VM100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Lastminute.Com, Bethulia, D. W. Griffith
1 Jul 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
VM 100 History of Media Arts !
Prof. Michael Selig
Semester 1 Lecture 4
Conventions in continuity editing
-In support of suspension of disbelief
-Birth of a Nation employs analytical editing- medium shots and close ups in same sets of action
instead of proscenium arch style
180 Degree Rule
-Action axis- 180-degree line
-Don’t cross the action axis between shots
-Chase scene
30 Degree Rule
-Changing camera angles between shots- anywhere between 30 and 45 degrees to create a sense
of matching action (ie; shot reverse shot editing)
Point of view shot editing
-Eye-line match
-For identification and judgement
Middle-class entertainment Mid-teens: Picture Palaces, Feature Length-films, End of MPPC
(Motion Picture Patents Company), Theatrical Melodrama, Mutual vs. Ohio (1915)
Nickelodeons- 1905 through the mid-teens, widely popular in lower income neighborhoods
(outside pressure things film enforces agenda of crime so they’re not in wealthy neighborhoods).
Over 10,000 nickelodeons in a span of several years
“Picture palaces”- Large, elaborate theaters with decor and elaborate interior- first one opens in
1914, fits lots of people- a lot classier than original nickelodeons
Moral Reform and Mutual vs. Ohio- 1915
-Mutual film corp. sues Ohio board of censors
-State wanted censors in Birth of a Nation before film was allowed in Ohio…Mutual (distributor)
sues based on infringement of 1st amendment.
Supreme Court rules- “Motion pictures are a business, pure and simple”. NOT covered by first
amendment (artistic expression), overturned in 1952
Feature Length Films
-Italian imports in early teens feature length historical EPICS such as Cabiria and Quo Vadis to
the US
Document Summary
Birth of a nation employs analytical editing- medium shots and close ups in same sets of action instead of proscenium arch style. Changing camera angles between shots- anywhere between 30 and 45 degrees to create a sense of matching action (ie; shot reverse shot editing) Middle-class entertainment mid-teens: picture palaces, feature length-films, end of mppc (motion picture patents company), theatrical melodrama, mutual vs. ohio (1915) Nickelodeons- 1905 through the mid-teens, widely popular in lower income neighborhoods (outside pressure things film enforces agenda of crime so they"re not in wealthy neighborhoods). Over 10,000 nickelodeons in a span of several years. Picture palaces - large, elaborate theaters with decor and elaborate interior- first one opens in. 1914, fits lots of people- a lot classier than original nickelodeons. Mutual film corp. sues ohio board of censors. State wanted censors in birth of a nation before film was allowed in ohio mutual (distributor) sues based on infringement of 1st amendment.
