Unit 12: Overview
Cinema combines almost every other art form in this course: the visual composition of painting, the narrative structure of literature, the performance of theater, the rhythm of music, and the motion of dance. Its additional element is the camera, which can show you things no other art form can: a close-up of a face, a landscape sweeping past in a tracking shot, two events happening simultaneously through cross-cutting.
Unit 12 introduces the vocabulary of film: shot types (establishing, close-up, long, medium, tracking, crane), editing techniques (continuity cuts, jump cuts, cross-cutting, montage), and the role of the director and editor in shaping the final work. It also covers the major genres and the concept of the auteur, the idea that the director is the true author of a film.
You watch films all the time. This unit teaches you to see them. The difference between watching and seeing a film is the same difference the course has been drawing since Unit 1: the difference between a casual response and an informed perception.
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you should be able to:
- Identify and describe the major shot types used in cinema
- Explain the key editing techniques: continuity cut, jump cut, cross-cutting, and montage
- Describe the roles of the director, editor, and cinematographer
- Explain the concept of the auteur
- Apply descriptive and interpretive criticism to a film sequence
What you'll do in this unit
- Explore the Watch & Listen at the top of the lesson, taking your time with each work
- Work through the lesson and open each numbered section
- Try the Experience It activity at the end of the lesson
- Write your reflection, then take the quiz