World cinema
African cinema Asian cinema East Asian cinema South Asian cinema Southeast Asian cinema West Asian cinema European cinema Latin American cinema North American cinema Oceanian cinema

Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. World cinema is a term used primarily in English language speaking countries to refer to the Films and film industries of non-English speaking countries The term African cinema usually refers to the film production in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa following formal independence which for many countries happened in the 1960s Asian cinema refers to the film industries and films produced in the continent of Asia. East Asian cinema is a term used to refer to the Film industry and films produced in and/or by natives of East Asia. South Asian cinema refers to the cinema of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Southeast Asian cinema refers to the Film industry and films produced in and/or by natives of Southeast Asia. West Asian cinema refers collectively to the Film output and film industries of the West Asia. The cinema of Europe has compared to the Cinema of the United States, the reputation of being more liberal when it comes to the representation of nudity and sexuality but less Latin American cinema refers collectively to the Film output and film industries of Latin America. The term North American cinema is generally used to refer collectively to the film industries of the United States and Canada. Oceanian cinema refers collectively to the Film output and film industries of Oceania. Bolex is a Swiss company (Bolex International SA of Yverdon) that manufactures motion picture cameras and lenses the most notable products of which are A film school is a generic term for any educational institution dedicated to teaching moviemaking, including but not limited to film production theory, and The film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking i Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects. A camera is a device used to capture images either as still Photographs or as sequences of moving images ( Movies or Videos. The bouncing ball animation (below consists of these 6 frames The illusions used in the Film, Television, Theater, or Entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called

Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures, which reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them. A cultural artifact is a human-made object which gives information about the Culture of its creator and users Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate" generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment and a powerful method for educating — or indoctrinating — citizens. Art refers to a diverse range of Human activities creations and expressions that are appealing to the Senses or Emotions of a human individual Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt in one fashion or another to " Document " reality Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people The visual elements of cinema gives motion pictures a universal power of communication. Some films have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles that translate the dialogue. In filmmaking, dubbing or looping is the process of recording or replacing voices for a Motion picture. Subtitles are textual versions of the dialog in films and television programs usually displayed at the bottom of the screen Translation is the interpreting of the meaning of a text and the subsequent production of an equivalent text likewise called a " translation

Traditional films are made up of a series of individual images called frames. When these images are shown rapidly in succession, a viewer has the illusion that motion is occurring. The viewer cannot see the flickering between frames due to an effect known as persistence of vision, whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been removed. A film frame, or just frame, is one of the many single photographic images in a motion picture. Persistence of vision is the phenomenon of the eye by which even nanoseconds of exposure to an image result in milliseconds of reaction (sight from the retina to the optic nerves Viewers perceive motion due to a psychological effect called beta movement. Beta movement is a perceptual Illusion, described by Max Wertheimer in his 1912 Experimental Studies on the Seeing of Motion,

The origin of the name "film" comes from the fact that photographic film (also called film stock) had historically been the primary medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. This article is mainly concerned with Still photography film For Motion picture film please see Film stock. This focuses on Motion picture film For Still photography film see Photographic film. A data storage device is a device for recording (storing information (data Many other terms exist for an individual motion picture, including picture, picture show, photo-play, flick, and most commonly, movie. Additional terms for the field in general include the big screen, the silver screen, the cinema, and the movies.

Contents 1 History 2 Theory 2.1 Criticism 3 Industry 3.1 Preview 3.2 Trailer 4 Production 4.1 Crew 4.2 Technology 4.3 Independent 4.4 Open content film 4.5 Fan film 5 Animation 6 Venues 7 Future state 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 External links

History

Main article: History of film

In the 1860s, mechanisms for producing artificially created, two-dimensional images in motion were demonstrated with devices such as the zoetrope and the praxinoscope. The history of film spans over a hundred years from the latter part of the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st century. A zoetrope is a device that produces an illusion of action from a rapid succession of static pictures The praxinoscope was an Animation device the successor to the Zoetrope. These machines were outgrowths of simple optical devices (such as magic lanterns) and would display sequences of still pictures at sufficient speed for the images on the pictures to appear to be moving, a phenomenon called persistence of vision. The magic lantern or Lanterna Magica was the ancestor of the modern Slide projector. Persistence of vision is the phenomenon of the eye by which even nanoseconds of exposure to an image result in milliseconds of reaction (sight from the retina to the optic nerves Naturally, the images needed to be carefully designed to achieve the desired effect — and the underlying principle became the basis for the development of film animation. The bouncing ball animation (below consists of these 6 frames

With the development of celluloid film for still photography, it became possible to directly capture objects in motion in real time. Roundhay Garden Scene is an 1888 Short film directed by French inventor Louis Le Prince. Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince (born 28 August 1842 vanished 16 September 1890 was an inventor who is considered by many film historians as the true father of motion pictures who Celluloid is the name of a class of compounds created from Nitrocellulose and Camphor, plus dyes and other agents Photography (fә'tɒgrәfi or fә'tɑːgrәfi (from Greek φωτο and γραφία is the process and Art of recording pictures by means of capturing Early versions of the technology sometimes required a person to look into a viewing machine to see the pictures which were separate paper prints attached to a drum turned by a handcrank. The pictures were shown at a variable speed of about 5 to 10 pictures per second depending on how rapidly the crank was turned. Some of these machines were coin operated. By the 1880s, the development of the motion picture camera allowed the individual component images to be captured and stored on a single reel, and led quickly to the development of a motion picture projector to shine light through the processed and printed film and magnify these "moving picture shows" onto a screen for an entire audience. This article is about motion picture film cameras See Video camera for cameras which record images electronically A reel is an object around which lengths of another material (usually long and flexible are wound for storage This article is concerned with technical aspects of moving film projection These reels, so exhibited, came to be known as "motion pictures". Early motion pictures were static shots that showed an event or action with no editing or other cinematic techniques. Film editing is an art of storytelling practiced by connecting two or more shots together to form a sequence, and the subsequent connecting of sequences to form an

Ignoring Dickson's early sound experiments (1894), commercial motion pictures were purely visual art through the late 19th century, but these innovative silent films had gained a hold on the public imagination. The visual arts are art forms that focus on the creation of works which are primarily Visual in nature such as Painting, Photography Around the turn of the twentieth century, films began developing a narrative structure by stringing scenes together to tell narratives. In TV and movies, a scene is a part of the action in a single location A narrative or story is a construct created in a suitable format (written spoken poetry prose images song Theater, or Dance) that describes a sequence of The scenes were later broken up into multiple shots of varying sizes and angles. Other techniques such as camera movement were realized as effective ways to portray a story on film. Rather than leave the audience in silence, theater owners would hire a pianist or organist or a full orchestra to play music fitting the mood of the film at any given moment. The piano is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound by striking steel strings with Felt covered hammers The organ (from Greek όργανον – organon "organ instrument tool" is a Keyboard instrument of one or more divisions each An orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually fairly large with string brass woodwind sections and possibly a percussion section as well By the early 1920s, most films came with a prepared list of sheet music for this purpose, with complete film scores being composed for major productions. A film score is a broad term referring to the music in a film which is generally categorically separated from songs used within a film

The rise of European cinema was interrupted by the breakout of World War I while the film industry in United States flourished with the rise of Hollywood. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All However in the 1920s, European filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein, F. W. Murnau, and Fritz Lang, along with American innovator D. W. Griffith and the contributions of Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton and others, continued to advance the medium. Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн January 23, 1898 &ndash February 11, 1948) was Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, better known as F W Murnau ( December 28, 1888 &ndash March 11, 1931) was one of the most influential Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang ( December 5, 1890 &ndash August 2, 1976) was an Austrian German - American David Llewelyn Wark "D W" Griffith (January 22 1875 &ndash July 23 1948 was a premier pioneering Academy Award -winning American Film director. Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton ( October 4 1895 &ndash February 1 1966) was an Academy Award -winning American In the 1920s, new technology allowed filmmakers to attach to each film a soundtrack of speech, music and sound effects synchronized with the action on the screen. For the album by The Jam see Sound Affects. Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced Sounds These sound films were initially distinguished by calling them "talking pictures", or talkies. A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image as opposed to a Silent film.

The next major step in the development of cinema was the introduction of so-called "natural" color. While the addition of sound quickly eclipsed silent film and theater musicians, color was adopted more gradually as methods evolved making it more practical and cost effective to produce "natural color" films. Sound' is Vibration transmitted through a Solid, Liquid, or Gas; particularly sound means those vibrations composed of Frequencies The public was relatively indifferent to color photography as opposed to black-and-white, but as color processes improved and became as affordable as black-and-white film, more and more movies were filmed in color after the end of World War II, as the industry in America came to view color as essential to attracting audiences in its competition with television, which remained a black-and-white medium until the mid-1960s. Black-and-white is a number of Monochrome forms in Visual arts. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including By the end of the 1960s, color had become the norm for film makers.

Since the decline of the studio system in the 1960s, the succeeding decades saw changes in the production and style of film. New Hollywood, French New Wave and the rise of film school educated independent filmmakers were all part of the changes the medium experienced in the latter half of the 20th century. New Hollywood or post- classical Hollywood, sometimes referred to as the "American New Wave" refers to the brief time between roughly the mid- 1960s ( "Nouvelle Vague" redirects here For the music group of the same name see Nouvelle Vague (band. Digital technology has been the driving force in change throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century.

Theory

Main article: Film theory

Film theory seeks to develop concise and systematic concepts that apply to the study of film as art. Film theory debates the essence of the cinema and provides conceptual frameworks for understanding film's relationship to Reality, the other Arts individual Art refers to a diverse range of Human activities creations and expressions that are appealing to the Senses or Emotions of a human individual It was started by Ricciotto Canudo's The Birth of the Sixth Art. Ricciotto Canudo (1879-1923 was an Italian film theoretician. Formalist film theory, led by Rudolf Arnheim, Béla Balázs, and Siegfried Kracauer, emphasized how film differed from reality, and thus could be considered a valid fine art. Rudolf Arnheim ( July 15, 1904 &ndash June 9, 2007) was a German -born author art and Film theorist and perceptual psychologist Béla Balázs ( 4 August 1884, Szeged – 17 May 1949, Budapest) born Herbert Bauer, was a Hungarian Siegfried Kracauer ( February 8, 1889, Frankfurt am Main &ndash November 26, 1966, New York) was a German André Bazin reacted against this theory by arguing that film's artistic essence lay in its ability to mechanically reproduce reality not in its differences from reality, and this gave rise to realist theory. André Bazin ( April 18, 1918 &ndash November 11, 1958) was a renowned and influential French film critic and film More recent analysis spurred by Lacan's psychoanalysis and Ferdinand de Saussure's semiotics among other things has given rise to psychoanalytical film theory, structuralist film theory, feminist film theory and others. Jacques-Marie-Émile Lacan (French ʒak lakɑ̃ ( April 13, 1901 &ndash September 9, 1981) was a French Psychoanalyst Ferdinand de Saussure (fɛʁdinɑ̃ də soˈsyːʁ ( November 26, 1857 – February 22, 1913) was a Swiss linguist Semiotics, semiotic studies, or semiology is the study of sign processes (semiosis or signification and communication signs and Symbols both The concepts of Psychoanalysis have been applied to Films in various ways The structuralist film theory emphasizes how Films convey meaning through the use of codes and conventions not dissimilar to the way Languages are Feminist film theory is theoretical Film criticism derived from Feminist politics and Feminist theory.

Criticism

Main article: Film criticism

Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films. Film review redirects here for the similar sounding Film revue please visit Revue#Film revues. In general, these works can be divided into two categories: academic criticism by film scholars and journalistic film criticism that appears regularly in newspapers and other media. A newspaper is a written Publication containing News, information and Advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called Newsprint.

Film critics working for newspapers, magazines, and broadcast media mainly review new releases. A newspaper is a written Publication containing News, information and Advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called Newsprint. Magazines, periodicals or serials are Publications generally published on a regular schedule containing a variety of articles, generally For the band see Broadcast (band Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and/or Video signals which transmit Normally they only see any given film once and have only a day or two to formulate opinions. Despite this, critics have an important impact on films, especially those of certain genres. In Film theory, genre refers to the primary method of film categorization based on similarities in the narrative elements from which films are constructed Mass marketed action, horror, and comedy films tend not to be greatly affected by a critic's overall judgment of a film. Action movies are a Film genre where action sequences such as fights, Shootouts Stunts Car chases or explosions either take precedence Horror films are Movies that strive to elicit Fear, Horror and terror responses from viewers Comedy film is a genre of Film in which the main emphasis is on humor. The plot summary and description of a film that makes up the majority of any film review can still have an important impact on whether people decide to see a film. For prestige films such as most dramas, the influence of reviews is extremely important. A drama film is a Film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes Poor reviews will often doom a film to obscurity and financial loss.

The impact of a reviewer on a given film's box office performance is a matter of debate. A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for Admission to a venue Some claim that movie marketing is now so intense and well financed that reviewers cannot make an impact against it. Film promotion is a practise undertaken by most film studios Studios invest in expensive Marketing campaigns to maximize target audience attendance of the released However, the cataclysmic failure of some heavily-promoted movies which were harshly reviewed, as well as the unexpected success of critically praised independent movies indicates that extreme critical reactions can have considerable influence. Others note that positive film reviews have been shown to spark interest in little-known films. Conversely, there have been several films in which film companies have so little confidence that they refuse to give reviewers an advanced viewing to avoid widespread panning of the film. However, this usually backfires as reviewers are wise to the tactic and warn the public that the film may not be worth seeing and the films often do poorly as a result.

It is argued that journalist film critics should only be known as film reviewers, and true film critics are those who take a more academic approach to films. This line of work is more often known as film theory or film studies. Film theory debates the essence of the cinema and provides conceptual frameworks for understanding film's relationship to Reality, the other Arts individual These film critics attempt to come to understand how film and filming techniques work, and what effect they have on people. Rather than having their works published in newspapers or appear on television, their articles are published in scholarly journals, or sometimes in up-market magazines. They also tend to be affiliated with colleges or universities.

Industry

Main article: Film industry

The making and showing of motion pictures became a source of profit almost as soon as the process was invented. The film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking i Upon seeing how successful their new invention, and its product, was in their native France, the Lumières quickly set about touring the Continent to exhibit the first films privately to royalty and publicly to the masses. In each country, they would normally add new, local scenes to their catalogue and, quickly enough, found local entrepreneurs in the various countries of Europe to buy their equipment and photograph, export, import and screen additional product commercially. The Oberammergau Passion Play of 1898 was the first commercial motion picture ever produced. Oberammergau Passion Play is a Passion play performed since 1634 as a tradition by the inhabitants of the village of Oberammergau in Bavaria Germany Other pictures soon followed, and motion pictures became a separate industry that overshadowed the vaudeville world. Dedicated theaters and companies formed specifically to produce and distribute films, while motion picture actors became major celebrities and commanded huge fees for their performances. Cinemaaustraliajpg|thumb|A movie theater in Australia ]]A movie theater, movie theatre, picture theatre or cinema is a venue A celebrity is a widely-recognized or famous person who commands a high degree of public and media attention Already by 1917, Charlie Chaplin had a contract that called for an annual salary of one million dollars.

In the United States today, much of the film industry is centered around Hollywood. Other regional centers exist in many parts of the world, such as Mumbai-centered Bollywood, the Indian film industry's Hindi cinema which produces the largest number of films in the world. Mumbai ( Marathi:,, IPA: formerly Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the financial Bollywood (बॉलीवूड بالی وڈ is the informal term popularly used for the Mumbai -based Hindi-language Film industry in India The Indian film industry is the largest in the world in terms of ticket sales and number of films produced annually (877 feature films and 1177 short films were released in the year 2003 Hindi ( Devanāgarī: hi [[wiktहिन्दी हिन्दी]] or hi [[wiktहिंदी हिंदी]] IAST:, IPA:) is ^[1] Whether the ten thousand-plus feature length films a year produced by the Valley pornographic film industry should qualify for this title is the source of some debate. The San Fernando Valley or The Valley is an urbanized Valley located in the north-western section of the city of Los Angeles California, United States Pornographic films are Motion pictures with the purpose of promoting sexual arousal in the viewer often featuring depictions of sexual activity Though the expense involved in making movies has led cinema production to concentrate under the auspices of movie studios, recent advances in affordable film making equipment have allowed independent film productions to flourish. A movie studio (aka film studio) is in the established sense of the term a company that distributes films.

Profit is a key force in the industry, due to the costly and risky nature of filmmaking; many films have large cost overruns, a notorious example being Kevin Costner's Waterworld. Cost overrun is defined as excess of actual Cost over Budget. Waterworld is a 1995 post-apocalyptic science fiction film The film stars Kevin Costner who also produced it Yet many filmmakers strive to create works of lasting social significance. The Academy Awards (also known as "the Oscars") are the most prominent film awards in the United States, providing recognition each year to films, ostensibly based on their artistic merits. "The Oscar" redirects here for the film see The Oscar (film. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the

There is also a large industry for educational and instructional films made in lieu of or in addition to lectures and texts.

Preview

A preview performance refers to a showing of a movie to a select audience, usually for the purposes of corporate promotions, before the public film premiere itself. Previews are sometimes used to judge audience reaction, which if unexpectedly negative, may result in recutting or even refilming certain sections. (cf Audience response. Audience response is a type of interaction associated with the use of audience response systems to create interactivity between a presenter and his/her Audience. )

Trailer

Main article: Trailer (film)

Trailers or previews are film advertisements for films that will be exhibited in the future at a cinema, on whose screen they are shown. The term "trailer" comes from their having originally been shown at the end of a film programme. That practice did not last long, because patrons tended to leave the theater after the films ended, but the name has stuck. Trailers are now shown before the film (or the A movie in a double feature program) begins.

Production

Main article: Filmmaking

The nature of the film determines the size and type of crew required during filmmaking. Filmmaking is the process of making a Film, from an initial story idea or commission through scriptwriting shooting editing and finally distribution to an audience Many Hollywood adventure films need computer generated imagery (CGI), created by dozens of 3D modellers, animators, rotoscopers and compositors. Adventure Film is a Film genre. History The adventure film reached its peak of popularity in 1930s and Computer animation Computer-generated imagery (also known as CGI) is the application of the field of Computer graphics or more specifically 3D computer graphics In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical, wireframe representation of any three-dimensional object The bouncing ball animation (below consists of these 6 frames Rotoscoping is an Animation technique in which Animators trace over live-action film movement frame by frame for use in Animated films Originally However, a low-budget, independent film may be made with a skeleton crew, often paid very little. Also, an open source film may be produced through open, collaborative processes. An open content film (or open source film) is a Movie or Film produced using Open source software and open source methodology Filmmaking takes place all over the world using different technologies, styles of acting and genre, and is produced in a variety of economic contexts that range from state-sponsored documentary in China to profit-oriented movie making within the American studio system. The studio system was a means of film production and distribution dominant in Hollywood from the early 1920s through the early 1950s

A typical Hollywood-style filmmaking Production cycle is comprised of five main stages:

1. Development
2. Pre-production
3. Production
4. Post-production
5. Distribution

This production cycle typically takes three years. Filmmaking is the process of making a Film, from an initial story idea or commission through scriptwriting shooting editing and finally distribution to an audience Filmmaking is the process of making a Film, from an initial story idea or commission through scriptwriting shooting editing and finally distribution to an audience See also Filmmaking Pre-production is the process of preparing all the elements involved in a Film, play, or other Performance. Filmmaking is the process of making a Film, from an initial story idea or commission through scriptwriting shooting editing and finally distribution to an audience See also Filmmaking Post-production occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, Videos audio recordings A film distributor is an independent company a Subsidiary company or occasionally an individual which acts as the final agent between a film production company The first year is taken up with development. The second year comprises preproduction and production. The third year, post-production and distribution.

Crew

Main article: Film crew

A film crew is a group of people hired by a film company, employed during the "production" or "photography" phase, for the purpose of producing a film or motion picture. For the comedic team see The Film Crew. A film crew is a group of people hired by a production company for the purpose of producing a Crew are distinguished from cast, the actors who appear in front of the camera or provide voices for characters in the film. An actor, actress, player or thespian (see terminology) is a person who Acts in a Dramatic production and who works A camera is a device used to capture images either as still Photographs or as sequences of moving images ( Movies or Videos. The crew interacts with but is also distinct from the production staff, consisting of producers, managers, company representatives, their assistants, and those whose primary responsibility falls in pre-production or post-production phases, such as writers and editors. Communication between production and crew generally passes through the director and his/her staff of assistants. Medium-to-large crews are generally divided into departments with well defined hierarchies and standards for interaction and cooperation between the departments. Other than acting, the crew handles everything in the photography phase: props and costumes, shooting, sound, electrics (i. e. , lights), sets, and production special effects. Caterers (known in the film industry as "craft services") are usually not considered part of the crew.

Technology

Film stock consists of transparent celluloid, acetate, or polyester base coated with an emulsion containing light-sensitive chemicals. This focuses on Motion picture film For Still photography film see Photographic film. Celluloid is the name of a class of compounds created from Nitrocellulose and Camphor, plus dyes and other agents An acetate, or ethanoate, is either a salt or Ester of Acetic acid. Polyester is a category of Polymers which contain the Ester Functional group in their main chain A film base is a transparent substrate which acts as a support medium for the Photosensitive Emulsion that lies atop it Cellulose nitrate was the first type of film base used to record motion pictures, but due to its flammability was eventually replaced by safer materials. Stock widths and the film format for images on the reel have had a rich history, though most large commercial films are still shot on (and distributed to theaters) as 35 mm prints. A film format is a technical definition of a set of standard characteristics regarding image capture on Photographic film, for either stills or movies 35 mm film is the basic Film gauge most commonly used for both still Photography and Motion pictures, and remains relatively unchanged since its

Originally moving picture film was shot and projected at various speeds using hand-cranked cameras and projectors; though 1000 frames per minute (16⅔ frame/s) is generally cited as a standard silent speed, research indicates most films were shot between 16 frame/s and 23 frame/s and projected from 18 frame/s on up (often reels included instructions on how fast each scene should be shown) [1]. This article is about motion picture film cameras See Video camera for cameras which record images electronically This article is concerned with technical aspects of moving film projection When sound film was introduced in the late 1920s, a constant speed was required for the sound head. A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image as opposed to a Silent film. 24 frames per second was chosen because it was the slowest (and thus cheapest) speed which allowed for sufficient sound quality. Improvements since the late 19th century include the mechanization of cameras — allowing them to record at a consistent speed, quiet camera design — allowing sound recorded on-set to be usable without requiring large "blimps" to encase the camera, the invention of more sophisticated filmstocks and lenses, allowing directors to film in increasingly dim conditions, and the development of synchronized sound, allowing sound to be recorded at exactly the same speed as its corresponding action. This focuses on Motion picture film For Still photography film see Photographic film. A lens is an optical device with perfect or approximate Axial symmetry which transmits and refracts Light, converging or diverging A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a Film. The soundtrack can be recorded separately from shooting the film, but for live-action pictures many parts of the soundtrack are usually recorded simultaneously.

As a medium, film is not limited to motion pictures, since the technology developed as the basis for photography. Photography (fә'tɒgrәfi or fә'tɑːgrәfi (from Greek φωτο and γραφία is the process and Art of recording pictures by means of capturing It can be used to present a progressive sequence of still images in the form of a slideshow. Film has also been incorporated into multimedia presentations, and often has importance as primary historical documentation. Multimedia is media and content that utilizes a combination of different content forms. However, historic films have problems in terms of preservation and storage, and the motion picture industry is exploring many alternatives. Most movies on cellulose nitrate base have been copied onto modern safety films. Some studios save color films through the use of separation masters — three B&W negatives each exposed through red, green, or blue filters (essentially a reverse of the Technicolor process). Separation masters are a method of long-term preservation for most modern Color motion picture film. Technicolor is the trademark for a series of color film processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation Digital methods have also been used to restore films, although their continued obsolescence cycle makes them (as of 2006) a poor choice for long-term preservation. Film preservation of decaying film stock is a matter of concern to both film historians and archivists, and to companies interested in preserving their existing products in order to make them available to future generations (and thereby increase revenue). The film preservation, or film restoration, movement is an ongoing project among film historians archivists Museums and Non-profit organizations to rescue Preservation is generally a higher-concern for nitrate and single-strip color films, due to their high decay rates; black and white films on safety bases and color films preserved on Technicolor imbibition prints tend to keep up much better, assuming proper handling and storage.

Some films in recent decades have been recorded using analog video technology similar to that used in television production. An analog or analogue signal is any continuous signal for which the time varying feature (variable of the signal is a representation of some other Video is the technology of electronically capturing, Recording, processing storing transmitting and reconstructing a sequence of Still images Modern digital video cameras and digital projectors are gaining ground as well. Digital video is a type of Video recording system that works by using a Digital rather than an analog video signal A video projector takes a Video signal and projects the corresponding image on a Projection screen using a lens system These approaches are extremely beneficial to moviemakers, especially because footage can be evaluated and edited without waiting for the film stock to be processed. Yet the migration is gradual, and as of 2005 most major motion pictures are still recorded on film.

Independent

Main article: Independent film

Independent filmmaking often takes place outside of Hollywood, or other major studio systems. An independent film, or indie film, is a film that is produced outside of the Hollywood Studio system, a series of oligopolistic practices by several The studio system was a means of film production and distribution dominant in Hollywood from the early 1920s through the early 1950s An independent film (or indie film) is a film initially produced without financing or distribution from a major movie studio. This is a list of Film production companies. The "Big Six" major film studios Fox Entertainment Group Creative, business, and technological reasons have all contributed to the growth of the indie film scene in the late 20th and early 21st century.

On the business side, the costs of big-budget studio films also leads to conservative choices in cast and crew. There is a trend in Hollywood towards co-financing (over two-thirds of the films put out by Warner Bros. in 2000 were joint ventures, up from 10% in 1987). Warner Bros Entertainment Inc (or Warner Bros, Warner Bros Pictures) is one of the world's largest producers of Film and ^[2] A hopeful director is almost never given the opportunity to get a job on a big-budget studio film unless he or she has significant industry experience in film or television. Also, the studios rarely produce films with unknown actors, particularly in lead roles.

Before the advent of digital alternatives, the cost of professional film equipment and stock was also a hurdle to being able to produce, direct, or star in a traditional studio film. The cost of 35 mm film is outpacing inflation: in 2002 alone, film negative costs were up 23%, according to Variety. 35 mm film is the basic Film gauge most commonly used for both still Photography and Motion pictures, and remains relatively unchanged since its Variety is a weekly entertainment trade newspaper founded in New York in 1905 by Sime Silverman ^[2].

But the advent of consumer camcorders in 1985, and more importantly, the arrival of high-resolution digital video in the early 1990s, have lowered the technology barrier to movie production significantly. A camcorder is a portable Consumer electronics device for recording Video and audio using a built-in recorder unit Digital video is a type of Video recording system that works by using a Digital rather than an analog video signal Both production and post-production costs have been significantly lowered; today, the hardware and software for post-production can be installed in a commodity-based personal computer. A personal computer ( PC) is any Computer whose original sales price size and capabilities make it useful for individuals and which is intended to be operated Technologies such as DVDs, FireWire connections and non-linear editing system pro-level software like Adobe Premiere Pro, Sony Vegas and Apple's Final Cut Pro, and consumer level software such as Apple's Final Cut Express and iMovie make movie-making relatively inexpensive. DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is The IEEE 1394 interface is a serial bus Interface standard for high-speed communications and Isochronous real-time data transfer frequently "NLE" redirects here For the standardized test see National Latin Examination. Adobe Premiere Pro is a Real-time, timeline based Video editing software application Sony Vegas is a Non-linear editing system originally published by Sonic Foundry, now owned and run by Sony Creative Software Final Cut Pro is a professional Non-linear editing software application developed by Apple Inc Final Cut Express is a non-linear video editing application created by Apple Inc iMovie is a Video editing software application which allows Mac users to edit their own home movies

Since the introduction of DV technology, the means of production have become more democratized. Digital Video (DV is a Digital video format created by Sony JVC Panasonic and other video camera procuers and launched in 1995 and in its smaller tape Form factor Filmmakers can conceivably shoot and edit a movie, create and edit the sound and music, and mix the final cut on a home computer. However, while the means of production may be democratized, financing, distribution, and marketing remain difficult to accomplish outside the traditional system. Most independent filmmakers rely on film festivals to get their films noticed and sold for distribution. The arrival of internet-based video outlets such as YouTube and Veoh has further changed the film making landscape in ways that are still to be determined. YouTube is a video sharing website where users can upload view and share Video clips YouTube was created in February 2005 by three former PayPal employees Veoh is a San Diego California -based company which runs an Internet Television service allowing users to find and watch major studio content independent productions

Open content film

Main article: Open content film

An open content film is much like an independent film, but it is produced through open collaborations; its source material is available under a license which is permissive enough to allow other parties to create fan fiction or derivative works, than a traditional copyright. An open content film (or open source film) is a Movie or Film produced using Open source software and open source methodology The verb license or grant license means to give permission The noun license is the document demonstrating that permission Fan fiction (alternately referred to as fanfiction, fanfic, FF or fic) is a broadly defined term for Fiction about characters or settings Like independent filmmaking, open source filmmaking takes place outside of Hollywood, or other major studio systems. The studio system was a means of film production and distribution dominant in Hollywood from the early 1920s through the early 1950s

Fan film

Main article: Fan film

A fan film is a film or video inspired by a film, television program, comic book or a similar source, created by fans rather than by the source's copyright holders or creators. A fan film is a Film or Video inspired by a Film, Television program, Comic book or a similar source created by fans A television program (US television programme (UK or television show (U A comic book (often shortened to simply comic and sometimes called a comic paper or comic magazine) is a Magazine or Book of narrative Fans in Little Italyjpg|thumb|right|Fans in Little Italy Manhattan celebrating the victory of the Italian association football team after the 2006 FIFA World Cup]][[Image Wm-oly-de-cr Fan filmmakers have traditionally been amateurs, but some of the more notable films have actually been produced by professional filmmakers as film school class projects or as demonstration reels. An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit study or science without formal training or pay Fan films vary tremendously in length, from short faux-teaser trailers for non-existent motion pictures to rarer full-length motion pictures.

Animation

Main article: Animation

Animation is the technique in which each frame of a film is produced individually, whether generated as a computer graphic, or by photographing a drawn image, or by repeatedly making small changes to a model unit (see claymation and stop motion), and then photographing the result with a special animation camera. The bouncing ball animation (below consists of these 6 frames Clay animation is one of many forms of Stop motion animation Each animated piece either character or background is "deformable"&mdashmade of a malleable substance Stop motion (or frame-by-frame) animation is an Animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own An animation camera, a type of Rostrum camera, is a Movie camera specially adapted for frame-by-frame shooting Animation or Stop motion When the frames are strung together and the resulting film is viewed at a speed of 16 or more frames per second, there is an illusion of continuous movement (due to the persistence of vision). Persistence of vision is the phenomenon of the eye by which even nanoseconds of exposure to an image result in milliseconds of reaction (sight from the retina to the optic nerves Generating such a film is very labour intensive and tedious, though the development of computer animation has greatly sped up the process. Computer-generated imagery Computer animation is the art of creating moving images with the use of Computers It is a subfield of Computer graphics

File formats like GIF, QuickTime, Shockwave and Flash allow animation to be viewed on a computer or over the Internet. A file format is a particular way to encode information for storage in a Computer file. QuickTime is a Multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc, capable of handling various formats of Digital video, Media clips sound text Adobe Shockwave (formerly Macromedia Shockwave) was Macromedia 's first and most successful multimedia player prior to the introduction of Macromedia Flash (now Adobe Flash (previously called Shockwave Flash and Macromedia Flash) is a set of Multimedia software created by Macromedia and currently

Because animation is very time-consuming and often very expensive to produce, the majority of animation for TV and movies comes from professional animation studios. Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic However, the field of independent animation has existed at least since the 1950s, with animation being produced by independent studios (and sometimes by a single person). Independent animation is a term used to describe animated short cartoons and feature films produced outside the professional Hollywood animation industry Several independent animation producers have gone on to enter the professional animation industry.

Limited animation is a way of increasing production and decreasing costs of animation by using "short cuts" in the animation process. Limited animation is a process of making Animated cartoons that do not follow a "realistic" approach This method was pioneered by UPA and popularized by Hanna-Barbera, and adapted by other studios as cartoons moved from movie theaters to television. United Productions of America, better known as UPA, was an American Animation studio of the 1940s through present day beginning with industrial films Cinemaaustraliajpg|thumb|A movie theater in Australia ]]A movie theater, movie theatre, picture theatre or cinema is a venue Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic ^[3]

Although most animation studios are now using digital technologies in their productions, there is a specific style of animation that depends on film. Cameraless animation, made famous by moviemakers like Norman McLaren, Len Lye and Stan Brakhage, is painted and drawn directly onto pieces of film, and then run through a projector. Norman McLaren, C C, C Q (b April 11 1914 - d January 27 1987) was a Scottish-born Canadian Animator Len Lye, born Leonard Charles Huia Lye ( 5 July 1901, Christchurch New Zealand - 15 May 1980, Warwick New York Stan Brakhage ( January 14, 1933 – March 9, 2003) was an American non-narrative Filmmaker

Venues

When it is initially produced, a feature film is often shown to audiences in a movie theater or cinema. Cinemaaustraliajpg|thumb|A movie theater in Australia ]]A movie theater, movie theatre, picture theatre or cinema is a venue The first theater designed exclusively for cinema opened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1905. ^[4] Thousands of such theaters were built or converted from existing facilities within a few years. ^[5] In the United States, these theaters came to be known as nickelodeons, because admission typically cost a nickel (five cents). The United States of America —commonly referred to as the For the Nickelodeon Theatre in Columbia, SC, see the page on the Columbia Film Society.

Typically, one film is the featured presentation (or feature film). In the Film industry, a feature film is a Film made for initial distribution in theaters and being the "main attraction" of the screening Before the 1970s, there were "double features"; typically, a high quality "A picture" rented by an independent theater for a lump sum, and a "B picture" of lower quality rented for a percentage of the gross receipts. Today, the bulk of the material shown before the feature film consists of previews for upcoming movies and paid advertisements (also known as trailers or "The Twenty"). The Twenty is the mixture of Advertisements commercials for television shows movie trailers, and theater chain branding that has become commonplace in American

Historically, all mass marketed feature films were made to be shown in movie theaters. The development of television has allowed films to be broadcast to larger audiences, usually after the film is no longer being shown in theaters. Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic Recording technology has also enabled consumers to rent or buy copies of films on VHS or DVD (and the older formats of laserdisc, VCD and SelectaVision — see also videodisc), and Internet downloads may be available and have started to become revenue sources for the film companies. Videotape is a means of recording images and sound onto Magnetic tape as opposed to movie film. DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is The Laserdisc (LD is an obsolete Home video disc format and was the first commercial Optical disc storage medium The Capacitance Electronic Disc (or CED) was a video playback system developed by RCA, in which video and audio could be played back on a TV using a special analog Videodisc (or video disc) is a general term for a Laser - or Stylus -readable random-access circular disc that contains both audio and Video The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks To download is to receive data from a remote or central system such as a Webserver, FTP server, mail server or other similar systems Some films are now made specifically for these other venues, being released as made-for-TV movies or direct-to-video movies. The production values on these films are often considered to be of inferior quality compared to theatrical releases in similar genres, and indeed, some films that are rejected by their own studios upon completion are distributed through these markets.

The movie theater pays an average of about 50-55% of its ticket sales to the movie studio, as film rental fees. A movie studio (aka film studio) is in the established sense of the term a company that distributes films. ^[6] The actual percentage starts with a number higher than that, and decreases as the duration of a film's showing continues, as an incentive to theaters to keep movies in the theater longer. However, today's barrage of highly marketed movies ensures that most movies are shown in first-run theaters for less than 8 weeks. There are a few movies every year that defy this rule, often limited-release movies that start in only a few theaters and actually grow their theater count through good word-of-mouth and reviews. According to a 2000 study by ABN AMRO, about 26% of Hollywood movie studios' worldwide income came from box office ticket sales; 46% came from VHS and DVD sales to consumers; and 28% came from television (broadcast, cable, and pay-per-view). ABN AMRO is a Dutch bank currently owned by RFS Holdings BV, a consortium of Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Fortis Bank Nederland, and Banco Santander DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is ^[6]

Future state

While motion picture films have been around for more than a century, film is still a relative newcomer in the pantheon of fine arts. Fine art is any Art form developed primarily for Aesthetics rather than Utility. In the 1950s, when television became widely available, industry analysts predicted the demise of local movie theaters. Despite competition from television's increasing technological sophistication over the 1960s and 1970s, such as the development of color television and large screens, motion picture cinemas continued. In the 1980s, when the widespread availability of inexpensive videocassette recorders enabled people to select films for home viewing, industry analysts again wrongly predicted the death of the local cinemas.

In the 1990s and 2000s the development of digital DVD players, home theater amplification systems with surround sound and subwoofers, and large LCD or plasma screens enabled people to select and view films at home with greatly improved audio and visual reproduction. DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is These new technologies provided audio and visual that in the past only local cinemas had been able to provide: a large, clear widescreen presentation of a film with a full-range, high-quality multi-speaker sound system. Once again industry analysts predicted the demise of the local cinema. Local cinemas will be changing in the 2000s and moving towards digital screens, a new approach which will allow for easier and quicker distribution of films (via satellite or hard disks), a development which may give local theaters a reprieve from their predicted demise.

The cinema now faces a new challenge from home video by the likes of a new DVD format Blu-ray, which can provide full HD 1080p video playback at near cinema quality. High-definition (HD video generally refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition (SD video most commonly at display resolutions of 1280×720 Video formats are gradually catching up with the resolutions and quality that film offers, 1080p in Blu-ray offers a pixel resolution of 1920×1080 a leap from the DVD offering of 720×480 and the paltry 330×480 offered by the first home video standard VHS. The maximum resolutions that film currently offers are 2485×2970 or 1420×3390, UHD, a future digital video format, will offer a massive resolution of 7680×4320, surpassing all current film resolutions. The only viable competitor to these new innovations is IMAX which can play film content at an extreme 10000×7000 resolution. IMAX (short for Image MAXimum is a Film format created by Canada 's IMAX Corporation that has the capacity to display images of far greater size and

Despite the rise of all new technologies, the development of the home video market and a surge of online piracy, 2007 was a record year in film that showed the highest ever box-office grosses. Many expected film to suffer as a result of the effects listed above but it has flourished, strengthening film studio expectations for the future.

See also

• Category:Film
• List of basic film topics
• List of film topics
• List of video-related topics
• Lists of films
• List of years in film
• List of film awards
• List of film festivals
• List of film journals and magazines
• Cinematic techniques
• Digital cinema
• Lost film
• Web film

Notes

References

External links

• All Movie Guide - Information on films: actors, directors, biographies, reviews, cast and production credits, box office sales, and other movie data.
• Film Site - Reviews of classic films
• The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) - Information on current and historical films and cast listings.
• Movies at the Open Directory Project
• Rottentomatoes.com - Movie reviews, previews, forums, photos, cast info, and more. The Open Directory Project ( ODP) also known as dmoz (from directory

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