Media Arts Field Trip

On Thursday November 18th we had the privilege of taking a trip downtown to the National Film Board and The Art Gallery of Ontario. We first made out way to the Film board where we were greeted by a girl named Julia who stayed with us throughout the morning. We watched and discussed some of the films that were created within the national film board. There was such a variety of movies, from oscar winning short films to controversial documentaries, it was all there. All the thousands of films were supplied to us through a website where people from anywhere at home can watch these amazing movies from start to finish. Once I got home I had a chance to look through the website and not only did it have films for entertainment but also films packed with information. This website is www.nfb.com. After discussing for some time we watched a film talking about the misuse of downloading music. I though the movie was very long but all in all very informative. The director used bias and factual information for his film. The film was created by a young man for the love of music. He followed a DJ named Girl Talk who remixed already existing songs to create his own. I thought the movie was great and afterward we had a great discussion about it. I thought the NFB was a great place to learn about films and documentaries.

This is the Toronto location for the National Film Board downtown where were visited for our field trip.

After we all split up for lunch, the class got back together at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). We got to see paintings done by an artist named Julian Schnabel. He not only created paintings but installations and sculptures. Some people like me may have no necessarily appreciated his kind of art but I know some of my friends were intrigued and fascinated by what he had created. He created art that made me feel almost eerie and uncomfortable. I wanted to know what the art was about and got me to just stare for long periods of time. For instance, there was an installation where there was a metal box connected to some sort of vent with a dying goat coming out through the top. It was so odd but caught my eye and made me say WOW. He also had another painting with plates that stuck onto the giant canvases itself with paint splatters all over them. His paintings were very large in size, reaching all the way up to the high top ceilings. Even though his art wasn't necessarily my kind of art that I would purchase and hang up in my house I thought it was interesting and made me want to research more about what his art was about. 

This is an example of the plate painting that was shown at the AGO, done by Julian Schnabel.

Even though there was so much to cover within the couple hours we had that day to be split up among two locations, I learned a lot more then I thought I would. I learned about documentaries and what they were all about and gave me a new appreciation for filmmaking and artists. I used to think that the documentaries were all about boring factual information about nature or animals. But I learned that there was such a broad variety on topics for documentaries. If I were a director creating a documentary, I can se my biased own opinions to create a film. These opinions my agree or disagree with the viewer but thats what gets people talking. With a great documentary, it creates such a big impact on the viewer itself. Not only great films do that but art as well. After I left the AGO, seeing Julian Schnabel's art I had a long thoughtful conversation with my friends about it. Some said the art was creepy, and some said the art was brilliant. I on one hand thought the art was great but didn't really understand what it was all about. But thats what great films and documentaries do. Gets the viewer to really think about what they are looking at. And thats how I left the field trip that day. Thinking and viewing what I see on a daily basis in different ways. 

Visions of Light



Why were the early non-talkie movies so free with camera movement and location?

These movies were free with camera movement and location because there was no microphone needed for the actors to speak into. Since there was no sound, there didn’t need to be a heavy set of extra equipment that followed with the camera to catch what the actors are saying. Thus, letting the camera be free of movement and location. Also the placing of the microphones in early movies were very obvious and everything needed to be done visually with no sound.

What were the issues with the very first talkie movies?

The issues with the very first talkie movies was that people were already all so familiar with the silent films. Silent films generated a large audience and allowed the audience to create their own meanings to the words and create their own dialogue. With a talkie film everything is done for the audience with no imagination necessary for the audiences to depict. Also there wasn’t too big of an audience that supported these talkie films. The first talkie film was the Jazz singer in 1927 which turned out to be a great success.

 Why did 'Citizen Kane' have such a great impact- List some reasons.

Citizen Kane was a movie that used new and improved techniques of filming. It broke boundaries and broadened the techniques of cinematography. The director Orson Welles used techniques that have never been used before, like removing floorboards to shoot the characters from below creating an illusion that he is very large. These techniques not only impacted Hollywood but all around Europe as well. Another revolutionary change in cinematography is the lighting. He uses bright lighting to show Kane’s happy days as a child but as he gets older, the lighting get darker to show the corruption that seems to be ruining Kane’s life. Lastly, Welles felt that there shouldn’t be too much editing within the films because he thought that it intrudes the way the audience depicts the movie with their imagination. He used the space and time provided to create backgrounds and foregrounds that were appropriate for each scene. For example. He used detailed backgrounds to emphasize the isolation and distance that Kane goes through with those around him. This movie was a revolutionary film using techniques still used today and certainly for years to come.

The following video is the trailer presented by the director himself, Orsen Welles, for his ground breaking film Citizen Kane.

Citizen Kane - The Theatrical Trailer

What is Film Noir?

Film Noir dates back to the 1940s and 50’s describing movies with not only dark colours and shadows within the film but also include dark sorts of themes in the movie. The word Noir is a French word for black, which basically explains the genre of film: dark in sight and vision throughout the entire film.

How was colour first introduced to film?

The first colour systems introduced in films used additive colour systems. This system was special because no special color stock was needed. It used colour filters on both the movie camera and projector.

What effects did the widescreen format have on cinematography?

The Widescreen format gave a much more broader overview of the different angles used by the cinematographers for the audiences to see. It gives more space to use and multiple cameras to be used at once.

Why didn't the director of The Godfather care about drive-in theatres and how dark his film was?

The director of the Godfather didn’t care about drive in theatres and how dark the lighting was because that’s what created the effects of his movie. The movie not only already had dark lighting within the film but also had a dark story line. There was no need for bright lighting and the drive in movie theatres did just that.

How did the director of photography use colours in The Last Emperor?

The director used the feel and mood of the certain environments he was put in to create the colours of the movie. The setting and feeling of the characters had a lot to do with how the lighting and colouring was portrayed throughout the movie. You can always tell by the colours the mood of each scene.

The track-back/zoom-in shot in Goodfellas signified a psychological change in the relationship between the two protagonists- How did the visuals change with this effect?

When a shot is zoomed in, you see the all the emotions of the characters face and nothing more. You can see any eyebrow raise, twitch of an eye, any detail to depict the emotion of the character. When the scene zooms out, you see the character and everything around them. That can effect the way the audience portrays the scene as well. It shows the background and scenery of where the characters are. Both ways, the audience is able to find out the true emotions of the character but the zoom in has much more emphasis on the exact feelings of the character.