first movie blog
This is my first blog about movies. I've always liked movies. Movies are pretty cool. But I've always critiqued movies based on their entertainment value; never for editorial technique or cinematics or anything like that. That is, until starting Art of Film class.
Take, for example, the movie City of God. I've seen it three times. The first two times were years ago, the third time was a week ago. The first times I saw it I really enjoyed the movie. The third time, I noticed more about the movie and how it was done the way it was and got into the movie in that way. The very beginning showcases this well; the opening shot is only about a second long, and so are the subsequent shots after that. Editing seams together numerous shots into one harmony of chickens, knives, and people in a poor marketplace. The first times I saw this, I would be thinking how my attention was caught and the movie's lookin pretty good. The third time I saw it I just blurted out, "what a montage!" and thought about the effect each shot has in creating the scene.
Basically, now I'm starting to notice the things directors do to make a film have the effect they want, rather than just experiencing the effect. Which is cool in a way, but at the same time it kind of robs from the experience because it loses some of its mystique. Also, taking notes while watching a movie completely kills it all. Particularily in foreign films when looking away means missing the subtitles to a key piece of conversation. But even in regular movies, taking attention off the movie and onto whatever's being written about the movie is like a lurch in the movie. To stop your attention briefly and then return loses information and then you have to catch up on what happened while your attention was turned. And then you have to catch up on what happened while you were catching up on what happened. and etc. Like a strong lurch that slowly smooths itself out. Mix numerous "lurches" into one film and quite a bit of film is being missed.
and I would say that's totally weak.
2 comments:
o man I totally know what you mean about being robbed of the experience. The first movie I saw after learning all the technique names was District B13 and the whole time I was imagining the movie makers creating this illusion of a complete world, and that for other people it would be entertaining to be tricked, but I couldn't participate since I had all the technical stuff fresh in my head. Its like hearing a joke, and knowing it should be funny, but instead of laughing all I could do was think "now this has comedic value for several reasons..""
I feel the same way about taking notes during the film, you sit around looking for the next thing on the sheet instead of letting the movie speak for itself.
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