The Shot: Cinematographic

Properties

The Day the Earth Stood Still

(1951)copyright © Errol Vieth, 2002

References 1

• Bordwell and Thomson 2001 Film Art: An Introduction 6th ed. chapter 7.

• Vieth 2002 Screening Science p69—71, 176—9, 185—210.

References 2

• http://www.hedweb.com/markp/ufofilm.htm An exploration of the relationship between SF and UFOs.

• http://homepages.unl.ac.uk/sofia/camera/cinemato.htmlWhat does a cinematographer do? Click through ‘elements’ as well.

• http://us.imdb.com/Title?Day+the+Earth+Stood+Still,+The+(1951)Internet Movie Database Information

• http://students.db.erau.edu/~hallm/docs/ufo.html A comprehensive list of UFO links.

Cinematography & Mise-en-scene

• Mise-en-scene contains all elements that revolve around the staging of a shot; that is what is in the shot.

• Cinematography is concerned with how the shot is taken; that is.– Photographic aspects of the shot– Framing of the shot– Duration of the shot

1) Photographic aspects

• Tonalities– Contrast

• Colour film has different contrasts.

• Exposure also affects contrast.

• Speed of motion– Fast motion– Slow motion

2) Photographic Aspects

• Perspective– Focal length

• Short focal length (wide angle; ≤ 35mm)

• Middle focal length (normal; 35-50mm)

• Long focal length (telephoto: ≥ 50mm)

– Depth of field and focus• Is the range of distances where the subject is in focus.

Short focal length, greater depth of field.

• Racking focus

• Deep focus

Framing• Why is the frame important?• Frame dimensions and shape

– (aspect ratio: frame width to frame height)– Early days through to 1950s—1.33:1

• Academy ratio• Television standard

– Widescreen since 1950s• Most common—1.85:1• Cinemascope—2.35:1• 70mm—2.2:1 or 2:1

Framing (2)

• Onscreen and Offscreen space: six offscreen spaces– Four frame edges– Behind the set– Behind the camera

QuickTime™ and aSilicon Graphics JPEG decompressorare needed to see this picture.

Framing (3)

• Angle– angle of framing. high, straight on, low

• Level– sense of reality incurred by level framing

• Height– of the camera

Framing (4)

• Distance– extreme long shot: humans barely visible

– long shot: background dominates, figures visible

– medium long shot: humans framed from knees up

– medium shots

– medium shot: body from the waist up

– medium close up: body from the chest up

– close-up: heads, hands or feet only

– extreme close-up: portion of face magnified

Frames and meaning

• Attaching absolute meaning to framing devices is faulty.

• Frames can have important narrative functions.

The mobile frame

• pan: camera head swivels from left to right

• tilt: camera head swivels up and down

• tracking (dolly): camera moves along the ground in any direction

• crane: camera moves above ground level, rising or descending

• hand-held: realistic effect

The Day the Earth Stood Still.

The truth is out there.

• Sound FX are similar to other films of the time, that is, eerie music.

• There is no 'news magazine' opening, significantly. Begins like the radio version of War of the Worlds but here we have the film of the radio announcers so we know the events are not real, unlike many in the audience of the radio version of War of the Worlds.

• Like other contemporary films stock footage shows troops, tanks, military, artillery seeming to materialise when a spaceship lands in Washington.

• "We have come to visit you in peace and with good will."

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

• Great SFX. Klaatu, out of his space suit, looks like a normal man, an interesting representation as it doesn't rely on physical strangeness for its effect unlike some contemporary films.

• The doctors explaining Klaatu's physical anatomy are all smokers.

• Klaatu becomes Carpenter in an intertextual reference to Jesus Christ who is believed to have been a carpenter. The boy Bobby believes Professor Barnhard is the greatest scientist in the world because he explains science.

• "It isn't faith that makes good science, it's curiosity." Professor Barnhard

• Klaatu goes to a scientist to get a hearing as the politicians won't listen to him.

The USA and the Messiah

• At one point Klaatu opines, "Violence is the only thing people understand".

• "We scientists are too often misunderstood or ignored", says Barnhard at another point in the film.

• Klaatu will annihilate the Earth if Earth does not join them. But earth will destroy itself anyway, so what's the point of his threats?

• How will these problems be solved? What sort of organisation will be able to address the problems Klaatu refers to?

• What kind of rules govern the universe that Klaatu comes from?