Edwin S. Porter

Porter contributed the concept of continuity editing to cinema, and he showed how shots were the basic building block of a film to drive the narrative. His films contained both cinematic and narrative elements, and in his early years, he was known for taking ideas already in existence and reworking them with carefully constructed scenes. His work was so significant because he used some of the first examples of modern film techniques, like the application of cross-cutting and matching action in his film, "Life of an American Fireman". Porter's most impressive film was "The Great Train Robbery", in which he relied on a narrative structure with temporal repetition to depict that different scenes were happening at the same time, although they were shown successively. This film is considered to be the first in the Western genre, and Porter ended it with an innovative use of a close-up to depict a bandit firing his gun at the audience, which was a revolutionary framing angle at the time.

Bay Area Silent Film Roots

In the Bay Area, silent cinema has roots in the town of Niles, which is now present day Fremont. Aside from San Francisco which had always been a hub for movies at the turn of the century, Niles became its own Hollywood and housed the most successful silent film company in the Bay Area, the Essanay. This is thanks to the first Western movie star cowboy, "Broncho Billy" Anderson, who chose Niles as a perfect location to shoot his westerns, and went on to make over 350 films there. Niles played an important role in early cinema history because it helped Charlie Chaplin start his career as a filmmaker, instead of just performing in someone else's film. In fact, the Essanay company hired Chaplin when his contract ended at a rival film company in Hollywood, and he went on to make five films that cemented his movie star status.

George Melies

Méliès contributed the art of special effects to cinema, and he was also a pioneer in several aspects of the film industry, including being the first to use production sketches and storyboards. Méliès had a love for illusion and he previously worked as a stage magician, but he set out to learn the film craft after being inspired by the Lumière brother's cinematograph. From there, Méliès built the first movie studio in Europe, and he was known for helping make the sets and props. His work is so significant because he experimented with several techniques like superimposition, split screen, and double exposure, which are everywhere in modern cinema today. One of his most notable pieces, "A Trip to the Moon", is considered to be the first science fiction film ever made and one of the world's first blockbusters. It made Méliès famous in the United States, and he went on to make several other films that showcased his narrative ambition and spanned across all genres.

Tonight, Tonight

This music video is about a couple that embark on a journey in a zeppelin-shaped vessel, and they end up running into the moon. Once on the moon, the couple are confronted by a bunch of alien-like creatures that turn into smoke when they're hit. The couple end up disrupting the aliens and they must escape in a smaller rocket back to Earth, where they land in the ocean and are greeted by sea creatures, like mermaids and octopuses. I think the band and the filmmakers chose these images because they resemble early cinema and the backdrops that were created to make fantasy films. They are significant because at the time, film was new, and the experimentation of special effects like those seen in the video helped bring a wider audience to it. I think that this video is an homage to George Melies because he was the master of illusion and he created several films that resemble the music video, like "A Trip to the Moon", which has a similar set design and characters.

D.W. Griffith

At the time, "Birth of a Nation" received mixed feelings but altogether blew up in popularity and became one of the biggest box-office money makers at the time. White audiences felt it was an accurate depiction of history, and extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan experienced a revival because of the film, with more members joining than ever before after its release. On the contrary, African American audiences criticized the film and organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People expressed their disapproval toward it. They claimed that its portrayal of blacks was both vicious and racist, and they took action by rioting, denying its release in major cities, and filing lawsuits against it. In response to the public's reaction to his film, Griffith claimed he wasn't racist at the time, and he went on to make another film about human intolerance, titled "Intolerance". Regardless of all the controversy, something that's clear is Griffith pioneered several cinematic innovations in his feature film, including using outdoor landscapes as backgrounds, applying total screen close-ups, and using lap dissolves to blend from one image to another.

Early Film Scavenger Hunt

I found an early silent film called "The Haunted Castle" by George Melies. I thoroughly enjoyed it because an element of fantasy was introduced with the elaborate costumes and special effects, which I've never seen before from other films of the time. I was surprised that this short motion picture included special effects like smoke and the disappearing and reappearing of objects, because I didn't know the technology was around yet to make that possible. I thought the filmmaker did a good job with the overall story because it was easy to understand the dilemma of the main character as he tried to escape the spirits, skeletons, and witches that kept appearing. While searching for a video, I found that all of the ones I browsed over didn't have sound, and they all had a background that remained the same throughout the duration of the video. Although Melies' film had both these attributes, I still found it entertaining because there was so much action going on in the foreground, that it wasn't necessary to change the background, and on top of that there was a new surprise every couple of seconds.

Who Was The First?

Louis Le Prince was an early cinematographer who's credited with being the first person to create moving pictures, despite popular belief. Although that honor usually goes to Thomas Edison or the Lumiere Brothers, Le Prince's earliest work predates all of their films by over half a decade. He grew up with a background in art and established the Leeds Technical School of Art, before his interests moved to early cinematic innovations. The device he created was known as a single-lens cine camera, and it used paper-backed stripping film to record a moving picture of his garden in Leeds. Mysteriously, his achievements weren't recognized because he went missing before a scheduled public briefing about his technology. I'm surprised that there's still no explanation to where Le Prince disappeared to and nobody ever found his body, but I assume that back in his day it was a lot harder to find a missing person, or just a lot easier to cover up a murder.

The Lumiere Brothers

The Lumiere Brothers contributed their invention of the Cinematograph to the development of cinema, which allowed film to be recorded, developed, and projected onto screens for audiences. Before the Cinematograph, the Lumiere Brothers ran Europe's largest photographic factory, which gave them the knowledge necessary to design a new mechanism for motion pictures. Their invention was unique and revolutionary, as it was operated by a hand crank that ensured the machine was quieter and the images moved more fluidly across the screen. The Cinematograph was different than any of Edison's inventions because his Kinetescope could only be viewed by one person at a time, and it was to bulky to be taken outside the studio to film. With their invention, the Lumiere Brothers were able to show their films to rooms full of people, as well as record footage of local events, and train other camera operators on how to use the Cinematograph to capture images from all over the world.  

The Earliest Films

All of these earlier films are similar in that they're made in black and white, they contain no sound, and they generally last for less than a minute. They were all made by Edison and his company, and I presume he used his early invention of the Kinetograph to film them. Each short film is rather grainy, and the footage consists of one uninterrupted shot that has little to none camera movement. I think early filmmakers shot in this style because the concept of the motion picture was so new that just capturing people in motion was enough to entertain an audience. When comparing these early films to modern movies, they are so different because none of the films had camera or editing techniques that are so common in cinema today, like close-up framing or combining shots to tell a story.

Muybridge

Muybridge helped evolve motion picture by using a series of photographs to study different kinds of movement, as well as creating a device to project those photos. He invented the zoopraxiscope, which allowed similar images to be projected to create the illusion of motion. His work had a distinct flair with its repetition and contemporary feel, which went on to influence countless artists from Degas to Sol Lewitt and U2. In his early years, he photographed trees and landscapes, images that would go on to inspire world-class photographers like Ansel Adams. He also created an encyclopedia of motion where he photographed dozens of animals, people, and birds, with the intention of breaking down how they moved for science. I found Muybridge's life to be the most interesting because in the span of expanding the world of motion picture, he also murdered a man, abandoned his child, and still got acquitted in court.

Chronography

Marey's motion studies contributed to the development of the motion picture by creating a technique known as chronophotography, which allowed multiple successive images to overlap and create the illusion of kinetic motion. To achieve this, Marey shot his photos with a photographic gun that allowed him to shoot twelve frames a second. This technique was unique in itself because most images of action were separate free-frames, but Marey was able to construct a device with revolving photographic plates that portrayed the overlap of motion. His work is so interesting because he was fascinated by the anatomical movement of humans and animals, and he used his art to study unique features like flight and galloping. Since Marey was a qualified doctor and physiologist, he focused more on the science behind the motion, which allowed his work to help influence not only contemporary artists, but also scientific discoveries.

Innovations in Photography

Filmmaking wouldn't be around without the invention of photography because it made the concept of capturing an image possible, and it needed photography to come around first because filmmaking is directly based on how different still photos can be portrayed in a sequence to give the illusion of motion. One important innovation in the development of cinema was the dry plate process for photography, which proved that exposure rates could be sped up using different substances like gelatin. This idea helped develop the first moving pictures because they required a sped up exposure time, and the photography process showed it was possible, although it still needed to be shorter. Another innovation that aided the evolution of filmmaking was the flexible roll film invented by George Eastman, which allowed film to be more lightweight and resilient than other alternatives like glass. This type of film was the standard of photography for a century, and it helped contribute to film by serving as a more flexible medium that could pass through the camera rapidly enough to create motion. A final important invention was the Lumière Brothers and their invention of autochrome, which proved that color could be added to photographs to enhance their image, a process that helped pave the way for more sophisticated color processes and eventually, the addition of color in films.    

The Phantasmagoria

The Phantasmagoria was an early spectacle where illusions of spirits and ghosts entertained crowds and terrified them with horror and mysticism. It roughly translates to "a gathering of ghosts", and the show was achieved with a magic lantern on wheels that could not only project layers of images, but also move around to give the illusion that the figures were approaching the audience. The display was accompanied by smoke and eery sounds from a glass harmonica, which altogether helped achieve the unsettling feel. This spectacle helped adopt several elements into the development of movies, as well as heavily influence the realm of horror theater and films that followed. One such element was the incorporation of both audio and visuals to tell a story, which showed that different tones of music could aid to the audience's experience of watching a visual, as well as influence them to feel a certain emotion.    

Early Humans

In the caves, lighting was used used to illuminate different parts of the cave drawings, and to give them an impression of motion with the flickering. These paintings might've been used by primitive man to tell stories about their ancestors, and to honor spiritual beasts like the bison in a way that gave them movement with firelight. The Paleolithic artists who have studied the cave walls have determined that the two techniques used to create the drawings are juxtaposition of successive images and superposition. Juxtaposition refers to putting a similar image side by side to convey action like a comic strip, and superposition is when variations of an image are piled on top of one another to create a sense of motion. In my opinion, I think these images were used as a form of entertainment primarily for the younger population where they could gather by the fire at night, and hear stories from their elders.

Educating Clients

When creating a video for a potential client, it's important to educate them about how the video production process works, as well as the unavoidable costs and what they'll add to the project. In the first meeting you have with a client, it's recommended to learn all the facts about their vision, including the targeted audience and where the video will be used. Sometimes it's best to ask the client for samples of the style of video they're expecting, so you're on the same page and can understand what they're expecting. During that meeting, you should be honest with the client about costs and what you're able to deliver. Based on the meeting, you should use their responses to create a proposal document that reflects the scope and expectations of the project. Once production starts, it's crucial to keep the client up to date so they feel like they have ownership over the project. This can be achieved with a shared production schedule where they can sign off on every milestone reached, and prevent any surprises from arising. Also, one last important topic to discuss with your client is how the video will be delivered, including what codecs and containers will be used, as this information will ensure that there isn't confusion with the video you hand over.

Tips To Pitch

When giving a pitch to a development executive, some important tips are to be prepared, to know your audience, to refrain from overselling, and to be respectful. Preparation is a key proponent of pitching because you need to understand your concept fully, as well as be able to explain it in a way that hits all the key points. Before going into the pitch, it's important to know a little bit about your audience and the past projects they've produced, so you can foresee if your idea will be a fit with their comfort. Although there's not much time to pitch, you don't want to necessarily cram in information, as more is not always better when you risk overselling your idea. In addition, it's always a good reminder to be respectful because you don't want to offend an executive or annoy them, so it's best to keep your opinions to yourself. So far in my personal pitches, I've had difficulties with overselling my idea because sometimes I overload the pitch with every detail in my head, and it only confuses the audience even more.

Script Terms

Scripts rely on certain universal abbreviations as there's no need to write out the whole words, and it makes it easy to have less prose, and still be detailed. For instance, the common shot types all have an abbreviation whether that be LS for Long Shot, MS for Medium Shot, and CU for Close Up. These shots also have variations like an Extreme Long Shot or an Extreme Close Up, and that can be represented by a couple letters like ELS/EXS and ECU/XCU respectively. When regarding the talent and audio sources, the most used abbreviations are VO for a voice over when we don't see the narrator, VOC for a voice over when we do see the narrator, SOT for sound on tape, NATS for natural sound, and SFX, which can either mean special effects on the video portion or sound effects on the audio portion. Since camera movements are already brief, they're usually used by their full name like Pan, Tilt, Zoom, and Dolly, although it's important to note that not all scripts have those descriptions and they're used more in the shot list.  

Spring Semester Goals

Most of the goals I set for myself were focused on the entire year, and so I haven't achieved them yet, but I think I'm on the right track with the work I've done the first semester. My major goal was to complete a professional portfolio that showcased my work, and although I haven't gotten to that yet, I know it's something we focus on during the second semester. With that said, I was able to use some of my work from this class in a creative portfolio for college applications, so I feel like I was able to achieve a subcategory of that goal. In addition, I set a goal to create at least one film that addresses an issue that's close to home, which has been my focus for the public service announcement, and I'll hold myself accountable for getting that done. My final goal entailed broadening my appreciation for genres that I'm less interested in, and I think I'm a step in the right direction because there have been a couple viewings like "It's A Wonderful Life" where I went in skeptical, but stayed open and actually  really enjoyed the film.