Ch 1 - The Art of Watching Films

Film includes aspects of representational art forms. what are those?

• painting

• sculpture

• music

• literature

• drama

what are the amalgam of opposing forces that film represents?

• Industry

  • Business

  • Commercial

• Art Form

  • artistry

  • aesthetics

• “Collective, Solitary, Social, Individualist, Box office line, Dreaming in dark”

what makes film unique?

quality of free and constant motion

where does the term “cinema” come from

greek word kine — word for motion

film excels at what?

sights, sounds, and motion — movies move! / increasing realism as technology evolves

what is the challenge of film analysis

We must immerse ourselves in a film yet remain critically detached from it

what do you do to truly analyze a film?

• the first time: just take it all in

• the second time: examine as you view

  ““Film analysis doesn’t end when the movie is over; this is when it really begins”

avoid _____ ______ when analyzing film

binary opposites

film does NOT have a language per se, but filmmakers use _______ & _________ to help create meaning

conventions and tropes

what do you need to be wary of in film analysis?

personal biases (eg. i hate gangster films, musicals, and fantasy)

who pioneered the concept of Willing Suspension of Disbelief

Samuel Coleridge

everyone doesn’t share our (WV) and may not have problems with (LSV)

worldview / language, sex, and violence

what are the viewing environments

• movie theatre VS home theatre

• widescreen (❣) VS “pan & scan”

• surround sound VS stereo or mono

how to prep to see a film

• reviews (know how to use them)

• publicity/marketing = they lie

• word of mouth

• dedicated websites = rotten tomatoes, Metacritic, IMDb, etc

how to deepen our responses to films?

consider keeping a movie journal or writing about movies you’ve just seen on social media