Study Guide
Most of the quiz questions
will be related to the points referenced in the For Comprehension
items. A few quiz questions will relate to the concepts referenced
in the Prepare for Class items. The quiz will NOT ask you
for your examples, however; you needn't worry about them being
right or wrong.
Please come up with examples for as many of the Prepare for Class items as you can. If you just can't think of anything for one of the categories, don't worry about it.
I do not expect you to spend a lot of time thinking through specific answers to the questions in the For Deeper Thinking notes. Read the notes, keep them in the back of your mind. Make a note if any ideas pop into your head...
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Bordwell and Thompson ch. 2
For Comprehension
* B&T divide 'form' into two major components. What are they?
* What are 'conventions'. What role do conventions play in stylized
film genres that deviate from realism?
* You'll want to know the basic definitions of the 5 'Principles
of Film Form' B&T offer in the last part of ch. 2. Also their
definition of 'motif.'
Prepare for class
* Think of example, from a film you've seen recently, of an expectation
that was set up by a particular shot, scene, or plot point.
* Pick a film you've seen recently and try to come up with brief
statements of it Explicit Meaning, Implicit Meaning, and Symptomatic
Meaning.
For Deeper Thinking
on p. 41 B&T note "we shall treat as formal elements
many things that some people consider content." What do they
mean by this? As we continue reading from this book in the weeks
to come, keep this idea in mind? B&T might be right that 'content'
of a film is not some autonomous thing separate and outside its
form, but, if only to play devil's advocate one might argue that
placing form as the primary consideration in studying film gives
'content' whatever that is, short shrift. What do you think? What's
more important, what a film says or how it says it? Can you really
understand one without the other? If not, does that make them
the same thing, or is there still an important distinction? Note
the criteria for evaluation B&T suggest (in italics) on p.
50. What do you think of these criteria as bases for judging the
value of a film?
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Bordwell and Thompson ch. 3
Be Aware
For B&T, the term 'narration'
does not mean voiceover, an unseen person speaking on the soundtrack,
but the whole process of how a films presents, 'tells' its story.
For Comprehension
* What is B&T's definition
of 'narrative' and what does it mean? How might the terms of the
definition rule different presentations in or out of the category?
* What do 'diegesis' 'diegetic' and 'non-diegetic' mean?
* What are the primary characteristics of 'The Classical Hollywood
Cinema'
Prepare for class
* Have you seen any films
that seem not to fit the category of narrative as B&T define
it? If not which film in your experience seems to fit it the least?
* Pick a well-known film you have seen, and devise one example
of how the overall effect of the film would be different if the
story reamined the same, but was presented with a different
plot (as these terms are defined by B&T)
* Try to think of a narrative film you've seen that does NOT fit
the definition of 'Classic Hollywood Cinema', and be able to tell
us why it falls outside that category.
For Deeper Thinking
Going back to B&T's idea
that content is also form, we might also say that form is also
content. That is, maybe a certain kind of plot structure has a
meaning or message no matter what story is placed within it. Specifically,
are there certain values at work in the characteristics of the
Classic Hollywood Cinema: the central protagonist, the unfolding
of cause and effect based in character psychology, the emphasis
on change, the 'objective' narration, the closure (reaching 'the
end', wrapping up the loose ends, etc.)?
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Gianetti: Photography
Be Aware
* Make sure you read the
photo captions. A lot of information in the Gianetti chapters
is contained in the long captions. This material is usually not
reduplicated in the main body of the text.
* Remember that formalism as a film style, as Gianetti
uses the term, is different from formalism as a way of
analyzing film, as represented by Bordwell and Thompson.
For Comprehension
* The most important aspect
of the chapter is the distinction between 'realism' and 'formalism'.
You'll want to know what these terms mean, how they relate to
more specific films, and the third term that may be placed between
the poles. The last paragraph on p. 2 and the following one (just
below the chart) on p. 3 are especially useful. Also note the
emphasis on the stylistic rather than content aspects of the terms,
as discussed on pp. 7-8 and in the caption for the photo examples
on p. 9 (1-7a & b.).
* What does "deep focus" mean? (Note the difference
between the deep focus image 1-23d and the shallow focus images
1-23a-c, on pp. 28-29)
* What are the implications of high angles, low angles, eye-level
angles and oblique angles? What is another term for an oblique
angle shot? Again, be sure to read the captions for 1-10 through
1-13.
* The discussion of light and dark is very important for film
analysis. Make sure you understand the distinction between high
key and low key lighting, and what kind of implications these
styles give a film. The example on p. 17-18 is especially helpful
in understanding this.
* The importance of color in film is well expressed in the anecdote
about Antonioni's production of Red Desert. Antonioni used
the same technique in other films as well, including Blow Up.
Note that most filmmakers resort to filters and lighting to achieve
similar effects, as the anecdote about Vilmos Zsigmond in the
section on "The Cinematographer."
*You'll want to know who Gordon Willis is, and why Gianetti considers
his work to be of particular historical significance.
Prepare for Class
* Pick any film you have
found interesting, and be prepared to discuss how the film might
have been different if it had been approached more towards the
pole of either realism or formalism. How would this effect the
overall meaning or experience of the film?
* Can you think of films not mentioned in the chapter that
use light and dark in the ways Gianetti discusses? Specifically
can you think of two different films, or different scenes within
one film, that exemplify the differences in theme or tone lighting
can produce?
Notes
* One (rare) example of an
extremely formalist film produced by Hollywood within the past
10 years: Natural Born Killers.
* Gianetti's chart on p. 3 identifies 'Documentary' as the category
closest to Realism. This is mistake on his part, given his insistence
that the terms are distinguished stylistically rather than by
content. In fact, though many documentaries are realist in form,
some others that a much more manipulated approach to presenting
material drawn from actual events.
* Gianetti kind of gives short shrift to 'backlighting' on p.
20, showing only an example from horror films, and an extreme
one at that. Backlighting as a supplement to front lighting (see
the 3-point diagram on p. 19) was a key element of gender typing
in the classical Hollywood cinema. Romantic leading ladies would
typically be shot with soft, gauzy lighting and lots of backlight
to add a suggestion of the ethereal, while male leads (and 'bad'
women) would be shot with harder light and without the added backlight.
For Deeper Thinking
This chapter only begins
to touch on the larger issues raised by the realism/formalism
distinction. The camps are opposed aesthetically: a formalist
might argue that realism is too plain to be great art, where a
realist might argue that artistic vale lies in the story itself,
and formalism damages that by drawing too much attention to the
way the story is told. They are also opposed politically: the
formalist might accuse the realist of lying, of claiming 'truth'
where none exists, of passing off art as nature, subjective perspectives
as objective ones. The realist, on the other hand, may accuse
the formalist of being a propagandist of sort, of distorting reality
to fit narrow purposes. What do you think? Are there any larger
values associated with style?
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Gianetti: Editing
Be Aware
* Again, make sure you
read the photo captions.
For Comprehension
* The chapter relates editing
to the three main categories of style: Classicism, Formalism,
and Realism. You need to know the three primary figures associated
with these styles: Griffith, Eisenstein and Bazin.
* What is Gianetti's definition of classical cutting? What filmamker
was the most important historical figure in the development of
this style? How did classical cutting differ from previous filmmaking
practice in technique and effect?
* What is parallel editing?
* How does the Montage cutting of Pudovkin and Eisenstein differ
from classical cutting?
* How do Eisenstein's ideas differ from Pudovkin's? What kind
of transitions did Eisenstein favor?
* What are the major criticisms of montage noted by Gianetti?
* What qualities did Bazin feel gave realist art its value (Gianetti
discusses this as the moral basis of Bazin's aesthetic)?
* What filmic device and technologies did Bazin favor, in line
with his realist aesthetic?
* What post-war film movement dovetailed with Bazin's ideas? (name
and country of origin).
Prepare for Class
* Take a look at the Albert
Maysles quote on the bottom of p. 165. What do you think about
the whole issue of film and truth? How can film be more 'truthful'
or should this even be a question?
* Almost all of the films we see are based in the model
of classical cutting (even otherwise formalistic films like Rumble
Fish). But every once and a while a small section of a film might
use some Eisensteinian devices, and they may show up in commercials
(like 'Regular or Decaf?')or music videos. Can you think of any
examples you've seen that seem to fit the montagenotion of a collision
of ideas? If so, how do those collisions work in that particular
instance?
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Bordwell & Thompson: Chapter 6, Mise en Scene
Be Aware
* This is a fairly weak chapter,
and we won't be going into it too deeply. The main point is that
virtually everything you see within a film frame is specifically
chosen or designed to fit some purpose. The nature of these choices
relate to different functions within the narrative.
* Most film scholars use similar category terminology, but differ
somewhat in how they parcel out more specific aspects of technique
under various headings. For example, Gianetti includes lighting
under 'photography' where Bordwell and Thompson include it within
'mise en scene.' Neither is right or wrong, the borders between
categories are not rigid, and are open to some interpretation.
For Comprehension
* What does 'mise en scene'
mean?
* What are the four main catergories of mise en scene identified
by B & T?
* In what genres of film is realistic mese en scene, including
realistic acting, an inappropriate crieria for evaluation, according
to B & T?
* B & T discuss vision as being tuned to changes in five areas
that are part of 'screen space.' What are they?
Prepare for Class
* Can you think of examples
of the use of costume in film to define the nature of a character
in more than a literal way? Can you think of an example where
a change in costume corresponds to a characters psychological
progress within the narrative?
* Can you think of examples of performances by an actor
that are particularly fitted to the larger graphic style of the
film, or are keyed to the theme of the film in ways similar to
the Veidt and Seberg examples on p. 173?
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Bordwell & Thompson: Chapter 9, Sound
For Comprehension
* What are the three Perceptual
properties of sound mentioned by B & T? What are some of the
typical functions achieved by changes in these qualities?
* Note the important distinctions B & T observe between film
sounds and the soundscape of everyday life on the bottom of p.
296 and top of 297.
* What is the function of dialogue overlap? (Overlaps of music
and SFX often have a similar function...) What general principles
are at work in the example from Seven Samurai?
* What is the difference between diegetic and non-diegetic sound?
* What is the relationship between sound and off-screen
space?
* How does 'sound perspective' work?
* What is a 'sound bridge' and what functions can it fulfill?
Prepare for Class
* Think of a film sequence
that you associate with a particular piece of music (e.g. the
Blue Danube in 2001). Think of how the meaning of the sequence
could be made subtly but distinctly different by using a different
piece of music. By 'subtly' I mean don't go for obvious opposite's,
the sad scene with melancholy music transformed by adding a raucous
rap sountrack. Some plausible difference.
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Citizen Kane Readings
Be Aware
* You should do BOTH readings,
of course. Both will be covered in the quiz. But, if for some
cosmic reason, you were forced to chose only one to read for Tuesday,
note that the individual Bordwell essay is more important than
the segment of the Bordwell and Thompson textbook chapter.
A: BORDWELL & THOMPSON CH. 3,
PP. 78-89
For Comprehension
* What genres do B&T suggest might setup viewer expectations
for Kane, and how does the film deviate from from
the usual workings-out of these conventions? (They mention three
specific genres in this regard.)
* If the News on the March sequence tells the audience what will
happen later in the film, how does Kane still generate
suspense? What specific device, discussed later in the chapter,
does the film employ to achieve this general principle?
* According to B&T, What function does the newsreel sequence
have in relation to the films larger narrational pattern, and
a viewer's attempt to correlate plot and story?
* According to B&T, what is the narrative function
of keeping Thompson's character faceless and non-specific?
Prepare for Class
* Note B&T's idea on
p. 81 that since Emily's story would duplicate Leland's - and
thus has no function for the investigation narrative - the plot
"simplky eliminates her (via a car accident)." Do you
accept this explanation? What other roles do Emily's death play
in our understanding of the film? How might have story have differed
from Leland's or the other characters' stories? Is there any reason
to exclude her voice from the narration on those grounds -- that
is, does the absense of her voice have a function, regardless
of what we learn from Leland or anyone else?
B: BORDWELL: "CITIZEN KANE"
For Comprehension
* Note the ways that Bordwell's analysis of Kane reflects
the distinctions between Realism and Formalism drawn by Gianetti
in his Editing and Photography chapters. What, then, does Bordwell
argue is "Kane's great achievement"?
* To what more specific historical antecedants does Bordwell tie
a) the opening scene of Xanadu and Kane's death, b) News on the
March?
* What does the motif of the color white suggest, according
to Bordwell? How do the specific examples support this larger
claim?
* What does Bordwell mean by "the compositional detachment
of each shot" that "corroborates the film's pull toward
realism"?
* What according to Bordwell, is the turning point of the film?
For Analysis
* If, as Bordwell argues, News on the March parallels the
'Argument' of Citizen Kane itself, what is the equivalent,
for the larger discourse of Kane, of the scene in which
the newsreel grinds to a halt in the projection room and is declared
unsatisfactory by the editor?
* What does Bordwell mean by saying "the cinematic traditions
of Limière and Méliès become surrogates for
epistemological tension." (If you don't know what 'epistemological'
means, look it up...)
Prepare for Class
* On p. 279 Bordwell argues
that each narrator judges Kane differently, and "the effect
of seeing so many conflicting assessments is to restrain us from
forming any opinions of Kane we might take as definitive."
Do you think the narrators all carry equal weight in terms of
how the film might be guiding our assesment of Kane? If
you find the film's voice to be closer to some characters rather
than others, what evidence makes you think so?
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Peter Wollen: Autuer Theory
For Comprehension
* What the two basic branches
of autuer criticism Wollen identifies? After reading the article,
which one do you think Wollen belongs to?
* What does Wollen mean by 'structure' in the article?
* According to Wollen, one of Hawks' 'preoccupations' is the attitude
his professional characters take toward a dangerous world. What,
then, is the role of comedy in relief to danger in the adventure
films? How does this compare to / differ from the humor in the
crazy comedies?
* Pay especially close to attention to the way Wollen explicates
John Ford's central themes in relation to the film we're going
to see, My Darling Clementine. For example, how are these
ideas embodied in changes in Wyatt's character?
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Violence / Wild Bunch Readings
Be Aware
The two authors wind up with
different moral evaluations of The Wild Bunch. Try
to look for what accounts for this difference in judgement as
you study the essays.
For Comprehension
* What are the cinematic
techniques Prince describes as central to Peckipah's aesthetic
of violence?
* What films and filmmakers does Prince describe as influences
on Peckinpah's style?
* What does Prince cite as the primary aesthetic characteristics
of slow motion images of people at the moment of death, bodies
moving caught in a hail of bullets?
* What evidence does Prince offer besides The Wild Bunch
that filmmaker's get caught up in creating the aesthetics of violence
to the point where they lose a grasp on their intentions?
* How does McKinney define 'strong violence'? What does he mean
by his remark about how and when a crowd 'pays for" violence?
* How do McKinney's ideas about violence reflect the "Realism/Formalism"
distinction? How does this relate to the two kinds of violence?
Which side of the fence is McKinney on (at least in terms of violence)?
* According to McKinney, what sort of violence has negative social
consequences, and what are they? (Note that his argument for a
positive value for the other kind of voilence is more personal
than social...)
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Film Noir Readings
Be Aware
Shrader's essay is kind of
contradictory. After laying out a series of explanations for how
the distinctive elements of noir are expressive of the social
concerns of the post-WWII period, he ultimately locates the significance
of noir in something else other than any social commentary in
its thematics. Look for this shift toward the end of the essay.
For Comprehension
* How do Shrader on the one
hand, and Harvey and Place on the other, differ on the value of
film noir's distinctive style?
* What does Shrader identify as film noir's major influences?
In what ways might some of these influences be seen as contradictory?
* According to Harvey, what is the role of representations of
the family in conventional films? What are the three "most
important concepts" dealt with in the representation of the
family in conventional films?
* According to Harvey, how does film noir disrupt the traditional
values of romantic love, thematically and stylistically?
* According to Harvey, what characteristics does noir attribute
to marriage and the family?
* According to Place, how are noir women different from typical
Hollywood portrayals of women (e.g. Clementine on one hand and
Chihuahua on the other)?
* What are the major elements of 'iconography' (how the woman
appears in the film) and visual style Place identifies as defining
the sexuality and strength of noir women? What elements of the
film does she identify as portraying negative nature of the woman,
and her ultimate punishment?
* According to Place, why are redemptive, nurturing women often
depicted in relation to natural environments in noir film?
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Ideology as Content / Alien Readings
Be Aware
The two authors have similar
interpretations of the theme of Alien, but have some importantr
differences that lead them to more distinctly different evaluations
of the ideology of the film. Try to look for what accounts for
this difference in judgement as you study the essays.
For Comprehension
* According to Byers,
how does Star Trek II reaffirm the "repressed
and withholding interpersonal style of the white male bourgeoise."
What elements of the plot and characters does he see working toward
this end?
* What, according to Byers, do the alien and The Company have
in common?
* According to Byers, how do the replicants in Blade Runner
portray a cautionary point about our society?
* Accoridng to Byers, what historical referent do Khan and his
supporters represent negatively in Star Trek II?
* What, according to Newton, might a more conventional film add
to the plot to dilute the quest of a female hero, but Alien
does not?
* How does Newton characterize Ash's attack on Ripley, and how
according to Newton does the film let male viewers off the hook
in this scene?
* What positive value to Newton, momentarily projected by the
plot of Alien, does she believe is "exploded"
by the end of the story?
* Why, according to Newton, is the Ripley character "robbed
of radical thrust"?
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Ideology as Form / Godfather 2 Readings
Be Aware
Biskind and Hess come from
similar intellectual positions. Hess is explicit about his ideas
early in his essay, Biskind never states a single direct thesis
and takes awhile to work around to his most important points.
Many students mistake sentiments Biskind expresses in the first
part of the article ashis thesis, believing he celebrates Spielberg
and Lucas films for their countercultural values. THATS NOT IT!!
He winds up being critical of blockbuster films, finding them
wanting in a key area Hess celebrates in Godfather 2.
Last week was labeled "Ideology: Content" on the syllabus. This week is labeled "Ideology: Form". Both essays do talk a good bit about the content of the films, but they also spend at least some time discussing the ideological properties of form -- How a film made like Godfather 2 on one hand or Star Wars on the other might have a kind of social value regardless of what it was about. Look to these aspects of the readings for our discussions.
For Comprehension
* What does Hess identify
as forming a briefly seen (in the film) but powerful opposition
to the Mafia, a force that is superior to the gangsters in some
way? Why is this force superior?
* According to Hess, the idea of "family" is represented
in the film at levels beyond the Corleones themselves. What are
the other kinds of familial affiliation Hess discusses?
* What historical context (i.e. world events of the time), does
Biskind use to explain the origins of certain elements of Star
Wars? To what real conflict does he compare the rebellion against
the Empire in the film?
* What does Biskind identify as the deeper meaning of "the
dark side of the force"?
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Feminism / Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Readings
1. What do Arbuthnot and Seneca mean by the 'text' and 'pretext'
they refer to in the title of their essay?
2. What are the two major feminist themes Arbuthnot and Seneca
define within Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
3. What significance does Turim take from the Howard Hawks quote
about how he developed scenes invloving Jane Russell and Marilyn
Monroe? (Do you think this quote undermines or strengthens Arbuthnot
and Seneca's claims?)
4. Turim argues that the film objectifies women, but not primarily
as erotic objects. What kind of object does she believe
Russel and Monroe operate as in the way we watch the film?
5. Turim's critiques the character of Piggy outside of his relationship
with the women. What larger context, barely referenced in the
film itself, does Turim refer to in arguing that the 'endearing'
presentation of Piggy embodies dominant ideological values?
6. Make sure you read the addendum. Are there parts of it that
appear to serve as rebuttals to some of Arbuthnot and Seneca's
arguments? (The addendum was written around the time "Text
and Pretext" was first published...)
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Horror Readings
1. What is the psychoanalytic
theory of The Other as described by Wood? What does the category
of "the repressed' mean in psychoanalysis? Why is there always
a 'return of the repressed'?
2. What does all of this have to do with movie monsters, according
to Wood. What do the 'normal' characters attempts to control or
kill the monster represent? In this formulation, what is society
really expressing a desire to control or kill?
3. What general types of categories of Otherness does Wood describe
in horror films? Which of these categories are most present in
the films we've seen, as discussed by Wood?
4. What characteristics define a 'reactionary' horror film, according
to Wood?
5. According to Linda Williams, what are the ways traditional
films have used the idea of looking, or the power to look, in
relation to female characters? What happens when the woman onscreen
looks in a horror film? In contrast, what is represented by a
female character's inability to look?
6. How do these issues of looking play out in the classic British
horror film Peeeping Tom? What symbolic facts relevant
to our discussion are involved in the way the serial killer in
that film dispatches his victims?
7. What, according to Williams, is the psychoanalytic signifcance
of Bobbies attack on Kate?