What is the structure of a News Bulletrin?

A. The short news bulletin

 The short news bulletin may last for about 3 to 5 minutes. They contain the important news of the hour, and are meant to be read out on an hourly basis.

There are generally about 10 items in an hourly news bulletin. All the news items are put in order and are read out one after another.

The news item in the bulletin would have [a] headline; immediately followed by [b] the news in brief.

B. The long news bulletin

A detailed news bulletin runs for approximately 15 to 20 minutes, sometimes vene for half an hoiur. The structure of these bulletins are :[a] Headlines [at the start of the bulletin] [b] Lead stories [c] Closing stories [d] Closing Headlines.

a- Headlines introduce the listener to the bulletin. They are related to the most important news items of the day. they should be written crisply and clearly. Headlines are to introduce the listeners to the news and to attract them to wait for the details.

[b] Lead stories are the most important hard news stories. They include the top political and economic events that affect the country, region, or world. These stories are structured in the descending order of their importance or impact.

[c] Closing stories are also called news enders. they may relate to entertainment and sports news, some unusual events. they keep the listener interested. Such stories are also called kickers or 'tail enders'.

In every long news bulletin, the headlines are repeated once again at the end. This is done to summarize the news. It also helps those who tuned in late, to catch up with the news.

In india, All India radio, the only broadcaster of news bulletins, follows a formal and serious style.

In India, private broadcasters do not have the permission to script and broadcast news bulletins.

5 things about Georges Melies

1. Georges Méliès [also called George Melies ]was a former magician who became involved in film as a way to further his obsession with illusion.

2. He was born on December 8th, 1861 in Paris France. His father was a shoe maker and together with his two brothers he was trained in that business. He studied with the Parisian magic dealer Voison and eventually even started building his own apparatus and automaton. Then in 1888, he bought the famous Robert-Houdin Theatre! He began to present magic shows in this historic location.

In 1895, Melies witnessed a demonstration of a new invention by the Lumiere Brothers called the Cinematographe. By 1896, he had developed his own cine camera and began makingfilms.

3.  His trademark brand of phantasmagorical wizardry made him the godfather of special effects cinema in the hundreds of films he created in his Paris studio.

 Méliès’s most famous film, Le Voyage dans lalune (1902), distributed in the United States and England as A Trip to the Moon, ranks as one of the cinema’s first (if not the first) science fiction films, combining spectacle, sensation, and technical wizardry to create a cosmic fantasy that was an international sensation.

4 . Méliès’s films relied on a fixed camera position, but within this limitation he created a basic library of special effects that would dominate the cinema until the advent of the digital era in the late twentieth century: double exposures, dissolves (one image “melts” into another), mattes (in which one portion of the image is “masked off” and then rephotographed to create spatial, or spectacular, illusions), reverse motion, cutting in the camera (to make objects appear and/or disappear), and numerous other cinematic techniques.

5. George Melies died in Paris in 1938, and is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery along with other such notables as Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, and Marcel Marceau.

[click on the links for a sample of his films]

Social Media Marketing- Mixed Bag

1. List the five goals of social media marketing

The five goals of social media marketing can be listed as

[1] Create Brand awareness so that the brand becomes relevant to potential clients or customers.

[2] Enhance public relations by finding out the needs and issues of customers and solving them quickly.

[3] Build a community of advocates, which means that those who use the company's goods or  services spread the good  word about the  company.

[4] Research and Development is important, and social media can help in this area also.

[5] Driving sales and leads, which means that one can improve sales volume and also increase the business's lead over the nearest competitor.

2.  Write two ways in which social media can increase brand awareness

Social Media engagement can increase brand awareness. First, by use of blogs and posts on social media, one can promote the goods or services and make the brand visible. Clever memes and posts may engage people, who may forward them on social media, hence giving the brand or product more visibility. Second,  by posting links to blogs that review the product or services, people can get a better idea about the brand. This means that the engagement with the product or brand increases, thus increasing the brand awareness.

3. How does YouTube help in social marketing?

Videos are engaging, and audio-visual communication is more attractive than mere text. You Tube is a platform where people post videos on any subject they want. By creating some attractive videos on YouTube that mention the product or service or brand, and linking these videos to other posts on social media, the potential customer base is widened.

4. Write 100 words on ‘Social Media publishing’

. 'Publishing' can mean spreading of text, images, podcasts, and videos on media platforms. By social media publishing, we mean the creation of text and image content on social media platforms. This content can be in the form of blogs, Facebook posts, tweets, photo-material on Instagram and pintrest and so on. In order to be a good publisher on social media, one must take into account copywriting skills, such as using appropriate words and terminology, paying attention to the character limit of certain media, and shaping the communication in a way that suits the social media platform that one has chosen.

Charles Chaplin, Comic, Director, Musician and more

Who was Charles Chaplin? Read and find out. Look carefully. You will find links to some of his films, for study and enjoyment.


Sir Charles (Charlie) Spencer Chaplin was comedic actor, film director, composer and musician. 
 
He was born in the United Kingdom and moved to the United States of America (USA) in 1913 and
eventually became one of the most creative and influential personalities of the silent-film era.

His working life in entertainment spanned over 75 years, from the Victorian stage and the Music-hall in the United Kingdom as a child performer until his death at the age of 88. 

 
Chaplin’s most prolific creative activity occurred in the USA from 1914 to the mid 1940s. 

His most well-regarded movies were made with United Artists and include City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936), The Great Dictator (1940) and Monsieur Verdoux (1947), although he made many other classic movies.

Chaplin was critical to the development of film as an art form and he showed the potential of the medium to  communicate complex themes.

Chaplin, in his mature period, made intricate films, and provided an  abrasive exploitation of paradox and ambiguity. He was the premier comedian and film maker of his  time, and remains influential in the present day.

His contribution as a creative person himself and as  an inspiration to countless other people has been unique, widespread and timeless.

Chaplin demonstrated stage presence, a natural aptitude for impersonation, and dancing prowess
when he was a young child.

 He joined the Fred Karno troupe in 1910, and when the troupe toured America in late 1913 Chaplin's act was seen by Mack Sennett who hired him for his studio, the  Keystone Film Company. Sennett mentored the young Chaplin and Chaplin sought out role models,  mentors and people he could learn from throughout his life.

 Chaplin's pictures were popular successes, and he was one of Keystone’s biggest stars. Keystone was Chaplin’s creative ‘infancy’.

Chaplin learned about film making and developed his tramp character while he worked at a
phenomenal rate completing 34 short films in one year. Chaplin’s ‘Tramp’ gained enormous
popularity among cinema audiences all over the world.

 He was known as Charlot in French speaking countries, Italy, Spain, Andorra, Portugal, Greece, Romania and Turkey, Carlitos in Brazil and Argentina, and Vagabond in Germany.

In  1915 Charlie signed a more favorable contract with Essanay Studios.
Chaplin’s time at Essanay was his ‘adolescent’ creative period; he further developed his cinematic
skills, added new levels of depth and pathos to Keystone-style slapstick.

His films became much more ambitious, being twice as long as a typical Keystone picture. Many of the films he made with Essanay are classics including The Tramp. They show Chaplin’s growing talent and many of the ideas that were to come to mature fruition in his later mature period of film making.

Chaplin sought complete artistic control over his products from very early in his career. At Essanay
he became a full-blown celebrity, as he was very popular and he made himself and those around him
wealthy.
From Essanay Chaplin moved to the Mutual Film Corporation in 1916. Mutual paid Chaplin $670,000 to produce a dozen two-reel comedies.

He was given near complete artistic control, and produced twelve films over an eighteen-month period that rank among the most influential comedy films in cinema. Practically every Mutual comedy is a classic: Easy Street, One AM, The Pawnshop, and The Adventurer are perhaps the best known. This period in Chaplin’s career was his happiest¸ although he found the stringent production schedule demanding and restrictive, especially because his method of film-making involved improvisation and repetition, which were both expensive and time- consuming.

At the conclusion of his contract with Mutual contract (in 1917) Chaplin signed a contract with First
National. Chaplin enjoyed much more creative control over all aspects of the filming process including production and he built his own Hollywood studio. He was also able to perform at a more relaxed pace that allowed him to focus on quality.

Although First National expected Chaplin to deliver short comedies, he expanded most of his personal projects into longer, feature-length films, including Shoulder Arms (1918), The Pilgrim (1923) and the feature-length classic The Kid (1921), which introduced a strong element of pathos and sentimentality to silent movies which was innovative at this time.

In 1919, Chaplin along with other celebrities  co-founded the United Artists film distribution company in order to escape the growing power of film distributors and financiers in the fast developing Hollywood studio system.

With this move to United Artists Chaplin assumed complete control of film production. He became independent and this move was crucial in allowing him to achieve his artistic maturity.

After the arrival of sound films, and while still with United Artists, Chaplin made The Circus (1928),
City Lights (1931), as well as Modern Times (1936) before he committed to sound.

 Modern Times and City Lights are considered to be prime examples of Chaplin’s art. Both are sophisticated pieces of symbolic film-making that were essentially silent films scored with Chaplin’s music and sound effects.

Chaplin's first dialogue picture, The Great Dictator (1940), was an act of defiance against German
dictator Adolf Hitler, Nazism, Anti-Semitism and Fascism. It was filmed and released in the United
States one year before the U.S. abandoned its policy of neutrality to enter World War II.

Chaplin exploited the similarities between Hitler and The Tramp (especially the little moustache) and played the role of Adenoid Hynkel, Dictator of Tomania, clearly modeled on Hitler. The film was seen as an act of courage in the political environment of the time, both for its ridicule of Nazism and for the depiction of Jewish persecution. Chaplin was nominated for Academy Awards for The Great Dictator, but he did not win.

Chaplin made his home in Vevey, Switzerland.

He briefly and triumphantly returned to the United States in April 1972, with Oona O’Neill to receive an Honorary Oscar.

Chaplin's final films were Limelight (1953), The King in New York (1957) and A Countess from Hong Kong (1967).

Chaplin was a musician, composer and choreographer as well as film-director and actor. He
composed scores, wrote songs, and choreographed most of his films. Two of his most popular songs
are ‘Smile’ and ‘This is my song’. Chaplin's score for Limelight won an Academy Award in 1972.

There was a delay in the film premiering in Los Angeles due to Chaplin’s unpopularity in America in the early 1950s and so the movie became eligible decades after it was filmed.

In his later career Chaplin wrote extensively on his life. He also wrote original music compositions
and scores for his silent pictures and re-released them. Chaplin's last completed work was the score
for Woman of Paris. He was knighted at age eighty-five.

Sir Charles Chaplin died in his sleep in Vevey on Christmas Day 1977.

Useful Reading on News and News Values

For Students of Print Journalism. Here are a few links to sites that could give you more information, and help you understand and write better answers.

Definition and what's news  

What's news?

Sources of News for Journalists

Journalists have traditionally used three sources of information to get news. These are:

a. Direct observation b. Human or secondary sources  c. Documents or tertiary sources

Each of these sources is equally important. Often, a news report is based on information obtained from all three sources; sometimes from just one. Much depends on how a journalist is able to filter out information that has relevance for his readers.

For this, a journalist must be familiar with the needs of his target audience; should know his subject well; and should be willing to go the extra mile to obtain that little nugget of information that can give life to a news report.

Direct observation

This can be a most rewarding source, especially if you want to be a good storyteller. For instance, you can station yourself outside the emergency ward and observe how the victims of a blast are being handled.

Are the stretchers in good condition? Are there enough doctors, nurses to handle the stream of patients? How are the relatives of patients behaving? What is the effect of the frenzied activity on patients who were already admitted in the hospital? What happens when the VIPs start arriving?

You can gather this information only through careful observation, and meticulous note taking. Don’t depend upon your memory alone. Note every point that strikes you as unusual or noteworthy.

It is this description that will make your story different. Of course, you must not turn your news report into fiction. You must stick to facts, and describe what you see. You can gather this information only through careful observation, and meticulous note taking. Don’t depend upon your memory alone. Note every point that strikes you as unusual or noteworthy.

One reason the sports stories have more life is because they are based on direct observation. The sports reporter witnesses the game, makes copious notes, and then writes the report.

 Secondary sources

The bulk of news reports are based on secondary sources that is information provided by authorities, eyewitnesses, or individuals directly associated with an incident or event. This information is obtained through:

a. Interviews: A reporter gets to know about rioting in a city market. He immediately calls the police official in charge of that area to get details. The police official will provide only those facts that are “official”. This may include the number of people who have died or injured in the rioting, what the administration has done to control rioting, what are the possible reasons of rioting, where have the victims been taken.

The reporter can limit his report to information provided by authorities or visit the site of the riots, and obtain more information through direct observation and by interviewing residents of the area, who had witnessed the riots. The reporter can also speak to the policemen who were involved in bringing the riots under control.

The reporter can also phone or visit higher officials, if he is not satisfied with the official version of the event. Much depends on how good the reporter’s contacts are, and how far they are willing to provide information.

Interviews can also be conducted under sterile circumstances. In such cases, the reporter fixes a time with a well known public figure, and visits his home or office at the appointed hour. The reporter then asks a string of questions that may have been prepared before hand or may be framed on the spur of the moment. A news report is then prepared based on these answers. These reports can be exciting or dull based on how provocative are the answers given by the subject.

b. Press conferences: These are staged news events. A minister, a government official, a corporate chief or any celebrity may call a press conference to present his point of view. These may be the achievements of the government or of a corporate house or steps the local administration may be planning to tone up law and order. But the information flow is controlled by the individual who has called the press conference.

c. Press notes: Many organizations find it easy to mail press notes detailing their activities to newspapers. The newspaper reporters can then pick out useful information, and write news stories. Like press conferences, the press notes also portray the individual’s or organization’s point of view. It is for the reporter to use the information on face value or dig up more information before writing a story.

Documents
An important source of material is what researchers call tertiary sources. These are reports of inquiry commissions, research material, documents, newspaper clippings, copies of judgements, hospital records etc.

This information can be used to supplement a report or else can be used to write a stand alone report. However, sifting through these reports is not easy. It requires great patience, and steely determination.

[Prepared by Sunil Saxena]

POSITIVE/NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA

ESSAY ON POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Social Media, is a term often used in today’s world. It needless be defined for explanation. However, to enlighten the technological aspect behind it, Social Media is an internet-based media that is used to create and share ideas, information, and interests – personal and professional as well as collaborate with people. It is a form of platform where people come close virtually and the world looks connected within no time, to share and consume information.

A website on internet to be termed as Social Media must have a few characteristics like User accounts, Participation, Profile Pages, Friends or followers, Community, Notifications, Ways to review the contents, Communication, Connectedness. Examples of some trending Social Media of present times include – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Youtube, Vine, Google+.

Social media as an open forum gives a voice to those who were previously never heard. It has become a medium for self-express.

POSITIVE IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA –

Social media is being widely used in today’s times to document memories, learn about and explore things (way to expand knowledge), find information about a person’s character and activities which becomes useful in job seeking, matrimonial purposes, etc.

One can easily advertise oneself on a social media website reaching maximum number of people expeditiously; document the reviews of certain products and services, etc.

It is a platform to form friendships and communities to share news and information of interest conveniently. Thus, it reduces the geographical and cultural differences on earth into a very thin line, facilitating cross-border collaboration.

Social Media is used progressively to address issues globally reaching mass in a jiffy. For an example, Tunisian revolution in 2011 used facebook to gather for meetings, protest actions, etc. Another important factor being assistance in a search for missing persons, etc.

It is widely used for publishing and sharing educational contents and collaborating with other people with same interest. Some social media apps like facebook are being increasingly used by students to approach their professors. It is proving to be an effective channel of problem solving for shyer students who feel more comfortable in virtual discussions.

It allows for a constant flow of information from updates and real time communications. E.g. Twitter.

NEGATIVE IMPACTS-

The most reflecting negativity of social media is display of personal information as a text or display which can be promptly used for identity theft or fraud.

Another important point to ponder here is that it is being growingly used by militant groups these days to raise funds, recruit and radicalize persons, and spread their messages. For an example, ISIS produces online materials in different languages and uses recruiters to contact potential recruitees over the internet.

Social Media has always remained a challenge to the government in terms of control over its online activities.

Social media has influenced the way youth share and communicate in their daily lives. Online linguistics have become a trend nowadays. E.g. “Lol” to symbolise “laugh out loud”. The effectiveness from a face-to-face communication is never achieved.

All said and done, it may be inferred that Social Media has been a boon to the society unquestionably. However, it becomes important that people hold responsibility to the data they contribute to social media and be determined that nothing goes against social welfare. Government surely needs to excise measures to control this data.

Short essay on importance of Social Media

Facebook. Tumblr. Pinterest. The list goes on and on. Social media has taken over modern life, casting a massive influence not just on the teenager and the young adult, but also the middle-aged individual and the business corporation. What began as a mode of catching up and staying in touch with our peers, mostly for personal purposes, has evolved into a hugely successful mode of keeping in touch with customer bases as well. In essence, social media has managed to achieve its primary goal: increasing communication.

Social media has come under flak since its inception, and with good reason. Many call it distracting, and many condemn its public nature. Yet, despite its many shortcomings, modern life would be very different indeed if social media is taken out of it. Here, let’s take a look at the myriad benefits of this side of the internet.
Renewing long-lost friendships

Remember the early days of Facebook? Many of us opened an account when we were well into our late teens or early twenties, and had by then lost touch with a number of friends- from school, old neighborhoods etc. Facebook gave us a chance to get back in touch with old buddies we had drifted away from, and rekindle dormant relationships.
Meeting new people
Social media is not just for getting back in touch with people we already know, but also for getting to know new people. They are great platforms to get in touch with like-minded people and starting new friendships. Nowadays, it is quite common to see best friends who hit it off on social media on the basis of common interests, or people meeting on such platforms and becoming a steady couple. Of course, there is the chance of coming across and being victimized by predators, but being careful is part of the game.

Keep up with trending topics

Every news outlet worth its salt has an account with Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and the likes. Every minute, news is being updated and shared on social media by these outlets, which are in turn followed and re-shared by the netizens, that is, the common public. Through this process, news reaches the farthest corners of the world, making the world a global village in the true sense of the term.
Which brings us to globalization
Social and cultural intermingling is a huge part, and effect, of the phenomenon of globalization. Today, it is possible for a teenager in India to get in touch with and learn about the customs and nuances of the Icelandic culture through social media platforms. There are videos on the internet that deal with every conceivable aspect of every conceivable culture, and it is all there for the entire world to view and learn.
Public platform for expression
Social media websites are a great platform for expressing one’s thoughts and opinions. Every time something momentous occurs, Facebook and Twitter are sent aflutter with comment pouring in from concerned parties. This can have a great impact on political decisions and marketing campaigns. For instance, when Lenskart, the online eyeglass seller started a rather tasteless campaign titled ‘Shake this deal like the earthquake’ right after the Nepal earthquake, all social media platforms erupted in protest, and Lenskart promptly took down the ads. Whether it be expressing your thoughts in support or protest, or a call to action, social media is the perfect platform in modern times.

Gaining viewership
All businesses have a Facebook page, a YouTube channel, and a Twitter handle, and for good reason too. With millions of people already using the sites, and several thousand joining every day, you will be hard put to find another platform ensuring such constant and diverse viewership. These accounts are a great way of letting people know what you have to offer and what exciting plans you have for the future. Advertisements in these social media platforms are more likely to be viewed and clicked upon, and your reach can be global.

Keeps organizations on their toes
Social media is not just for the benefit of the business organizations, but for the customers too. Consumers are free to post queries and opinions on these pages that are right there for the rest of the world to see.
One negative review by a consumer can spell serious consequences for the company, which prompts the organizations to do their best to ensure that no such occasion arises in the first place.
 Net result is better performance by the oganisation and better experience for the customer.

Like it or not, social media is here to stay. Maybe not as we know it today, but it will continue to be a part of the human existence for many years to come. Our best bet would be to filter the good from the bad, and work with its many benefits.

[sample essay... use the points and try to write your own]

What were the kinds of edit cuts defined by Lev Kuleshov and the Moscow School?

Lev Kuleshov’s film workshops were the birthplace of Russian Montage. The Kuleshov students learnt that editing served three primary purposes while building a film. A cut could serve a narrative purpose. A cut could generate an intellectual response. The third kind of cut that the Kuleshov students discovered was a purely emotional one.

Watch this video on the Soviet Theory of Montage

 

The narrative cut allows the director to analyze the action into its most interesting elements and then re-synthesise these elements of an event into a powerful sequential action.

A flash-back or flash-forward is also a type of narrative cut.

The cross-cut is another kind of narrative cut.

 

The metaphorical cut or associational cut is a type of intellectual cut. A shot where workers are falling to the bullets of soldiers, can be followed by oxen being led to the slaughterhouse. Eisenstien uses this imagery in ‘Strike’. The audience  understood that the workers were being compared to dumb cattle being led to their death.

A contrast cut can also produce an intellectual response.

The parallel cut produces a third kind of intellectual response.

 

Emotional response can be generated by the very method of joining the strips of film together. here the method, rather than their content produces a kind of kinetic response that the director can control.

Rhythmic cuts in which a  director uses shorter and shorter lengths of film increases the tension and tempo of the action. The reverse can take place if longer lengths of film are joined together rhythmically.

The tonal cut is another method of hooking the viewer’s emotions. The use of steadily darker toned visuals can evoke a sense of darkness or heaviness, and the use of brighter visuals can bring a sense of lightness and joy.

Form cuts and directional cuts can also evoke emotional responses in the audience

A short note on Ardeshir Irani

Khan Bahadur Ardeshir Marwan  Irani (5 December 1886 – 14 October 1969). He is remembered for starting the earliest cinema theatres in Bombay. Popularly known as Ardeshir Irani, he was a writer, director, producer, actor, film distributor, film showman and cinematographer in the silent and sound eras of early Indian cinema. He was renowned for making films in Hindi, Telugu, English, German, Indonesian, Persian, Urdu and Tamil. He was a successful tycoon who owned film theatres, a gramophone agency, and a car agency.

 

Ardeshir Irani was born on 5 December 1886 in Poona, Bombay Presidency. In 1905, Irani became the Indian representative of Universal Studios and he ran Alexander Cinema in Bombay with Abdulally Esoofally for over forty years. At Alexander Cinema Ardeshir Irani learnt the rules of  filmmaking.  In 1917, Irani entered the field of film production and produced his first silent feature film, Nala Dayamanti, which released in 1920.

 

At age  forty, Irani was an established filmmaker. Ardeshir Irani became the ‘father’ of the Indian talkie films. He created history with his sound feature film, ‘Alam Ara’ released on 14 March 1931. Ardeshir Irani  is also accredited with making the first Indian English feature film, ‘Noor Jahan’ (1934). He completed his hat-trick of fame when he made Indiia’s  first colour feature film, Kisan Kanya (1937).

 

His contribution is not limited to giving voice to the silent cinema and colour to black-and-white films. He gave a new courageous outlook to filmmaking in India and provided such a wide range of choice for stories in films that till date, there are films being made which have a theme relating to one of the one hundred fifty-eight films made by Irani.

 

Irani made one hundred fifty-eight films in a long and illustrious career of twenty-five years, between the First and Second World Wars. He made his last film, Pujari, in 1945. He introduced a number of new actors to Indian Cinema, including Prithviraj Kapoor and Mehboob Khan.

What is Dada?

'By July 1916, Dada was a Zurich sensation, this while the Battle of the Somme accrued its grisly statistics: roughly 500,000 German casualties, 200,000 French and 420,000 British. The military incompetence and arrogance of those in power escalated to an unfathomable scale. Hans Arp wrote, "We had a dim premonition that power-mad gangsters would one day use art itself as a way of deadening men's minds."

 

'Gaga for Dada,' The New York Times Style Magazine, Fall 2005

 

The Basics of Dada Movement in Art

 

Dada was an artistic and literary movement that started in Europe when World War I was going on. Because of the war, many artists, intellectuals and writers, especially those from France and Germany, moved to Switzerland, which was a neutral country. Instead of being relieved that they had escaped, the artists, intellectuals and writers were furious with the modern society. So, they decided to show their protest through artistic medium. They decided to create non-art since art in the society anyway had no meaning.

 

Dada was many things, but it was essentially an anti-war movement in Europe and New York from 1915 to 1923. It was an artistic revolt and protest against traditional beliefs of a pro-war society, and also fought against sexism/racism to a lesser degree. The word "dada" was picked at random out of a dictionary, and is actually the French word for "hobbyhorse".

 

The most widely accepted account of the movement's naming concerns a meeting held in 1916 at Hugo Ball's Cabaret (Café) Voltaire in Zürich, during which a paper knife inserted into a French-German dictionary pointed to the word "dada".

 

The European movement was started in 1915 in Zurich by sculptor Hans Arp, film-maker Hans Richter, and poet Tristan Tzara.

 

 

The so-called non-artists turned to creating art that had soft obscenities, scattered humour, visible puns and everyday objects.

The most outrageous painting was created by Marcel Duchamp, when he painted a moustache on a copy of Mona Lisa and scribbled obscenities under it.

He also created his sculpture called Fountain, which was actually a urinal without the plumbing and it had a fake signature.

 

The public were repulsed by the Dada movement. However, the Dadaists found this attitude encouraging. And, slowly the movement spread from Zurich to other parts of Europe and New York City. Just as many mainstream artists were thinking about this movement seriously, the Dada movement dissolved around the early 1920s.

 

By the end of World War I, Dada was very popular in the German cities Berlin, Cologne and Hanover, expressing the view of many Germans at the time that the war was folly. The artists included: Raoul Hausmann, John Heartfield, Max Ernst, Kurt Schwitters, Otto Dix, and George Grosz (Dix and Grosz later became part of the Neue Sachlichkeit movement). The German artists released the issued Dada publications: Club Dada, Der Dada, Jedermann sein eigner Fussball ("Everyman His Own Football"), and Dada Almanach.

 

The New York art movement arose almost independently. The movement was centred at Alfred Stieglitz's gallery, "291," and at the studio of the Walter Arensbergs. Its leaders were: Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, and Francis Picabia. The New York counterpart tended to be more whimsical and less about the violence that was happening overseas.

 

Picabia founded a Dada periodical called "391" in Barcelona and introduced the Dada movement to Paris in 1919. Most notable among the French Dada pamphlets and reviews was 'Littérature' (published 1919-24), which contained writings by André Breton, Louis Aragon, Philippe Soupault, and Paul Éluard.  The Paris Dada movement later evolved into Surrealism by 1924

Dada  also influenced the experimental French film-makers in the 1920s. The films of Man Ray are the purest examples of Movie Dada such as 'Return to Reason' (1923).

This art movement was a protest, but at the same time it managed to be enjoyable and amusing. It was sarcastic, colourful, quirky and silly. If a person at that time had not been aware of the logic behind the movement, he or she would have been wondering what the artist was up to creating pieces like the ones that were created. However, the artist who created the Dada art was very serious about his work. The movement did not favour one medium over another. It used everything from glass to plaster to geometric tapestries to wooden reliefs.

 

 In addition, the movement was also responsible for influencing many trends in the field of visual art, the most well-known being Surrealism.

 

 

Right: Hannah Hoch - Cut with the Kitchen Knife Through the First Epoch of the Weimar Beer-Belly Culture, 1919.

 

The piece on the right by Hannah Hoch epitomizes the Dada attitude towards war: That it is chaos. That the world has gone mad. That war itself is craziness incarnate destroying humanity.

 

3 Basic reasons for applying make-up

The use of makeup for television [and film] is divided into three categories:

 

Basic - designed to compensate for undesirable changes in appearance introduced by the television process.

Corrective - designed to enhance positive attributes and downplay flaws.

Character - which introduces major changes in appearance.

 

Although people might think that makeup is reserved for people "who just want to look better" on TV or in film, in actual fact, makeup may be required to just retain a subject's normal appearance.

 

This is because the television and film processes to some degree can introduce (or make obvious) undesirable attributes to skin tones and features.

 

Some modern digital cameras have skin enhancing setup options that can reduce, but generally not eliminate, the need for makeup. In particular, they can appreciably smooth out wrinkles and conceal minor blemishes.

 

Video editors may not always want to apply these ‘camera’ effects, since they to some degree degrade optimum video sharpness, colour, and quality.

With the advent of high-definition television, the need for people skilled in the application of effective but subtle makeup has increased. As in most areas of television, makeup is an element that is best when it goes unnoticed.

 

 

Basic Makeup

 

In both film and video work, makeup on the face and possibly even the body is needed — especially for people who will be on camera any length of time.

 

For starters, normal skin contains a certain amount of oil that generally goes unnoticed until viewed in a close-up. This shine can be exaggerated by the heat of studio lights and personal tension. At the very least, subjects should use a face powder that matches their skin tone.

 

After this, we move to so-called basic makeup.

 

For this, the skin should first be cleaned with mild soap or cleansing cream prior to the application of a makeup base or foundation.

 

Both are available in either oil or water base, but water based make-up has the advantage of not requiring face powder and being easier to remove.

 

Before these are applied, it's best to use an astringent to tighten facial pores and prepare the skin.

 

A shade of base or foundation should be selected that matches the normal skin tones, unless the goal is to slightly lighten or darken all skin tones. In this case, it's best not to go beyond two shades lighter or darker than the normal tone.

 

There are about 20 shades available, but if for some reason the proper shade isn't available, shades can be mixed to provide an in-between shade.

 

A foam rubber sponge, which can be moistened slightly, is used to apply the base or foundation to the face, ears, and neck.

 

With deeply tanned Caucasian skin tones it may be necessary to even out skin tones around the eyes or bridge of the nose by mixing the base or foundation with a touch of rouge.

 

Other evidences of uneven tan, such as the halter strap marks over the shoulders of a woman, should be filled in so they blend with adjacent skin.

 

Even right after shaving, dark-haired men will evidence "a five o'clock shadow" that can be reduced or eliminated by blending in the foundation or makeup base.

 

If precautions are not taken, it is possible that makeup applicators can transfer skin bacteria or even a rash from one person to another.

 

To guard against this possibility disposable sponges, cotton balls or quilted cotton squares should be used.

 

Makeup in containers can also be contaminated. To avoid dipping an applicator back into the makeup container many makeup artists use the back of their hands as a palette.

 

Makeup brushes should be cleaned before reuse with hair shampoo or a commercial cleaner.

 

 

Lighting Considerations

 Makeup should always be checked, and if possible even applied, under the lighting that will be used in photographing the subject.

 

Even when video cameras are properly color balanced, sunlight, incandescent, and fluorescent lighting will all affect subject matter in different ways. For this reason, many makeup mirrors have adjustments for each of these types of light.

 

This consideration is particularly important with standard fluorescent light (if you can't avoid that type of lighting) because these lights tend to be low in red light and high in green.

 

Because normal skin tones contain a significant amount of green to start with, you may note obvious green skin tones under standard fluorescent light. The problem may be compounded if the makeup, itself, has green elements.

 

This is just another reason that you should use a high-quality, properly colour-balanced video monitor to check the results.

 

 

 

The Eyes

 

 Eyebrows should be brushed with a clean eyebrow brush and plucked of any stray or unruly hairs. Though bushy eyebrows may be acceptable for men, women should carefully shape their brows into a gentle arch that tapers off at the ends.

 

Making fine delicate strokes, use an eyebrow pencil of an appropriate shade to fill in or reshape the eyebrows.

 

For women, a touch of eye shadow is almost always desirable. The dry powder or cake type of eye shadow is preferred over the cream type, since it both lends itself to easier and more subtle blending and holds up better under hot studio lights.

 

Whether a woman's eye shadow should match her eyes, clothes, or neither, is a fashion opinion, which can vary from season to season. Whatever the colour choice, it should be subtle.

 

A darker shade of the same colour used on the eyelids (or a soft brown shade) can be lightly brushed into the lid crease to add depth and size to the eye.

 

Women with heavy-lidded eyes should avoid this last technique because it will probably emphasize the problem. A dot of ivory or pale yellow eye shadow smoothed under the brow bone will lighten and "open" the eyes.

 

Eyeliner can be applied close to the top lashes either by using a soft, fine brush or a sharp eyebrow pencil.

 

An eyelash curler and a light application of mascara will accent eyelashes. Excess clumps of mascara should be removed with a few upward strokes of a clean brush. False eyelashes can be used, but they should be carefully trimmed to fit the individual's eyes.

 

 

 

The Lips

 

 Another aspect of particular importance to women is the proper selection of lipstick. Some types of lipstick and rouge not designed for television have a latent blue hue, which can take on a decided purple appearance when photographed. A pure red lipstick that will harmonize with the skin coloration and wardrobe is best.

 

At the same time you will not want to chose a bright red lipstick that will dominate the face and create a garish appearance.

 

Before applying lipstick, lips should be outlined by using either a lipstick brush or a lip pencil. If the lips are well proportioned, this accentuates them. But lip outlining can also be used as a corrective technique.

 

People with either overly thin or full lips can improve their lip line by first covering their lips with their base makeup and then drawing or outlining a more desired shape. A lip brush should also be used to give color to the entire lip.

 

After the application of lipstick, you should blot the lips with a tissue to avoid an unnatural shine.

 

Lip gloss is generally undesirable for television. Although lipstick is not generally used on men, it is sometimes appropriate to add a touch of a natural-colored lipstick to smooth out a possible line between the lips and the beginning of the base makeup. A brown shade of lipstick applied with a brush is recommended.

 

 

 

Hands, Ears, and Teeth

 

 If hands are to appear on camera, as when products are demonstrated through close-ups, special care must be taken.

 

Use an appropriate shade of makeup base to ensure that hands match other parts of the body and to minimize wrinkles and colour variations.

 

Nails should be well manicured. Clear or coloured fingernail polish can be used. The appearance of the hands should be carefully checked on a TV monitor prior to a production. Extreme close-ups will often reveal makeup flaws that are not normally visible.

 

Because they are often slightly lighter and redder than adjacent skin tones, ears can be a special problem. Added to this is the fact that back lights will often shine through ears to some degree, further raising their tonal value.

 

To control this and bring ears back to their proper tonal perspective, they should be covered with a base makeup that is two or three shades darker than the face. The makeup base should then be covered with a translucent face powder.

 

Bad teeth can be minimized with an appropriate shade of tooth enamel or dentine fluid. Special coverings are available for this purpose.

 

 

The Body

 

 Since more and more skin seems to be showing up in films and on TV, we need to mention parts of the body other than the face and hands.

 

Elbows, knees, and ankles can look unnaturally dark unless you use makeup to lighten these areas.

 

Using a Q-tip, or the edge of a sponge, stretch marks on the stomach can be "painted in" to some degree with a liquid makeup two to four shades lighter than the base. (See photo.)

 

With dark-haired individuals, areas of the body that have been shaved will need the same treatment.

 

Scars and removed tattoos will take extra amounts of base or foundation. Often, you can use liberal amounts the same shade as adjacent skin.

 

 

Dark-Skinned People

 

 The makeup needs of dark-skinned people are not greatly different from those that have been outlined. Appropriate shades of makeup are available for most of the darker skin tones; however, to arrive at the needed tone, it may be necessary to do more in the way of blending different makeup shades.

 

Generally, makeup for dark-skinned people should be applied sparingly. Black males and other males with dark skin may not need makeup at all. They often photograph well without it.

 

Problems can arise, however, with very dark-skinned black males who do not exhibit a natural skin sheen, since the tonal reflectance level can drop so low that a loss of form and dimension results. It is desirable to preserve these highlights, and occasionally even accent them with baby oil or glycerin.

 

 

 

Concealing and Emphasizing Facial Features With

Corrective Makeup

 

 Through corrective makeup procedures it may be necessary to play down undesirable facial features and emphasize positive attributes through contouring and highlighting.

 

In corrective makeup we are starting with the base or foundation and then blending in shades or makeup that are either darker or lighter.

 

 In contouring, a darker shade of makeup than the foundation or base is used to downplay features, such as a high forehead or an overly prominent nose.

 

Contouring can also be used to bring out the classic jaw line that's seen as desirable for women.

 

In this case, a darker shade of makeup is carefully blended into the foundation or base. To achieve this "classic look," the darker makeup will go from the chin line up to the earlobes and into the hollows of the cheeks.

 

 In highlighting, the object is to reverse this effect — to emphasize or pull the eye toward certain facial features or areas. In this case, use a shade of makeup that is lighter than the foundation or base.

 

This approach should also be used in shadowy areas under the eyes and under the lower lip to keep them from looking unusually dark on camera. Either use makeup two to three shades lighter than the base, or a translucent white highlighter.

 

In the case of both men and women, colour can be added to the cheeks by mixing a very light trace of rouge with the existing base makeup and then blending it in with a sponge.

 

 After all this is done, it's often necessary to use some transparent powder to dull down some (but not all) of the facial sheen. This is normally applied with a powder puff or soft bristled brush.

 

Sometimes there will be light spots on the skin, due to aging or whatever, that can be covered with a tanning spray, such as Walgreens Deep Dark Tan Sunless Tanning Spray carefully painted on with a Q-tip. The spray rather than the lotion is best for this.

 

Since it takes a number of hours — even up to a day — before the effect becomes noticed, this is a technique that definitely requires planning ahead. And, since results aren't immediately apparent and last several days, you need to experiment with this technique well in advance of going on camera.

 

However, once mastered, this represents a relatively inexpensive and convenient way of keeping this type of skin discoloration hidden. Prescription skin dye is also available, for this purpose, but it's quite expensive.

 

 

 

Makeup Removal

 

 Women may prefer to leave makeup on after leaving the TV studio. Unlike stage makeup, it should be so natural looking that there should be no need to remove it, especially early in the day.

 

Men, being a bit more sensitive to these things, will probably want to remove makeup with a cleansing cream or lotion.

 

After removing makeup, women may want to use an astringent to condition their skin. Men can use aftershave lotion for the same purpose.

 

 

 

Character Makeup

 

Character makeup covers great range, from adding or subjecting years, to today's grisly science fiction and horror-film transformations. It would take a good-sized book to cover character makeup; and, in fact, numerous books have been written on the subject.

 

Since it has limited application in day-to-day production work, we well simply use the following photos to give you an idea of what can be done.

 

 

 

 

 

Note that the young man shown above can be transformed into an old man through the use of elaborate makeup and prostheses (and a few hours' work).

 

In this case, a bald cap is first used to cover up the young man's hair (first photo). At that point, prostheses are used to add wrinkles and sagging areas to the face.

 

Then liberal amounts of makeup are then painted on to blend everything together. Although it may sound simple, character makeup can easily take many hours to apply.