Film Interpretation Procedure - Essay Example

Reflective Paper Understanding movies would seem to be a simple thing considering we all love to watch a good film. However, the truth of the matter is, most people go into a theatre with one thing in mind and that is to let the film wash over them with often very little understanding of it at all. Film, however, even the simplest of film may be much more complicated than we think. Understanding movies comes from analyzing, the cinematic, theatrical, and literary elements that combine to create the meaning of the film. This paper will discuss what has been learned throughout this class and the readings relating to the analysis of a movie. There are different authors that list different ways to analyze a movie. The first thing of importance is to be sure to go into the movie with an open mind and not to have formulated an opinion ahead of time. The viewer must be open and receptive to all parts of the movie (Boggs & Petrie, 2008). Whatever is driving you to analyze this movie, whether it is for self interest or otherwise, there are some very organized methods to follow. The theme of the movie should be found but in order to do that you have to see the film so lets start a little earlier than that. Analyze the title and the credits. You have done this before but just do not realize it. Pay close attention and see what is picked up from these. Why was the movie titled the way it was? Is that important to this movie? You will not know unless you have paid attention as the movie opens. A great movie gets your attention and conveys emotion to the audience. You will begin to think about the theme as soon as the movie opens. The theme may be very difficult to understand or it may be very easy. Either way, it may or may not have significance in telling the story(steps to analyze). Characters are extremely important and as the analyst should try to understand the main characters and how the other characters relate to them. The characters will also relate back to the theme of the movie. Boggs & Petrie (2008), tell the reader that the analyst should begin to understand the characters within thirty minutes and be able to have enough understanding of the theme to begin to decide what kind of film he is watching and relate it to the classics. As one analyzes the film, take detailed notice and try to catch as much as possible in each scene including such things as camera lighting and costumes. What does the dialogue make you think of? Is it natural and believable or not? The characters dialogue should not be trying to describe the theme of the movie for you. If that is happening, something is not right with the storyline. If you are watching the film at home and you truly want to try to understand the dialogue, turn on the movie subtitles. The use of lighting and other issues such as special effects and backgrounds are part of the production values. How does it look? Does it appear amateur or professional to you? When all of these things work together, they bring the audience into the story. Do the backgrounds look natural? Think of some of the old Western films where it was obvious that the scenery was going by the horse not the horse by the scenery. What are the character roles like? Especially those of the main character. The main character should evoke some kind of emotion from the audience. Is he a good guy or a bad guy? How do you feel about this character? The main character will tell you what the movie is about and bring the viewer into the movie on one side or the other. The theme may not be related to the bad guy but to the other characters in some way. The viewer should watch for scenes in the movie that do not belong there. There are sometimes scenes that the viewer may realize should have been cut and were not. It may also be the opposite. Suddenly you wonder, what happened there? A scene was cut that made a difference and you can tell its not there. Are the scenes moving smoothly between each other and if not why? What caused the problem? There is some kind of symbolism in almost every movie and that symbolism almost always tell s you something important. It might be cultural symbols, or religious symbols or many other kinds of symbols but each and every one used will tell you something about it. The dance scenes in West Side Story had huge amounts of symbolism but many people missed it because they were so caught up in the dance. There are many unique properties of film according to Boggs & Petrie (2008). Things such as rhythmic cadence and continuous motion are important but so is skillful editing and overall quality. If this was a silent movie, what would it tell you? What does the camera see that makes a difference here? Is the director able to tell you the story without the speech? What kind of things is the director using to help tell the story i.e. lighting? The focus of the film and the depth shown as well as the movement are crucial in keeping the interest of the viewer. Special effects are used very often now. They are tools the director can use to help make the film seem more real to the viewer. This is where many viewers go to the movies just to see the special effects and really do not notice the story itself? How do these special effects affect this movie. Independence Day comes to mind. After they have blown up the mother ship and the debris is headed toward their space craft you definitely feel the emotion of "this is gonna hurt" and the shuttle begins to rattle about. Before the movie is over one should be sure to watch the extras. Almost no one ever does. If there is a theatrical trailer, watch it, as well as any deleted scenes that are there to view. Then decide what the overall quality of the film was. Everyone has watched some really good movies and some really bad movies, so what makes the difference? Maybe, if the viewer tries to analyze the movie a little some of those bad movies may be better than the viewer thought or worse than thought. Cinematographic technique is a matter of consistent practice and seeing a lot of film. When films are put together, they may be in completely different form than where they started. The cutting and changing of scenes make it like a jigsaw puzzle (Boggs & Petrie, 2008) in the cutting room. Editing, for sure, is an art in its own right. They are the ones that make sense of all of that film that was taken. The finished film is really determined by them and yet for quite some time they were not recognized at all. Have you ever seen the Wizard of OZ? The beginning of the movie is black and white and then after the house lands on the witch and the door opens, it is in cinemacolor. What an accomplishment. People have seen that film over and over again for many years and still watch it. Directors all have a style of their own. Anyone know what Ron Howards films are like? Sure when we see a directors name anymore, most of us can tell already, some of what that film will be like. The type of film might change but the personality of the director is there. According to Boggs & Petrie, (2008), genre, background, and worldview are all elements of style that help the director emphasize and tell us about his influence on the story. This influence may very well include cinematography, editing, setting, sound , casting, and the story itself. A genre is an identifiable type, category, classification or group of films that have similar, or recognizable patterns, syntax, film technique or convention. These usually include the setting, props, content, themes, mood, period, plot, central narrative events, motifs, styles, structures, situations, and icons and stars. An example would be John Wayne movies. Some of those genres would be such as adventure, comedy, Sci-FI., and Thriller. The overall quality of the film as well as the true analysis then becomes a combination of all of these things. The viewer might feel that all of this is cumbersome and certainly not everyone is up to it but in the end, the understanding of the movie will be worthwhile to many. Though you have watched each scene carefully and looked for theme, and genre and analyzed characters, the critique of the movie as a whole is most important. The viewer may give high marks to all the individual pieces but as a whole film the quality could still be low. In conclusion, it seems it would be easy to analyze a film as many go to the films regularly but it really is much more difficult and complicated than it seems. There are many steps involved and many things to look for. One cannot just go into the film and allow the story line to just wash over them or maybe sometimes they can. References Boggs, J. and Petrie, D. (2008). The Art of Watching Films (7th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill http://www.oppapers.com/Depth-Analysis-Movie-Chicago/89736 http://www.art-articles/6-steps-to-analyzing-a-movie-properly-621438.html Read More