The Art of Watching Film - Coursework Example

Download file to see previous pages Film analysis allows the scholar, research, or thinker to go through a meditative process wherein the important human elements the filmmaker has deemed worth further exploration can be considered and appreciated in greater depth. While the process of film analysis is arguably as extensive and complex as the extent of the filmmaker’s imagination and the limits of technology allow, there are a number of elements that are foundational in analyzing an entire film. In exploring the means that an entire film can be analyzed this essay considers these foundational elements of fiction and drama, editing, visual design, and also advances personal evaluative criteria.
In analyzing film one of the most important considerations is the one made to the story or narrative. While the film’s narrative can be understood as its overarching story, film analysis goes even further in distinguishing plot as the continuous action of the events in the film. By first identifying plot, the writer is then able to further deconstruction the film’s narrative elements and consider them for their academic relevance. What constitutes a strong plot is an element for debate, however scholars (Boggs 2006, pg. 46) note that a film’s story elements should consist of, “(1) the objective, external, and observable laws of probability and necessity; (2) the subjective, irrational, and emotional inner truths of human nature; (3) the semblance of truth created by the filmmaker’s convincing art.” Even as academic film analysis doesn’t consider the evaluative qualities of a film like a newspaper film critic would, these dichotomous elements of film narrative are useful in understanding the aggregate components that constitute the film’s message.
As these features represent a sort of narrative foundation or dramatic structure, within them there exist a number of subcategories of distinction analysts can use to further examine a film’s meaning. Even as films don’t share with novels the luxury of being able to analyze in their frozen capacity, they do function in great part similar to novels in terms of the application of literary elements within the narrative.  ...Download file to see next pagesRead More