Looking at Movies

Fourth Edition

Richard Barsam • Dave Monahan

CHAPTER ONE

Looking at Movies

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The Most Popular Art Form Today

•  Movies are not just watched in theaters today – TiVo, big-box retailers, and Redbox machines – Online, cable, and satellite stations – Streaming video, computers – Televisions –  iPads, smart phones – Other systems not yet imagined

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Cinematic Language

•  The visual vocabulary of film •  Composed of myriad integrated techniques and

concepts •  Connects the viewer to the story while deliberately

concealing the means by which it does so.

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Actively Looking at Movies

•  Recognize the many tools and principles that filmmakers employ to tell stories, convey information and meaning, and influence emotions and ideas.

•  Understand movies as narrative, as artistic expression, and as a reflection of the cultures that produce and consume them.

What is a Movie, Cinema, or a Film?

•  Essentially interchangeable terms •  Cinema: from the Greek kenesis (movement)

–  Often implies art films (e.g., “French Cinema”) •  Film: from the original celluloid strip media •  Movie: short for motion pictures •  Motion is the essence of the movie medium

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What is a Movie?

•  A form of popular entertainment •  A narrative that tells a fictional story •  The presentation of a story affected by both cultural

differences and when it was produced •  An art form influenced by less conventional

approaches and emerging technologies

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Basic Construction of a Movie

•  Shot – an unbroken span of action captured by an uninterrupted run of a motion-picture camera

•  Editing – the joining together of discrete shots •  With each transition from one shot to another, a movie

is able to move the viewer through time and space

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Film Analysis

•  The one essential inquiry: What does it mean? •  Analysis – the act of taking apart something

complicated to figure out what it is made of and how it all fits together

•  Step 1 – Identify the tools and techniques within a scene, sequence, or movie

•  Step 2 – Investigate the function and potential effect of that combination

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Invisibility and Cinematic Language •  Painting, sculpture, and photography allow you to

study and absorb them as long as you want •  Cinematic language is invisible because movies move

too quickly for the viewer to consider everything they’ve seen

•  The spectator subconsciously identifies with the camera’s viewpoint

•  Cinematic language draws upon real-life interpretation of visual information for our intuitive absorption

Invisible Techniques •  Movies rely heavily on largely invisible techniques that

convey meaning intuitively –  Fade-in / Fade-out – viewers understand that significant

story time has elapsed –  Low-angle shot – viewers associate looking up at powerful

figures with strength, nobility, or possibly as a threat –  Cutting on action – common editing technique designed to

hide the instantaneous and potentially jarring shift from one camera viewpoint to another

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Low-angle shot in Juno 18

Cutting on action in Juno 19

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Cultural Invisibility

•  Filmmakers favor stories and themes that reinforce viewers’ shared belief systems

•  The stories tap into and reinforce viewers’ most fundamental desires and beliefs

•  The people making movies may be just as oblivious to their own cultural attitudes as the viewers are

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Implicit and Explicit Meaning

•  No matter how many different layers of meaning are in a movie, each layer is either implicit or explicit

•  Implicit – lies below the surface of a movie’s story and presentation; is closest to our everyday sense of the word meaning

•  Explicit – available on the surface of the movie; obvious

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Viewer Expectations

•  Our experience of movies is shaped by what we have been told about that movie beforehand

•  Viewers harbor essential expectations concerning a film’s form and organization

•  Viewers must be alerted to these expected patterns in order to fully appreciate the significance of deviations

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Formal Analysis

•  Dissects the meaning of all of the elements and tools used by cinematic storytellers

•  The analytical approach primarily concerned with film form

•  Form – the means by which a subject is expressed •  Every element in every frame is there for a reason

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Formal Analysis: Waiting-Room Sequence in Juno

•  13 shots, 30 seconds of film time •  The formal analysis shows us how the filmmakers

conveyed the way the seemingly insignificant fingernail factoid infiltrates Juno’s thoughts and ultimately drives her from the clinic.

Some Analytical Terms for Juno •  Theme or Motif – a recurring cinematic element

(chair) that in some ways defines the story •  Dolly in – visually increases the significance of

what is in frame (Juno, clipboard, fingernails) •  Duration – the length of screen time of a shot

that establishes a rhythm (drumming sound) •  Point of view – the perspective (personal or

psychological) suggested by the shot

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Alternative Approaches to Analysis

•  Alternative approaches analyze movies more as cultural artifacts than as traditional works of arts

•  Search beneath a movie’s form and content to expose implicit and hidden meanings

•  Explore cinema’s function within popular culture as well as the influence of popular culture on the movies

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Questions to Consider for a Cultural Analysis of Harry Potter

•  Why do audiences like this movie? •  How do the movie’s form, themes, and

messages explain its popularity and $7 billion in ticket sales?

•  What is the role of nostalgia, the aging of the main characters in the movie(s), religion, and the visual associations with World War II?

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Further Questions to Consider for a Cultural Analysis of Harry Potter

•  Do audiences identify with Christian themes, or is the power of Harry Potter purely narrative and cinematic?

•  Does the movie glamorize the occult? •  Is the witchcraft in Harry Potter nothing more than an

endorsement of imagination and individuality? •  Is there a potential sexual intensity between Harry and

Hermione? Will Harry nevertheless end up alone?

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Review

1. What term describes the integrated techniques and concepts that connect us to the story while deliberately concealing the means by which it does?

a. cinematic creativity b. cinematic narrative c. cinematic entertainment d. cinematic language

Review

2. According to the text, even though every movie employs narrative in some form, what primarily affects how stories are presented?

a. cultural values b. cinematic creativity c. cinematic language d. formal analyses

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Review

3. Which of the following is NOT a device used for cinematic invisibility?

a. cutting on action b. jump cut c. continuity of screen direction d. fade-in

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Review

5. Which of the following is a formal analysis option for Juno?

a. the movie’s treatment of class b. the movie’s depiction of women and childbirth c. the implications of the T-shirt messages displayed by

the film’s characters d. the motif of the empty chair that frames the story

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Review

4. According to the text, if someone asked you to interpret a film or “say something arguable about it,” what kind of “meaning” are they looking for?

a. conventional b. fundamental c. implicit d. explicit

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