Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects.
Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures, which reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment and a powerful method for educating — or indoctrinating — citizens. 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.
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. Viewers perceive motion due to a psychological effect called beta movement.
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. 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.
Knowing very little of India, its history, its people, the culture, or the land, I set about to watch this 6 hour? (possibly more) documentary made in 1968/9 by Louis Malle this past week. You can really see the influence this film had on Wes Anderson’s “Darjeeling Limited”; the camera zooms from far distances and wide pans amongst other techniques and subject matter. The imagery, from the Bharatnatyam dancers to the circling of the Sadhu pilgrim on a road, is amazing and the narrative compelling throughout. If you’ve got some time to devote and you’re a patient person, I encourage watching this.
Great database of movie title screens here.
If this interests you, we highly recommend purchasing the Uncredited book from our site.
Isabella Rossellini explores the world of insect mating.
Get your freak on.
Friday fun time. There is a director, Fan Programs, aka Chris Thrash, on YouTube doing videos for cash requests. I watched a couple but “Pop Lock and Drop It” really takes the cake in my opinion. Check it out.
Scans of VHS movie covers. Straight off the shelves from somewhere in Sweden.
