# The art of filmography

Film production pushes past visual media in its execution, and arguably provides far too much information for most audiences to consume at once.

- Portraits and books both allow the audience to take as much time as they wish, but films often take advantage of time constraints to intentionally provide experiences that may overwhelm the audience.

## Performance

The domain of film performance is just like [theater](art-theater.md), but with the dominant advantage of permitting editing.

- The actors can effectively perform many takes, and then editors can splice together the best parts of each take.

Since there's more focus on the intimate details of a film, wardrobe design is critical.

- Plays require more [imagination](mind-imagination.md) for the audience to engage with it because the sets can't be realistic.
- By contrast, modern sets in films with hyper-realistic props, so the wardobe must match precisely.
  - Beyond [culturally](people-culture.md) appropriate attire, the *wear* of the attire must be similar, since the experience feels fake if the clothing hasn't been dirtied, stained, or worn down.

## Perspective changes

Film has the added advantage over theater of using the perspective itself to portray a [story](stories-storytellers.md).

- The lens can be focused or shift focus depending on what the story wants (e.g., to showcase someone in the background).
- Applying off-kilter "Dutch angles" allows for a surreal perspective.
- Various forms of zooming and camera operators using booms can create extreme experiences that give audiences a profound connection to information that would *never* represent in a play.

The filmmaker also has the opportunity to slow down through reaction shots, where the actor can state their line as an extreme closeup.

## Technology improvements

Now that film has moved from [camera reels](engineering-camera.md) to [memory](computers-memory.md), almost anyone can make a film if they have a sufficiently-sized team.

Adding [computer graphics](engineering-graphics.md) also allows for affordable film development, especially for science fiction films.