film study
Film analysis, as far as I can tell, isn’t conducted any more in mainstream film criticism. That’s because these days anyone can write about film, and do. The film theorists and heavy-weight reviewers of the past have been overtaken by the age of the internet and by all the people ‘having a go’.
Breaking the boarders with transnational themes and making people cry and laugh in the same way? Genre as a global system? Why not!
I was watching the North Irish TV show The Fall a while ago and it struck me how handsome Jamie Dornan is, and how fascinating it is that the creators of the show cast him for the role of the sexual predator and serial killer, the villain of the story. In typical crime films and TV, the average sexual predator is portrayed to be a pretty average if not ugly guy, around or older than 40, and if he’s fat, he preferably has a constant sheen of sweat over his forehead. Someone who kind of grosses you out.
Independent filmmakers spend a lot of time and money applying to film festivals. With each passing year, the number of competitive film festivals seems to grow almost exponentially. And with submission platforms like Withoutabox.
Plot, visuals, and theme are all hugely important to great cinema, but movie audiences love characters, and they remain the most memorable aspect of many films. However, the same character types appear again and again in film – the heroes, the villains, the sidekicks and the damsels in distress. We simply accept this as a part of cinema, and of stories in general, and it’s because all stories follow the same narrative structure, according to Russian theorist Vladimir Propp.
A well-executed horror film is quite possibly the most pure and affecting of all cinematic experiences. A horror film can be the ultimate ‘pop-corn’ movie – a work that draws you into its world, gnaws on your emotions and intellect, and finally spits you back into your seat, thrilled and grateful and dripping with adrenaline. It makes sense that horror films illicit a strong response – after all, we are naturally hard-wired to fear.
Here at FilmInquiry, we love to read about movies, write about movies, and to learn more about movies every day! If you too would like to learn more about movies, we suggest you check out the following list. We’ve listed ten courses (on different types of platforms) about filmmaking, film history and everything else film.
The first in an ongoing column designed to help readers broaden their understanding of a wide variety of movies, and to become a well-rounded cinephile.
To help you apply the knowledge of the “How To Analyze Movies” series, we made you a handy tool! This is our movie analysis Beat Sheet.
The final part in the How To Analyze Movies series – we round up the final bits, iconography and realism. And that’s it!
In this installment of How To Analyze Movies we discuss our understanding of story and genre, and how to use it to analyze film!
In this installment of How to Analyze Movies we discuss the importance of lighting, sound and score, and how you should analyze them.
In earlier instalments of How To Analyse Movies, we discussed film language, how meaning is created in film through the use of signs, codes and conventions and most recently, we covered mise-en-scène and editing. In this chapter, we’ll discuss the camera and how it too can create meaning and how important it is to know about the way the camera is used to analyse a movie. The way the camera has been positioned or has been used too can create meaning, and it’s very important to know how it has been positioned and to analyse a film in its whole.
In the last part of How to Analyse Movies, we discussed signs, codes and conventions. In this chapter we’re moving on to the scene and editing, and what that means in film language. Everything you see in a film is constructed to fit on a screen.
Quite a few people asked me now: how do criminology and movie combine and how did I do it? This post is for all of you who’ve been wondering.