Louis Giannetti's Understanding Movies

Auteur theory is an important mode of film criticism that indicates the extent of the director’s involvement in the final output of the film. As it has been previously mentioned, Spike Lee’s films express certain notions about race that emerge from his personal viewpoint as well as from his political and aesthetic beliefs. The focal point of this chapter is the auteur theory and its relativity to Spike Lee. In order to prove the connection between the theory and his works, it is necessary to refer to Lee’s biography, since both his background and distinguishable personality have contributed to his technical skills as well as to his unique style as a film director. The particular chapter will also include the synopsis as well as the technical analysis of each film correspondingly.

The concentration is on comparing and finding the changes that history made to this movie genre, especially considering the gender roles. Results will clearly explain the psyche of society in two different periods, which confirms that people reflect the movies as movies have an impact on people. The Introduction It is often said that the element of surprise makes the movie more interesting and leads the plot. There are many masters of storytelling

Jim Hayden, Lucas’s father, was a kind, gentle man. However, many hard years of lose and back breaking work, he became bitter, almost emotionless. When Lucas was just a newborn, Jim’s wife died, leaving him to run the farm and care for the young child. It was certainly a hard life for Jim, but he took great

It takes a look at the overly complicated signing of two top prospects Miguel Angel Sano, and Juan Carlos Batista. The film is co-directed by Jonathan Paley, Ross Finkel and Trevor Martin, narrated by John Leguizamo, and produced by Bobby Valentine. Throughout the eight months, you will watch Sano and Batista’s story unravel, which happens to be an extremely complicated endeavor that no one would have anticipated. However, their story, although an important one, refuses to shy away from the fact that scouting process in the Dominican Republic shows to be a potentially exploitative one. Kicking it off with Miguel, he was the top prospect in the Dominican that year.

In the scene where Jim’s wife Mae sends their children away because they struggled to support them, Jim became outraged and frustrated with Mae for taking such actions. In order to get his children, back he is determined to do whatever it takes. Later he finds himself signing up for unemployment. Nevertheless, he did not have enough money; subsequently Jim approaches the upper class boxing commission to beg for a mere $18.38. He says this is the absolute last thing he would doing if know him.

This sense of hostility springs forth from the misconstrued view of literature being the superior art form among the two, extending to the apparent artistic inferiority of cinematic adaptations, which seemingly “betrays” its source material. But the idea of cinema as a potent and dynamic art

A Raisin in the Sun PBA Unit 2 Cinematography and filmmaking are art forms completely open to interpretation in many ways such lighting, the camera as angles, tone, expressions, etc. By using cinematic techniques a filmmaker can make a film communicate to the viewer on different levels including emotional and social. Play writes include some stage direction and instruction regarding the visual aspect of the story. In this sense, the filmmaker has the strong basis for adapting a play to the big screen. “A Raisin in the Sun” is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959.

The film I am analyzing, A League of Their Own, would be categorized as a narrative film about the growth of women’s baseball teams during World War II. It follows the dramatized story of Dottie Hinson’s time in her baseball league and their struggles to make women’s baseball be taken seriously; however, the film focuses more on Dottie’s personal goals and relationships. With the added personal challenge of Dottie’s increasing rivalry with her sibling, Kit, as well as the uncaring attitude of their manager, Jimmy Dugan, Dottie’s tale is filled with tension and emotion that is shaped to draw the audience in. To showcase the drama of the film and to help the audience become attached to the stories of the characters, the movie uses flashbacks, comedy, and interpersonal drama to manufacture the story of our main character, Dottie, more interesting and engaging to the audience. As is easily evident simply by the summary of the movie, A League of Their Own is a nonfiction, narrative film made for entertainment and drama, and uses the time period as the circumstances of the story relevant to the audience.

The film 13th directed by Ava DuVernay targets an intended audience of the Media and the three branches of the United States government with an emphasis that mass incarceration is an extension of slavery. It is intended to inform viewers about the criminalization of African Americans and the United States prison boom. 13th uses rhetorical devices in its claim to persuade the viewers by using exemplum in the opening seconds of the film. President Barack Obama presents statistics, saying “the United States is home to 5% of the world’s population but is home to 25% of the world’s prisoners.” Also the film uses a hyperbole in talking about the movie Birth of a Nation produced in 1915 which portrays a black man as a violent savage who will kill white women.

This essay will discuss how the film uses these two techniques, in reference to the film, and to what ideological and political ends are the techniques used in the films with specific references from the film to support the argument. A Man with a Movie Camera is based around one man who travels around the city to capture various moments and everyday

There are many things that make “Citizen Kane” considered as possibly one of the greatest films every made; to the eyes of the passive audience this film may not seem the most amazing, most people being accustomed to the classical Hollywood style, but to the audience with an eye for the complex, “Citizen Kane” breaks the traditional Hollywood mold and forges its own path for the better. Exposition is one of the most key features of a film, it’s meant introduce important characters and give the audience relevant details and and dutifully suppress knowledge in turn. “Citizen Kane” does not follow this Classic Hollywood style exposition, instead going above and beyond to open the film with revealing as little information as possible and confuse/intrigue

In “Aesthetic of Astonishment” essay, Gunning argues how people first saw cinema, and how they are amazed with the moving picture for the first time, and were not only amazed by the technological aspect, but also the experience of how the introduction of movies have changed the way people perceive the reality in a completely different way. Gunning states that “The astonishment derives from a magical metamorphosis rather than a seamless reproduction of reality”(118). He uses the myth of how the sacred audience run out the theater in terror when they first saw the Lumiere Brother Arrival of the train. However, Gunning does not really care how hysterical their reaction is, even saying that he have doubts on what actually happened that day, as for him it the significance lied on the incidence--that is, the triggering of the audience’s reaction and its subsequence results, and not the actual reactions and their extent. It is this incident, due to the confusion of the audience’s cognition caused by new technology, that serves as a significant milestone in film history which triggered in the industry and the fascination with film, which to this day allows cinema to manipulate and

Over the past century, film has served as a powerful means of communication to a global audience and has become a vital part of the contemporary culture in a world that is increasingly saturated by visual content. Due to the immediacy and the all-encompassing nature of film, the process of watching a film, is widely perceived to be a passive activity by the general masses. However, quoting Smith in his article about the study of film, “nothing could be further from the truth.” The study and understanding of film as an art form enhances the way we watch and appreciate films. It requires the audience's active participation and interaction with the film in order to fully comprehend the directors' intention behind every creative decision.

Baz Luhrmann is widely acknowledged for his Red Curtain Trilogy which are films aimed at heightening an artificial nature and for engaging the audience. Through an examination of the films Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby, the evolution and adaptation of his techniques become evident. Luhrmann’s belief in a ‘theatrical cinema’ can be observed to varying degrees through the three films and his choice to employ cinematic techniques such as self-reflexivity, pastiche and hyperbolic hyperbole. The cinematic technique of self-reflexivity allows a film to draw attention to itself as ‘not about naturalism’ and asks the audience to suspend their disbelief and believe in the fictional construct of the film.

Throughout the years, the auteur theory slowly ensconced itself as an essential key to film analysis, providing a specific guideline to evaluate a director’s film. One of the most