Film Studies is an academic discipline focused on the critical appreciation of cinema as an art form as well as its role in, and impact on, culture and society. Some cinema theorists argue that its primary purpose is to understand how best to look at films and understand their meaning. The discipline forms part of the larger subject areas of media studies and cultural studies. The discipline is relatively new, its origins as a systematic body of thought dating back to the latter half of the twentieth century.
The discipline is a relatively new one dating back to the second half of the twentieth century. The growth of cinema studies as a discipline following the end of World War II has spawned a number of academic peer-reviewed journals. Examples include the influential British journal Screen, Cinema Journal and the Journal of Film and Video.
Academic cinema journals have introduced many important concepts in film theory over the years. For example, prominent cinema theorist and British academic Laura Mulvey (1941-stillliving) published her famous 1975 article titled Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema in Screen. That influential article adopted a Freudian psychoanalytic analysis of the portrayal of women in cinema. It is one of the earliest articles to combine cinema theory, psychoanalysis and feminism and remains widely read today.
Given the commercial dominance of Hollywood movies on contemporary culture, it may surprise many some people to learn that Russia and Europe have had a strong influence on both filmmaking and theory. A clear example is the Moscow Film School. This institution, founded in 1919, and was the first school in the world to focus on the production of movies.
Similarly, the first dedicated cinema theorist and critic was Andre Bazin (1918-1958), a Frenchman born in the provincial town of Angers located south west of Paris. He began writing on cinema during the World War II in 1943, when he was 25 years of age. He subsequently co-founded the influential magazine Cahiers du cinema in 1951 with two other colleagues, Lo Duca and Doniol-Valcroze.
A 4 volume set of Bazin writings was published and released after his death. Those volumes were titled Qu'est-ce que le cinema? (What is Cinema?) and released over the years 1958 to 1962. A selection of those essays was translated into English and published as two volumes, the first in the late 1960s and the other in the early 1970s.
Bazin also favored films that presented an objective reality rather than indulging in blatant fake manipulations of reality. He supported documentaries and films crafted on the lines of Italian neorealism. From a technical viewpoint, he encouraged directors to render themselves invisible in their films; he supported advocated deep focus shots and wide shots; he discouraged adding meaning through montage favoring instead continuity via mise en scene.
Not all Bazin views are supported by contemporary film studies scholars. He is nonetheless celebrated as an original thinker of his time. Francois Truffaut dedicated his The 400 Blows to Bazin who, coincidentally, died only one day after shooting for the movie started.
The discipline is a relatively new one dating back to the second half of the twentieth century. The growth of cinema studies as a discipline following the end of World War II has spawned a number of academic peer-reviewed journals. Examples include the influential British journal Screen, Cinema Journal and the Journal of Film and Video.
Academic cinema journals have introduced many important concepts in film theory over the years. For example, prominent cinema theorist and British academic Laura Mulvey (1941-stillliving) published her famous 1975 article titled Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema in Screen. That influential article adopted a Freudian psychoanalytic analysis of the portrayal of women in cinema. It is one of the earliest articles to combine cinema theory, psychoanalysis and feminism and remains widely read today.
Given the commercial dominance of Hollywood movies on contemporary culture, it may surprise many some people to learn that Russia and Europe have had a strong influence on both filmmaking and theory. A clear example is the Moscow Film School. This institution, founded in 1919, and was the first school in the world to focus on the production of movies.
Similarly, the first dedicated cinema theorist and critic was Andre Bazin (1918-1958), a Frenchman born in the provincial town of Angers located south west of Paris. He began writing on cinema during the World War II in 1943, when he was 25 years of age. He subsequently co-founded the influential magazine Cahiers du cinema in 1951 with two other colleagues, Lo Duca and Doniol-Valcroze.
A 4 volume set of Bazin writings was published and released after his death. Those volumes were titled Qu'est-ce que le cinema? (What is Cinema?) and released over the years 1958 to 1962. A selection of those essays was translated into English and published as two volumes, the first in the late 1960s and the other in the early 1970s.
Bazin also favored films that presented an objective reality rather than indulging in blatant fake manipulations of reality. He supported documentaries and films crafted on the lines of Italian neorealism. From a technical viewpoint, he encouraged directors to render themselves invisible in their films; he supported advocated deep focus shots and wide shots; he discouraged adding meaning through montage favoring instead continuity via mise en scene.
Not all Bazin views are supported by contemporary film studies scholars. He is nonetheless celebrated as an original thinker of his time. Francois Truffaut dedicated his The 400 Blows to Bazin who, coincidentally, died only one day after shooting for the movie started.
About the Author:
Tarintino had to start somewhere. Film school can open the door to a lucrative and enjoyable career. The industry requires hard work and long hours so get started at a Canadian Art Institute. If film does not interest you then try taking web design courses or photography courses.
No comments:
Post a Comment