... complexity has been driven by a continuing technological evolution, ignited and manipulated by human initiative and inventiveness, which has afforded filmmakers the opportunity to practice a more complex craft to tell more complex stories. In concert with societal attitudes and proximity, this evolution has driven the development of distinct styles, movements, and methods that would have been impossible ... presented technology, in this case the camera, to purposefully elicit a desired effect. Thompson and Bordwell detail Impressionist uses of the camera's optical devices: Superimpositi...

• Word Count: 2663
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... the points of view shot from the men. This enables the mirror phase to take place, hence giving the audience access to identify with the male character of the film within the respective scenes. The mirror phase, theorised by psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, takes place at a time when the child's physical ... theory of psychoanalysis to films (Hayward, 2002). Laura Mulvey, together with other feminist film theorists, developed this theory to describe the pleasure derived from the character"s gaze within the film and, also, the pleasure derived by the spectator gazing upon the female body (Hay...

• Word Count: 3430
• Approx Pages: 14
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... film theory in order to confirm her theories on the dynamics of cinematic spectatorship. Mulvey was particularly interested in Freud's theory of how children become gendered beings, called the Oedipus complex, as she argues that this is similar to the process of pleasure that a spectator gains from their cinematic experience. Freud argued that children engage in voyeuristic activities in an attempt ... up her feminine role in society. Mulvey argues that because cinema functions within a patriarchal society, the pleasure of looking at can only be enjoyed by those that through the Oedipus...

• Word Count: 2405
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... light to reflect differently of each surface Another function brought to the toolbox of animators was the way Renderman was able to create complex scenes with many colours and motion blur. Before Renderman issues with the creation of complex scenes with many colours were that it would take an immense amount of computing power (more than available at the time) or there ... which came from this was the rendering programs ability to also simulate depth of field like film cameras were able to do. With so many features at hand, Renderman, while complex was a digital artists' dream as photore...

• Word Count: 1835
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... their "to-be-looked-at-ness". She offers that female characters add nothing or very little to actual elements of plot and character but rather are subjected to male scopophilia, the fetishistic and voyeuristic, due to phallocentricism and psychoanalytic fear of castration. She laments the way ... is in this isolated world that audiences receive pleasure from observing subjects in this voyeuristic gaze. She uses Lacanian and Freudian theory to explain her castration complex: the idea that men and women have a fear of lacking a penis as a function of our patriarchal society. This leads us t...

• Word Count: 4301
• Approx Pages: 17
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... while making a hoop shot. The way we watch film and the way we perceive [everyday] reality are fundamentally similar, in both are determined by conventions or codes. Reality itself is a complex system of signs interpreted by members of the culture as in exactly the same way as are film and television programmes. Perception of this reality is always mediated through the ... junkie surrounded by a dark, slight cold blue haze. By using this style an attempt is made to preserve space and time as much as possible as the image and its complex construction is primary; so its spectators gaze is...

• Word Count: 2088
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... mixing color tones, changing film stocks and aspect ratios and also his trademark dolly shots. In almost all of his films, he would have a character which would appear to be floating toward the camera. "For Lee's double dolly shot, he set up a dolly per usual, then puts the ... known for using his hometown of Brooklyn, New York as the setting for the majority of his films. He creates landmark films to show the complex experiences of what it's like living in New York City. In 1986, Lee released his debut feature film the critically acclaimed She's Gotta Have ... Taxi Driver. Infidelity is...

• Word Count: 2365
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... and effect throughout the film; that it's about timing; that "our future and the futures of those we encounter in life are the result of a complex mix of personal choices, circumstances, chance and timing ". Life, then, is essentially unpredictable and we are affected as much by others' actions as our own ... attaining her goal. If we examine the first section and then compare it to the last we can see a number of "details [that] reveal how Lola's character changes, and as a consequence so does the eventual outcome." Lola's "determination to succeed ", as well as "her confidence in her o...

• Word Count: 2156
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... trip of fishing, tethering the corpse to the shore with fishing line and allowing a day and night to pass before they alert the police. The initial reaction of each character and the depth of impact they resonate differentiates exceptionally within the film. Claire, Stewart and Jude are characters that react distinctively towards the incident according to their past experiences of ... his trip of redemption and continued fishing, leaving the dead, lone body aside to ponder on later. The most distinctive reaction that came across within the film Jindabyne was the character of Jude, a stra...

• Word Count: 1881
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... about to watch a horror film) to ask her what her "favourite scary movie- is. This theme is continued by means of the character Randy, who discusses extensively the conventions of the horror movie as the characters watch Halloween. This consciousness is explored as the characters within the ... a helpless and innocent woman who becomes the focus of the killer's attention. But predictably, there are subtle differences in the portrayal of this character in each of the films. Sidney in Scream is perhaps the more conventional of the two. She is virginal, sweet, innocent and entirely wholes...

• Word Count: 2869
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... the concluding crash site, the settings are generally totally constructed. With the use of a limited number of constructed settings, the simplicity of the backdrop allows the viewer to focus on character dialogue without being distracted by complicated sets. Take for instance the setting of the kitchen, a setting where a great deal of the crucial plot developments are set up by Frank and ... techniques exercised is the use of a series of point of view shots. These shots allow the viewer to see the unfolding of story details through the perspective of Frank, the character engaged in the ...

• Word Count: 1976
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Obviously there are many aspects that influence film and its development. The history of movies/film, although only a century old, is rich and complex. This essay tries to bring light into the roots of film by focusing on two main movements that have very much helped shape the techniques of contemporary film making. - German ... , 1929; Earth, 1930) remain major landmarks in the history of cinema. Film theory volumes by Pudovkin (Film Technique, 1926; Film Acting, 1935) and Balázs (Theory of the Film:Character and Growth of a New Art (1948) are considered to be milestones in the school of fi...

• Word Count: 2143
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Ring starts to experience some serious mechanical difficulties during the middle of the picture and sluggishly coasts views through its second half. This is where the movie becomes a little too complex for its own good and forces viewers to sit through one too many anticlimaxes as it winds to a very dissatisfying and pointless ending. In several scenes I was sure something astonishing ... of past films. Verbinski even goes as far as to mold some of the characters into one-sided knock-offs of some very memorable performances. The film's most obvious copycat character is Aidan, Rachael's ...

• Word Count: 1578
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... -house movie" (Stokes 171). Both of them work closely as a team to produce the desired imagery and create a visually stimulating cinematic experience. "Wong Kar-wai's visual style is intricate and complex as well as relentless" (Teo 194). In Chungking Express, high and low speed cinematography was used interchangeably to create slow and fast motion shots which carries the narrative through time ... the protagonists. Freeze frames were also used to capture significant moments in time, which in particular was used in the bridging scene where Cop 223 bumps into Faye, the female character in...

• Word Count: 1571
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate