The History of Cinema

This week's lecture was on the history of cinema and the advancements - from the small screen to the big screen, from black and white to colour, from short films to feature length. While technology continues to develop, filmmakers are given more opportunities to express themselves creatively; the sky is the limit. Below is a brief timeline charting the progress of cinema up until the present day...

1906- first feature length narrative. Australian film Ned Kelly.

1927- introduction of dialogue. The Jazz Singer

1929- first all colour movie

1933- first drive in theatre

1937- Disney released Snow White. First feature length animated film

1939- TV introduced at New York trade fair

1952- introduction of 3D

1955- movies on TV

1956- first proper VTR

1963- 'percepto' vision, aromarama

1967- Sony introduces VCR and portapack

1970- IMAX debuted

1972- pay TV introduced

1985- first Blockbuster Video store opens

1986- Pixar makes first fully animated film

1995- Toy Story first feature length CGI film

1997- DVD video released.

5 W's & a H

For the task this week, I headed to my stash of DVD's and picked out one of my favourites, Lords of Dogtown, to analyse the way in which different shots are used to tell the story. It's a great film and highly recommend it to any of you reading this...

The close up answers the 'who':
This shot was used whenever one of the lead characters were delivering dialogue. Close ups are continuously used on the character of Skip Engblom while he talks to the skaters so that the attention is only on him and his words.

The mid shot tells the 'what':
The first mid shot I noticed was used on the character of Stacy Peralta while he puts new poly urethane wheels on his skateboard. This shot was used to show the action being performed.

The long shot reveals the 'where':
This shot is used particularly at the start of the movie when the boys are skating down the street and surfing at the beach. This is to highlight the location of the story, which takes place in Venice Beach, California.

The close up and wide shots answer to the 'when':
At the beginning of the film, a close up on the rising sun is used to show the audience that the following scene takes place at dawn. Later on in the movie, wide shots are used to reveal the time period in which the story takes place (the 1970s).

The big close up shot reveals 'why':
This particular shot was used on the character of Jay towards the end of the film. It revealed his true thoughts and feelings on the changes in his life since becoming a professional skateboarder.

The medium close up shows the 'how':
This shot is used throughout the middle of the film while the boys make attempts to break into the skateboarding scene as professional skaters. It is also used to show off their skating skills and tricks.

Below is the trailer, however I still recommend to you to watch the film in its entirety...

Scavenger Hunt!!

This week I found out the hard way that my heavy reliance upon such sites as Google and Wikipedia was about to come back and bite me when my tutor sent us on a scavenger hunt. The only catch was that we couldn't use the two aforementioned sites. Let's see how this goes...

1) What is the weight of the world's largest pumpkin? How long did it take to grow?

Joe Jutras of Scituate, Rhode Island, made it into the Book of Guiness World Records when he managed to grow himself a pumpkin weighing 1,689 pounds in just 87 days.
"I went on vacation for three days and came back and it was huge," stated Jutras in an interview, beaming as proudly as a new parent.
(http://salemnews.com/punews/local_story_273234042.html) (www.bing.com)

2) What is the best way (quickest/most reliable) to contact Lily Allen?

Ah, the ever-so-talented Lily Allen. Like any typical singing sensation, I figured Ms. Allan would have a fansite, so i typed her name in the address bar and found http://www.lilyallenmusic.com/lily/, which led me straight to links to her MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter and Forum. Messaging Ms. Allen through FaceBook would be considered the most effective way of contacting the star directly.

3) What is the length of a giraffes tongue?


A giraffes' tongue can grow up to a foot-and-a-half in length (21 inches)
(askjeeves.com) (Animal Facts)

4) How would you define the word 'glycomics'? In your own words, what does it really mean ? What does the term 'seagull manager' refer to?

Glycomics is derived from the chemical prefix for sweetness or sugar ("glyco-") and formed to establish genomics which deals with genes and proteins. carbohydrates in an organism is referred to as the glycome.
[source: The Free Dictionary]

Glycomics is the comprehensive study of glycomes (the entire complement of sugars, whether free or present in more complex molecules, of an organism), including genetic, physiologic, pathologic, and other aspects. Glycomics "is the systematic study of all glycan structures of a given cell type or organism" and is a subset of glycobiology.

[Source: Answers.com]

Put simply, the term 'glycomics' is the study of sugar molecules and structures of a particular organism.

The term seagull manager refers to a type of management style where a manager only interacts with employees to criticize their work or when a problem arrises.

[Source: WordSpy]

5. What was David Cronenberg's first feature film? Which of his films had Blondie in it?

David Cronenberg's first film was 'Transfer' in 1966, but his first feature-length film was 'Shivers' in 1975. [Source: FilmReference]

Debbie Harry (Blondie) first appeared in a Cronenbery film called 'Videodrome' in 1983
[Source: FreeBase]

6. When was the original 'Hackers Manifesto' written?

It was written on the 8th of January, 1986, by 'the Mentor'
[Source: www.bing.com]

7. Why do phone numbers in Hollywood films start with '555'?

Because no matter what area code you use, any phone number starting with 555 will take you to the phone company information line. That way, they don't run into problems by accidently picking someone's real phone number and having millions of people call them because they saw it in a movie or tv show.

It started in 1973, the same year the 555 directory assistance system began.
[Source: http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006012003316]

8. What is the cheapest form of travel from the Gold Coast to Sydney?

Travel.com.au is offering flights between Gold Coast and Sydney for $98. For other travel options and a travel plan, click here:
[http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/t_standard.aspx?PID=7644]

9. What song was top of the Australian charts this week in 1965?

SHAKING ALL OVER by Norman Rowe and the Playboys
[Source: http://poparchives.com.au/feature.php?id=101]

10. Which Brisbane band includes Stephen Stockwell on keyboard and vocals?

The Black Assassins

[Source: http://blackassassins.net/]

Lecture Reviews

"Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?"

In this week one's lecture, we looked at old media versus new media. The old media referred to includes landlines, hand-written letters and film, whilst the new media covers everything from mobile phones to the internet and its various uses. We were then introduced to the concept of converged technologies and communication.

'Every abstract machine is linked to other abstract machines,
not only because they are inseparably political, economic, scientific, artistic, ecological,
cosmic - perceptive, affective, acting, thinking, physical, and semiotic
- but because their various types are as intertwined as their operations are convergent.
Mechanosphere.'

The week two lecture delved into the history of computers and the internet, focusing on the key players and inventors who helped make this technology what it is today. From Charles Babbage's Difference Engine and Alex Turning's contributions to the computer, we covered every milestone in the development process of this technology. The lecture introduced us to Xerox PRAC, MAC and the combination of IBM and Microsoft. Once we were up to date on the history of the computer, it was time to turn our attention to the Internet and its various uses. From its role in the military during its early stages, the internet has come a long way. In this day and age, our lives revolve around it.

'Language of the Cinema'

In week three, we moved onto film as our focus. We were taught all about how different camera angles and shots contribute to telling the story in a film. They reveal the important facts, such as the 'who', 'what', 'when', 'why' and 'how'. Other rules of cinema were covered, including rules about head room, talking space, the rule of thirds and the 180' rule.

Language of the Screen

LANGUAGE OF THE SCREEN

Today's task required us to unearth the meaning behind the following terms: 'ECU', 'WS', and 'MS'. As a past film and television student in high school, I immediately recognized the abbreviations. After heading to google and using key words that were something along the lines of 'ECU' + 'MS' + 'WS' + 'film', i was rewarded with the exact result I was after at the website Film Directing and Film Making Tips. This handy site told me everything I needed to know about these three terms.

To further research on this topic, I also headed to Ken Stone's Final Cut Pro Website

BIBLIOGRAPHY:


Ken Stone's Final Cut Pro Web Site, The language of film by Michael Wohl, viewed 14 August 2009 <http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/language_of_film.html>


Film Directing and Film Making Tips for the Independent Filmmaker, Understanding camera techniques - shot size, viewed 12 August 2009 <http://filmdirectingtips.com/archives/165>

ECU - Extreme Close Up: For example, this focus in on the eye

MS - Medium Shot: The body from the waist up

WS - Wide Shot: This figure is shown in relationship to their surroundings

MLS - Medium Long Shot

MS - Mid Shot


MCU - Medium Close Up

CU - Close Up

BCU - Big Close Up

I also set out to find an example of a film that uses one of these types of shots. I went with the extreme close up because it is my favourite. Below is a scene from one of my favourite films Requiem for a Dream, which uses the ECU quite a bit...

Comparing Apples and Oranges: Computer History

Comparing Apples and Oranges...

As according to TechTerms, 'a computer is a programmable machine. This means it can execute a programmed list of instructions and

respond to new instructions that it is given. Today, however, the term is most often used to refer to the desktop and laptop computers that most people use.'

This revolutionary technology has evolved

so much in such a short time period. In order to appreciate the progress of the computer, we must first rewind time, all the way back to the 19th Century, when he invented the first digital computer. From this point here, the sky was the limit for nerds

and tech geeks everywhere...

1642 - At 19 French inventor Beliase Pascal invented the first mechanical calculator. The calculator was able to add and subtract.

1674 - Gottfried Leibniz of Germany designs a machine able multiply and divide.

1834 - Charles Babbage invented a mechanical computer, called a "difference engine". The difference engine could calculate and print the calculations. However this machine or the later "analytical engine" were not built in his lifetime. The construction of the difference engine was in London in the 1900s.

1835 - Samuel Morse invented the Morse Code

1837 - William Cook and Charles Wheatstone invented the telegraph

1855 - G. Schnetz creates a calculating engine which was displayed in a Paris Exhibition

1876 - Alexander Bell invents the first telephone

1889 - Herman Hollerith invented a tabulating machine.

1896 - Herman Holleritih funds a company (Tabulating Machine Company) which later becomes IBM

1911 - TMC is changed to IBM (International Business Machines)

1926 - The first television is invented by John Logie Baird

1937 - Alan Turing develops the theoretical computing machine concept

1949-50 - Printed electronic circuits are invented

1950 - Big computers

1953 - IBM starts building big computers

1954 - Fortran programming language

1960 - first email programme called mailbox

1964 - IBM first word processor

1965 - first minicomputer

1971 - Microprocessor

1972 - pocket calculator, email between two machines

1975 - portable computer

1984 - Apple Macintosh introduces the mouse and window interface, CD-ROM and cyberspace

1986 - the internet takes shape

early 1900's - Wired networks number over 7,500 worldwide, reaching people in more than 75 countries

1995 - There are 30 to 40 million Internet users in the world (estimated).

Source: Internet Timeline