Watch at least 3 films from Edison, Lumiere Brothers, and also The Impossible Voyage by Melies on your own. Don't forget to finish watching The Great Train Robbery as well. You can search for the films and choose whatever ones you want from Edison and the Lumieres. All of the Edison films can be found at the Library of Congress and can be accessed here. Please be sure to tell me the name of the film and who made it and answer the following questions:
- Do you notice anything particular about the film’s presentation of cinematic space—what you see on the screen? How does this differ from films you watch today?
- What does the filmmaker compel you to see? What is left to your imagination? What is left out altogether?
ReplyDeleteThe cinematic space in early cinema is presented almost like a play due to the fact that the camera could not be moved. The films tend to take place in very few settings and minimal set changes happen throughout. You tend to see a character in center focus and a set thats hand painted, all the narrative is presented visually with no audio causing the viewer to focus on the action the whole time. Films today have audio, set changes, multiple settings outside of a studio and have far less technological restrictions than when cinema began to take form. Film now is also much longer compared to then.
The filmmaker compels you to see the object on the screen and their every action because without the ability to hear dialogue, you have to infer based on the movements of the subject. All film elements related to sound are left for the imagination because the technology did not exist then. Also the progression of time, this was the case in A Trip To The Moon when they were launched on the spacecraft but there was no scene of them actually being in it on their travels. Overall, filmmakers tend to leave out close shots and include shot that keeps the entire set in frame.
I watched The Kiss (1896), Electrocuting an Elephant (1903), and Annabelle - Serpentine Dance (1895) from Edison and Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory (1895) and The Arrival of a Train (1896) from the Lumière brothers. The presentation of cinematic space in early cinema is almost like that of a play. Because filmmakers had limited technology at the time and the camera didn’t have much movement, most of the shots were set up like a stage with a painted background, so they were essentially filming stage productions like in some of Melies’ films. This differs greatly from the movies we watch today because now filmmakers have unlimited freedom with the way movies are filmed and presented, including countless angles, lighting, and camera movement.
ReplyDeleteIn the films Edison and the Lumieres made, the audience was compelled to see a simple action or event taking place, primarily creating an early documentary-style film. However, in Melies’ sci-fi/fantasy films, the audience is told a story through visuals only. Although the audience sees the main action on the screen that drives the narrative, they must infer certain details about what the characters are thinking or saying, or what space travel was like for the scientists.
In early films, the camera did not have the capability to move as cameras do today. In some of the later early films, the camera moves, but only slightly, or multiple different shots are used to show the angles of something. In the majority of early Edison and Lumiere films, the camera motion is almost nonexistent. An example of this is in Edison’s “Move On”, in which a marketplace is depicted, focusing on a bustling produce stand. The angle does not change, the camera just shifts to the right a bit to show the nearby street as carriages come in and then back to show the customer looking at the food. The shot is set up so that the viewer can see both the people in the marketplace and the carriages driving by. It shows everything in the same frame due to the minimal ability of movement. The film ends with a “close up” of a policeman telling the vendor to move. Instead of a close up shot because of a certain camera angle, the policeman had to move in closer to the camera. This differs from modern films due to the fact that cameras have a very wide range of motion now; up, down, left, right, front, back. The advancement of technology has also made it easier to capture scenes in different frames. Due to a lot of mobility, filmmakers can dolly into a certain character or object, they can take more effective shots from different angles.
ReplyDeleteIn both Melies’ “The Impossible Voyage” and Edison’s “Dog Factory”, the filmmaker compels us to see the set and story that is happening. Both films use handmade, yet cartoonish, sets that are reminiscent of those in the theater. They help establish a foreground, middle ground, and background. In “The Impossible Voyage”, Melies uses the scenery of the sun to have the train crash seem more realistic. He uses the women at the train station as a foreground, the train behind them as a middle ground and the set behind the train as a background. The result is further immersion into the film, as it feels more lifelike. Melies builds up his plot before having the characters board the train. The viewer sees who the people are, how they will get there, and the journey it takes them to do so. Edison’s “Dog Factory” has a similar use of space. The background is the hanging meat on the walls, the middle ground is the machine, and the foreground is where the customers enter and exit. Both uses of this contribute to the viewer’s focus on a certain, important object. In Melies’ film, it is the train. In Edison’s, it is the machine. However, “Dog Factory” leaves much to the viewer’s interpretation. Nothing is explained except for the machine and the meat. Questions such as “who are the men selling dogs” and “who are the customers buying them” are left unanswered.
The presentation of cinematic spce to begin with in "The impossible voyage"in similar to that of the presentation of space in live action plays.The width of most of the frames is similar to the frame of a stage. The frame is devided into the fore ground mid groud and backround which in this case is very devided.Macheinery is often depicted moving in the backround while large groups of people generally 8+sct in the mid ground.The fore ground is balanced with props.In the Early lumire films space is created beacause the films are shot outside.In the film where people coming of a boat is displayed the Boat is shown in the bachround and the bridge or causeway coming of the boat ends in the fore ground.The space where they conect is obscured but continuity is created by the assumption of off screen space.The brothers because of this dessecion were able to show the boat and people at equal stature in the frame without comprimising verisimilitude.One of the main differences between these films and the films Which are whatched today is that the camera doesn't move and the perspective of a stationary camera operator is consistant.The width of the shot in this instance is created by moving the camera towards or away from the subju.In "the impossible voyage the shot is always a medium shot , characters are shown from head to toe and take up a small fraction of the frame.This differs from today as we are used to a varration in the proximity of the camera.The presence of sound and color or lack there of is an obvious characteristic of the time period which isn't reflected in modern film for thd most part.
ReplyDeleteIn the "impossible voyage" there is strict focus of indstry which reflects the time period of the early 1900s.The lumiere films focus particularly on the relationship of people to industry. The reason for this seems to be that these films were aproached with a photographic mentality that is they tried to capture experiences of every day life to preserve in a document.In the "impossibel voayage" an apparent attempt is made to keep nondigetic details such as wires , lights , or set workers out of the frame.It seems that this idea to obscure the process was inspired by photography rather than life action plays where the process is only partially obscured.Shot to shot continuity is preserved in both the "train robery " and "The impossible voyage "where tranis are shown to move in continuos motion from pne frame to the next where orientation speed and direction is preserved.
(Dominique T)
ReplyDeleteIn early cinema, storytelling and editing are vastly different than they are in modern day. The camera was not able to move so there were few sets and not many visual cuts to different scenes. Due to the movies being silent, the audience must watch closely for objects used and the body language of the actor used to convey the story. Most shots are taken from a distance in order to see the actor’s full body, and close up shots are rarely used. At the time, technology was not advanced enough to digitally add effects, so if any were added, they were relatively simple and used the on-set materials to achieve the desired effect. If a character were to disappear for example, the cameraman would stop rolling the camera, ask the actor to move, then continue filming. In A Trip To The Moon, this technique was used when the wizards used magic to instantly transform the object they were holding. However, as time passed, technology has adapted and evolved in order to allow filmmakers more freedom in visual storytelling.