EMC/JOUR 3000 Spring 2012 Lecture 1 Technical Dimension

EMC / JOUR 3000
INTRO TO MOTION
PICTURES

Edward Bowen

Lecture One - The Technical
Dimension, Part 1

Technology of Motion Pictures
Camera Obscura
• Take a big box into the sunlight.
• Get inside.
• Cut a small hole in one side.
• Stand clear.
• On the side opposite the hole you will see an
image (reversed and upside down) of what's
outside.
• You are in a camera obscura.
• Put a piece of film where the image is and
expose it.
• You are now in a camera.

Camera Obscura

Camera Obscura

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuJ_Jd6Qgyo

Persistence of Vision
The concept that the eye retains one image just
long enough to blend it with a following
image.
This permits a sequence of still pictures to
appear as one continuous action.
Physiologists and neurologists have developed
revised theories for how we perceive motion
(Beta Movement, Phi Phenomenon).
The theory of “persistence of vision” still retains
popular acceptance.

Persistence of Vision

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3veFqnnob0A

Apparent Motion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ulQ_vaBM0Q

Film
One medium on which motion picture images
are recorded

Film
One medium on which motion picture images
are recorded.
Film is composed of many layers, two of which
are
• a base, and
• emulsion.

Film Base – Cellulose, a synthetic plastic
invented around 1870.
• Cellulose Nitrate, or Nitrate Film
• Cellulose Acetate, or Safety Film

Film Base
• Unstable
• Highly flammable

Film Base
• Unstable
• Highly flammable
• Made illegal in 1949

Film is not a permanent medium.

About 80% of films made before 1920 no longer
exist.

About 50% of films made before 1950 no longer
exist.

Film Emulsion
The layer of photo-sensitive chemicals that
coats the film base

Film Emulsion
The layer of photo-sensitive chemicals (silver
halide) that coats the film base

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ5bf_GEW_o

Film Emulsion
• Black and White – A single chemical layer
renders only shades from black to white

Film Emulsion
• Black and White

Film Emulsion
• Black and White
• Color – Comprised of three layers of
emulsion: yellow, magenta, and cyan.
Combined they render full color

Film Emulsion
• Black and White
• Color

Film Emulsion
• Black and White
• Color – Two tone Technicolor

Film Emulsion
• Black and White
• Color – Two tone Technicolor

“The Phantom of the Opera” 1925

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRuPzVXlcKM

Film Emulsion
• Black and White
• Color
• Grain – Visibility of individual particles of
chemical coating

Film Emulsion
• Black and White
• Color
• Grain

Film Emulsion
• Black and White
• Color
• Grain
• Contrast – The relationship of the brightest
and darkest parts of an image. HIGH
CONTRAST evidences extremes between
bright and dark elements. LOW CONTRAST
evidences little difference in brightness
among the elements.

Light - Contrast
Low High

HD Digital Video
Another medium on which motion picture
images are recorded.

HD Digital Video
Digital cinematography cameras capture
images using CMOS or CCD sensors.

HD Digital Video
Digital cinematography cameras capture
images using CMOS or CCD sensors.
Information is stored on magnetic tape or as
digital files onto random-access media like
optical discs, hard disk drives or flash
memory-based digital “magazines.”

HD Digital Video – “Russian Ark” (2002)

http://youtu.be/H0Z4bUfUYdw

Frame. A single photograph in a series that
comprise a motion image.

Aspect ratio: The relationship of the width of the image to
the height of the image.

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.

Aspect ratio: The relationship of the width of the image
to the height of the image.
Widescreen (1.66:1;1.85:1; 2.35:1). Over the years many
filmmakers (Lumière, Griffith, Gance, etc.) experimented with
the widescreen. Gance’s system, for example, employed
three regular-sized screens, producing an effective aspect
ratio of 3.99:1. 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). An image 26.6 feet wide and ten feet tall
made for some strange closeups! The American standard
widescreen ratio was finally set at 1.85:1. (The European
standard widescreen ratio is 1:66:1.) Wider ratios are
available through the use of anamorphic lens systems
(2:35:1) and 70 mm film (2.2:1). IMAX and movie rides are
another matter, with domed and curved screens that defy the

Aspect Ratios

Aspect Ratios – 1.33:1 or 4 3 Academy Ratio

Aspect Ratios – 1.66:1 European and British Standard Widescre

Aspect Ratios – 1.85:1 Standard Widescreen

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

Fred Waller – Inventor; Oversaw the
photographic research and special effects
department for Paramount Studios.

Fred Waller – Akwa Skees

Fred Waller – Director

Fred Waller – Director

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7653085842645884021

Fred Waller – 360 Degree Still Camera

Fred Waller – Waller Gunnery Trainer

Fred Waller – Cinerama (2.60:1)

IMAX – 1.36:1
Standard IMAX screen is 22 × 16.1 m
(72 × 52.8 ft)

3D - Creating the illusion of depth by
photographing two images simultaneously,
one for the viewer’s right eye and one for the
left, then projecting or displaying them in such
a fashion that each eye sees only one of the
images. The brain then “thinks” it sees three
dimensions.

3D

http://youtu.be/DFJZ1HKybZA
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/video/video-james-
cameron-martin-scorsese-hugos-3d-special-effects

EMC/JOUR 3000 Spring 2012 Lecture 1 Technical Dimension

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