Responding to Film A Text Guide for Students of Cinema Art

by Santas, Constantine

• ISBN13: 9780830415809
• ISBN10: 0830415807
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-01-01
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

Responding to Film is a dynamic tool for students who seek as complete an understanding of film as is humanly possible. By focussing on film, the author looks at how it offers students an understanding of themselves, of their culture, and of art. This guide also seeks to familiarize students with the practical methodology for studying film: how to understand film genres, techniques, and language.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction How to Respond to Film	1	(1)
The Individual Response	1	(1)
The Critical Response	2	(1)
All Responses Are Legitimate	3	(1)
The Experience of Viewing a Film	4	(5)
The Literary Response	9	(1)
The Aims of This Text Guide	9	(1)
Suggested Readings	10	(1)
Responding to Film as an Art Form	11	(19)
Film as an Art	11	(5)
Film as Communication	16	(2)
The Filmmaker as an Auteur	18	(1)
The Screenwriter as an Artist	19	(2)
Film as a Literary Art	21	(7)
Suggested Readings and Hypertext Links	28	(1)
Suggested Films for Study	28	(2)
Responding to Film Genre	30	(24)
Origins of Film Genres: Epic, Drama, and Comedy	30	(2)
The Modern Epic Film	32	(4)
Tragic Genre Derivatives: Drama and Melodrama	36	(8)
The Comic Genre: The Romantic Archetype	44	(4)
Genre Derivatives	48	(3)
Suggested Readings and Hypertext Links	51	(1)
Suggested Films for Study	52	(2)
Responding to Film Techniques	54	(21)
Learning Film Techniques	54	(3)
Important Film Techniques	57	(16)
References and Suggested Readings and Hypertext links	73	(1)
Suggested Films for Study	74	(1)
Responding to Film Language	75	(21)
Definition of Film Language	75	(1)
Codes and Codification: The Semiotician's Visual Methods	76	(3)
Axes and Nodes: Reading Film Language	79	(6)
Combining Visual and Audial Nodes: Varieties of Film Discourse	85	(2)
Axes and Nodes in the Discursive Language of Comedy	87	(3)
The Soundtrack: Audial Axes and Nodes	90	(1)
Film and Music	91	(1)
The New Language of Film: Digital Technology and Hypertext	92	(2)
Suggested Readings and Hypertext Links	94	(1)
Suggested Films for Study	94	(2)
Responding to Film as History	96	(20)
Placing a Film in Its Historical Context	97	(3)
More Reasons for Studying Film Historically	100	(11)
Film's Historical Settings: The New Historicism	111	(1)
History and Social Issues	112	(1)
Film Is History	113	(1)
Suggested Readings and Hypertext links	113	(1)
Suggested Films for Study	114	(2)
Responding to Films in Black and White	116	(14)
The Attraction of Color	116	(1)
The Classic Black-and-White Movies: Colorization	117	(2)
Why Movies in Black and White Endure	119	(2)
Films in Black and White Through the 1960s and Beyond	121	(5)
Black and White Today	126	(2)
Suggested Readings and Hypertext links	128	(1)
Suggested Films for Study	128	(1)
Suggested Black-and-White Films for Study	128	(2)
Responding to Foreign Films	130	(17)
The Origins of International Cinema	130	(2)
Foreign Film-Unpopular in the American Classroom	132	(1)
The Decline of Foreign Film	132	(1)
Foreign Film's Heyday	133	(1)
The Art-House Movie: Mostly Foreign	134	(1)
More Contrasts Between Foreign and Domestic Films	135	(5)
Foreign Films for Study	140	(5)
Watching a Foreign Film Today	145	(1)
Suggested Readings and Hypertext links	145	(1)
Suggested Foreign Films for Study	145	(2)
Responding to Film's Literary Sources	147	(30)
Can a Film Measure Up to Its Literary Source?	147	(2)
Film and the Literary Tradition	149	(6)
Adaptations of Merit	155	(1)
Film equivalents of Classic Literary Works	156	(18)
Literary derivations	174	(1)
The Future of literary Adaptations: A Marriage	175	(1)
Suggested Readings and Hypertext links	175	(1)
Film Adaptations Suggested for Study'	175	(2)
Responding to Film as Film	177	(23)
Film's Uniqueness	177	(2)
Reality vs. Illusion: Film's Superiority	179	(2)
Film: Distinct from Literature, Matches Literature	181	(1)
Film Is Visual Reality	182	(1)
Film-Sum Total of Its Parts	183	(1)
Films and Star Power	184	(3)
Film as Film: Some Examples	187	(10)
Suggested Readings and Hypertext Links	197	(1)
Suggested Films for Study	198	(2)
Responding to Social Themes in Film	200	(23)
Should a Film Contain a Moral?	200	(1)
Film is conscious of Moral Behavior	201	(2)
Message as Part of a Story	203	(1)
Using Film Language to Uncover Social Themes	203	(6)
Film and Gender	209	(7)
Film and Social Themes	216	(5)
Suggested Readings and Hypertext Links	221	(1)
Suggested Films for Study	221	(2)
Responding to Film Violence	223	(17)
Two Facets of Film Violence	223	(1)
The prevalence of Film Violence	224	(1)
The Historical Perspective on Film Violence	225	(2)
Dealing with Violence in Film	227	(12)
Suggested Re readings and Hypertext Links	239	(1)
Responding to Film Technology	240	(5)
The Value of Commentaries	241	(1)
Hypertext and its uses	242	(3)
A Sample Course	245	(28)
The Great Dictator (1941): Information Sheet	246	(2)
The Seventh Seal (1956): Information Sheet	248	(2)
Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and love the Bomb (1964): Information Sheet	250	(2)
Psycho (1960): Information Sheet	252	(2)
Amadeus (1984): Information Sheet	254	(3)
Platoon (1986): Information Sheet	257	(3)
Quiz Show (1994): Information Sheet	260	(2)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968): Information Sheet	262	(2)
A Passage to India (1984): Information Sheet	264	(4)
Schindler's List (1993): Information Sheet	268	(2)
The English Patient (1996): Information Sheet	270	(3)
Index	273