Questions about Film
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What is a film and how does it create the illusion of motion?
A film, movie, or motion picture is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and communicates ideas, stories, emotions, and atmosphere through moving images, generally synchronized with sound since the 1930s. The illusion of motion comes from showing individual frames rapidly in succession, aided by persistence of vision, where the eye retains an image for a fraction of a second, and by a psychological effect called beta movement.
When were the first paid public film screenings held?
The first public screenings at which admission was charged were made in 1895 by the American Woodville Latham and his sons, by the Skladanowsky brothers, and by the French brothers Auguste and Louis Lumiere. Private screenings had preceded these by several months, with Latham's slightly predating the others.
How did sound and color come to film?
Electronic sound recording in the 1920s made synchronized speech, music, and effects practical, and by 1930 silent film was practically extinct in the US. Color replaced black-and-white more gradually, with the three-strip Technicolor process first used in animated cartoons in 1932 and applied to an entire feature, Becky Sharp, in 1935.
Why was 24 frames per second chosen as the film standard?
When synchronized sound arrived in the late 1920s, a constant speed was required for the sound head, and 24 frames per second was chosen as the slowest and cheapest speed that allowed sufficient sound quality. The standard was set with Warner Bros.'s The Jazz Singer and their Vitaphone system in 1927.
What is montage in film and who developed it?
Montage is a film editing technique in which separate pieces of film are selected, edited, and assembled to create a new section or sequence, often to condense time, space, or information. The concept emerged in the 1920s, with Soviet filmmakers Sergei Eisenstein and Lev Kuleshov developing the theory, and Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin from 1925 is a prime example.
How did test screenings change the film First Blood?
After a test audience responded very negatively to the death of protagonist John Rambo, a Vietnam veteran, at the end of 1982's First Blood, the company wrote and re-shot a new ending in which the character survives. Previews are sometimes used to judge audience reaction, which if unexpectedly negative may result in recutting or refilming.
Where are the major centers of the film industry?
Much of the US film industry is centered around Hollywood, California. Other regional centers exist worldwide, such as Mumbai-centered Bollywood, the Hindi cinema of the Indian film industry, which produces the largest number of films in the world.