Chapter 1: The Art of Watching Films
How the Medium of Film is Unlimited
The medium is unlimited not only in its choice of subject but also in its approach to that material. A film's mood and treatment can range from the lyric to the epic. In point of view, a film can cover the full spectrum from the purely objective to the intensely subjective; in depth, it can focus on the surface realities and the purely sensual, or it can delve into the intellectual and the philosophical. A film can look to the remote past or probe the distant future; it can make a few seconds seem like hours or compress a century into minutes. Film can run the gamut of feeling from the most fragile, tender, and beautiful to the most brutal, violent, and repulsive.
The Challenge of Film Analysis
The properties that make film the most powerful and realistic of the arts also make analysis challenging. A motion picture moves continuously in time and space. Once frozen, a film is no longer a "motion" picture, and the unique property of the medium is gone. Therefore, film analysis requires us to respond sensitively to the simultaneous and continuous interplay of image, sound, and movement on the screen. This necessity creates the most challenging part of the task: We must somehow remain almost totally immersed in the experience of a film while we maintain a high degree of objectivity and critical detachment. Difficult though it may seem, this skill can be developed, and we must consciously cultivate it if we desire to become truly "cineliterate." Innovations in digital videodisc (DVD), Blu-ray players and recorders, and streaming video can help, initially at least, by simply making screenings (as well as multiple viewings) of a film easier than in the past.
DVDs
A computer disk that stores multimedia messages in a digital format
Blu-Ray
A disk that enables the recording, rewriting and play back of high-definition video and the storing of large amounts of data. It has more than 5 times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs and can hold up to 25GB on a single layer disk and 50 GB on a dual layer disk.
IMAX
A format for film presentation that records at such high resolution that it allows presentation of films at far larger sizes than the conventional one
Preparing To See A Film: Word of Mouth
A great deal of important information can also be picked up from the grapevine, the word-of-mouth reviews by friends who have seen the movie. Online blogs and chat rooms now enable unlimited numbers of people to convey their opinion and communicate in real time about current movies.
Cinerama
A widescreen process that uses three cameras, three projectors, and a wide, curved screen
Panning and Scanning
Also called "full screen," the technique of re-shooting a widescreen film in order to convert it to the original television aspect ration of 1.33 to 1. Rather than reproduce the original aspect ratio, as a letterboxed version does, a panned and scanned copy eliminates some of the visual information and introduces camera movement and editing that are not in the original
Wide-Screen
An aspect ratio that exceeds the traditional 1.33:1 ratio of width to height. The most common widescreen ratios are 1.66:1 and 1.85:1.
Preparing To See A Film: Reviews
An easy way to gain some knowledge about a film before seeing it is to read reviewers. Whether found online or in traditional print sources such as newspapers, magazines, worthwhile reviews include many of the same basic components. They usually provide factual information: film credits, running time, MPAA rating, a summary of the subject matter and plot. Most reviews also mention the elements in the film that are significant and worthy of attention. They may help us place the films by the same director or production team. A review may analyze the film, breaking it into its parts and examining the nature, proportions, function, and interrelationship of these parts. Although most "journalistic" reviews are written quickly against deadlines, they almost always include kind of value judgement, some negative or positive opinions of the film's overall worth. In those cases where we do consult the opinions of reviewers before we head out to the multiplex, we should remember not to place too much faith in any one notice, unless we are already familiar with the tastes and biases of its author. Better, we might choose to read several reviewers' work, preferably published in sources that we know represent a variety of philosophical bents. Indeed, when reading reviews, we must remember that criticism--journalistic, academic, or otherwise--is a highly subjective process. If we take any single review or even a series of reviews too seriously before seeing a film, we will restrict our ability to judge the work independently. Also, if we rely too much on the reviews, we may completely lose faith in our own judgement and end up in a tug-of-war between critical opinions.
Analysis Enhances Our Love of Films
Analysis helps us to lock an experience in our minds so that we may savor it in memory. By looking at a film analytically, we engage ourselves with it intellectually and creatively and thus make it more truly our own. Furthermore, because our critical judgments enter into the process, analysis should fine-tune our tastes. A mediocre film can impress us more than it should at first, but we might like it less after analyzing it. A great film or a very good one will stand up under analysis; our admiration for it will increase the more deeply we look into it.
Film Analysis: Consider Your Expectations:
Another subjective factor that influences film evaluations is expecting too much from a movie, whether it has won awards, critical acclaim, or great reviews from our friends. Expectations may also run too high if we are particularly fond of a novel that is later adapted to film. When our expectations are too high, a film can't possibly measure up, and our disappointment clouds a work that we would otherwise have liked immensely.
Deepening Our Responses To Films
As students of film, once we have gathered facts, decided what movies to see, and attempted to clear our minds of preconceptions, then what? We should begin to deepen our perceptions. After watching a film, we naturally start to think about our reactions to it. Sometimes, though, we hesitate to speak with others about our experience. Typically, we want to deal with our personal, emotional responses first, perhaps silently, perhaps while we "savor the moment" during the movie's end credits or even throughout the ride home. At other times, we are compelled immediately to speak out loudly with friends or family members, who have accompanied us on our cinematic journey, sharing their joy or misery, or arguing not only about the work's emotional landscape, but also about its logical sharpness or stupidity. If the film has indeed encouraged any cerebral responses, we may especially desire to record our reaction in written form, all the better to understand our experience. Now, as we turn directly to the analytical approach to film viewing, consider keeping a movie journal. Record what movies you see and, quite literally, what you see in them. Take note of both the emotional and the intellectual levels of your watching.
Subsequent Viewings of the Film for Analysis
Because we are no longer caught up in the suspense of what happens, we can focus our full attention on the how's and why of the filmmaker's art. Constant practice of the double- or multiple-viewing technique should make it possible for us gradually to combine the functions of two or more viewings into one.
Becoming A Receptive Viewer
Before we begin our analysis, we need to consider obstacles to objectivity and maximum enjoyment that we create through our prejudices and misconceptions and by the particular circumstances in which we watch the film. Each of us reacts in a unique and complex way to internal and external forces that are beyond the filmmaker's control. Although these forces lie outside the film itself, they can have an effect on how we experience a film. Awareness of these forces should help us overcome them or at least minimize their effect.
CGI (computer-generated imaging)
Computer Generated Imagery
What Makes Film Unique
Despite these similarities, film is unique, set apart from all other media by its quality of free and constant motion. The continuous interplay of sight, sound, and motion allows film to transcend the static limitations of painting and sculpture--in the complexity of its sensual appeal as well as in its ability to communicate simultaneously on several levels. Film even surpasses drama in its unique capacity for revealing various points of view, portraying action, manipulating time, and conveying a boundless sense of space. Unlike the stage play, film can provide a continuous, unbroken flow, which blurs and minimizes transition without compromising the story's unity. Unlike the novel and the poem, film communicates directly, not through abstract symbols like words on a page but through concrete images and sounds. What's more, film can treat an almost infinite array of subjects.
How the Motion Picture is Similar to other Artistic Media
For the basic properties of other media are woven into its own rich fabric. Film employs the compositional elements of the visual arts: line, form, mass, volume, and texture. Like painting and photography, film exploits the subtle interplay of light and shadow. Like sculpture, film manipulates three-dimensional space. But, like pantomime, film focuses on moving images, and as in dance, the moving images in film have rhythm. Like the drama, film communicates visually and verbally: visually, through action and gesture; verbally, through dialogue. Finally, like the novel, film expands or compresses time and space, traveling back and forth freely within their wide borders.
Preparing To See A Film
How much should we know about a film before we see it? There is no simple answer to this question. Often we have little control over how much we know about a movie before we see it. Sometimes it is pleasurable (if not almost impossible) to enter a theater without one bit of information about what we are going to watch. Then we can see it. Sometimes it is pleasurable (if now almost impossible) to enter a theater without one bit of information about what we are going to watch. Then we can see it free from others' opinions and judge it purely on its own merits. But given the increased price of movies, few of us can afford this freedom. We find other ways to gauge our interest in seeing the newest films. In any case, a few general guidelines on how to prepare for watching a film might be helpful.
Film Analysis
How specific features of a film relate to one another in the structure of the film or in a body of films
Benefits of Film Analysis
It allows us to reach valid conclusions on a movie's meanings and values; it helps us to capture the presence of a film in our minds; and it sharpens our critical judgements overall. But the ultimate purpose of awareness and new depths of understanding. It seems logical to assume that the more understanding we have, the more completely we will appreciate art. If the love we have for an art form rests on rational understanding, it will be more solid, more enduring, and of greater value than love based solely on irrational and totally subjective reactions. This is not to claim that analysis will create a love of films where no such love exists. Love of movies does not emerge from a book or from any specials critical approach. It comes only from that secret, personal union between film and viewer in a darkened room. But if we truly love films, we we find that analysis is worth the effort, for the understanding it brings will deepen our appreciation. Instead of canceling out the emotional experience of watching the movie, analysis will enhance and enrich that experience. As we become more perceptive and look more deeply into the film, new levels of emotional experience will emerge.
How the Technical Nature of Film creates Challenges in Film Analysis
It would ideal if we all had some experience in cinematography and film editing. In the absence of such experience, we should become familiar with the basic techniques of film production so we can recognize them and evaluate their effectiveness. Because a certain amount of technical language or jargon is necessary for the analysis and intelligent discussion of any art form, we must also add a number of important technical terms to our vocabularies.
The Film Viewing Environment
Many movie lovers argue that ideally we should view any film in what they call its "proper" environment: a comfortable and attractive theater, preferably one with modern stadium seating and the highest quality projection and audio equipment.
Increasing Realism as Technology Evolves
Of even greater importance than film's unlimited range in subject matter and treatment, however, is the overwhelming sense of reality it can convey. The continuous stream of sight, sound, and motion creates a here-and-now excitement that immerses the viewer in the cinematic experience. Thus, through film, fantasy assumes the scape and emotional impact of reality. The technological history of film can in fact be viewed as a continual evolution toward great realism, toward erasing the boarder between art and nature. The motion picture has progressed step by step from drawings, to photographs, to projected images, to sound, to color, to wide screen, to 3-D and beyond. Attempts have been made to add the sense of smell to the film experience by releasing fragrances in the theater.
Film Analysis and Personal Bias
One of the most difficult prejudices to overcome is that which leads us to dismiss certain categories of films. Although it is natural to prefer some types to others, most of us can appreciate or enjoy aspects of almost any film. We should keep in mind not all films will fit our preconceived notions. Some may reject worthwhile movies because of their unwillingness to venture beyond the norm. Also narrow in their outlook are filmgoers who have inflexible preconceptions about what movies are supposed to be. This type of categorical rejection may be illustrated by two extreme examples. At one end of the spectrum are filmgoers who say "I just want to be entertained," and are offended by a film that is grim and depressing. At the other end are viewers, equally limited in their outlook, who expect every film to make a profound artistic statement about the human condition and who are disappointed if a film is not frim and depressing. Closely related are those who set up their own criteria for what make a good film and reject movies that operate under different rules. Excellent films may be discounted because the characters are sympathetic or the action is not realistic. We must avoid these kind of misconceptions and instead try to be open to the film's goals and meanings.
What is the point behind Film Analysis
Our hope is that, through analysis, we can reach higher level of understanding about films, a level where we are reflecting on the most significant aspects of the film art as opposed to the merely mundane, the practical, and the technical. Film analysis enables us to understand some elements habitually, thus freeing our minds to concentrate on the most significant questions.
Either/Or Positions About Analysis
Perhaps the most vocal reactions against analysis come from those who see it as a destroyer of beauty, claiming that it kills our love for the object under study. According to this view, it is better to accept art intuitively, emotionally, and subjectively, so that our response is full, warn, and vibrant, uncluttered by the intellect. However, an either/or, black-and-white polarization of intuition and analysis is flawed. It demines the possibility of some middle ground--a synthesis that retains the best qualities of both approaches and embraces as equally valid both the emotional/intuitive and the intellectual/analytical avenues
Film has the Capability to..
Represent just about anything we can imagine or perceive. Time can be slowed or speeded up so that the invisible is revealed. As if by magic, a bullet's trajectory through the air or the many stage of a flower's bloom can be made visible and comprehensible. Film can afford us experiences not normally available to mortals.
Some Helpful Guidelines on Preparing to see a Film Beforehand
Reviews, Publicity, Word of Mouth, and Dedicated Web Sites
Preparing To See A Film: Publicity
Reviews, of course, are not the only source of information and attitudes about films. The enormous amount of publicity generated for almost every movie (both by producers and studios and also, frequency, the media outlets owned by conglomerates that also own the studios) can influence our reactions. Ubiquitous television talk shows continuously feature interviews online at any time. Viewers can access interviews online at any time of day or night. Expensively produced trailers (often not made by a film's creator), once available only in movie theaters, are likewise just a mouse click away.
If we wish to develop the proper habits of analytical viewing we..
Should see a film at least twice whenver possible.
Succeeding by Word of Mouth
Sometimes, filmmakers with very modest expectations for their movie's commercial success discover an enormous audience of their work via the grapevine: oral recommendations by friends and relatives who have seen and enjoyed the movie.
The Uniqueness of Film
The tremendous expense involved in producing motion pictures reminds us that film is both a industry and an art form. Each film is the child of a turbulent marriage between businesspeople and artists. Yet despite an ongoing battle between aesthetic and commercial considerations, film is recognized as a unique and powerful art form on a par with painting, sculpture, music, literature, and drama.
The Two Sides Can Coexist: The Book's Position
This book rests on that middle ground. It assumes that the soul of the poet and the intellect of the scientist can coexist within all of us, enriching and enhancing the film experience. Analysis need not murder our love of the movies. We can experience beauty, joy, and mystery intellectually as as intuitively. With the tools of analysis, we can discover the deepest reaches of understanding that only the poet within us can fully appreciate. By creating new avenues of awareness, analysis can make our love for movies stronger, more real, more enduring. The analytical approach is essential to the art of watching films, for it enables us to see and understand how each part functions to contribute its vital energy to the pulsing, dynamic whole.
Preparing to See A Film: Dedicated Web Sites
Two indispensable sites are the Internet Movie Database (IMdb) and Rotten Tomatoes. The later's idiosyncratic name and the gossipy tone of the former's very visible daily news entries may at first repel some readers.
During the First Viewing of the Film for Analysis
We can watch the film in the usual manner, concerning ourselves primarily with plot elements, the total emotional effect, and the central idea or theme.
Film is a Collaborative Art
When we analyze a literacy work such as a novel or poem, we judge the toil of a single creative individual. By contrast, our close examination of a film requires an awareness of the talents of many different artists, including producers, directors, production/costume/makeup designers, and of course, actors. Usually, through, in the beginning is still the word, and the screenwriter-- who has historically been viewed as the least respected major team player in Hollywood---remains the primary originating force within cinematic art