awfully due to smudging. The colours of red, blue, and green all contrast one another (especially with red and green being at opposite sides of the colour wheel) which implies again that his whole personality and mindset is disordered.

The colour palette in this scene consists of bright reds, greens, blue and yellows, all which you could associate with cartoons or more importantly, circuses. The lights around which are all created by car lights, traffic lights or fire, reflect his own look and style, signifying that this was all designed for him. The lighting around him reflects his makeup colours of a chaotic and psychotic clown.

The darkness of the night surrounding the bright lights could suggest Joker’s true intentions and his real personality, as well as the rest of society’s.

The location that they are filming is in New York, which contributes to the bright lights due to the billboards and bright lights which invites the tourists and residents into their buildings. This contrasts with the night almost making it seem like a dream.

The genres of the Joker are drama and psychological thriller, which is represented mainly in the plot however, the darkness and the lights reflecting the Joker’s chaotic choice of clown makeup build the foundation for that thriller part of the genre list.

(DC Films and Warner Bros. Pictures, 2019)

This scene from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (Episode VI), shows Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker fighting one another in front of Emperor Palpatine - otherwise known as Darth Sidious.

All of their costumes are quite dark, however especially Darth Vader’s and Emperor Palpatine’s. This suggests that they are malevolent and on “The Dark Side”. Luke’s is also quite dark; however, it doesn’t cover his whole body and it could also be for camouflage purposes.

The props are lightsabers, the main weapon in the Star Wars Universe, and they both have different colours. Darth Vader’s is red, which could symbolise war, anger, and blood. Those sinister terms reflect on his character of the antagonist and his morals. Luke Skywalker’s is green, which signifies luck, health, and harmony. These admirable traits symbolise Luke’s character of the protagonist and his morals.

The location is quite dark, with the only light sources being from the lightsabers and the light from outside the ship. This could signify potential mourning but just a dark scene in general of fighting.

The genres of Return of the Jedi are action, sci-fi, adventure, fantasy, space opera. These are all represented especially sci-fi and space opera with the props and the minimal lighting due to the lack of lighting in space.

(Valdivia, n.d.)

References:

DC Films and Warner Bros. Pictures, 2019. Joker - Police Car Scene. [Online]
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9yRU4YSJWg
[Accessed 21 February 2022].

Everything, I. M., 2016. Top 10 Favourite Star Wars Lightsaber Fights. [Online]
Available at: https://www.scified.com/topic/42002
[Accessed 21 February 2022].

Marvel Studios, 2021. ‘Loki’ Might Have Just Given the MCU a Way to Resurrect Black Widow. [Online]
Available at: https://www.thewrap.com/loki-might-have-just-given-the-mcu-a-way-to-resurrect-black-widow/
[Accessed 21 February 2022].

Valdivia, G., n.d. LUKE VS VADER RETURN OF THE JEDI LIGHTSABER. [Online]
Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/559290847452165269/
[Accessed 21 February 2022].

Evolution of Cinema - Colour in Film

This week's practical was to work in teams to decide a scene from a movie of our choice which is 30-45 seconds long. We were able to adapt or recreate the scene. We had to plan the idea through a storyboard. We decided to go for "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (2014) which was directed by Wes Anderson. The scene we chose was when Zero hugged Agatha in the pink van with boxes as it has lots of colour that we can work with. We decided to adapt it a little bit.

This is the storyboard we made:

Final Product

Evaluation:

The reason for this practical task was to explore colour in film to tell the narrative. In this video, we used blue to represent the actor, Kitty, playing Zero and pink to represent the actor, Evie, playing Agatha. We adapted the scene so it didn't have any boxes or dialogue and instead they done a playful handshake and looked up like they did in the film. We then had to edit the footage in Avid which I think I done well as a lot of the scenes has matching on action. I would improve the first cut as it jumps due to the lack of matching on action as well as the darkness of the whole film. I did colour grade it to be brighter however, if I did it too much, it would add a heavy amount of gain.

Overall, I think I successfully completed this task however I will try to improve on these mistakes next time. I can use these skills I learnt this week in future projects involving Foley or sound.

Evolution of Cinema: Final Assignment - Video Essay

This final assignment for Evolution of Cinema is to summarise our understanding of the topic and its development. We had to chose one aspect of film development such as cinematography, editing, sound or lighting to create a 2-5 minute video essay. I chose editing.

We have to research our area of study, source the footage and still images and create and timeline video with a voiceover.

We had to plan the video, write the script for narration, record the voiceover and edit the final piece. We also had to have a clear target audience in mind when making the video, making it suitable for them to watch and understand.

All resources must be referenced with Harvard Style.

As I chose editing as my area of study, I decided to focus on The Evolution of Editing in Pre-classical Cinema. I used YouTube videos and websites to gather my research and created quick and informative notes which I will go on to use for my script.

Editing Script Notes:

Georges Melies at the first screening in the basement of the grand café in paris was inspired by films such as workers leaving the Lumiere factory and arrival of a train at ciotat by the Lumiere brothers.

Failed to by a cinematographe from the Lumiere brothers as he was seen as competition, he bought an animatograph for 9,000 francs cheaper and created his own due to him being a mechanic.

In a few months, he was making films. When making one of his films, he filmed a moving bus, but the film jammed, by the time it was unjammed and ready to go, it was instead a hearse. Melies discovered that by cutting the film, he can create what we now call a jump cut.

He used this discovery to his advantage to create effects such as disappearing and reappearing with films such as The Haunted Castle (1896).

Melies was the pioneer for editing as he also discovered the fade in & out, overlapping dissolves and stop motion photography due to his magical and photography skills background.

Melies was hesitated in his growth due to him never moving the camera. Yet, he was able to tell narrative of the film through single action shot scenes. This was due to his theatre knowledge and not his cinema knowledge.

Edwin S. Porter was apart of the team setting up the first Edison projection in 1896 at Koster and Bial’s Music Hall, New York City, due to him being a vitascope projectionist. He was initially using his own equipment until being employed with Edison’s company and becoming head of production for Edison’s skylight studio in 1901. He was Edison’s number 1 director and camera man for 5 years.

Porter was good at overlapping action through scenes.

Porter improves his filmmaking capabilities with The Great Train Robbery in 1903 as he is more decisive with his cutting yet still has the same problem with each scene being one master take. Yet he was able to see the ability of compressing time through editing.

Porter inspires David Wark Griffith after hiring him as an actor on his film. After working on his film, he is hired by Biograph which is a poor production company in need of directors and in swallowing debt.

Griffith was able to make 450 films in 3 years (1908-1911) and pushed cinema out of the primitive mentality of theatre style films and introduces multiple shots in one scene. He invented the editing technique cut in which was initially used in “The Greaser’s Gauntlet” (1908). Griffith experimented with different types of shots to provide narrative. Through this he created continuity editing.

Due to the continuity editing creation, the 180-degree rule was invented automatically due to him realising that he can avoid continuity problems by keeping the camera 1 side of the 180-degree line. He also creates intercutting or cross cutting which he introduced in 1908 with After Many Years which would go onto become one of his favourite editing techniques.

His company, biograph was against this new look to cinema and thought it was risky. However, due to his likeness to Dickens, he pushed the idea forward still and After Many Years was deemed as a masterpiece. In the Lonely Villa in 1909, Griffith used 3 shots in parallel action and sped up the tempo of the cuts to lead to the climax of film, which built tension for the narrative.

Griffith used all these techniques and was the ultimate pioneer for the structure of class Hollywood continuity editing.

In 1914, Griffith released and independent film which would go onto be the first worldwide blockbuster movie and the cinema’s most expensive film to date, “The birth of a nation”. However, even with his extraordinary new editing style where he implements all his techniques, the film was horrifyingly racist as it supported the KKK. This led it to have censorship boards asking for alterations and states banning the film. This was due to the riots at premieres in states such as Boston, Atlanta and Chicago. He went on to create a film costing him 2.5 million dollars named Intolerable, inspired by his thoughts on the riots as he took it as a personal attack. He would go onto die, never paying off the debt of the film due to it doing awful at box office.

References:

Filmmaker IQ (2014) The History of Cutting – The Birth of Cinema and Continuity Editing 20 January. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uahjH2cspk

[Accessed: 7 March 2022].

Available at: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/georges-melies-the-magician-of-early-cinema/
[Accessed 7 March 2022].

Holtz, G. & Kavanaugh, T., n.d. Add crosscutting to your video editing toolkit.. [Online]
Available at: https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/video/discover/cross-cutting-film.html
[Accessed 7 March 2022].

I used my notes to create my final script.

Script:

Editing has been a crucial part of cinema since it was experimented with in early cinema, but

how did it evolve? How did it reach the quality of editing that we have today and who pioneered the process?

Well, George Melies attended the first screening of the Lumiere Brothers films located in the basement of the Grand Café in Paris. He was inspired by their films such as "Workers leaving the Lumiere Factory" and "Arrival of a train at La Ciotat". Within a few months since the screening, he was producing films. When filming a moving bus, his film jammed but after getting it back to normal, a hearse was in frame instead. After producing the film, he realised that he created what we now call a Jump Cut.

Melies had a magical background and used this discovery to his advantage and created effects such as disappearing and reappearing. He was the first person to use editing techniques and even discovered techniques such as fade in & out, overlapping dissolves and stop motion photography. Despite him being able to tell a story through film, his editing growth hesitated due to no variation of shots and was stuck in a theatre style mindset.

However, Edwin S Porter was apart of Edison's team and was Edison's number 1 director and camera man in 1901 for 5 years. Porter's style was overlapping action through scenes. He also discovered the ability of compressing time through editing. He improves his filmmaking capabilities in this as he is more definite with his cutting yet has the same problem as Melies with each scene having no shot variation and being one master take.

Porter's work inspired Griffith who was hired as an actor on Porter's film which introduced him to the film industry where he then was hired by the production company Biograph. He made 450 films in 3 years and pushed cinema out of the primitive mentality of theatre style films by introducing shot variation and multiple shots in one scene. He also used the editing technique the cut-in which he initially used in his film "The Greaser's Gauntlet". He went on to create what we know as continuity editing by experimenting with different types of shots to tell the narrative.

With this discovery, the 180-degree rule was automatically invented as him and his team realised that he could minimise continuity problems by keeping the camera on 1 side of the 180-degree line. He also used cross-cutting, the editing technique of switching back and forth between scenes giving the impression of actions occurring at the same time in different locations and learnt how to build tension for the narrative by increasing the tempo of cuts until the climax of the film.

Griffith never invented any editing techniques, he just learnt how to make them more emotionally impactful and significant that it inspired others to edit. However, these

techniques would lead to his ultimate downfall.

In 1914, Griffith released and independent film which would go onto be the first worldwide

blockbuster movie, "The birth of a nation". However, even with his extraordinary new editing style where he implements all his techniques, the film was horrifyingly racist as it supported the KKK. Censorship boards asked for alterations and states banned the film. This was due to the riots at premieres in states such as Boston, Atlanta and Chicago. He went on to create a film costing him 2.5 million dollars named Intolerable, inspired by his thoughts on the riots as he took it as a personal attack. He would go onto die, never paying off the debt of the film due to it doing awful at box office.

With all these pioneers and their inventions, they created the structure of Hollywood continuity editing which would go onto evolve more in the future through the classical

cinema period and modern cinema.

While waiting to record my voiceover, I created a visual and audio table, stating what is going to be on the screen as I say something.

Audio and Visual Script:

To look for assets for my video, I created an asset list and referenced all my images and videos. These references will be in the credits at the end of my video essay.

Asset List:

References

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Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat. 1896. [Film] Directed by Auguste Lumiere, Louis Lumiere. France: Augiste Lumiere, Louis Lumiere.

Biography.com, 2017. Thomas Edison Biography. [Online]
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[Accessed 7 March 2022].

Canalblog, 2017. DAVID WARK GRIFFITH. [Online]
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[Accessed 7 March 2022].

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[Accessed 7 March 2022].

Clipart Library, n.d. Top Hat Cliparts. [Online]
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CLIPARTMAX, n.d. Cartoon,speech Bubble Free Vector - White Speech Bubble Png. [Online]
Available at: https://www.clipartmax.com/middle/m2i8N4d3H7N4G6H7_cartoon-speech-bubble-free-vector-white-speech-bubble-png/
[Accessed 7 March 2022].

CLIPARTMAX, n.d. X Mark Cross Computer Icons Clip Art - Red Cross Icon. [Online]
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[Accessed 7 March 2022].

Contis, E., 2019. Types of Shots in a Film: The First Tools to Building a Shot List. [Online]
Available at: https://www.careersinfilm.com/types-of-shots-in-film/
[Accessed 7 March 2022].

Famous Birthdays, n.d. George Melies. [Online]
Available at: https://www.thefamousbirthdays.com/photo/commons/6/63/wk_13580_8939_large.jpg
[Accessed 7 March 2022].

Filmow, n.d. Fotos | Edwin S Porter. [Online]
Available at: https://filmow.com/edwin-s-porter-a171138/fotos/
[Accessed 7 March 2022].

Ghorayeb, Y., 2012. Light and magic. [Online]
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[Accessed 7 March 2022].

Harding, J., 2018. Film Censorship and the 'McClellan Massacre'. [Online]
Available at: https://www.johnwharding.com/film-censorship-and-the-mcclellan-massacre/
[Accessed 7 March 2022].

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LearnAboutFilm, n.d. The 180 Degree Rule, Looking Space and Eyeline Match. [Online]
Available at: https://www.learnaboutfilm.com/film-language/sequence/180-degree-rule/
[Accessed 7 March 2022].

Macnab, G., 2015. Ingrid Bergman centenary: Why the Casablanca star's extraordinary career continues to shine on. [Online]
Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/ingrid-bergman-centenary-why-the-casablanca-star-s-extraordinary-career-continues-to-shine-on-a112146.html
[Accessed 7 March 2022].

Marcus & Millichap, n.d. Chicago Downtown Office. [Online]
Available at: https://www.marcusmillichap.com/about-us/offices/chicagodowntown-illinois
[Accessed 7 March 2022].

Mckay, L., 2019. magic wand PNG image with transparent background. [Online]
Available at: https://toppng.com/free-image/magic-wand-PNG-free-PNG-Images_99833
[Accessed 7 March 2022].

NATIONAL SCIENCE AND MEDIA MUSEUM, 2009. The Lumiere Brothers: PIONEERS OF CINEMA AND COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHY. [Online]
Available at: https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.3797bd674711dd3770caf744a0a4555c?rik=nyNYAfoIIBkE7A&riu=http%3a%2f%2ffilm110.pbworks.com%2fw%2fpage%2f12610310%2ff%2fda58f23f559e321b_large.jpg&ehk=z8XFuY706bawpz3Y4jXx328w1LDNqnz%2b9qY3azTkNhQ%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0
[Accessed 7 March 2022].

pikpng, n.d. White Icon Checkbox Png Clipart. [Online]
Available at: https://www.pikpng.com/pngvi/iTThwm_checkbox-white-icon-checkbox-png-clipart/
[Accessed 7 March 2022].

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pngwing, n.d. Movie reel illustration, Film Clapperboard Cinematic techniques, Clapperboard,film,Film elements, monochrome, photographic Film, design Element png. [Online]
Available at: https://www.pngwing.com/en/free-png-bwldj
[Accessed 7 March 2022].

Redfield, J., 2018. Person Editing A Video. [Online]
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[Accessed 7 March 2022].

Ron, 2017. Clock fast reverse 1080p. s.l.:s.n.

The Great Train Robbery. 1903. [Film] Directed by Edwin S. Porter. USA: Edison Studios.

The Haunted Castle. 1897. [Film] Directed by George Melies. France: s.n.

The Lonely Villa. 1909. [Film] Directed by D. W. Griffith. United States: Biograph Company.

Wikipedia, 2022. Hollywood Sign. [Online]
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[Accessed 7 March 2022].

Wikipedia, 2022. The Birth of a Nation. [Online]
Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_a_Nation
[Accessed 7 March 2022].

Workers Leaving The Lumiere Factory. 1895. [Film] Directed by Louis Lumiere. France: Louis Lumiere.

After recording my voiceover, I edited in Avid and added all my assets into the video. I made sure to reference all my images and videos at the end in the credits:

Final Product: