Film Style

At this point, hopefully all of the scenes that we have been looking at and the concepts we have discussed in class are beginning to come together and make some sense. Much of what David Bordwell writes in the section from his text On Film Style should be a sort of review. I thought it would useful to see a more in depth discussion of all these ideas in one place. 

Most film audiences do not pay much attention to these aspects of editing and mise-en-scene, let alone have a reference point for the sources that led to these developments throughout history. This knowledge and ability to critically analyze film language and style is what separates the average viewer from a film scholar. And if you want to make good films, that is what you need to become. The more that you see and the more that you research the techniques that other filmmakers are using, the more informed you will be as you set out to make your own work. 

Mise-en-scene, montage, decoupage, deep focus and shallow focus photography; by now, these elements should be familiar to you, and should be useful as you continue to work with the medium, whatever genre or approach you choose. I think it is important not just to understand the concepts, but to see how they have been used and developed in the context of film history. That's why I have shown so many scenes to you this semester, many of which you should notice are mentioned and illustrated with stills in the excerpt from the reading. In order to fully appreciate them, I encourage you to seek out these films and watch them in their entirety to fully appreciate their effectiveness, or perhaps how you might have approached the scenes differently. Just because a film is considered a classic, does not mean that it is beyond criticism. The most important thing is that you are educated about why certain decision are made so that you can use those same considerations in your process of working with film and video.