Film &
CAMERA ARTS
Introduction
 Camera is the Latin word for “room”
 The desire to record and preserve images is
probably as old as civilization itself
 Camera obscura- practical device that could
harness the image-transferring property of
light. Ex. Dark closet/hole/paper/image
Photography
 An artistic inspiration that tells the hands
what to find and record.
 Just as a painter’s brain tells the hands what
marks to make on a canvas, the
photographer’s brain is telling the camera
what to do.
 Constantly seeing compositions
Portraits
 cartes de visite, French for “visiting card”- a
photograph of yourself, roughly the size of a
playing card
 Ex. Mathew Brady- Cooper Union college
(Abraham Lincoln Cooper Union speech)
Landscape
 Capturing of nature’s forms
 Ex. Timothy O’Sullivan- Sand Springs Nevada
1867
 Ansel Adams- moon and Half Dome 1966
 Berenice Abbott- Nightview, New York 1932
Photography in Print:
Photojournalism
 Newspapers during the 19th century still had
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to capture images by drawing, lithographs or
wood engravings.
The development of photography in today’s
world is usually used by photojournalists.
Luck + Skill= Good photojournalist
Ex. Robert Frank- Trolley, New Orleans 195556
Sebastiao Salgado- Gold Miners at Serra
Palada para Brazil 1987
Photography and Art
 Dada- Ex. Hannah Hoch- Cut with the Kitchen
Knife Dada through the Germany’s Last
Weimar Beer Belly Cultural Epoch 1919
 Surrealism- often revealed something
strange and usually just for a split second
everything can come together
 Ex. Henri Cartier-Bresson- Valencia 1933
 Ex. Andres Serrano- Black Supper II 1990
Film
 Throughout history artists have tried to
create the illusion of motion in a still image
 Makes images on a screen seem real
1st commercial movie theater
in history
 December 28, 1895
 Paris café basement
 Ex. The Arrival of a Train at the Station
(Lumieres Brothers)-1st silent films
 ..\..\train station.htm
Charles Chaplin
 A man who tapped the endlessly entertaining
possibilities of the human condition
 Laughing at oneself and situations in
everyday life
 Charlie the character was your basic
underdog that always fell short or accidents
happened to that also had a heart of gold.
Modern Times 1936
 ..\..\charle chaplin.htm
1930’s
 Color photography in film was perfected
 Ex. David O. Selznick-Gone with the Wind
 1st book turned to movie (pos & neg)
 ..\..\Gone with the Wind.htm
1941 Citizen Kane
 26 year old boy genius-Orson Welles
 Created this film almost single-handed
 Played the lead role, produced, directed, co-
author of screenplay, supervised the editing
and set design, costumes.
 ..\..\citizen kane.htm
1950’s and 1960’s
 Ingmar Bergman (Swedish)- Ex. 1957 The
Seventh Seal-Death and the Knight playing
chess
 ..\..\7th seal.htm
 Federico Fellini (Italian)- Ex. La Dolce Vita“the sweet life”- contrast between old stable
views and society’s new focus on instant
sensual gratification
 ..\..\La Dolce Vita.htm
Special Effects and
Animation
 Series of drawings or cartoons, each slightly
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different, arranged on film and projected in a
speed that makes the drawing seem like its
moving.
In film anything is possible
Animation- “bringing to life”
Ex. King Kong- 1932- most memorable 1st
examples of special effects
..\..\YouTube - King Kong 1933.htm
Walt Disney
 Employed armies of artists to do original
movies
 The mechanics are now simplified by
computers
 1991 Beauty and the Beast
 ..\..\YouTube - Beauty and the Beast.htm
Video
 Art=communication
 Video art=mass communication
 No other medium even approaches its potential
to present millions of people one visual
experience at the same time.
 Now with computers the possibilities are endless
 Ex. Peter Campus- Three Translations 1973
 ..\..\YouTube - Three Transitions - Peter
Campus.htm