Space in Cinema Part 1: A Window Onto A World

Space in Cinema, Part One
A Window Onto A World
Edward Bowen
MTSU EMC 3000

Space
• Space in Cinema is defined by “the frame.”
• The frame is a two-dimensional boundary, a rectangle with height
and width, a window through which, at any given moment, a part of
the film’s world is revealed to us.

Space
“Cinema is a matter of what's in the frame and what's out.”
Martin Scorsese

Space
In an essay from 1929, “The Filmic Fourth Dimension,” Sergei Eisenstein
wrote about the impossibility of “the single-meaningness” of the film frame,
which “can never be an inflexible letter of the alphabet, but must always
remain a multiple-meaning ideogram.” And part of the frame’s meaning lies
outside of the frame itself, in the implied off-screen space that surrounds it,
accumulated in fragments from places the film has already taken us.
http://filmmakermagazine.com/49337-the-blue-velvet-project-143/

Space
Inside the frame is material, physical, specific.
Outside the frame is imagination, suggestion, memory.

Space
Inside the frame is material, physical, specific.
Outside the frame is imagination, suggestion, memory.
http://filmmakermagazine.com/49337-the-blue-velvet-project-143/

Space
Aside – The “frame” also defines time in cinema, but that’s a different
definition of frame. More on that later.

Space
The frame obviously comes in different sizes, depending on the
viewer’s choice of medium.

Space
An aside from Director David Lynch
http://youtu.be/wKiIroiCvZ0
http://youtu.be/BcNLEwf2pOw

Space
Movies are a two dimensional medium. As with the frame, there is
width and height, but all depth is an illusion.

Space
The frame also comes in a variety of shapes.

Space
The frame’s shape is described by a ratio of its width to its
height, its aspect ratio.

Space
Aspect Ratios
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_(image)

Space
Standard or Academy ratio (4 X 3 or 1.33:1). In adopting the 35 mm
format, early filmmakers established the standard aspect ratio as a
classical rectangle with a ratio of four units of width to three units of
height. Thus if the projected image is twenty feet wide it will be
fifteen feet high. This became the official ratio for American films in
1932.

Space
Aspect Ratios – 1.33:1 or 4:3 Academy Ratio

Space
Widescreen. Experiments in wider aspect ratios are almost as old as
cinema itself. Early filmmakers often employed mattes to reshape
their images WITHIN the 4:3 ratio, straining against the tyranny of the
frame.

Space
Widescreen. Experiments in wider aspect ratios are almost as old as
cinema itself. Early filmmakers often employed mattes to reshape
their images WITHIN the 4:3 ratio, straining against the tyranny of the
frame.
“The Wildcat”
Ernst Lubitsch (1921)
https://youtu.be/Ix083lwckFs
https://youtu.be/im_pEraUTUs

Space
Widescreen. In 1927, director Abel Gance’s combined three side-by-
side regular-sized screens, producing an effective aspect ratio of
3.99:1, for “Napoleon.”

“Napoleon”– Abel Gance (1927)
Space
http://vimeo.com/26322723
http://youtu.be/cMlnRP3qOYE

Space
Widescreen: Efforts to introduce widescreen technology were not
successful until the 1950s when cinema tried to counter program
against television. Some of the 1950s widescreens had a ratio of as
much as 2.66:1 (CinemaScope).

Fred Waller – Inventor; Oversaw the photographic research
and special effects department for Paramount Studios in
the 1920s and 30s
Aside
http://www.in70mm.com/news/2002/this_is_cinerama/chapters/index.htm
http://www.ferdyonfilms.com/2008/persons-of-interest-fred-waller/243/

Fred Waller – One of the inventors of the water ski. Waller
devised his skis, Akwa Skees, as a camera platform (1925).
Aside
http://www.cineramaadventure.com/skees.htm

Fred Waller – As a director, championed African-American
performers.
Aside
http://www.cineramaadventure.com/featurette.htm

Fred Waller – Director
“Symphony in Black” (1935)
Aside
Duke-Ellington-and-his-Orchestra-Symphony-in-Black.mov
https://youtu.be/YEA2NpGA8gc

Fred Waller – Invented a 360 Degree Still Camera
Aside
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/wingcr1.htm

Fred Waller – Developed Vitarama for the 1939 World’s Fair.
The system used eleven synchronized cameras and projectors for a
gigantic image.
Aside
http://jimlanescinedrome.blogspot.com/2012/08/ups-and-downs-of-rollercoaster-part-1.html

Fred Waller – The Vitarama was overshadowed by another technology
that debuted at the same World’s Fair - Television
Aside
http://www.earlytelevision.org/worlds_fair.html

Fred Waller – Adapted the Vitarama technology into a “virtual reality”
training system for World War II pilots – the Waller Gunnery Trainer
(1943)
Aside
http://www.cineramaadventure.com/trainer.htm
http://in70mm.com/cinerama/archive/gunnery/index.htm

Fred Waller – Waller Gunnery Trainer
Aside
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/
widescreen/waller01.htm

Fred Waller – Waller Gunnery Trainer
Aside
http://www.in70mm.com/cinerama/archive/war/index.htm

Fred Waller – The Gunnery Trainer evolved into Cinerama (2.60:1), a wide
screen movie system employing three synchronized cameras and
projectors (1952).
Aside
http://www.in70mm.com/cinerama/archive/story/index.htm

Cinerama (2.60:1)
Space
http://youtu.be/lII5rXbxcCs

Today’s Cinerama, another technology to distract movie goers from
smaller screens, is IMAX (1.36:1)
The aspect ratio is similar to that standardized in the 1930’s but MUCH
BIGGER.
Standard IMAX screen is 22 × 16.1 m (72 × 52.8 ft)
Space
The Dark Knight Rises Premieres in IMAX at Liberty Science Center http://youtu.be/Wm2vIaD3GYQ

IMAX – 1.36:1 (old shape, new size)
Space
http://youtu.be/Ou6_MkIvKOo http://youtu.be/2p8OALI74h0

Space
Common Aspect Ratios – 1.66:1 European and British Standard Widescreen

Space
Common Aspect Ratios – 1.85:1 Standard Widescreen

Space
Common Aspect Ratios – 2:35:1 Anamorphic of Super 35mm Widescreen

Space
The World Seen Through the Frame
So, what do we see through this frame? The Real World?

Space
So, what do we see through this frame? The Real World, Staged?

Space
So, what do we see through this frame? The Real World, Dressed?

Space
So, what do we see through this frame? The Real World, Dressed?
Behind the Scenes: Filming Marvel's The Avengers in Cleveland, Ohio
http://youtu.be/h9eKsv-icXQ

Space
So, what do we see through this frame? Location - A real place
chosen to shoot one or more shots for a film.
Jaws filming locations http://youtu.be/7cRpoMpUgC0

Space
So, what do we see through this frame? A Constructed World?

Space
Film psychology THE SHINING spatial awareness and set design 1of2 http://youtu.be/0sUIxXCCFWw

Space
Film psychology THE SHINING spatial awareness and set design 2of2 http://youtu.be/IfJ8rK7eJeQ

Space
So, what do we see through this frame? Stage Set - A place built to
specifications as an environment for one of more shots in a film.
New SKYFALL Production Videoblog http://youtu.be/GK5ws85Rxd8

Space
• Set Extension - Extending or replacing various elements within a
scene through various special effects.
• Glass Shots and Hanging Miniatures.
http://mtmedia.mtsu.edu:8888/ebowen/Hollywood Glass Shots Miniatures.mov

Space
• Set Extension - Extending or replacing various elements within
through various special effects.
• Foreground (hanging) miniatures. “Ben-Hur” (1925)

Space
• Foreground (hanging) miniatures. “Ben-Hur” (1925)
http://mtmedia.mtsu.edu:8888/ebowen/Ben Hur.mov

Space
• Mattes. “Ben-Hur” (1959)

Space
• Virtual extension.
Stargate Studios Virtual Backlot Reel 2012-Demo https://vimeo.com/35769675

Space
So, what do we see through this frame? A Generated World?

Space
• Virtual Set - An environment created through digital effects.
“Tron: Legacy” (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhyScbAZrFs

Space
• Virtual Actors – “Tron: Legacy” (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhyScbAZrFs

Space
• Virtual Actors - “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”
(2004) Laurence Olivier (1907-1989)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqGBt0124bY

Space
• Virtual Actors - “Terminator Salvation” (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7YYfgx_cHo

Space
• Virtual Actors - “The Avengers” (2012)

Space
• Virtual Actors

Space
• Virtual Actors - The Uncanny Valley

Space
Dirtgirlworld - Get Grubby
http://youtu.be/rR2Ac3ZvidU

Space
http://research.universityofcalifornia.edu/stories/2
012/02/uncanny.html

Space
Extra Credits: The Uncanny Valley http://youtu.be/9K1Kd9mZL8g

Space
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNdAIPoh8a4

Space
• Virtual Actors – “Sim0ne” (2002)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=salcZxwspxg

Space
So, what do we see through this frame? An Animated World?

Space
And how are we meant to perceive this reality.
As Reality? As Idealized Reality?
As Stylized Reality? As Fantasy?

Space in Cinema Part 1: A Window Onto A World

Space in Cinema Part 1: A Window Onto A World

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Space in Cinema Part 1: A Window Onto A World