Portal:Film

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The Film Portal

Portal film-illustration 01
Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects.

Film is an important art form; films entertain, educate, enlighten, and inspire audiences. The visual elements of cinema need no translation, giving the motion picture a universal power of communication. Films are also artifacts created by specific cultures, which reflect those cultures, and in turn, affect them.

Traditional films are made up of a series of individual images called frames. When these images are shown rapidly in succession, a viewer has the illusion that motion is occurring. The viewer cannot see the flickering between frames due to 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. Viewers perceive motion due to psychological effects called beta movement and the phi phenomenon.

The origin of the name "film" comes from the fact that photographic film (also called film stock) has historically been the primary medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. Many other terms exist for an individual motion picture, including picture, picture show, photo-play, flick, and most commonly, movie. Additional terms for the field in general include the big screen, the silver screen, the cinema, and the movies.

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Featured article

Latter Days is a gay romantic drama released in 2003. Set in Los Angeles, California it portrays the seduction of Aaron Davis, a Mormon missionary, by Christian Markelli, a party animal who falls in love with him. The film, written and directed by C. Jay Cox, stars Steve Sandvoss as Aaron, Wes Ramsey as Christian, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Elder Ryder, and Rebekah Johnson as Julie Taylor. Mary Kay Place and Jacqueline Bisset have supporting roles. Latter Days premiered at the Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival on 10 July 2003. It was released across America over the next 12 months, and was released, mostly at gay film festivals, in a few other countries. It was the first film to openly show the clash between the principles of the Mormon church and homosexuality, and its exhibition in some states was polemic. Various religious groups demanded the movie to be retired from theatres and DVD stores under boycott threats. The movie was not well received by film critics, although it was popular with most film festival attendees. In 2004 T. Fabris made Latter Days into a novel, which was published by Alyson Publications.

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Selected picture

Lillian Gish
Credit: Bain News Service

Lillian Diana Gish (October 14, 1893 – February 27, 1993), was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987. She was a prominent film star of the 1910s and 1920s, particularly associated with the films of director D.W. Griffith, including her leading role in Griffith's seminal Birth of a Nation (1915).

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Featured biography

Ronald Reagan and General Electric Theater, 1954-62.
Ronald Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975). Born in Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles in the 1930s, where he became an actor, president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and a spokesman for General Electric. Reagan became involved in politics during his work for G.E. and switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party in 1962. After delivering a rousing speech in support of Barry Goldwater's presidential candidacy in 1964, he was persuaded to seek the California Governorship, winning two years later and again in 1970. He was defeated in his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 as well as 1976, but won both the nomination and election in 1980.
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Selected quote

Neil Simon
..I never write a play with an eye to film. And I don't like losing the words, as you have to, when I'm asked to turn a play into a movie. It's not a matter of ego . . . I'm just better able to create the character for an audience through words rather than through actions. I much prefer writing an original movie with the screen in mind to transferring a play to the screen.
— Neil Simon, 1999
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Featured content

Featured articles: 35 mm film • Padmé Amidala • James T. Aubrey, Jr. • B movie • Kroger Babb • Eric Bana • Blackface • Blade Runner • The Boondock Saints • Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan • Casablanca (film) • Bette Davis • Dog Day Afternoon • Karen Dotrice • Felix the Cat • Henry Fonda • Fritz the Cat (film) • Gremlins • Gremlins 2: The New Batch • Jake Gyllenhaal • Anthony Michael Hall • Halloween (1978 film) • Halloween II • Halloween III: Season of the Witch • Jabba the Hutt • Jaws (film) • Katie Holmes • Hong Kong action cinema • Angelina Jolie • Diane Keaton • Abbas Kiarostami • Kinetoscope • Lage Raho Munna Bhai • Latter Days • Vivien Leigh • Lindsay Lohan • The Lord of the Rings (1978 film) • Manos: The Hands of Fate • Mom and Dad • Cillian Murphy • Sydney Newman • Austin Nichols • Night of the Living Dead • November (film) • Our Gang • Palpatine • Panavision • Ran (film) • Satyajit Ray • Richard III (1955 film) • Sound film • Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace • Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones • Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith • Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope • Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back • KaDee Strickland • Summer of '42 • Sunset Boulevard (1950 film) • Sharon Tate • Tenebrae (film) • Trembling Before G-d • Triumph of the Will • V for Vendetta (film) • Witchfinder General (film) • Preity Zinta

Featured lists: BAFTA Award for Best Film • Golden Globe Award for Best Director - Motion Picture • Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama • Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score • List of Academy Award winners and nominees for Best Foreign Language Film • List of Harry Potter films cast members • List of films that received the Golden Film

Featured topics: Star Wars episodes

Featured pictures:

Buster Keaton by Bain News Service

"Phenakistoscope: A Couple Waltzing", by Eadweard Muybridge
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Main topics

Film topics
Film

Terms - Animation • Beta movement • Camera • Cult film • Digital film • Documentary film • Dubbing • Experimental film • Fan film • Film crew • Film criticism • Film festival • Film frame • Film genre • Film journals and magazines • Film industry • Film manifesto • Film stock • Film theory • Filmmaking • History of film • Independent film • Lost film • Movie star • Narrative film • Open content film • Persistence of vision • Photographic film • Propaganda • Recording medium • Special effect • Subtitles • Sound stage • Web film • World cinema

Lists - List of basic film topics • List of film topics • List of films • List of film festivals • List of film formats • List of film series • List of film techniques • List of highest-grossing films • List of longest films by running time • List of songs based on a film or book • List of US box office bombs • Lists of film source material • List of open content films

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