sight sound motion (one - eight)
Terms
undefined, object
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- structuring color
- to use color for a specific purpose
- color has three principal functions
- informational, compositional, and expressive
- informational aspect of color
- tell more about an object, helps render the scene more realistically, color can also help distinguish objects from one another
- the symbolic use of color
- symbolism must be known to audience because symbolic associations are learned
- the compositional function of color
- helps define screen areas and bring the energies of pictorial elements into a balanced yet dynamic interplay
- colors are said to harmonize best. . .
-
when they are close together, directly opposite each other, or in triangular configuration on the hue circle
nb. this concept is of little value in television and film - highly saturated colors
- bold, high energy less grey colors
- less saturated colors
- low-energy more grey colors
- the expressive function of color
- to make us feel a specific way; color can also provide drama and excitement
- color feelings
-
warm, high energy colors suggest a happy mood
cold, low energy colors suggest a somber mood - desaturation theory
- by desaturating to the point of omitting chromatic colors altogether, we can entice the viewer to participate in the event, to look "into" the event rather than "at" the event
- low-definition color
- subdued, desaturated color scheme or single hue; good at revealing or intensifying inner event. the less concerned we are about outer reality, the less important color becomes.
- black-and-white technique
- total desaturation renders the event low-definition, which forces the viewer into psychological involvement
- aspect ratio
- the relationship of screen width to screen height
- screen space
- what can be seen on the screen, fized borders.
- horizontal orientation screen
- standard television, film, and computer screens are this.
- standard television and computer screens
- 4 x 3 ratio (four units wide and three units high) establish as early as 1889
- letterboxing
- when showing a full frame of a wide-screen image on the normal television screen, leaves dead zoneson the top and bottom of the screen
- pillarboxing
- fitting a 4 x 3 format onto a widescreen (16 x 9) tv, leaves empty bands called side bars or dead zones
- digital stretching
- when an image is digitally stretched to fit the 16 x 9 ratio.
- digital squeezing
- to fit the wide screen image onto the standard 4 x 3 ratio, the image is squeezed and people look thinner and taller
- changing aspect ratio through artificial masking
- changing the aspect ratio by masking certain parts of the screen
- changing aspect ratio through natural masking
- rather than artificially block the sides of a movie screen to change its aspect ratio, we can use scenic objects such as buildings or trees as masking devices.
- changing aspect ratio with secondary frames
- through digital video effects (dve) we can create many secondary picture areas within the television screen, each of which may have a different aspect ratio
- size reference to human being
- human being helps to judge actual size of objects
- screen area as a size reference: close up
- makes objects appear larger
- screen area as a size reference: long shot
- makes objects appear smaller
- size constancy
- we perceive people and their environments as normal sized regardless of whether they appear on a large movie screen or a small television screen or in a long shot or a close-up
- basic purpose of lighting
- to manipulate and articulate the perception of our environment
- attached shadow
- inevitably fixed to its object - no amount of wiggling or turning will remove the shadow (assuming you keep it under the same lighting conditions)
- cast shadow - object connected
- when the shadow is still connected to its object. help reveal whether objects rest on another surface or are separate from it
- cast shadow - object disconnected
-
when the shadow is seen independent of its object. reveals whether the object rests on another surface.
nb. object connected cast shadows are not the same as attached shadows. - cast shadow - independent
- the farther away the object is from the surface, the fuzzier its cast shadow appears
- effects of cast shadows
- cast shadows can suggest locale and create mood.
- falloff
-
1) the brightness contrast between the light and shadow sides of an object and
2) the rate of change from light to shadow - fast falloff
- high change between light and shadow; spotlights produce fast fallow because the beam is highly directional
- slow falloff
- highly diffused light that has a subtle contrast between light and dark.
- elimination of falloff
- when all sides are equally bright. also called flat lighting. flash photography
- fast falloff: curved surface & edge
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edge: light to dark is sudden, signifying sharp edge or corner
curved surface: the light on the object surface changes gradually into its attached shadow - controlling falloff
- used highly directional or diffused light and by manipulating the fill light
- spatial orientation
- lighting reveals where an object is relative to its surrounding
- tactile orientation
- lighting for space is done primarily to orient us better visually
- facial texture: fast falloff versus slow falloff
- fastfallof illuminates texture and wrinkles, slowfalloff achieves the opposite effect
- outdoor illumination: day
- sky is bright, cast shadows are pronounced, falloff is fast
- outdoor illumination: night
- background is dark, shadows are prominent, and the light comes from obvious sources
- indoor lighting: day
- lighting is rather flat, slow falloff
- indoor lighting: night
- window area is dark, lamp is turned on, lighted for fastfallof, distinct shadows
- cast shadows tell time
- long cast shadows tell us the sun is in an early morning or late afternoon position. noon shadows are short. long cast = late evening early morning
- sun seasons
- winter sun is weaker and colder than summer sun, the light is more bluish, light at low angle even at noon, falloff is slow
- high key lighting
- an abundance of bright usually slow falloff illumination. bright and nonspecific, high overall light level, slow or no falloff, usually a light background
- low-key lighting
- highly selective lighting, very low overall light, specific lighting that has fast falloff, dense shadows, and usually a dark backdground
- eye level lighting
-
below eye level lighting has light under chin = ominous
above eye level lighting the light from above and is normal, think sunlight - predictive lighting
- helps indicate a coming event, drastic lighting change gives viewer a clue to coming (bad) event
- lighting
- deliberate control of light
- photographic principle
- this refers the triangular arrangement of key, back, and fill lights, with the back light opposite the camera and directly behind the object, and the key and fill lights on the opposite sides of the camera and to the front and side of the object. because the placement of the three main objects forms a triangle, this lighting set up is commonly known as triangle lighting.
- triangle lighting
- see photographic principle
- key light
- the principle source of illumination
- back light
- separates the figure from the background and provides sparkle
- fill light
- controls falloff
- side light
- light that comes from the side
- kicker
- light which comes from the back. it is an extension of the back light and rims the object from below what the backlight can reach.
- background light, or set light
- the light that illuminates the set and the background.
- chiaroscuro lighting
- lighting for fast falloff and for light/dark contrast. the basic aim of this lighting is to articulate space, to clarify and intensify the three-dimensional property of things and the space that surrounds them, and to give the scene an expressive quality.
- texture
- highly directional light and fast falloff helps emphasize texture
- organic function of chiaroscuro
- should look realistic
- baselight
- overall light level
- directional function of chiaroscuro
- use the light to direct the viewer's attention
- spatial/compositional function of chiaroscuro
- the light (high and low energy) should be distributed within the frame in such a way that they balance each other.
- thematic function of chiaroscuro
- lighting should emphasize the theme or story of the scene
- emotional function of chiaroscuro lighting
- to affect our feelings through lighting.
- chiaroscuro: rembrandt
- very selective lighting, only specific areas are carefully illuminated. the falloff is fast, but there is enough fill light to render the attached shadows somewaht transparent. the background is generally dark but partially illuminated to outline and set off the figures or to fulfill other orientation functions.
- chiaroscuro: cameo lighting
- cameo lighting is chiaroscuro pushed to its extreme. cameo lighting illuminates the foreground figures while leaving the background totally dark. the lighting is highly directional producing fast falloff with dense attached and sharply defined cast shadows. really bad for tv because it's so highly directional, can't track movement.
- flat lighting
- the opposite of chiaroscuro lighting. it uses highly diffused light that seems to come from all directions. very slow falloff and such highly transparent attached and cast shadows that we usually do not notice them. in flat lighting we are not aware of any principal light source. flat lighting shows the whole scene more or less illuminated. flat lighting is ideal for continuous action. flat lighting reduces texture. flat lighting looks flat, bad for spatial orientation.
- thematic and emotional functions of flat lighting
- flat lighting can suggest efficiency, cleanliness, truth, an upbeat feeling, and fun. news sets and game shows use flat lighting.
- silhouette lighting
- silhouette lighting is the exact opposite of cameo--light the figure and not the cameo--silhouette is lighting the background and not the figure. it emphasizes the contour of things
- solarization
- combining the postive and negative image
- posterization
- reducing the tonal range of an image to a few steps
- single camera lighting (aka film lighting or film-style lighting)
- used for discontinuous short duration action.
- barndoors, gobos, and flags
- things used to impede lighting, a blocking instrument! for the blocking technique!
- multiple-camera light
- continuous long duration action by performers in game shows, sitcoms, interviews, talk shows, or actors in studio dramas.
- standard aspect ratio
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4:3
also known as
1.33:1 - wide screen format
- 1.85:1
- HDTV aspect ratio
-
1.78:1
16 x 9 - Motion Picture aspect ratio
- 2.35:1
- why widescreen?
- landscape, establishing shots are supreme
- proximity
- when similar elements lie in close proximity to one another, we tend to see them together.
- similarity
- similar shapes are seen together
- continuity
- once a dominant line is established, its direction is not easily disturbed
- horizontal arrangement
- sugests calmness, tranquility, and rest
- vertical lines
- dynamic, powerful, and exciting
- magnetism and edges
- the edges of screens exert strong pull on objects near them. corners exert the greatest pull.
- small disc versus large disc
- a centered large disc creates an expansion effect while a small disc creates a compression effect
- asymmetry of the frame
- two sides of the screen are structurally unequal
- negative versus positive pull
- using the pull of the screen edges to achieve the desired effect
- graphic weight & graphic mass
- how large the object is in the screen. the larger the mass, the greater its attractive power. large disc attracts small discs
- diagonals
- read from left to right, give motion to the screen
- figure/ground principle
- the stable reference points (the background) and the less-stable reference points (the figures)
- superimposition
- placing two disparate images on top of each other to to create an ambiguous figure/ground relationship
- psychological closure
- our tendency to mentally fill in gaps in visual information to arrive at complete and easily manageable patterns
- gestalt
- the pattern that results from applying psychological closure
- contrast ratio
- the steps between the lightest and darkest picture areas
- vector
- indicates direction that has been established by implication or by actual screen motion
- graphic vector
- created by stationary elements that guides our eyes in a certain direction. the direction of a graphic vector is ambigous!
- index vectors
- created by something that points unquestionably in a specific direction
- motion vector
- created by an object that is actually moving or seen as moving on the screen
- vector magnitude
- determined primarily by screen direction, graphic mass, and perceived object speed. the larger the object and the faster the speed of the object, the graphic mass is, the larger its vector magnitude. strong or weak = high or low magnitude
- z-axis vector
- something moving or pointing directly toward or away from the camera
- continuing vectors
- when two or more index and/or motion vectors point in the same direction
- converging vectors
- point toward each other
- diverging vectors
- point away from each other
- stabile
-
stable stage of balnce
(symmetry most stable) - neutral
-
neutral stage of balance
(assymetry, leads to dynamic structure) - labile
- unstable stage of balance
- pemature closure
- when the visual elements of two nonrelated objects provide enough continuation of graphic vectors to be perceived as single closure
- illogical closure
- occurs when the visual elements of two nonrelated objects provide a continuation to be perceived as connected (antlers shot)