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Film: a critical introduction
Author
Publisher
Pearson/A and B
Publication Date
c2008
Language
English
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Table of Contents
From the Book - 2nd ed.
Preface
Picture Credits
Part 1. Introduction to Film Analysis
1. Introduction
Cinema: A Confluence of Artistry, Industry, and Technology
How This Book Is Organized
Technical Tips
2. An Approach to Film Analysis
Understanding Audience Expectations
Expectations and Modes of Organization
Expectations about Genres, Stars, and Directors
The Orchestration of Detail
Motifs
Parallels
Details and Structure
Parallels in Openings and Closings
Structure and Turning Points
Repetition and Non-chronological Structure
Creating Meaning Through the World Beyond Film
Historical Events and Cultural Attitudes
Stars as References
Public Figures and Celebrities as References
Intertextual References
Avant-garde and Documentary References
Meaningful References with Objects
The Goal of Film Analysis: Articulating Meaning
The Importance of Developing Interpretive Claims
Summary
Film Analysis: Reading Significant Details
Historical References in Devil in a Blue Dress
3. Writing About Film
Getting Started
Keeping a Film Journal
Formulating a Thesis
Four Types of Writing About Film
The Scene Analysis Paper
"The Divided Human Spirit in Fritz Lang's The Big Heat"
The Film Analysis
The Anxieties of Modernity in Steamboat Bill Jr.
The Research Paper
The Evolution of an Idea: The Changing Hollywood Aesthetic in The Conversation and Enemy of the State
Works Cited (in the research paper)
Conducting Archival Research
The Popular Review
Part 2. Film Analysis
4. Narrative Form
Defining Narrative
Framing the Fictional World: Diegetic and Non-Diegetic Elements
Within the Diegesis: Selecting and Organizing Events
Narrative Structure
Techniques in Practice: Narrative Structure in Stagecoach
Alternatives to Conventional Narrative Structure
Variations on Narrative Conventions: Beyond Structure
Perspective and Meaning
Character Subjectivity
Techniques in Practice: Noticing Shifts in Perspective
Summary
Film Analysis: Analyzing Narrative Structure
The Narrative Complexity of Rashomon
5. Mise en Scene
Setting
Describing Setting: Visual and Spatial Attributes
The Functions of Setting
Techniques in Practice: Same Film, Different Settings
Techniques in Practice: Same Setting, Different Film
The Human Figure
Casting
Acting Style
Acting Brechtian: Distancing the Audience
Actors' Bodies: Figure Placement
Techniques in Practice: Figure Placement in Citizen Kane
Actors' Bodies: Costumes and Props
Actors' Bodies: Makeup
Techniques in Practice: Physicality in Raging Bull and Ali
Lighting
Composition
Balance and Symmetry
Lines and Diagonals
Framing
Foreground and Background
Light and Dark
Color
Two Approaches to Mise en Scene
The Frame in Two Dimensions: Mise en Scene in German Expressionism
Combining Mise en Scene and Camerawork: The Frame in Three Dimensions in French Poetic Realism
Summary
Film Analysis: The Functions of Space
Spatial Oppositions in Thelma and Louise
6. Cinematography
Camerawork: The Camera in Time and Space
Creating Meaning in Time: The Shot
Altering Time: Slow and Fast Motion
The Camera and Space: Height, Angle, and Shot Distance
Camera Height
Camera Angle
Camera Distance
Camera Movement: Exploring Space
Horizontal and Vertical Movement
Movement in Three Dimensions
Techniques in Practice: Patterns of Camera Placement and Movement
Lenses and Filters: The Frame in Depth
The Visual Characteristics of Lenses: Depth of Field and Focal Length
The Zoom Lens
Combining Camera Movement and Lens Movement
Through the Lens: Filters and Diffusers
Techniques in Practice: Lenses and the Creation of Space
Film Stock
Characteristics of Film Stock
Light and Exposure
Film Stock and Color
Wide Film and Widescreen Formats
Processing Film Stock
Special Visual Effects
Manipulating the Image on the Set
Creating Scene Transitions, Titles, and Credits: The Optical Printer
Optical and Digital Compositing: Assembling the Elements of the Shot
Computer-Generated Images
Adding and Subtracting Frames
Digital Cinema: Post-Production
Digital Cinematography and Film Style
Summary
Film Analysis: Cinematography in Documentary Films
Cinematography in Two Documentaries
7. Editing
The Attributes of Editing: Creating Meaning Through Collage, Tempo, and Timing
Joining Images: A Collage of Graphic Qualities
Tempo
Shot Length
Shot Transitions
Adjusting the Timing of Shot Transitions
Techniques in Practice: Using Contrasting Imagery and Timing to Romanticize the Outlaws in Bonnie and Clyde
Story-Centered Editing and the Construction of Meaning
Editing and Time
Condensing and Expanding Time
Suggesting the Simultaneity of Events
Arranging the Order of Events
Editing and Space
Shot/Reverse Shot
Eyeline Match
Cutting to Emphasize Group Dynamics
Cutaways
Beyond Narrative: Creating Meaning Outside the Story
Continuity Editing: Conventional Patterns and "Bending the Rules"
Continuity and Space
Continuity and Chronology
"Breaking the Rules": The French New Wave and its Influence
Associational Editing: Editing and Metaphor
Soviet Montage
Techniques in Practice: Soviet Montage Aesthetics in The Godfather
Summary
Film Analysis: Classical Editing
Editing in Notorious
8. Sound
Film Sound: A Brief History
Critical Debates over Film Sound
Freeing Sound from Image
The Relationship Between Sound and Image
Emphasizing the Contrast Between Onscreen and Offscreen Space
Emphasizing the Difference Between Objective Images and Subjective Sounds
Emphasizing the Difference Between Diegetic Details and Non-diegetic Sound
Emphasizing the Difference Between Image Time and Sound Time
Emphasizing Differences in Image Mood and Sound Mood
Three Components of Film Sound
Dialogue
Text and Subtext
Volume
Pitch
Speech Characteristics
Acoustic Qualities
Addressing the Audience: the Voice-Over
Sound Effects
Functions of Sound Effects
Characteristics of Sound Effects
Techniques in Practice: Sound Effects and the Construction of Class in Days of Heaven
Music
Functions of Film Music
Five Characteristics of Film Music
Techniques in Practice: Bernard Herrmann's Score and Travis Bickle's Troubled Masculinity in Taxi Driver
Summary
Film Analysis: Sound and Language
Language, Nationality, and Class in The Grand Illusion
9. Alternatives to Narrative Fiction Film: Documentary and Avant-garde Films
Three Modes of Filmmaking: A Comparison
Documentary Film: "The Creative Treatment of Actuality"
Narrative Documentaries
Documentary Form
Voice of Authority
Talking Heads and Director-Participant
Direct Cinema
Self-reflexive Documentary
The Mockumentary
Ethics and Ethnography
Avant-garde Film
Surrealist Cinema
Abstract Film
Techniques in Practice: Interpreting Abstract Films
The City Symphony
Structuralist Film
The Compilation Film
Conducting Research on Documentary and Avant-garde Films: Locating Sources
Summary
Film Analysis: Interpreting Avant-garde Films
Analyzing Meshes of the Afternoon
Part 3. Cinema and Culture
10. Social Context and Film Style
Hollywood's Industrial Context: The Studio System as Dream Factory
Classical Style
Economic Practice and Hollywood Convention
Censorship and Hollywood Convention
American Ideology and Entertainment
Reaffirming or Resisting Dominant Ideology
International Art Cinema
The Ideology of "Art"
Italian Neorealism
Third Cinema
11. Film and Ideology
Ideology and Film Analysis
Ideology and Film Spectatorship
Anti-Communist Witch Hunts and Hollywood Cinema
Racial Ideology and American Cinema
Gender and Cinema
Sexuality and Cinema
Disability and Cinema
12. Film Stardom as a Cultural Phenomenon
Stars and the Movie Industry
The Dynamics of Performance
The Star Persona
Stardom and Ideology
Stars and Subcultures
Fan Culture
13. Genre
What Makes a Genre?
Major American Genres
The Western
Film Noir and the Hard-boiled Detective Film
The Action Film
The Science Fiction Film
The Musical
Genre, Film Production, and Audiences
Genre Film and Aesthetic Appeal: Cliche or Strategic Repetition?
Genre and the Status Quo
Genres as Culturally Responsive Artifacts
Genre and Film Authorship
14. Film Authorship
The Idea of the Auteur: From Cahiers du Cinema to the Sarris-Kael Debate
Auteur as Marketing Strategy: Old and New Hollywood
Studio-era Auteurs: Welles and Hitchcock
Blockbuster Auteurs: Spielberg and Lucas
Using the Auteur Approach to Interpret and Evaluate Films
Readings in Auteur Criticism
Ousmane Sembene
Kathryn Bigelow
Ang Lee
Wong Kar Wai
Jafar Panahi
15. Cinema as Industry: Economics and Technology
The Changing Structure of the Film Industry
From Oligopolies to Conglomerates
Horizontal Integration and Synergy
Globalization
Industry Labor Practices
Outsourcing
Runaway Productions
Creative Centralization
Films as Products
The Blockbuster
The High Concept Film
Saturation Marketing
Independent Film Culture
Two Independent Institutions: Sundance and Miramax
Film and the New Technology
The Rise of the DVD
Film and Digital Technologies
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
Excerpt
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Author Notes
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More Details
Contributors
ISBN
9780205518692
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