writing about film

      The first form of film writing is known as formal analysis. This is when one analyzes a film by taking apart the different aspects of a film, like cinematography or sound. These individual pieces are then looked at as a representation and in relation to the film as a whole, giving a well rounded view of the movie and its meanings. When writing about film history, the purpose is to look at the context or time period of the movie as well as the history of the movie itself. When looking at the context, a film may represent values, ideas, or events that are occurring or taking place in a society during this actual time period. The history of film and the individual movie itself gives insight to techniques and ideas that have grown and changed over time. When looking film from the early 1900's, one will right about film noir as its own genre. This has led to many new genres like detective movies or movies in new york that involve mobs like Road to Perdition. Some may vaguely classify it as film noir but at the same time it's different because it doesn't have the same aspects like a narration throughout the whole movie or the black and white filter.
      Ideological papers focus on the ideas and messages that are presented through the film medium. This type of writing often looks at the political messages or beliefs that a director holds and wishes to show to the public. An important area of  film writing exists in cultural studies. This writing compares and evaluates films from foreign countries and their representation of that society. Directors and writers express events and ideas that exist currently in their society through their films. When looking at films of foreign countries we can see how they view things or how our views of maybe horror or humor differ. The final type of film writing is Auteur Criticism. This type of writing looks at the messages, quality, and overall appeal of the final product of a film as a representation of often the director alone. The Auteur or 'Author' in film many often view as the director and believe that the film comes from his vision alone. While this is very untrue, the fact remains that many people right a film as a representation of the director because many of his beliefs and ideas are portrayed in the final film.
       When 'Annotating a Film Sequence' notes are taken that are unique to analyzing only film. Annotating a scene involves mapping out the scene through the evaluation of positions and shots. When annotating a scene of men in a room, notes would consist of recognizing an extreme close up or a waste shot or 2 shot of half the men in the room. Then looking at what angles are used, whether it's over a man's shoulder looking at the two men in front of him to show them as opposition. By annotating the shot in this manner it helps one to imagine the shot when evaluating notes at a later point in time. This also reveals patterns in shots that may represent a trend in the whole film and give more insight as to why certain shots are made.
     When discussing the idea of thinking outside of the frame of the film the author means that in order to truly grasp the concepts, ideas and messages that went into making and are portrayed in the film, one must look at more than what just appears on the screen. To truly understand why a certain movie portrays a race possibly in a certain way it's important to look at the time period the movie was made in. If a film was made in the early 1900's then it would be much easier for one to understand why the costume design in the movie or the escort is as is it is.  If one looks at the director and his background or film history it will reveal characteristics about the director maybe that couldn't have been known if someone had talked to him in an interview.
         When looking at films by say, Gus Van Sant, whether intentional or not, it can be said that he includes conflicts in many aspects of his films to create tensions and emotions that connect to his audience. In Good Will Hunting, Van Sant showed emotional connections and tensions between Matt Damon and almost every other character. With his bet friend, Ben Affleck there was a resentment conflict where Ben refund to watch his best friend live in his world wasting his talents which greatly upset Will but also shows his friends compassion. It can be said the professor uses Will to relive his youth as a 'genius', the therapist provokes will by tapping into his emotions in an unexpected way and even the girlfriend Schyla pushes his comfort zone with the move to California and the attempts at invading into his personal home life.
         Comparing this to another film, MILK where he has conflicts with every character as well, including his lovers, political rival, the police, and even the general public in some cases. This technique of centering the character in the film through both admiration and conflict from the surrounding characters allows for the audience to easily care and connect to his characters. This is an obvious trend, who many don't know though is that Van Sant is gay and has discussed in some interviews how this drives his directing and how it inspires him to create such conflicts that draw the audience to the character and eventually earn the respect and endearment of very many despite a difference; like being a genius or a gay politician. This outside knowledge helps to from a much more complete thought land understanding of movies and their background.