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Final Exam Flashcards

1
Q

There are various ways to think about and analyze movies such as:

A

Interracial couples

Anti-Asian prejudice

The power of presentation

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2
Q

Entertainment as a pleasure able smokescreen …

A

Disturbing issues can be reinforced or contemplated

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3
Q

We can also learn a great deal not only from what we see in a film but…

A

Also from what they DO NOT see

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4
Q

Name as many Critical lenses as possible

A 
Formal structure
    - Cinematography, sound and editing 
Narrative structure
Authorship
Genre
Series, sequels and remakes
Stars v.s actors
Reception 
Gender, race and class 
    - Class Myths
Changes in how films are made and viewed
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5
Q

Never stop questioning — you run the danger of accepting easy/obvious truths and blind yourself to very important issues…

A

Intersectionality

Gender roles

Marginalization

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6
Q

People respond differently to films depending on their….

A 
Gender
Race
Class
Sexual orientation 
Etc..
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7
Q

What is film about?

 - Narrative -
A

Narrative is the way in which the story event of a movie are organized

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8
Q

Feature films -

A

Narrative 1st, everything else is secondary

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9
Q

The Classical Hollywood Style -

A

Moving from one important event to another

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10
Q

Classic Hollywood Narrative Style

A

Film’s plot should have a clear forward direction.

Everything in movie must contribute toward the resolution of goals

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11
Q

Private v.s Public goals…

A

Private - frequently a heterosexual romance

Public - accomplishment of an important deed or the attainment of something valuable

Hollywood movies don’t need happy endings. They just need to clearly resolve their goals…. one way or another!

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12
Q

Plots v.s Subplots

A

Example: Main - dramatic plot
Subplots - comic and romantic
—-Not all films conform to this pattern

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13
Q

Story and Plot

A

Story — events that must be Narrated (chronological order)

Plot — the arrangement of those events as they were told
- (Occur in the order the filmmakers choose to present them)
- (These choices often reveal a great deal about the meaning of
the film).

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14
Q

Flashback (structure)

A

Creates a plot with added suspense.

Since the 1940s, flashbacks have been common devices used to structure plots

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15
Q

Plot structure -

A

Presenting story events out of temporal order and from the perspective of various characters show not only what we learn, but also when we learn it and from whom

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16
Q

Free Motifs

A

Free Motif - aren’t essential to the retelling or explaining of a Narrative. Not to say that they aren’t important, but the chronological make up of the narrative wouldn’t be altered by inclusion or exclusion of a free motif.

Fatal attraction - images of slaughtered animals (typically gives aesthetic complexity and thematic meaning to a film).

Psycho - birds and mirrors = taxidermy and duality
(Norman and Marion (literal and figurative)

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17
Q

Bound Motif

A

Cannot be removed from the narrative without radically changing the chronological essence of the story. It’s absolutely necessary for telling the story.

Fatal Attraction - the pet rabbit

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18
Q

Motifs

A

result from the repetition of visual images or sounds in a manner that forms a perceptible pattern.

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19
Q

Narrative Truth

A

Understanding narratives thru how they reveal their “TRUTH”

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20
Q

Delays…
Snares…
Answers…

A

Delays… to sustain spectator interest, answering questions @ different rates…

Snares…being mislead

ANSWERS are simply just answers

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21
Q

Flashbacks normally reveal …

A

What “really” happened but they can be duplicitous

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22
Q

Classical Narrative films -

A

Operate on the assumption that there is a truth to every story and that revealing that the truth is the goal of storytelling

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23
Q

Narratives employ various references to the “real” world; Connections between the “truth” of life and the truth we learn at the end of the movie …

A

The effects of (changing) cultural assumptions

Aliens throughout cinema

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24
Q

Formal properties…

A
  • visual-
  • aural elements of a film

Repeat viewings
Ex: Star Wars Pre-Release
(Spectacle and visual effects

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25
Visual Images
Scenes that can be so vivid that we remember these equally as well as the story, sometimes even more so. Also, how the story is told is inseparable from, and as important as, the story itself.
26
Departures from the stylistic Norm
Stylistic features that are unusual for the time of their release. Ex: Schindler’s list, Bonnie and Clyde, Carrie B/W, slo-mo, image and sound, simultaneous split-screen
27
Visual style and narrative effect
The story and the manner in which it’s told is inseparable. Psycho - shots and editing - How the subject is represented is “primary” - The subject matter is “secondary”
28
How filmmakers compose shots, use color, shape and light =
Important part of our experience of their work(s)
29
Film criticism can increase our awareness of the awareness of the stylistic features of movies...
Awareness of technique and how it affects (repeated) viewings of the film
30
Common Stylistic Techniques...
- Invisible Style - shot/reverse-shot editing - cutting on action/reaction - establishing shots - the 180-degree rule
31
Shot/reverse-shot editing...
A pattern whereby first a shot shows 1 character and then there is a cut to a reverse shot that shows us a nearly opposite view, typically another character who is talking to or interacting with the 1st Determined by dialogue
32
Cutting on action/reaction
Action replaces dialogue, reaction replaces the responsive line of dialogue. One character draws their arm back, we cut to another character getting hit and staggering backward
33
Establishing shots
AKA Master Shots Extreme long shots that shows (or establishes) the entire space in which the ensuing scene will take place Most Hollywood scene begin/end w/ establishing shots
34
More Departures from Stylistic Norms
Comic use of Space Variations of shot/reaction-shot patterns Long takes, moving camera, the deep focus cinematography
35
Structuring Screen Space
- Offscreen space - frame (line) - spatial aspects of film form are simple enough but can be used in sophisticated and complex ways.
36
Offscreen space (6 potential areas)
Spaces at the left, right, top and bottom of the image The space behind the camera The space beyond the horizon
37
Frame (line)
The sides of an image We presume that space extends beyond the frame of a scene
38
Color and Sound
Can be structured to create formal complexity Free motifs + Become part of character and/or thematic development To become attentive film viewers, we have to sharpen both our looking and listening skills
39
What is Globalization?
We inhibit a world that connects all countries politically, economically and culturally It used to be a conglomeration ... Everything is connected to and impacts one another
40
Interdisciplinary means...
Between 2 people.. **Between 2 fields of discourse** Interpersonal, interrelations etc.
41
Multidisciplinary means
Anything more than 2 fields of discourse
42
Transdisciplinary
ALL forms of discourse coming together
43
What does globalization have to do with film?
Films used to be categorized primarily by nationality
44
What’re the characteristics of Global films?
Many films now simply call for an urban, futuristic, or desert setting. There’s no longer a “if it does well in America” presumption Long term “foreign market” is now outdated
45
The Cultural Impact of digital technology
“Generation Gap” Every aspect of how films are made, viewed and thought about has been affected by digital technology
46
Digital video and independent film production
Reduced costs - placing the means of feature film production in the hands of those previously excluded from Enables low budget films that are boldly experimental digital construction of virtual environments Blue/green screen Post-production
47
Digital Technology and Big-Budget Hollywood films
Digital technology is synonymous with special effects. Special effects - those can be accomplished on the set. - visual effects cannot
48
The changing status of the pro-filmic event
Movies had been thought of as a filmic record of something that actually occurred in front of the camera + this is called a pro-filmic event Painted backdrops/rear-projected photographic image to represent a long cation that is not “really” there
49
What is a pro-filmic event?
Movies that had been thought of as a filmic record of something that actually occurred in front of the camera
50
Filmmakers use painted backdrops for various reasons, the most common being to
Save Money
51
Blue/green screen - usually perceived as “fake” because of differences in
Contrast Depth Or the presence of lines around the composite area
52
Digital technology and realism
Digital effects embellish the pro.filmic event — the others, they constitute much or even all of the setting.
53
Digital effects are frequently employed within the realist tradition of filmmaking, therefore...
If virtual worlds are represented using perceptual cues like those in our real world and if the characters behave in a manner consistent with our expectations based upon lived experience, we can find those worlds believable and realistic.
54
Digital tech and Film Distribution Exhibition
Film is now digitally encoded and sent to theaters in a number of ways, including via satellite signal
55
Aesthetic advantage of digital video =
No print deterioration
56
Narrative films are shaped by...
Complex developments of story elements into a plot composed of free and bound visual and aural motifs.
57
Characters and motifs are represented within a system of formal elements...
Camera position/movement Cutting patterns Spatial relationships -on/off screen space
58
No critical approach can tell us everything about a film...
Different approaches can teach us different things. - formal - authorial - genre
59
The Ahistorical Author...
Concept of an author as a genius who possesses profound, universal insight is outdated, dangerous.
60
The Great Mann Theory of history....
Select few influence/control events If we can understand the author (auteur) we can figure out what films mean **reductionist view - simplistically fixes meaning instead of opening/exploring
61
What is an Author?
Usually refers to someone responsible for creating works of art
62
Screenwriters might provide the script but....
The complex process of organizing the aesthetic is overseen by the director
63
Director’s worldview and filmmaking style =
Starting point for questioning cultural issues. - preoccupation with certain themes - ideas - narrative situations - characters
64
How do you classify the director’s style - Early - Middle - Late periods...
These are distinct periods within a director’s oeuvre (the entire body of work of an individual director)
65
Early period...
Introduces preoccupations in a simple manner
66
Middle period...
Develops them in a complex manner (energetic, exuberant tone)
67
Late period...
Either extends them to an elaborate extreme or reduces them to a sparse simplicity that refers back to the previous work -referentiality, reflective (sometimes even brooding and static) tone
68
Structural V.S Linear Analysis
Linear analysis charts shifts, progressions, and changes in both the world of the films and their style. Structural Approach - all films are considered to be part of a group wherein any film can be fully understood only in relation to the entire structure or oeuvre.
69
What is linear and structural analysis...
Structural and linear analysis is the study of films themselves not the person who made them
70
The notion of the “textual author” -
The assumption that meanings that we can derive from studying their oeuvre are not entirely the conscious creation of the living filmmakers but rather that they emerge from the critical analysis of the works - psychoanalytical theory - unconscious patterns within a single director’s films
71
A Director’s Public Persona...
Persona circulates thru society in a manner that affects the reception of the director’s films. >>Ex: Image can be a smokescreen that disarms rather than encourages criticism
72
The Biographical Author...
Current form of authorship study focusing on the living, biographical figure who made the films. Think of directors as authors of their films as long as you think of authorship as a shaping force within a collaborative, industrial process rather than analogues to the single author of a novel.
73
Genres (like directors) go thru developmental periods...
Genre cycle typically ends with a reflective, introspective late period or with one that is highly referential
74
What is a series?
A number of movies that usually employ the basic characters, original situations, and style as the original movie. -each episode is self-contained; no knowledge of the events of an earlier film is necessary to understanding of any other one.
75
What is a Sequel?
Starts where the prior film left off
76
What is a Prequel?
A film whose story begins before that of the well-known film.
77
How do remakes differ from the original?
Some sequels explore areas that the original did not attempt
78
Why are stars important?
- Most visible people involved in the movie - audiences pay to see them - major component of advertising - personal lives enhance a film’s popularity
79
What is Reception study?
Explores the variety of ways in which historically specific audiences have responded to films and other works of art as well as the reasons for those responses.
80
Reception study is not based on a film’s...
Self-contained, formal meanings, nor on what the filmmakers wanted to say, nor on what some reviewers have said — it’s based on what the film has actually meant to different audiences
81
How can meaning change?
Films do not change, we do. As does the context in which we see films. These changes give films different meanings.
82
How is our impression of a film formed?
Filmmakers often hold preview screenings at which audiences are asked to record their responses. -changes made based upon these screenings.
83
A film’s reputation over time...
- Racist - capitalist - masterfully crafted - or Historically accurate?
84
Language in cinema is...
A small part of a fictional world created by image and sound.
85
Dialogue is primary means of...
Creating and maintaining the fictional world of theater
86
Screenplays are seldom read for....
Enjoyment or taught from the films that were made using them.
87
Language creates the fictional world (western theater)...
Now what plays are about just by reading the script Identity of the work lies in the words spoken by the actors.
88
Theater is a...
Writer’s medium
89
Film is a...
Director’s medium
90
Aesthetic identity of a play...
Is contained in the dialogue (attributed to the writer, not the director)
91
Analyze works of a ________________, but not those of a __________________.
Director... Screenwriter...
92
With Literature, Language plays not only...
The dominant role but also the ONLY role.
93
Why do production companies pay millions for the rights to novels?
Economics (ensured success) | -avoid being sued for plagiarism
94
Differences between Novels and Films...
Differences in parallel narratives not variations on the same one. Novels are pages with words. Written by one person. Movies are reels of celluloid with image and sound overlay. Created by many writers, actors, technicians and director.
95
Narratives are constructed around a set of questions that get resolved True or false
True
96
Feature films place a strong...
Emphasis on resolving narrative questions
97
While TV characters retain virtually identical....
Relationships from week to week

Film Appreciation (6 decks)

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