History of Acting

Origin of Acting
Little information about the origin of theatre has survived. The information we do have comes
from wall paintings, decorations, artifacts, and hieroglyphics that show the importance of
successful hunts, seasonal changes, life cycles, and stories of the gods. From these we see the
necessity of passing along the experiences of the old to the young through art, storytelling, and
dramatizing events. This practice gave the youth of a culture a guide and a plan for their own
lives.
Theatre emerged from myth , ritual, and ceremony. Early societies perceived connections
between certain actions performed by the group or leaders in the group and the desired results of
the whole society. These actions moved from habit, to tradition, and then on to ceremony and
ritual. The formulation of these actions, and the consequent repetition and rehearsal, broke the
ground for theatre.
According to the mythologist Joseph Campbell, rituals are related to three basic concerns:
pleasure, power, and duty. Power- influencing and controlling events- was often the intention of
rituals such as ceremonies to guarantee a successful crop or to please the gods. Usually societies
had rituals that glorified supernatural powers, victories, and heroes. Often supernatural forms
would be represented using costumes and masks. Rituals that were practiced as duty to the gods,
also brought entertainment and pleasure.
These rituals are accompanied by myths. The myths enter the storytelling tradition, gaining a life
beyond the original rites. This new life allows the myths to move towards entertainment and the
esthetic. These stories now are performed for their own sake and move towards theatre.
Through these rituals, leaders, or actors of sorts, emerged. These acting/leadership roles were
often filled by elders and priests. In addition, the beginnings of acting spaces or auditoriums
developed as a result of more elaborate rituals.
The earliest example of ceremony and ritual evolving towards theatre comes from ancient Egypt.
"Pyramid texts" dating from 2800 to 2400 B.C., contain dramas sending the dead pharaoh off to
the underworld. These dramas also the continuity of life and the pharaoh's power. There is also
the Memphite Drama, recounting the story of the death and resurection of the god Osiris, and the
coronation of his son Horus. The most important Egyptian drama, though, was the Abydos
passion play. Like the Memphite drama, the Abydos passion play concerns the story of Osiris.
The paramont egyptian myth, this drama was enacted at the most sacred place in Egypt, Abydosthe
burial site of Osiris. .Performed annualy from 2500 to 550 B.C. and full of spectacle, this
passion play is the first of its kind ever recorded and is the first example of theatre.
Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any
other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and,
usually, speaking or singing the written text or play.
Acting requires a wide range of skills, including vocal projection, clarity of speech, physical
expressivity, emotional facility, a well-developed imagination, and the ability to interpret drama.
Acting also often demands an ability to employdialects, accents and body
language, improvisation, observation and emulation, mime, and stage combat. Many actors train
at length in special programs or colleges to develop these skills, and today the vast majority of
professional actors have undergone extensive training. Even though one actor may have years of
training, they always strive for more lessons; the cinematic and theatrical world is always
changing and because of this, the actor must stay as up to date as possible. Actors and actresses
will often have many instructors and teachers for a full range of training involving, but not
limited to, singing, scene-work, monologue techniques, audition techniques, and partner work.
Greek theatre
The Greek theatre history began with festivals honoring their gods. A god, Dionysus, was
honored with a festival called by "City Dionysia". In Athens, during this festival, men used to
perform songs to welcome Dionysus. Plays were only presented at City Dionysia festival.
Athens was the main center for these theatrical traditions. Athenians spread these festivals to its
numerous allies in order to promote a common identity.
At the early Greek festivals, the actors, directors, and dramatists were all the same person. After
some time, only three actors were allowed to perform in each play. Later few non-speaking roles
were allowed to perform on-stage. Due to limited number of actors allowed on-stage, the chorus
evolved into a very active part of Greek theatre. Music was often played during the chorus'
delivery of its lines.
Tragedy plays
Thespis is considered to be the first Greek "actor" and originator of tragedy (which means "goat
song", perhaps referring to goats sacrificed to Dionysus before performances, or to goat-skins worn by the performers.) However, his importance is disputed, and Thespis is sometimes listed as late as sixteenth in the chronological order of Greek tragedians. Aristotle's Poetics contain the earliest known theory about the origins of Greek theatre. He says that tragedy evolved from dithyrambs, songs sung in praise of Dionysus at the Dionysia each year. The dithyrambs may have begun as frenzied improvisations but in the 600s BC, the poet Arion is credited with developing the dithyramb into a formalized narrative sung by a chorus. Three well-known Greek tragedy playwrights of the fifth century are Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus. Comedy plays Comedy was also an important part of ancient Greek theatre. Comedy plays were derived from imitation; there are no traces of its origin. Aristophanes wrote most of the comedy plays. Out of these 11 plays survived - Lysistrata, a humorous tale about a strong woman who leads a female coalition to end war in Greece. Greek Theatre Theatre buildings were called a theatron. The theaters were large, open-air structures constructed on the slopes of hills. They consisted of three main elements: the orchestra, the skene, and the audience. Orchestra: A large circular or rectangular area at the center part of the theatre, where the play, dance, religious rites, acting used to take place. Skene: A large rectangular building situated behind the orchestra, used as a backstage. Actors could change their costumes and masks. Earlier the skene was a tent or hut, later it became a permanent stone structure. These structures were sometimes painted to serve as backdrops. Rising from the circle of the orchestra was the audience. The theatres were originally built on a very large scale to accommodate the large number of people on stage, as well as the large number of people in the audience, up to fourteen thousand. Acting The cast of a Greek play in the Dionysia was comprised of amateurs, not professionals (all male). Ancient Greek actors had to gesture grandly so that the entire audience could see and hear the story. However most Greek theatres were cleverly constructed to transmit even the smallest sound to any seat. Costumes and Masks The actors were so far away from the audience that without the aid of exaggerated costumes and masks. The masks were made of linen or cork, so none have survived. Tragic masks carried mournful or pained expressions, while comic masks were smiling or leering. The shape of the mask amplified the actor's voice, making his words easier for the audience to hear. Roman Theatre The theatre of ancient Rome was a diverse and interesting art form, ranging from festivalperformances of street theatre and acrobatics, to the staging of Plautus's broadly appealing situation comedies, to the high-style, verbally elaborate tragedies of Seneca. Although Rome had a native tradition of performance, the Hellenization of Roman culture in the 3rd century BC had a profound and energizing effect on Roman theatre and encouraged the development of Latin literature of the highest quality for the stage. Roman drama was highly influenced by Greek drama. Roman playwrights included Seneca for tragedy and Plautus and Terence for comedy. Two of the most famous plays of the Roman Theatre were the Menaechmi by Plautus and Oedipus by Seneca. Roman dramas had two sets of actors. There was an actor who spoke the character's lines and a different actor mimed the part on stage. The gestures used were also stylized to emphasize the lines as were the masks that they wore. Roman Theatre props would have included easily moveable objects such as weapons including swords and daggers, goblets and plates, stools, torches, blood soaked clothing, wine or ale containers, whips, helmets, armor, false jewels, crowns and wreaths, skulls and bones, animal furs, standards and banners, caskets and containers and flowers and petals. Larger props might include larger items of furniture, statues, exotic plants and even trees. The scena was a partition reaching across the theatre and was made either to turn round or draw up, to present a new prospect to the spectators. The audience seating portion of the Roman theatre was called the Cavea and arrange in wedgeshaped seating sections. In the early Roman Republic (before the emperors emerged after Julius Caesar), women did not enter the profession; it was considered inappropriate for them. However, in the Imperial period, a number of women became famous actresses, and earned reputations as infamous as their male counterparts.Roman actors had bad reputations and their morals challenged even the decadence of Roman society. Their performances could be lewd, highly sexual and offensive, and they sometimes even appeared naked on stage and engaged in sexual acts. The Roman theatre was laid out like a Greek theatre. There was a backstage area, seating arrangements for the audience, and an orchestra. The Roman stage went through many different stages before reaching the form we all recognize today.[citation needed] Theatres started out as simple, temporary wooden structures. The layout of the stage was the same as in later stone stages: three doors, opening to the brothel, temple, and hero's house. The stage itself was enclosed by wings at each side, and the scene house had a roof. Sanskrit Drama The Mahābhāṣya by Patañjali contains the earliest reference to what may have been the seeds of Sanskrit drama.This treatise on grammar from 140 BCE provides a feasible date for the beginnings of theatre in India. Its drama is regarded as the highest achievement of Sanskrit literature. It utilised stock characters, such as the hero (nayaka), heroine (nayika), or clown (vidusaka). The major source of evidence for Sanskrit theatre is A Treatise on Theatre (Nātyaśāstra), a compendium whose date of composition is uncertain (estimates range from 200 BCE to 200 CE) and whose authorship is attributed to Bharata Muni. The Treatise is the most complete work of dramaturgy in the ancient world. It addresses acting, dance, music, dramatic construction, architecture, costuming, make-up, props, the organisation of companies, the audience, competitions, and offers a mythological account of the origin of theatre.[11] In doing so, it provides indications about the nature of actual theatrical practices. Sanskrit theatre was performed on sacred ground by priests who had been trained in the necessary skills (dance, music, and recitation) in an hereditary process. Its aim was both to educate and to entertain. Under the patronage of royal courts, performers belonged to professional companies that were directed by a stage manager (sutradhara), who may also have acted.[12] This task was thought of as being analogous to that of a puppeteer—the literal meaning of "sutradhara" is "holder of the strings or threads". The performers were trained rigorously in vocal and physical technique. There were no prohibitions against female performers; companies were all-male, all-female, and of mixed gender. Certain sentiments were considered inappropriate for men to enact, however, and were thought better suited to women. Some performers played characters their own age, while others played characters younger or older than themselves. Of all the elements of theatre, the Treatise gives most attention to acting (abhinaya), which consists of two styles: realistic (lokadharmi) and conventional (natyadharmi), though the major focus is on the latter.

French New Wave

The New Wave (French: La Nouvelle Vague) is a blanket term coined by critics for a group
of French filmmakersof the late 1950s and 1960s.
Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their
self-conscious rejection of the literary period pieces being made in France and written by
novelists, along with their spirit of youthful iconoclasm, the desire to shoot more current social
issues on location, and their intention of experimenting with the film form. "New Wave" is an
example of European art cinema.[2] Many also engaged in their work with the social and
political upheavals of the era, making their radical experiments with editing, visual style and
narrative part of a general break with the conservative paradigm. Using portable equipment and
requiring little or no set up time, the New Wave way of filmmaking presented a documentary
style. The films exhibited direct sounds on film stock that required less light. Filming techniques
included fragmented, discontinuous editing, and long takes. The combination of objective
realism, subjective realism, and authorial commentary created a narrative ambiguity in the sense
that questions that arise in a film are not answered in the end
Alexandre Astruc's manifesto, "The Birth of a New Avant-Garde: The Camera-Stylo", published
in L'Écran on 30 March 1948, outlined some of the ideas that were later expanded upon
by François Truffaut and the Cahiers du cinéma. It argues that "cinema was in the process of
becoming a new means of expression on the same level as painting and the novel:" "a form in
which an artist can express his thoughts, however abstract they may be, or translate his
obsessions exactly as he does in the contemporary essay or novel. This is why I would like to
call this new age of cinema the age of the 'camera-stylo.
Some of the most prominent pioneers among the group, including François Truffaut, Jean-Luc
Godard, Éric Rohmer, Claude Chabrol, and Jacques Rivette, began as critics for the famous film
magazine Cahiers du cinéma. Cahiers co-founder and theorist André Bazin was a prominent
source of influence for the movement. By means of criticism and editorialization, they laid the
groundwork for a set of concepts, revolutionary at the time, which the American film critic
Andrew Sarris called auteur theory.The auteur theory holds that the director is the "author" of his
movies, with a personal signature visible from film to film.
Characteristics
The movies featured unprecedented methods of expression, such as long tracking shots . Also,
these movies featured existential themes, such as stressing the individual and the acceptance of
the absurdity of human existence. Filled with irony and sarcasm, the films also tend to reference
other films.
Many of the French New Wave films were produced on tight budgets; often shot in a friend's
apartment or yard, using the director's friends as the cast and crew. Directors were also forced to
improvise with equipment (for example, using a shopping cart for tracking shots). The cost of
film was also a major concern; thus, efforts to save film turned into stylistic innovations. For
example, in Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless , after being told the film was too long and he must cut
it down to one hour and a half he decided to remove several scenes from the feature using jump
cuts, as they were filmed in one long take. Parts that did not work were simply cut from the
middle of the take, a practical decision and also a purposeful stylistic one.
The cinematic stylings of French New Wave brought a fresh look to cinema with improvised
dialogue, rapid changes of scene, and shots that broke the common 180° axis of camera
movement. In many films of the French New Wave, the camera was used not to mesmerize the
audience with elaborate narrative and illusory images, but rather to play with audience
expectations. Godard was arguably the movement's most influential figure; his method of filmmaking,
often used to shock and awe audiences out of passivity, was abnormally bold and direct.
As a result of his techniques, he is an early example of a director who was accused of having
contempt for his audience. His stylistic approach can be seen as a desperate struggle against the
mainstream cinema of the time, or a degrading attack on the viewer's supposed naivety. Either
way, the challenging awareness represented by this movement remains in cinema today. Effects
that now seem either trite or commonplace, such as a character stepping out of their role in order
to address the audience directly, were radically innovative at the time.
Classic French cinema adhered to the principles of strong narrative, creating what Godard
described as an oppressive and deterministic aesthetic of plot. In contrast, New Wave filmmakers
made no attempts to suspend the viewer's disbelief; in fact, they took steps to constantly remind
the viewer that a film is just a sequence of moving images, no matter how clever the
use of light and shadow. The result is a set of oddly disjointed scenes without attempt at unity; or an actor whose character changes from one scene to the next; or sets in which onlookers accidentally make their way onto camera along with extras, who in fact were hired to do just the same.At the heart of New Wave technique is the issue of money and production value. Finally, the French New Wave, as the European modern Cinema, is focused on the technique as style itself. A French New Wave film-maker is first of all an author who shows in its film his own eye on the world.] On the other hand the film as the object of knowledge challenges the usual transitivity on which all the other cinema was based, "undoing its cornerstones: space and time continuity, narrative and grammatical logics, the self-evidence of the represented worlds." In this way the film-maker passes "the essay attitude, thinking – in a novelist way – on his own way to do essays.

Italian Neo realism

 Italian Neorealism (Italian: Neorealismo), also known as The Golden Age of Italian Cinema, is a national film movement characterized by stories set amongst the poor and the working class, filmed on location, frequently using non-professional actors. Italian Neorealist films mostly contend with the difficult economic and moral conditions of Italian post-World War II, representing changes in the Italian psyche and conditions of everyday life, including poverty, oppression, injustice and desperation. Italian Neorealism came about as World War II ended and Benito Mussolini's government fell, causing the Italian film industry to lose its center. Neorealism was a sign of cultural change and social progress in Italy. Its films presented contemporary stories and ideas, and were often shot in the streets because theCinecittà film studios had been damaged significantly during the war. The first neorealist film is generally thought to be Ossessione by Luchino Visconti (1943). Neorealism became famous globally in 1946 with Roberto Rossellini'sRome, Open City, when it won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival as the first major film produced in Italy after the war. Italian Neorealism rapidly declined in the early 1950s. Italy's move from individual concern with neorealism to the tragic frailty of the human condition can be seen through Federico Fellini's films. His early works Il bidone and La Strada are transitional movies. The larger social concerns of humanity, treated by neorealists, gave way to the exploration of individuals. Their needs, their alienation from society and their tragic failure to communicate became the main focal point in the Italian films to follow in the 1960s. Characteristics They are generally filmed with nonprofessional actors—although, in a number of cases, well known actors were cast in leading roles, playing strongly against their normal character types in front of a background populated by local people rather than extras brought in for the film. They are shot almost exclusively on location, mostly in run-down cities as well as rural areas due to its forming during the post-war era. Neorealist films typically explore the conditions of the poor and the lower working class. Characters oftentimes exist within simple social order where survival is the primary objective. Performances are mostly constructed from scenes of people performing fairly mundane and quotidian activities, devoid of the self-consciousness that amateur acting usually entails. Neorealist films often feature children in major roles, though their characters are frequently more observational than participatory. The children play a key role in this, and their presence at the end of the film is indicative of their role in neorealism as a whole: as observers of the difficulties of today who hold the key to the future.Vittorio De Sica's 1948 film The Bicycle Thief is also representative of the genre, with non-professional actors, and a story that details the hardships of working-class life after the war. The period between 1943 and 1950 in the history of Italian cinema is dominated by the impact of neorealism, which is properly defined as a moment or a trend in Italian film, rather than an actual school or group of theoretically motivated and like-minded directors and scriptwriters. Its impact nevertheless has been enormous, not only on Italian film but also on French New Wave cinema, the Polish Film School and ultimately on films all over the world. Directors such as Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, and Luchino Visconti are pioneers in Neorealism

Cinema of Nepal

Nepal does not have a very long movie history, but the industry has its own place in the cultural
heritage of the country. It is often referred to as 'Nepali Chalchitra' (which translates to "Nepali
movies" in English). The termsKollywood and Kallywood are also used, as a portmanteau of
"Kathmandu" and "Hollywood"; "Kollywood" however is more frequently used to refer to Tamil
cinema.
History
The making of Nepali films is said to have begun with D.B. Pariyar's Satya Harishchandra,
which was the firstNepali-language movie to be shot. It was produced from Kolkata, India and
was released on September 14, 1951.Aama (meaning mother) was the first film produced in
Nepal and was released on October 7, 1964. It was produced by the Information Department of
His Majesty's Government of Nepal (now Government of Nepal). It was directed by Hira Singh
Khatri and the lead actors were Shiva Shankar Manandhar and Bhuwan Chand, who are regarded
as the first actors in the Nepali film industry.
The first film to be produced under a private banner was Maitighar, which was released at the
end of 1966 by Sumonanjali Films Pvt. Ltd.
The Nepal government established the Royal Nepal Film Corporation in 1971. Mann Ko
Bandh was the first film produced by the corporation; Mann Ko Bandh was followed
by Kumari (the first Eastman color Nepali film) in 1978, Sindoor in 1980, and Jeevan Rekha in a
series. Their success opened up the avenue for private parties to enter into filmmaking as an
industrial endeavor.
Golden era
After the 1980s, some relatively more creative films were made and they became successful, too.
Thus, filmmaking started to appear as a more viable profession and the number of productions
increased a bit. After the introduction of private companies in the Nepali film industry, the time
came when more films were being made and they were much more accepted by Nepali
audiences. Samjhana, Kusume Rumal, Lahure, Kanchhi, Basudev, Saino and Koseli. In 1990,
Nepal witnessed important political change. The people‘s movement brought the monarchy to its
knees and democracy was restored. The society started to become open and vibrant. This had an
important consequence for the fledgling film industry: It began to grow rapidly or even to
"bloat".
There was an unprecedented growth in the number of productions. Within three years, some 140
films were made. Distribution started to develop. Share in the existing market increased and the
market itself expanded. Cinema halls increased to more than 300. Nepali filmmakers became
optimistic of displacing Hindi films, which had dominated the Nepali market.
Conflict era
The start of the Maoist revolution in Nepal in the mid-1990s was the beginning of the downfall
of the domestic film industry. In the period of war and conflict, a very small number of films
were made, and audience numbers fell sharply. It resulted in lower budgets and even lower
performances, which resulted in even smaller audiences. In the later years of the conflict, the
production and release of Nepali films had almost come to a standstill. Many actors and
filmmakers left the country in search for work abroad.
During the 1990s, some filmmakers, mostly with non-fiction base, started championing a new
kind of cinema. They denounced the crude imitation of Bollywood aesthetics and demanded
indigenous aesthetics and a more realistic approach. They made some films which have received
some critical acclaim at home and some international recognition. Historic movies
like Balidaan and Seema Rekha made during this period were appreciated by critics and
audience.
In 2001, the highest-grossing Nepali film Darpan Chaya was made. It was directed by Tulsi
Ghimire .
Present situation
By 2006, as the situation in Nepal calmed down and with Maoists coming into mainstream
politics, the Nepali film industry started to return to its previous state. Today, more films are
being made and released. The production companies and those in the industry are enthusiastic
about the country's new situation. The return of peace has opened more venues for the shooting
of films, and the industry is seen to be making good use of this time to revive its image.
New generation moviemakers geared up to make sensible cinema with entertainment rather than
Bollywood inspired socio-actions. Kagbeni, Sano Sansar,Mero Euta Saathi Cha, First Love, Kohi
Mero, etc. are some of the fine examples of quality cinema in terms of presentation,
performance, story and technical superiority. However, they lacked in connecting with the
audience.
In January 2012, a film named Loot was released and emerged as a blockbuster. It broke most of
the commercial records that were held by the movies before it and turned into a phenomenon
among the youth of the country. It was the first movie in decades to be screened more than 100
days in the cinema halls.. Kohinoor emerges as a highest grossing Nepali film .
Film Development Board
The Film Development Board (FDB) was established by the Government of Nepal for the development and promotion of the Nepali film industry. The Board is a liaison to facilitate the conceptualization, making, distribution and exhibition of Nepali films nationally. The Board attempts to bridge the gap between film entrepreneurship and government bureaucracy. The Board is a balance between the people at large, the government, and the process of filmmaking. It is intended to act as the safeguard of the interests of the people, the watchdog of the government, and the advocate of filmmakers

Persistence of vision

This article is about the optical illusion. For other uses, see Persistence of vision (disambiguation).

"Persistence of Exposure" as a visual art form, using an array of lights, waved back and forth in space, with the lights controlled by wearable computer^[1]

Persistence of vision refers to the optical illusion whereby multiple discrete images blend into a single image in the human mind and believed to be the explanation for motion perception in cinema and animated films. Like other illusions of visual perception, it is produced by certain characteristics of the visual system.

History

Narrowly defined, the theory of persistence of vision is the belief that human perception of motion (brain centered) is the result of persistence of vision (eye centered). That version of the theory was disproved in 1912 by Wertheimer^[2] but persists in citations in many classic and modern film-theory texts.^[3][4][5] A more plausible theory to explain motion perception (at least on a descriptive level) are two distinct perceptual illusions: phi phenomenon and beta movement.

A visual form of memory known as iconic memory has been described as the cause of this phenomenon.^[6] Although psychologists and physiologists have rejected the relevance of this theory to film viewership, film academics and theorists generally have not. Some scientists nowadays consider the entire theory of iconic memory a myth.^[7]

When contrasting the theory of persistence of vision with that of phi phenomena, an understanding emerges that the eye is not a camera and does not see in frames per second. In other words, vision is not as simple as light registering on a medium, since the brain has to make sense of the visual data the eye provides and construct a coherent picture of reality. Joseph Anderson and Barbara Fisher argue that the phi phenomena privileges a more constructionist approach to the cinema (David Bordwell, Noël Carroll, Kirstin Thompson) whereas the persistence of vision privileges a realist approach (André Bazin, Christian Metz, Jean-Louis Baudry).^[7]

The discovery of persistence of vision is attributed to the Roman poet Lucretius, although he only mentions it in connection with images seen in a dream.^[8] In the modern era, some stroboscopic experiments performed by Peter Mark Roget in 1824 were also cited as the basis for the theory.^[9]

Film systems

Main article: Frame rate

Persistence of vision is still the accepted term for this phenomenon in the realm of cinema history and theory. Early practitioners tried different frame rates, and chose a rate of 16 frames per second (frame/s) as high enough to cause the mind to stop seeing flashing images. Audiences still interpret motion at rates as low as ten frames per second or slower (as in a flipbook), but the flicker caused by the shutter of a film projector is distracting below the 16-frame threshold.

Modern theatrical film runs at 24 frames a second. This is the case for both physical film and digital cinema systems.

It is important to distinguish between the frame rate and the flicker rate, which are not necessarily the same. In physical film systems, it is necessary to pull down the film frame, and this pulling-down needs to be obscured by a shutter to avoid the appearance of blurring; therefore, there needs to be at least one flicker per frame in film. To reduce the appearance of flicker, virtually all modern projector shutters are designed to add additional flicker periods, typically doubling the flicker rate to 48 Hz(single-bladed shutters make two rotations per frame – double-bladed shutters make one rotation per frame), which is less visible. (Some three-bladed projector shutters even triple it to 72 Hz.)

In digital film systems, the scan rate may be decoupled from the image update rate. In some systems, such as the Digital Light Processing (DLP) system, there is no flying spot or raster scan at all, so there is no flicker other than that generated by the temporal aliasing of the film image capture.

The new film system MaxiVision 48 films at 48 frames per second, which, according to film critic Roger Ebert, offers even a strobeless tracking shot past picket fences. The lack of strobe (as opposed to flicker) is due to the higher sampling rate of the camera relative to the speed of movement of the image across the film plane. This ultra-smooth imaging is called high motion.

Computer monitors

Aside from some configurations used until the early 1990s, computer monitors do not use interlacing. They may sometimes be seen to flicker, often in a brightly lit room, and at close viewing distances. The greater flickering in close-up viewing is due to more of the screen being in the viewer's peripheral vision, which has more sensitivity to flickering. Generally, a refresh rate of 85 Hz or above (as found in most modern CRT monitors) is sufficient to minimize flicker in close viewing, and all recent computer monitors are capable of at least that rate.

Flat-panel liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors do not suffer from flicker even if their refresh rate is 60 Hz or lower. This is because an LCD pixel generates a continuous stream of light as long as that part of the image is supposed to be lit (see also ghosting). With each scan, the monitor determines whether a pixel should be light or dark and changes the state of the pixel accordingly. In a CRT, by comparison, each pixel generates a temporary burst of light, then darkening, in each periodic scan. The monitor activates a phosphor on the screen during each scan if the pixel is supposed to be light, but the phosphor fades before the next scan.^[10]

Cartoon animation

See also: Key frame

This animated cartoon of a galloping horse is displayed at 12 drawings per second, and the fast motion is on the edge of being objectionably jerky.

In drawn animation, moving characters are often shot "on twos", that is to say, one drawing is shown for every two frames of film (which usually runs at 24 frames per second), meaning there are only 12 drawings per second. Even though the image update rate is low, the fluidity is satisfactory for most subjects. However, when a character is required to perform a quick movement, it is usually necessary to revert to animating "on ones", as "twos" are too slow to convey the motion adequately. A blend of the two techniques keeps the eye fooled without unnecessary production cost.

Animation for most "Saturday morning cartoons" is produced as cheaply as possible, and is most often shot on "threes", or even "fours", i.e. three or four frames per drawing. This translates to only 8 or 6 drawings per second, respectively.

Printed media

Flip books similarly create an illusion of smooth motion when the book is flipped at a fast enough speed.

Sparkler's trail effect

The sparkler's trail effect occurs when one waves a lit sparkler, creating a trail of light. Although it appears that this trail is created by the light left from the sparkler as it is waved through the air, there is, in fact, no light along this trail. The lighted trail is a creation of the mind, which retains a perception of the sparkler's light for a fraction of a second in sensory memory.^[11]

Persistence of vision displays

See also: Thaumatrope, Phenakistoscope, and Zoetrope

A class of display device described as "POV" is one that composes an image by displaying one spatial portion at a time in rapid succession (for example, one column of pixels every few milliseconds). A two-dimensional POV display is often accomplished by means of rapidly moving a single row of LEDs along a linear or circular path. The effect is that the image is perceived as a whole by the viewer as long as the entire path is completed during the visual persistence time of the human eye. A further effect is often to give the illusion of the image floating in mid-air. A three-dimensional POV display is often constructed using a 2D grid of LEDs which is swept or rotated through a volume. POV display devices can be used in combination with long camera exposures to produce light writing.

A common example of this can be seen in the use of bicycle wheel lights that produce patterns.

Latent Image

A latent image is an invisible image produced by the exposure to light of a photosensitive material such as photographic film. When photographic film is developed, the area that was exposed darkens and forms a visible image. In the early days of photography, the nature of the invisible change in the silver halide crystals of the film's emulsion coating was unknown, so the image was said to be "latent" until the film was treated with photographic developer.

Psychoanalytic film theory

Psychoanalytic film theory is a school of academic thought that evokes of the concepts of psychoanalysts Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan. The theory is closely tied to Critical theory, Marxist film theory, and Apparatus theory. The theory is separated into two waves. The First wave occurred in the 1960s and 70s.

Precursors

At the end of the nineteenth century, psychoanalysis was created, and film happened to follow shortly afterward.^[2] André Breton, the founder of the Surrealist movement, saw film as a means of engaging the unconscious. Since films had the ability to tell a story using techniques such as superimposition, and slow motion, the Surrealists saw this as mimicking dreams.^[3]

Early applications of psychoanalysis to cinema concentrated on unmasking latent meanings behind screen images, before moving on to a consideration of film as a representation of fantasy.^[4] From there, a wider consideration of the subject position of the viewer led to wider engagements with critical theory - to psychoanalytic film theory proper.^[5]

Freud's concepts of the Oedipus complex, narcissism, castration, the unconscious, the return, and hysteria are all utilized in film theory.^[3] The 'unconscious' of a film are examined; this is known as subtext.^[6]

Gaze

In the early 1970s, Christian Metz and Laura Mulvey separately explored aspects of the "gaze" in the cinema, Metz stressing the viewer's identification with the camera's vision,^[7] - an identification largely "constructed" by the film itself^[8] - and Mulvey the fetishistic aspects of (especially) the male viewer's regard for the onscreen female body.^[9]

The viewing subject may be offered particular identifications (usually with a leading male character) from which to watch. The theory stresses the subject's longing for a completeness which the film may appear to offer through identification with an image, although Lacanian theory also indicates that identification with the image is never anything but an illusion and the subject is always split simply by virtue of coming into existence (aphanisis).^[10]

Second wave

A second wave of psychoanalytic film criticism associated with Jacqueline Rose emphasised the search for the missing object of desire on the part of the spectator: in Elisabeth Cowie's words, "the pleasure of fantasy lies in the setting out, not in the having of the objects".^[11]

From the 1990 onward the Matrixial theory of artist and psychoanalyst Bracha L. Ettinger^[12] revolutionized feminist film theory. Her concept The Matrixial Gaze,^[13] that has established a feminine gaze and has articulated its differences from the phallic gaze and its relation to feminine as well as maternal specificities and potentialities of "coemergence", offering a critique of Sigmund Freud's and Jacques Lacan's psychoanalysis, is extensively used in analysis of films^[14].^[15] by female authors, like Chantal Akerman,^[16] as well as by male authors, like Pedro Almodovar^[17]. The matrixial gaze offers the female the position of a subject, not of an object, of the gaze, while deconstructing the structure of the subject itself, and offers border-time, border-space and a possibility for compassion and witnessing. Ettinger's notions articulate the links between aesthetics, ethics and trauma.^[18]

As post-structuralism took an increasingly pragmatic approach to the possibilities Theory offered, so too Joan Copjec criticised early work around the gaze in the light of the work of Michel Foucault.^[19] The role of trauma in cinematic representation came more to the fore,^[20] and Lacanian analysis was seen to offer fertile ways of speaking of film rather than definitive answers or conclusive self-knowledge.^[21]

5 principles of editing

1. Contrast
2. Parallelism
3. Symbolism
4. Simultaneity
5. Leit motif

1. Contrast: cutting between two different scenes which are completely opposites to show the contrast between them. For example, cut from a shot of a man driving a car, to a man taking public transport to really show the difference.


2. Parallelism: here you can connect two pretty unrelated scenes by cutting them together and focusing on a certain object or item in the scenes. For example, a shot of man in New York dialing a number and then a shot of a phone in Egypt ringing. This would make these scene’s be related in the audiences head for later reference.

3. Symbolism: Again, more cutting between scenes, you move from your main scene to something which creates a symbolic connection for the audience. A good example of this would be a scene where somebody was getting bullied, and it cut to shots of a noose. This would show the audience that they are thinking of death/suicide because they are being bullied.

4. Simultaneity: This is used a lot in modern day: cutting between two simultaneous events to build up the suspense. For example – if in your film there is a part where the main character is running late for an exam. You could have shot of him running there and the exam hall where the teacher is waiting for him. This prolonging of time will build up suspense and will keep the audience interested in what is going on.


5. Leit motif: This ‘reiteration of theme’ involves repeating a shot or sequence at key moments for the audience to recognize. For example, in Friday the 13th, there was always a point of view shot from behind some sort of object looking at the victims. When this happened again the audience then recognized it

Documentary film

The word ‘documentary’ was derived from the French word ‘documentaire’ which means the documentation of any subject in the world. The name of the documentary film was especially given originally by British writer and film director John Grierson in the year 1925 only after watching the second film of Robert Flaherty, ‘Moana’.
In fact the documentary film should totally be based on the actual realities of the subject matter. This type of film should have no elements of imagination and dramatization as in the fiction films.
Writer and director John Ford has opined that a documentary film is the presentation of realities in a creative manner.
In the world history of cinema the first ever documentary film was made (written, edited and directed) by an American film director Robert Flaherty. The first documentary film was named “Nanook of the North” which was first released in Los Angeles in the year 1922 AD.
Nanook was the head of an Eskimo family who lived in the snow-capped mountains of the Hudson Bay of north east Canada. In the year 1919, Robert Flaherty had gone to that location with his wife to spend their holidays. The place had no house, no cultivation, no hotel neither any other facilities. But he found Nanook and his family struggling to live in the very cold and snowy place. Nanook had a very poor condition. He used to prey on walruses, a mammal. He had 4-5 children along with his wife and they kept 7-8 dogs with them. He had a spear and a chopper as his equipment for preying Walruses. The family had a sledge which was pulled by those dogs travelling from one place to another. Nanook used to construct an Igloo with the pieces of snow.
In the year 1919 AD, Flaherty picturized a few scenes of Nanook. Since the equipment were of primitive stage and the camera could be loaded with a very short length of negatives, he took it to Hollywood and whatever he had picturized, edited and kept safely in the years 1920,1921 and 1922 he went to the Hudson Bay again and again to finish the shooting. The footage of the documentary was edited by him and released in USA which was later distributed all over the world. As we know all the shooting equipment was of primitive stage, yet the quality of the film looks no less than a film shot in present time. Till the time of release of ‘Nanook of the north’, almost all films used to be picturized inside artificially constructed studios with tantalizing and twinkling lights and with highly decorated sets. The war films, mythological, social stories, religious and historical films were all picturized inside the studios not only in Hollywood, but also in England, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, etc.
Therefore, the release of ‘Nanook of the North’ made a great effect historically, being the first film to be shot outside the studios, in outdoor locations. ‘Nanook of the North’ in fact, showed a new path to the filmmakers of the world to shoot films outside, which can present more realities of life.
When Flaherty was shooting and editing the film, he did not know his film was made in the genre of documentary films. It was the British writer and director John Grierson who named such a kind of reality based film ‘A documentary Film’, but only after watching Flaherty’s second film ‘Moana’ in the year 1925. After that the making of such documentary films speedily grew in the world.
If cinema is the most powerful, effective and useful media of mass communication, the stream of documentary is definitely the best way of such powerful, effective and useful medium to the people (audience), society and the nation. We can picturize each and every aspect of the society in a documentary film in a real sense. To realize the mental conscious, to educate the people and society giving all kinds of information, the hazards of superstitions, the unequal feeling of class and untouchability, to show the real level of our mental standards and to uplift the thinking of people is very much easy by showing these things in a documentary film.

Not only that, to the five the information of the works of development and construction works, to teach the people regarding the scientific ways of agriculture, health, sanitation or the feeling of nation building is possible making documentary films. It is also useful for preserving our cultural, religious, historical and architectural aspects. We can promote the tourism values by making the documentary films. We have natural prides like higher and higher snow-capped mountains, flora and fauna, hills, arable Terai, beautiful hills, green forests where varieties of birds and animals living inside- we can picturize the properties not only to show and inform our countrymen but to the outer world also in a documentary film. The developments of the industries, education, communication and transport system as well.
In fact, we can make documentary films in almost all subjects existing in the world. It could be made in a very tiny thing to a very huge subject also. Most of the documentary film makers of the world take the following subject to make their documentary films -
• Industries
• Profession
• Tourism
• Scientific developments
• Education
• Sports
• Health
• Agriculture
• Biographical
• War and peace
• Political system
• Art and culture
• Commerce and trade
• Construction and development works
• Nature, wild life
• Important events, incidents, accidents, natural calamities, festive occasions, etc.

Some example of classic documentary films of yester year
• Nanook of the North (1992) - Robert Flaherty, U.S.A.
• Moana (1925)- Robert Flaherty, 1925
• Berlin: Symphony Of A City, 1929- Walter Ruttman, Germany
• The Drifters (1929) – John Grierson, U.K.
• Turksido(1928) – Victor Turim, Russia
• The Earth(1929)- Alexander Dovzenko, Russia
• The General Lime(1929)- Sergei Mikhailovitch Eisentein, Russia
• The People Of Niece(1929) – Jean Vigo, Italy
• Louisiana Story(1946-1948)- Robert Flaherty,U.S.A
• The Glass(1958) – Bert Haanstra, Netherlands(Holland)
• Night And Fog(1955) – Allen Resnais, France
• Hearts And Minds (1974) – Peter Daris, USA
• The Hour Of Furnaces (1968) - Fernando Solanes And Octario Gelino( Argentina)
(Duration: 4 Hours 20 Mins, 11 International Awards Winner)

Semiotics of Cinema

Generally, in the simole words, the literary meaning of ‘Semiotics’ is the study of signs and symbols and (the study) of their meaning and use pertaining to the art of cinema.
The study of cinema as an art – the study of cinematographic expressiveness – can be conducted according to methods derive from linguistics because cinema is also a specific language.
The ‘language’ indicates language in general viz – English, French, urdu, Japanese etc., that is, the human linguistic capacity – and their “language system” is the social aspect of language, where as “speech” is utterance, the actual practice, of a language system.
When approaching the cinema from the linguistic point of view, it is difficult to avoid shuttling back and forth between two positions” the cinema as a language; the cinema as infinitely different from verbal language. One must not forget their cinema tells us continuous stories; it “says” things that could be conveyed also in the language of words, yet it says them differently. There is reason for the possibility as well as for the necessity of adaptations.
Still photography – a close relative to film, or else some very old and very distant second cousin – was never intended to tell stories- whenever it does, that is imitating the cinema, by deploying the successively that film unfolds in time. Even if the photography wants to tell a story it becomes cinema where two juxtaposed photographs when go from one to two images, is to go from image to language.
The film montage – whether its role is the triumphant one of yesterday or the more modes one of today – and the film narratives – a triumphant now as it was in the part are only the consequences of the current of induction that refuses not to flow whenever two poles are brought, sufficiently close together and occasionally even when they are quite far apart. The cinema is language, above and beyond and particular effect of montage. It is not because the cinema is language that is can tell such fine stories but rather is has become language because it has told such fine stories.
The semiotic of cinema can be conceived of either as a semiotics of connotation [to suggest something in addition to the main means (connoting disapproval or derogatory) an idea suggested or implied by a word in addition to its main meaning]
Any kind of same scene filmed in two different light would produce a different impression and so would be the same technique used on a a different subject.
We know since the observations of theoretician like Bela Balazs, Andre Malraux, Edgar Morin, Jean Mitry and many others that the cinema was not a specific language from its inception. Before becoming the means of expression familiar to us if it was a simple means of mechanical recordain, preserving, and reproducing moving visual spectacles whether of life, of the theatre or even of small mise-en-scene which were specially prepared and which in the final analysis remained theatrical – in short a means of reproduction. Even the pioneers of “cinematographic language” – Milies, Porter, Griffith – could not have cared less about formal research conducted for its own sake; they cared little about the symbolic philosophical or human “message” of their films. But with the fast growth of cinema as a populat art of mass communication, now a days, the basic figures of thhe semiotics of cinema – montage, camera movements, scale of shots, relationship between the image and speech, sequence and the lasrge syntagmatic units (grammar fules) have become the whole same in “small” films and in “big” or as a semiotics of denotation (to be a sign or symbol of something, to indicate something, to mean something).
The study of connotation brings us closer to the notion of the cinema as an art.
The art of cinema is located art: the property aesthetic orderings and constrains – versification ( the art of writing verse), composition, tropes [ a word or phrase used in a way (gfigurative), or metaphor] in the case; framin, camera movements and light “effects” in the second-    served as the connoted instance, which is superimposed over the denoted meaning. In cinema the semiotics of connotation are represented by the meaning of spectacle reproduced in the image, or of the sounds duplicated by the sound track.
As for connotation, which plays a major role in all aesthetic languages, its significance is literary or cinematic “style”, genre (the Epic, the western and, “symbol” (philosophical, humanitarian, ideological, and so on ), or “portic atmosphere” – and its signifier is the whole denotated semiological material, wheter signified or signifying.