A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still images on a strip of plastic which, when run through a projector and shown on a screen, creates the illusion of moving images. A film is created by photographing actual scenes with a motion picture camera; by photographing drawings or miniature models using traditional animation techniques; by means of CGI and computer animation; or by a combination of some or all of these techniques and other visual effects. The process of filmmaking is both an art and an industry.
Films usually include an optical soundtrack, which is a graphic recording of the spoken words, music and other sounds that are to accompany the images. It runs along a portion of the film exclusively reserved for it and is not projected.
Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures. They 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—or indoctrinating—citizens. The visual basis of film gives it a universal power of communication. Some films have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles to translate the dialog into the language of the viewer.
The individual images that make up a film are called frames. During projection, a rotating shutter causes intervals of darkness as each frame in turn is moved into position to be projected, but the viewer does not notice the interruptions because of 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. The perception of motion is due to a psychological effect called beta movement.
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. Many other terms exist for an individual motion picture, including picture, picture show, moving picture, photoplay and flick. The most common term in the United States is movie, while in Europe film is preferred. Terms for the field in general include the big screen, the silver screen, the movies and cinema; the latter is commonly used in scholarly texts and critical essays, especially by European writers. In early years, the word sheet was sometimes used instead of screen.
Read more about Film: History, Theory, Industry, Associated Fields, Terminology Used, Education and Propaganda, Production, Distribution, Animation, Future State
Other articles related to "motion picture, film, motion pictures":
... Salt Nominated - NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture 1995 Tuskegee Airmen, TheThe Tuskegee Airmen Billy Roberts Nominated - NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television ...
... Traditional film recorder manufacturers have all but vanished from the scene or have evolved their product lines to cater to the motion picture industry ... Dicomed was one such early provider of digital color film recorders ... Graphics, Inc, MacDonald-Detwiler and Agfa were other producers of film recorders ...
1887 – Celluloid film base introduced. 1888 – Louis Le Prince makes Roundhay Garden Scene, considered the first film ever made ... Laurie Dickson develops the "kinetoscopic camera" (motion pictures) while working for Thomas Edison ...
... Result Title 1989 Young Artist Award Best Young Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama Nominated Clara's Heart Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actor in a ... Globe Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television Nominated How I Met Your Mother Emmy Award Outstanding Supporting Actor in ... Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television Nominated How I Met Your Mother Emmy Award Outstanding Supporting Actor ...
... Film and television Year Title Role Notes 1963 Tom Jones Susan 1964 Girl with Green Eyes Baba Brennan Nominated— BAFTA Award for Most Promising ... Role Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture 1997 Toothless Rogers 1998 Gods and Monsters Hanna Golden Globe Award for ...
Famous quotes containing the words motion picture, film, motion and/or picture:
“The motion picture is like a picture of a lady in a half- piece bathing suit. If she wore a few more clothes, you might be intrigued. If she wore no clothes at all, you might be shocked. But the way it is, you are occupied with noticing that her knees are too bony and that her toenails are too large. The modern film tries too hard to be real. Its techniques of illusion are so perfect that it requires no contribution from the audience but a mouthful of popcorn.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)
“Unthinking people speak of the motion picture as the medium of “action”; the truth is that the stage is the medium of action while the screen is the medium of reaction. It is through identification with the person acted upon on the screen, and not with the person acting, that the film builds up its oscillating power with the audience. This is understood instinctively by expert film-makers, but to my knowledge it has never been formulated. At any emotional crisis in a film, when a character is saying something which profoundly affects another, it is to this second character that the camera instinctively roves, perhaps in close-up; and it is then that the hearts of the audience quiver and open in release, or rock with laughter or shrink with pain, leap to the screen and back again in swift-growing vibrations. The great actors of the stage are actors; of the screen, re-actors.”
—Dudley Nichols (b. 1895)
“subways, rivered under streets
and rivers . . . in the car
the overtone of motion
underground, the monotone
of motion is the sound
of other faces, also underground—”
—Hart Crane (1899–1932)
“With wonderful art he grinds into paint for his picture all his moods and experiences, so that all his forces may be brought to the encounter. Apparently writing without a particular design or responsibility, setting down his soliloquies from time to time, taking advantage of all his humors, when at length the hour comes to declare himself, he puts down in plain English, without quotation marks, what he, Thomas Carlyle, is ready to defend in the face of the world.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)