Today’s warm-up is a reinforcement of the previous day’s lesson. Show the beach sequence from Jaws. Daily Warm-up (written on board): In this brief film clip, how does Spielberg use the movement of the camera to create meaning? Describe the underwater shot: the angle, the movement of the camera in relation to the people being filmed—use the terms we discussed in class last time. What do you think this shot is supposed to mean? How about the shot of the police chief?

Today we’ll continue with the Film Terms packet which the students started in the previous day’s lesson.

Section Five: Transitions (Editing)
Fade: an image dissolving to a blank screen (usually black or white) or vice versa.
Dissolve: when the first image gradually disappears while the second image appears.

Note: the moment while the two images are simultaneously blended on screen is called “superimposition.”

Wipe: when a line passes across the screen in any direction, eliminating the first image as it passes and leaving the second image in its place, like Home Improvement (if anyone remembers that show).
Iris: when a circle begins (or ends) at a single point in the screen and expands (or contracts) to fill the entire screen, leaving a second image or blank screen behind it, like a Looney Tunes ending.

There is a short student film which used to be available for purchase called George Lucas in Love. I usually show this film clip at this point in the lecture. Because it’s parodying aspects of Star Wars, the film uses all of the kinds of transitions we just talked about in this class. As we watch this film clip, I point out the various transitions we just talked about.

Section Five (part 2): Cuts
Cut: a straightforward, unobtrusive joining of two shots or scenes.
Match cut: a cut which connects two adjacent shots by means of matching similar physical shapes or layouts, creates a visual or psychological link between them.

At this point, I usually show a quick clip from Smoke Signals. I show the scene in which there is a match cut as characters walk in various doors and it cuts from past to present/child Victor to adult Victor.

Cross cut: cutting between two scenes of parallel action to suggest simultaneity, or build suspense.

I show another clip from the ending of Smoke Signals in which scenes of Victor and Thomas are trying to start their car cross cut with scenes of Suzi trying to start her lighter, suggesting a link between them. You might even consider showing them the whole film because when you’ve seen the whole film you understand that this scene is using fire as a link between these two cuts, suggesting that all the characters are letting their past go and moving on with their lives. Here the fire suggests a purifying ritual. It puts back into balance what had become unbalanced by previous fires. (At least in my reading of it.)

Jump cut: generally avoided; it means a sudden jump forward/backward/to the sides which has no apparent logical reason; nothing else in the camera angle or scene has changed. Usually an accident, but sometimes meant to purposely jar the viewer psychologically.

I tell my students: Well, I bet you’re all wondering who “created” all these special film terms. The answer is D.W. Griffith. He wasn’t really the first person to use these techniques. He didn’t invent them, but he was the first to use them all together.

Give students the D.W. Griffith handout. Students will read through the handout and identify the three most important contributions that D.W. Griffith made to the development of film as an art form in the space provided on the back of the handout.

Students turn to a partner and share which things they wrote down. Then we talk about them as a class.

At this point, I show a clip from Birth of a Nation. Of course, you are probably aware that Birth of a Nation is very racist. You should make sure to point this out to students before watching the film. You might even use it as a jumping off point to discuss historical racism in films and the larger society. Perhaps a film clip from Birth of a Nation could be balanced by showing a clip from Spike Lee’s Bamboozled.

Work on the final project for this unit.

A little lecturey, but not bad.