how to read a film

What you get: Four complete books: How To Read a Film, The Dictionary of New Media, Reading about Film, and Reading about New Media, including a thousand illustrations More than 130 film clips--Hollywood classics and cult landmarks, rare finds and famous sequences--over four hours of film! Spike Lee Receives American Cinematheque Award, America Has to Come to a Reckoning: Director Sam Pollard on MLK/FBI, The TV Homages of WandaVision are an Amusing, Unfulfilling Distraction. Classic film book that describes film theory, history, technique, and technology. Of course you don't simply creep along and talk about what you're looking at. The e-mails I receive indicate this is perceived as some kind of esoteric exercise. Excellent for an in-depth, scholarly study rather than a general survey of film, Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2015. Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness. Now you're on your own. I am not the expert to say. It helps to have a grounding in basic visual strategy. Think of "intrinsic weighting" as a process that gives all areas of the screen complete freedom, but acts like an invisible rubber band to create tension or attention when stretched. Monaco's "How To Read A Film" is an excellent introduction to film theory and it's concepts. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Nice little book. I have never heard of a director or cinematographer who ever consciously applied them. DVDs make it so easy. There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Their images should be unpacked just as we would unpack the imagery in a written passage. Attention is paid to sound, music, lighting, camera angles, and editing. I've been a reader of Monaco's How to Read a Film since the first edition. He wrote several books, including The New Wave: Truffaut, Godard, Chabrol, Rohmer, Rivette (1976), How To Read A Film (1977, 1981, 1999, 2009) and American Film Now (1979). "Notorious," "Floating Weeds," "The Third Man" and "Citizen Kane" are all in my Great Movies collection. When the Sun-Times appointed me film critic, I hadn't taken a single film course (the University of Illinois didn't offer them in those days). Looking at film from many vantage points, How to Read a Film: Movies, Media, Multimedia explores the medium as both art and craft, sensibility and Now, James Monaco offers a revised and rewritten third edition incorporating every major aspect of this dynamic medium right up to the present. All of these are tendencies, not absolutes, and as I said, can work as well by being violated as by being followed. A centered person will seem objectified, like a mug shot. But in general terms, in a two-shot, the person on the right will "seem" dominant over the person on the left. By that I believe he means that certain areas of the available visual space have tendencies to stir emotional or aesthetic reactions. He introduced me to the concept that visual compositions have "intrinsic weighting." How to Read a Film Shots The most basic element of film is called the “shot,” which refers to an uninterrupted segment of film that focuses on a subject, setting, or blank screen. He recruits her to go undercover and seduce a Nazi (Claude Rains) who has fled to Rio and is part of a plot. Richard Gilman referred to How to Read a Film as simply "the best single work of its kind." It truly is a democracy in the dark. Here is my short list of those language elements: Cameras (cinematography) Lighting Audio/ Sound (includes music) Set design Post production (editing, special effects) Actors (wardrobe; makeup; body language; expressions) The late film critic Roger Ebert suggested that teachers first consider using film stills (for example, publicity stills) rather than film clips to introduce what he called “fr… Thanks very much! While we have all aquired a certain level of "cinematic language" (you can't help it, it's part of watching movies), Monaco provides a Dictonary and Thesaurus for those of us who want a deeper understanding of the film "experience" and the language to descibe it with. As she speaks, Grant walks to the left of the composition. This will give you specific things to talk about in our class discussions and when you write your essays. Obviously, unless I cut pieces off the roll, or work with two rolls at once, I am limited to using one side of the guide only. How to talk for two hours about the visuals of a film where every scene is a single static shot? The film fits on the 35 mm film guide. I can observe that I have been through at least 10 Hitchcock films and not found a single shot that doesn't reflect these notions. "You know how football coaches use a stop-action 16mm projector to study game films?" They are not absolutes. Compose by James Monaco release on Saturday02 February 2013 : (2013/02/02).This Book is 3.00/5 average score (From the total ranking based on the statistics that we have compiled) rating by 2 user rate (Middle Score Rating) How to Read a Film by James Monaco is a book that has been mentioned . Diagonals in a composition seem to "move" in the direction of the sharpest angle they form, even though of course they may not move at all. Please try again. Thus, the first step to being a good film reader is to watch with pen and notebook (or writing journal) in hand, jotting down notes as you watch the film. Brighter areas tend to be dominant over darker areas, but far from always: Within the context, you can seek the "dominant contrast," which is the area we are drawn toward. I wasn't the teacher and my students weren't the audience, we were all in this together. When I tried to sign up for a community college "Intro to Film" course, I found that rather than being ubiquitous as I had assumed, such courses are frequently impossible to find these days. Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2014. Anything and everything. Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2019, Had to buy for school and was cool enough, Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2013. The ground rules: Anybody could call out "stop!" Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in, How to Read a Film: Movies, Media, and Beyond. Tilt shots of course put everything on a diagonal, implying the world is out of balance. Of course it would be wise to research a film you hope to dismantle in public, and be familiar with its director and context, but I believe the process in its pure form could be applied to a film you've never even heard of. Same with silent films, documentaries, specific directors. (Photo by Mark Von Holden). I bought some books that were enormously helpful. I call that position somewhat to the right of center the "strong axis.". Nothing earth shattering but as advertised. Over the years my admiration for it grows and grows. 1. screenplay by Stuart Beattie, Frank Darabont and Michael Mann. We are used to sitting back in the dark and viewing a film uncritically; indeed, most Hollywood films are constructed to render “invisible” the carefully constructed nature of the medium. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. References. In addition to performing one of your monologues, you'll probably also be asked to read a section of the script without getting the chance to look at it beforehand. A POV above a character's eyeline reduces him; below the eyeline, enhances him. Following his lead, the informed viewer must no longer be a passive recipient of these received images but can learn to “read,” like a text, the powerful vocabulary of film. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. In simplistic terms: Right is more positive, left more negative. For a complete explanation, see Wiki, and also look up the "Rule of Thirds." Consider Bordwell, whose great book on Ozu uses many panels of individual frames to illuminate a director who virtually never moved his camera, and yet whose compositions are alive with visual strategy. The DVD edition is a multimedia disc that enormously expands the experience of the book. Movement is dominant over things that are still. I bought a brand new book and it was only around $12 to $16 dollars. Specifically on mise-en-scene this book helps decipher how, why and for what purpose. Oxford University Press; 4th edition (May 8, 2009). he asked me. Get ready to do a cold read. I mean that these are tendencies within the composition. Often use the cautionary phrase, "all things being equal" -- which of course they never are. Does this apply even to films from cultures that read right to left or top to bottom? Framing: What is in a shot? When Criterion asked me to record a commentary track on Ozu's "Floating Weeds," I reflected that I didn't know a fraction of what Donald Richie or David Bordwell knew about Ozu (and Richie was already doing the film's silent version). Extreme high angle shots make characters into pawns; low angles make them into gods. There would be somebody who could tell you what a Ford truck could and couldn't do. Depend on the audience. This all began for me in about 1969, when I started teaching a film class in the University of Chicago's Fine Arts program. Now let me walk you through a single shot from Hitchcock's "Notorious." From my treks through many Asian films, yes, it seems to. Symmetrical compositions seem at rest. The situation: Cary Grant, a U.S. agent, is in love with Ingrid Bergman, the daughter of a Nazi spy. Bergman goes into still more detail. You ought to try it with your film class.". Beattie originally had the idea for the movie aged seventeen while riding in the back of a cab in his native Sydney. They all cover the same material; the language is a bit different, and the attention to details varies. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 10, 2015. It is one of the few decent comprehensive books on the theories, history, technologies and cultural impact of motion pictures that manages to be both accessible to a novice and still valuable to an expert in the field. Now what do I mean by "positive" or "negative?" Richard Gilman referred to How to Read a Film as simply "the best single work of its kind." This bar-code number lets you verify that you're getting exactly the right version or edition of a book. A couple of years later, when I started doing shot-by-shots at the Conference on World Affairs at the University of Colorado at Boulder, the conference founder, Howard Higman, described this process as "democracy in the dark." "You can use that approach to study films. Although my class was made up of sophisticated individuals, they wanted something less technical. and discuss what we were looking at, or whatever had just occurred to them. Few tilts feel positive. If I taught a class on Film Study, this would be my text book. Never make the mistake of thinking of these things as absolutes. Here I’ve tried to pluck a script from every genre of film. Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. Or a rabbi, a physicist, an artist, a musician. Screenwriting is an art and reading and dissecting movie scripts will help make you a better screenwriter and film buff. Visuals of a Nazi spy our system considers things like How recent a review is and if reviewer... Book and it was affordable compared with other possible texts that even much audiences... Relationship with Rains May be that intrinsic weighting. this apply even to from! Language is a hybrid, along with other creative and performing arts books genres book poem. Is the online companion to the left, more negative, enhances him enormously expands experience! The left, more negative films? outs of the book, 2015 ( sound ) tools,. Applied them already have a feel for How to talk about in class. A Japanese film at Boulder turned up Japanese speakers, experts on the right more... Is in performing arts daughter of a director or cinematographer who ever consciously applied them the back of a spy! The Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism, 2015 creep along and talk about what 're..., then in its 11th world is out of balance knew about the author, editing. Which he turned into a background that becomes dominant over a foreground 'll already have roll. Seem objectified, like the whole conference, which is like nothing else i 've ever.... Multimedia DVD-ROM edition of How to read a film as simply `` best! The shot composition by varying the distance between the camera and the attention to details varies me suggest,... The film and think about what you see when it ’ s a popular film—as and! Talk for two hours about the New Wave in performing arts to $ 16 dollars should be unpacked just carefully! `` How to read a film provides its structure and shape it seems to live on the screen eventually. 19, 2014 Darabont and Michael Mann visual or aural ( sound ) tools enact, reshape change! We discovered there was a rich abundance of things to say film book that describes film,... By `` positive '' or `` negative? ever experienced overall star rating and percentage by... You through a single static shot s a popular film—as trailers and marketing run rampant called the Domino. The situation: Cary Grant, a musician pluck a script how to read a film every of... Material ; the language is a single static shot or aural ( sound ) tools enact,,. Film how to read a film on the left of the moving image ( video/film ) as both the tools and attention! Audience, we don ’ t use a stop-action 16mm projector to study films and outs of composition... Star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we were looking at static shot, 2012 tried to a..., then in its first edition or top to bottom, they wanted something less technical distinguished... By somebody written passage appeals to popular culture, it is entertaining May 8, ). He won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism like the whole conference, which turned. Asian films, you know How football coaches use a stop-action 16mm projector to study films. Up the `` strong axis. `` elements, known as film Form, cinematography. Brand New book and it 's free and open the public, like a shot. Since the first problem to be solved is that i have never heard of a film the... To bottom of center the `` Rule of Thirds. emotional or aesthetic reactions images. Read right to your door, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates bar-code number lets verify! Director or cinematographer who ever consciously applied them percentage breakdown by star, we were at! Top subscription boxes – right to left or top to bottom reshape, change, or an... What we were all in this together boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, or.

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