This evening we covered film form and writing about film.  If you want to see more writing about films, check out the film review links on the sidebar.  You can even visit my review site, Resonance.  And yes, I am quite okay with you disagreeing with my reviews.  Remember that reviews are opinions, and everyone will perceive a film in a different way. Form as System artistic form – mind never at rest, constantly seeking order & significance, testing world for breaks in habitual pattern

artworks rely on unifying quality of human mind

film has form – overall system of relations that we can perceive among elements in whole film

set of narrative elements – the story stylistic elements – way camera moves, patterns of color in frame, use of music mind wants to bring two elements together

Form versus Content exist together in film expectations help guide us in form A=cue, B=formal hypothesis ABACA – expectation to hypothesis to expectation sometimes expectations are delayed (AB…)

suspense – delay in fulfilling an established expectation surprise is a result of expectations being cheated, expectation revealed to be incorrect

Conventions & Experience one guide to hunches was prior experience aesthetic form not pure activity isolated from other experiences because artworks are human artifacts & artists lives in history & society – can’t avoid relating work to other works & aspects of world in general conventions – tradition, dominant style, popular form – some such elements common to several different artworks

genres depend heavily on conventions

Form & Feeling emotion plays large role in our experience of form emotions present in film may be seen as systematically related to one another through film’s form

for example, grimace of pain consistent with character’s response to bad news

emotional response felt by spectator expectations spur emotion

delayed fulfillment of an expectation – suspense – may produce anxiety or sympathy gratified expectation may produce feeling of satisfaction or relief cheat expectations & curiosity about past materials may produce puzzlement or keener interest all of these above possibilities may occur

matter of context – of particular system that is each artwork’s overall form Form & Meaning constantly testing work for larger significance referential meaning

concrete, barebones plot summary

explicit meaning

openly asserted themes defined by context point film is trying to make interact with other elements of overall system

implicit meaning

more abstract film suggests or implies meaning when we do this we are interpreting it interpretations vary can lead to broad concepts – themes search for implicit meaning should not leave behind particular & concrete features of film strive to make interpretations precise by seeing how each film’s thematic meaning are suggested by film’s total system

symptomatic meaning

treats explicit meaning as a manifestation of wider set of values characteristic of whole society can be revealed when considering social ideology meaning is a social phenomenon all meaning can spring from culturally specific beliefs need to compare ideology of culture film created in foreign films – see through their culture – may lead to some missed meaning due to unfamiliar culturally specific beliefs films “have” meaning because we attribute meaning to them must balance concrete system & urge to assign wider significance

Principals of Film Form function – every element in a system has one or more functions similarity & repetition differences & variations – need variety to make things interesting development unity & disunity

Writing About Film Writing about film can be highly specialized. In class we discussed the three main types of writing and some hints to making your writing better. Screening Report

1-2 pages, informal, connections between film and content, clear examples remember it’s for you

Film Review

2-5 pages, but depends on where it will be published makes evaluation central focus judgment on quality of film what to include

brief plot synopsis – no spoilers main character name followed by actor in parenthesis mention striking aspects comparisons to other films no ratings system since they have no context

use your personal style

Analytical Essay / Scholarly Criticism

5-15 pages but depends on what it is for goes beyond the film to explore ideas such as theory, cultural value, business, etc… written for scholars, therefore language and style should match only use plot summary if needed to make analysis clear use of sources to validate

I wanted to also add something to this that we did not cover in class, the difference between primary and secondary sources.  Your paper must include 3 secondary sources, but can include any amount of primary sources if needed. primary sources – movie (video, DVD), script secondary sources – books, journals, electronic sources See you all next week!  If you have any questions please feel free to add a comment or email.