An Introduction to Film Analysis combines an introduction to filmmaking technique with rigorous and comprehensive training in film interpretation. Composed in an accessible style yet conversant with the latest, most advanced critical theories and methods, this innovative textbook can be reliably used on both the undergraduate and the graduate level. The book begins with chapters that familiarize students with the basic components of film technique. It connects technique to meaning and demonstrates, through numerous examples, how particular uses of film technique generate different meanings. Students will learn how films are made and how values are promoted, ideas communicated, and rhetorical arguments advanced through film technique. The second part of the book covers a range of interpretive methods, theories, and concerns. In each section, the author offers a sample reading of a film, followed by an "interpretive exercise" with suggestions for students to use in performing their own film interpretation. Carefully structured, beautifully written, and illustrated throughout, An Introduction to Film Analysis provides a thorough grounding in the subject for students around the world.
An Introduction to Film Analysis combines an introduction to filmmaking technique with rigorous and comprehensive training in film interpretation. Composed in an accessible style yet conversant with the latest, most advanced critical theories and methods, this innovative textbook can be reliably used on both the undergraduate and the graduate level. The book begins with chapters that familiarize students with the basic components of film technique. It connects technique to meaning and demonstrates, through numerous examples, how particular uses of film technique generate different meanings. Students will learn how films are made and how values are promoted, ideas communicated, and rhetorical arguments advanced through film technique. The second part of the book covers a range of interpretive methods, theories, and concerns. In each section, the author offers a sample reading of a film, followed by an "interpretive exercise" with suggestions for students to use in performing their own film interpretation. Carefully structured, beautifully written, and illustrated throughout, An Introduction to Film Analysis provides a thorough grounding in the subject for students around the world.
Introduction:
Meaning in Movies
Shot-by-Shot Analysis
Writing About Film: The Art of Active Viewing
Part One: Technique and Meaning
Chapter One - Composition
Chapter Two - Camera Work
Chapter Three - Editing
Chapter Four - Art Direction (Set, Lighting, Color, Sound)
Chapter Five - Narration
Chapter Six - Metaphor, Structure, Character, Motif
Chapter Seven - Film Style: Realism and Expressionism
Part Two: Critical Analysis
Chapter Eight - Historical Criticism
Chapter Nine - Structuralist Criticism
Chapter Ten - Psychological Criticism
Chapter Eleven - Ideological Criticism
Chapter Twelve - Gender Criticism
Chapter Thirteen - Ethnic Criticism
Chapter Fourteen - Political Criticism
Chapter Fifteen - Poststructuralist Criticism
Chapter Sixteen - Scientific Criticism: Evolutionary Theory
Index
An innovative textbook combining an introduction to filmmaking technique with rigorous and comprehensive training in film interpretation.
An innovative textbook combining an introduction to filmmaking technique with rigorous and comprehensive training in film interpretation.
Michael Ryan is Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and
Academic Affairs in the School of Communications and Theater at
Temple University, USA. He has taught film for thirty years at
Northeastern University, Miami, University, and the University of
Virginia. His books include Camera Politica: The Politics and
Ideology of Contemporary Hollywood Film, Politics and Culture,
Cultural Studies: An Anthology, and American Film: A Short History.
He is editor of Politics and Culture: An International Review of
Books. He is writing a book on American film and American
literature entitled Make Believe: Political Argument in American
Culture.
Melissa Lenos is a tenure-track Professor of Communication
Media at Brookdale Community College, USA. Her primary research
areas are narratology and Hollywood with a focus on film remakes.
Her current project is an extension of her dissertation: Déjà View:
Cultural Functions of Hollywood Remakes.
Here is an ideal text for film study -- perfect for both beginning and advanced students. An exhaustive, thoughtful and entertaining single source that provides an insightful survey of film vocabulary, narrative, scene composition, camera work, art direction, and editing -- as well as an accessible introduction to the various schools of film theory. Michael Ryan and Melissa Lenos furnish everything needed to construct a compete film course with copious citations of apposite films to illustrate the many concepts introduced. This is sure to become a standard work for college film departments.--Mark Rosenthal is the writer of numerous feature films. He teaches film at Temple University and is a member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences
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