Thursday, January 12, 2012

Blog- Writing About Film

What are the 5 kinds of film writing described in the article and what are the key details of each.
The first kind of film writing is Formal Analysis. This requires that the viewer breaks the film down into its component parts and discusses how those parts contribute to the whole. This means that each part of a film is broken down into smaller components in order to better understand each component better. By doing this, you not only acquire a better understanding of each component, but you being to understand the overall idea of what the film is conveying. The second kind of film writing is Film History. This concept refers to how films reflect history, influence it, and have it. It also reflects the values and ideas of the culture that produce it.  War films, for example, greatly reflect what film history is. Pearl Harbor is a good example of what film history is, as this movie portrays what events took place during this time period. This movie reflects history as it depicts what actually happened in the best way possible. Ideological Papers is the third kind of film writing. This refers to how a movie promotes certain values to manipulate our feelings about a set of values. This means that a movie attempts to make the audience feel a certain way to what the movie is trying to show. This may make the audience feel more patriotic for their country, as shown in the movie Independence Day. The fourth term is Cultural Studies/National Cinemas. This refers to how films reflect the cultures and nations in which they are produced. For example, other countries produce films that may seem different to us; a french person may find a french comedy to be funny, while we see it as normal. The last term of film writing is the Discussion of the Auteur. This refers to a film as the product of a single person and his vision. In many cases, that person may be the director. This refers to how we see a certain film to be a "well known" film. This is widely practiced as it helps us understand the common themes and aesthetic decisions in films by the same direct

What does "Annotating a Film Sequence" involve and what are it's benefits?
This refers to how one takes a particular shot and takes notes on it, which may also be know as to annotate a shot sequence or scene. To annotate a scene is to label each shot in a sequence. For example, when you see a film, there are various shot techniques used to make the film more interesting. One may look at these different shots and annotate them as a better way to learn of what the shot as created and what it has captured.  This makes us understand how the director crafted his/her film and why the film has a certain effect on the audience.

What does the author imply when she says to "Think Beyond the Frame?"
To think beyond a frame is to think about the what the background of it is. This includes questions such as who made the film, what is the production history of the film, etc. By doing this, you not only get a better understanding of the film, but you also see the directors intent in his film as a whole. Also, when you think beyond the frame, you also get a better understanding as  to what deeper meaning a frame has rather than what it merely shows. 

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