Movies

From the Eternal Classics of Bogart, Peck, Brando; Hepburn, Taylor, Loren; to the Latest Box-Office
Chart-busters this topic deals with them all. So if you are an Al Pacino or De Niro fan, if you go head
on heels with the charisma of Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt or Di Caprio, or if you an ardent Johnny Depp,
Mel Gibson or Tom Hanks fan just fasten your seat belts. From Serious Art Cinema to Sizzling
Spanish & Latino Beauties, Hardcore Action to 3D Animation movies. We will take you through the
whole journey.

A brief overview

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still images which, when shown on a
screen, creates the illusion of moving images due to persistence of vision phenomena (optical
illusion). A film is created by photographing actual scenes with a motion picture camera; by drawings
or miniature models using animation ; by means of CGI and computer animation; or by techniques
and visual effects. The Webster definition of cinema is the art of simulating experiences that
communicate ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty or atmosphere by the means of recorded or
programmed moving images along with other sensory stimulations. The name "film" originates from
the fact that photographic film (also called film stock) has historically been the medium for recording
and displaying motion pictures.

The process of filmmaking is both an art and an industry. Films were originally recorded onto plastic
film which was shown through a movie projector onto a large screen; more modern techniques may
use wholly digital filming and storage.

Films are cultural artifacts 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 medium for educating
citizens.

Birth of Movies

The history of film began in the 1890s, with the invention of the first motion-picture cameras and the
establishment of the first film production companies and cinemas. Film has its origin from
plays and dances which have been here since the beginning of our civilization. In the mid-19th
century, inventions such as the phenakistoscope and zoetrope demonstrated the phenomenon
of persistence of vision which helped in inspiring people towards the birth of movies. By the end of the
1880s, the introduction of lengths of celluloid photographic film and the invention of motion picture
cameras, which allowed several minutes of action to be captured and stored on a single
compact reel of film. The first public exhibition of projected motion pictures in America was at Koster
and Bial's Music Hall in New York City on the 23rd of April 1896. During that phase films were seen
mostly via temporary storefront spaces and travelling exhibitors or as acts in vaudeville programs. The
first feature Filem ever made was The story of the Kelly gang, an Australian film in 1906.

The rise of European cinema was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I, while the film industry in
the United States flourished with the rise of Hollywood in 1920s. Until 1927, motion pictures for films
were produced without sound. This era is referred to as the silent era of film. To enhance the viewers'
experience, silent films were commonly accompanied by live musicians and sometimes sound effects.
In the 1920s, the development of electronic sound recording technologies made it practical to
incorporate a soundtrack of speech, music and sound effects synchronized with the action on the
screen. By 1930, silent film was practically extinct in the US and already being referred to as "the old
medium."
Another major technological development was the introduction of "natural color". The pivotal
innovation was the introduction of the three-strip version of the Technicolor process, first used for
animated cartoons in 1932, then also for live-action short films and isolated sequences in a
few feature films, then for an entire feature film, Becky Sharp, in 1935.

Cinema in India

History of Indian cinema

1896 Introduction to motion pictures courtesy of Lumiere films had been in show in Bombay.

1898 Hiralal Sen, an Indian photographer, made a film of scenes from a stage show (The Flower of
Persia) in Calcutta. He set up Royal Bioscope, the first production company in India.

1899 H.S. Bhatavdekar, made a film of a actual wrestling match at the Hanging Gardens in Mumbai.
It is the first film to be shot by an Indian. It can also be considered as the first Indian documentary
film.

First film released in India (1912) Shree Pundalik. It is a silent film in Marathi by Dadasaheb
Torne. It is argued that it cannot be called the first Indian film, because it was a photographic
recording of a popular Marathi play and also, because the cameraman was a British national and the
film was processed in London.

First full length motion picture (1913) Raja Harishchandra. It is a silent film in Marathi. It was a
commercial success and was instrumental in the advancement of film industry in India. The
Dadasaheb Phalke Award was instituted in his honor by the Indian Government in 1969. It recognises
lifetime contribution to cinema.

First Indian talking film (1931) Alam Ara

1935 Devdas. It is a Bengali film and is widely considered a classic.

1936 Sant Tukaram. It is based on the life of Tukaram, a Varkari Sant and spiritual poet and was
screened at the Venice Film Festival (1937).

1940-1960:

After the Second World War, commercial movies with song and dance came into existence.
Chandralekha, made by S.S. Vaasan is one such movie known for its visual extravagance especially
in the song sequences. The Indian Peoples Theatre Association (IPTA) is an art movement with a
communist inclination began to take shape through the 1940s and 1950s. Notable contributions were
MOTHER INDIA and PYAASA.

The period 1940-1960 are regarded by film historians as the Golden Age of Indian cinema. This
period saw the emergence of parallel cinema led by Bengali cinema. The Apu Trilogy (1955-1959) is
one of the most important film series of this movement. It won major prizes at all the major
international film festivals and led to Parallel Cinema movement being firmly established in Indian
cinema. The parallel cinema continued throughout the 1970s through Satyajit Ray, Shyam Benegal,
Ritwik Gatak, Mrinal Sen, Buddadeb Das Gupta, Gautam Ghose and many such people. 1957-
Mayabazaar It is a mythological film and can be considered as the start for movies of such genre.

1970s-Till now:

Commercial cinema on the rise.

Film Industry

The making and showing of motion pictures became a source of profit almost as soon as the process
was invented. Upon seeing how successful their new invention, and its product, was in their native
France, the Lumires quickly set about touring the Continent to exhibit the first films privately to
royalty and publicly to the masses. Dedicated theatres and companies formed specifically to produce
and distribute films, while motion picture actors became major celebrities and commanded huge fees
for their performances. By 1917 Charlie Chaplin had a contract that called for an annual salary of one
million dollars.

Currently, the largest markets by box office are United States/Canada, China, and Japan, and the
countries with the largest number of films produced are India and Nigeria. Other centres include Hong
Kong and in Europe the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, and Germany are the countries that
lead movie production.

The United States has one of the oldest film industries (and largest in terms of revenue),
and Hollywood is the primary nexus of the U.S. film industry. The six major studios are Walt Disney
Company which owns Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Lucasfilm
Limited, the Pixar Animation Studios, and Marvel Studios; Sony Pictures Entertainment, 20th century
fox, Warner Bros., Paramount, Columbia, universal studio. The first movie studio in Hollywood area
was Nestor Studio.

India is the largest producer of films in the world. Indian film industry is multi-lingual and the largest in
the world in terms of ticket sales and number of films produced and 2nd largest in terms of revenue.
Largest film industry in India is the Hindi film industry mostly concentrated in Mumbai (Bombay). The
other largest film industries are "Tollywood"(Telugu), "Kollywood"(Tamil), "Mollywood"(Malayalam),
"Tollywood"(Bangla) and "Sandalwood".

Nigerian cinema is Africa's largest movie industry in terms value and the number of movies produced
per year. Nigeria's film industry is currently ranked as the 2nd largest film industry in the world (after
India) based on the number of films released per annum and it is worth over US$3.5 billion. The
movie capital of the country is majorly Lagos.

Movie Making Process

The filmmaking production cycle consists of five main stages:

1. Development
2. Pre-production

3. Production

4. Post-production

5. Distribution

Film Genre

This refers to the method based on similarities in the narrative elements from which films are
constructed (basically literary genre). Its a vague term when it comes to movies as each movie is a
mix of more than 1 genre, still the basic genre categories are : Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime,
Erotic, Faction, Fantasy, Historical, Horror, Mystery, Paranoid, Philosophical, Political, Realistic,
Romance, Saga, Speculative, Thriller, Urban, Animation/3D.

Technical Aspect of Movies

Video cam working principle:

Basic principle: film<- (created) photographing<-(scenes) motion picture camera<-animation

technique using (computer generated image). Before that moving pictures film was shot and projected
at various speeds using hand cranked cameras and projectors

Principle of video cam: lens focused the light rays come from object made into a coherent image
(ability to detect field, amplitude phase are recorded)

Diaphragm determines amount of light entered and shutter speed determines time of exposure .lights
made fall onto sensors to get corresponding electric charge

Cinematography:

Science of motion picture photography.

Editing:

Process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, film media to convey information

Sound mixing

Process which combine one or more channels frequency content, source signal level

Sound recording:

Electrical or mechanical inscription and recreation of sound such as singing, voice, spoken voice.

Academy Awards (The Oscars)

The Academy Awards, commonly known as The Oscars,[1] is an annual American awards ceremony
honouring achievements in the film. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt
Hotel, are overseen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). The Oscars is
also the oldest entertainment awards ceremony; its equivalents, the Emmy Awards for television,
the Tony Awards for theatre, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording, are modelled after the
Academy Awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last
Command and The Way of All Flesh. The origin of the name Oscar is disputed. One biography
of Bette Davis claims that she named the Oscar after her first husband, band leader Harmon Oscar
Nelson.

The categories includes : Best actor/actress, supporting actor/actress, Animated feature film,
Animated short film, cinematography, costume design, director, documentary feature film,
documentary short film, editing, original screenplay, foreign language film, live action short film,
makeup and hairstyling, original score, original song, picture, production design, sound editing,
sound mixing, visual effects and adapted screenplay.

Most awards won by a film include (11): Benhur, Titanic and Lord of the ring Return of the King.

Most Oscar won by a man: Walt Disney (22).

Most Oscar won by a woman: Edith Head (8).