Reflective Introduction To Cinema

After completing your movie analysis, you will reflect on the analysis process and how you have learned to more thoroughly analyze film as well as how rigorous study of film enhances your development as a student and thinker. In this 300- to 600-word reflection, review your initial post from the “Post Your Introduction” discussion in Week One, and consider how your ability to analyze movies has changed or grown. Append your reflection to the analysis portion of your paper. Your reflection should be personal and exploratory in

Movies have the ability to transport people to different times and places and distract them from ordinary everyday reality. They allow for a range of emotions to be experienced. At their core, movies examine the human condition. There are plenty of deeper truths woven into screenplays and plenty of lessons to be learned, even when an individual is solely seeking entertainment.

Although the best reasons for “going to the movies” are to be entertained and eat popcorn, understanding a film is actually quite complex. Movies are not only a reflection of life, they also have the capability of shaping our norms, values, attitudes, and perception of life. Through the media of film, one can find stories of practically anything imaginable and some things unimaginable. Movie-makers use their art to entertain, to promote political agendas, to educate, and to present life as it is, was, or could be. They can present truth, truth as they interpret it, or simply ignore truth altogether. A movie can be a work of fiction, non-fiction, or anything in-between. A film is an artist’s interpretation. What one takes away from a film depends upon how one interprets what has been seen and heard. Understanding film is indeed difficult.

In “A Century of Cinema”, Susan Sontag explains how cinema was cherished by those who enjoyed what cinema offered. Cinema was unlike anything else, it was entertainment that had the audience feeling apart of the film. However, as the years went by, the special feeling regarding cinema went away as those who admired cinema wanted to help expand the experience.

Within history classes around the world, there are some that use films for historical events rather than reading text. Educators believe that the vividness of film can be a valuable teaching tool, enlivening and reinforcing students’ memories for otherwise dry historical text, (Wray, Herbert), I believe this too. A film that engages your eyesight, brain and hearing is a great way to feel more in depth within the topic of a film. Using your brain to think about the plot within the film puts a thought in your brain about it because you’re thinking about it, creating your own critiques, judgements, and thoughts about the events instead of having already written for you. This develops a memory in a part of your brain

Direct Cinema The term 'direct cinema' was coined by American director Albert Maysles, to describe the style of documentary that he and his contemporaries were making in the 1960s as a result of a lightweight, portable 16mm camera and high quality lightweight audio recorders becoming available. The introduction of these, together with film-stock which was sensitive enough to give a good quality close-up monochrome picture under most lighting conditions (Including hand-held lights) led to a revolution in Documentary filmmaking, allowing film crews to be much more flexible. Gone were the days of bulky, virtually immobile 35mm cameras; now manufacturers improved their 16mm stock and accepted it

Based on this paper, I will show and explain how three movies represent what we’ve learned and read up on throughout this semester. One of the movies I’m going to be using in this paper is called Django. The second movie that will be explained in this prompt is Remember the Titans. In addition, all of these films, key in on all of the terms that we’ve learned and read up on throughout the semester.

It cannot be denied the role popular culture plays in the the public’s knowledge and understanding of historical events. For a portion of the population once schooling ends, historical films become the main way people are exposed to history. Because of this it is vital to understand the benefits that are provided by these historical films and how they impact the way viewers think about the past and the world they live in today.

Auter is defined as a French term for the film director who places a personal style on his or her films. It was first coined by Francois Truffaut to describe the mark of a film director on his films. A director can be considered an auteur if about five of his films depict a certain style that is definitely his own. In other words, much like one can look at a painting and tell if it is a Monet, a Renoir, or a Degas, if a film director is an auteur, one can look at his film and tell by style and recurring themes that it was made by a certain director. In auteur films, the director is many times what brings an audience to the theater, instead of the actors or storyline. Often famous directors are more highly billed in

Some of the important topics that are covered in the course are creativity and aesthetics, an overview of major movements in literature and cinema, cinema & art; understanding fiction, drama, poetry, narrative structures, understanding cinema, relationship between form and meaning, image construction, shots, scenes, sequences, mise-en-scene, cinematography, codes, frames, signs, syntax, diegetic & non-diegetic sound, silence, and various editing styles. The handout of the course (please go to the Appendix) gives the complete course description. Both literature and cinema being canvasses of immense depth, covering the topics mentioned above is a daunting task. There is the possibility of it becoming demanding to the students too. Since the majority of the students opting out for such a course have either a passion for or are keen to develop insights into the finer aspects of these mediums, they do

Article Three – Author: David Bordwell / Title of Article: The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film

One of the activities I enjoy in my spare time is watching movies, I was drawn to this assignment which allowed me to experience two films I had not previously seen. I attempted to watch them both with the intent to see how they related to the course material. On my way to my grandparents’ house I picked up “Groundhog Day” as well as “Fight Club”. My grandparents were thrilled to spend time with me and got popcorn ready for our movie marathon. As we watched the two films it became very clear that these movies had strong ties to what we have learned throughout this course. They put the Buddhist ideals into an easily recognizable American setting. I enjoyed discussing the connection with my grandparents and explaining how the films related to what I have been learning.

Laura Mulvey argues in her essay, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema", that voyeurism has associations with sadism which relies on a linear story in which events happen that force a change in another character via a battle, a verbal dispute, or in general a victory or a defeat, etc. This topic stood out to me because voyeurism aligned with sadism is something that we can see in several films; the main character kills an enemy, a witty conversation leaves another character duped, etc. While watching movies we tend to derive pleasure from seeing characters that we relate to interact in a way that puts them in charge of the situation. By analyzing moments from a film with this topic in mind we are able to understand the way certain scenes function in a different light.

Throughout this semester, the course Great Performances on Film didn’t disappoint. From Carrie being bullied to Esther singing her heart out in Meet Me in St. Louis to The Normal Heart showing the effects of AIDS: the film’s watched in class were truly exciting. Within the films, I learned aspects about how actors portray their characters and the different types of films. Because of these aspects of the films themselves, articles, and clips, all aspects of the course were enjoyable to learn and discuss.

To begin my metaphorical self-portrait, I chose to place myself in a movie theatre to illustrate my love for films. Between the old film projector, classic red seats, and glowing string lights hanging from the ceiling, I wanted to create a space that is both warm and inviting, as well as personalized to me. I have loved to go to the theatre ever since I was little, and whether it is making, watching, or talking about films, I have always found myself interested. Even more, I included a Canon Rebel camera on the table beside the old projector, as now I am beginning to make my own visions come to life—one of which is being projected on the wall. To create this space, I used a variety of tools, such as the clone stamp tool, paintbrush, and quick select tool, to cover unwanted items and complete others (for example, completing the floor and walls, and removing the people). I also used a perspective tool to distort the celling lights, as well as add a glow, to give them a photorealistic look. As for the projector image and light, I used the hue/saturation tool to make the light match the projector image’s yellow color and the blur tool to diffuse the light.