A Guide in Analyzing Movies Essay Example for Free

A Guide in Analyzing Movies Essay Watching movies is one of the best ways to relax, enjoy, and learn. Some people watch movies for recreational purposes, while others do this to learn new ideas or things. However, as a movie progresses into its climax, one would notice that he or she is getting involved in the movie by thinking how the conflict will be resolved. After watching the movie, a reaction or feedback is drawn as one tries to communicate or narrate the story to someone who has not watched the film. Reactions are mostly about the content of the movies and little on its technical aspect. This is true especially if the movie is based on a real life story, romance, or a story of nationalistic concern. If the theme of a movie is scientific or an adaptation of a fictional novel, most audience critics the film based on the technical aspect of the production. Whether the audience is reacting positively or negatively on the content of the movie or whether the audience is critiquing the film’s technical production, he or she is already in the process of analyzing the film. There are different approaches from which to analyze a movie, and these approaches may depend on the genre of the film one had watched and wanted to analyze. Yet, in order for one to write a movie analysis, he or she must first know the different components of a film which include the theme, story, plot, characters or actors, acting, cinematography, and technical aspect such as lightning, music and sound effects, camera shots, and editing. Feedback about the film depends on the mixture of these components; such mixing is done by the film director. He or she acts as if he or she is cooking a delicacy that will be judged by his or her customer. This essay discusses the basic guideline on how to analyze a film and how meaning in the film should be interpreted. Again, this guideline may vary depending on the type of the movie one is trying to analyze. A cine-magazine, for example, contains different topics; thus, there is little unity on the scenes. Uniformity of style and treatment are not given too much consideration because cine-magazine contains different stories. The scenes in an educational film, on the other hand, have greater unity because it is normally devoted to a single subject, such as the evolution of man or the process of respiratory system. A documentary film, in contrast, goes further. It has a single subject that presents or advances an argument. Having these in mind, the critical consideration when analyzing a movie lies on the theme (message or relevance of the film), story (which include the plot, storylines and dialogues, characters, and other symbolic elements such as costume and set up), cinematography and screenplay, and technical components like music, lights, camera shots, and transitions due to editing. Analyzing the Content of a Movie In analyzing the content of a film, critics must look deeply into the movie’s theme, story, plot and storyline and dialogues. Moreover, he or she must also consider the characters and their relationship with the story and other actors, the setting where the shots took place, and the sequence of scenes. The Theme The theme is important, for this shows the relevance of the film in the current time. This also represents the purpose of the director or the goal that the film is trying to communicate to the audience. Boggs and Petrie (2008) identified some goals the movies try to convey. This includes entertaining the viewer, providing a character sketch of a renowned personality, or increasing the audiences awareness on a certain issue of nationalistic or personal concern. Meanwhile, if the movie is in abstract terms wherein the movie tends to create confusion on its theme, one may just describe or narrate the movie to someone who has not watched it, and the theme will come out. As Boggs and Petrie (2008) put it, when an audience narrates a story they have just read or watched, the tendency is that they will describe first the events that made the strongest effect or impression to them. Aside from the major theme, some movies have minor themes which are not substantive enough to be regarded as a full theme. Movie critics call this motif. Motifs are ideas or symbols which are repeated throughout the movie but are not identified as a major theme. Examples of motifs are personalized advertising, identity recognition, technology validation, and symbols which embody all-seeing beings. These are mostly evident in a company or organization-sponsored movies. In the movie â€Å"Knowing† which stars Nicholas Cage as John the Cosmology professor, the major theme is about knowing or predicting events (usually accident or tragedy) that will occur in the near future. Events are predicted through the use of a number arranged in a pattern on a written paper. After decoding this pattern, John tasked himself to solve the mystery, warn the public, and stop the predicted tragedy from taking place. Motifs seen in the film are the repeated appearance of unusual beings (aliens who look like human) and the appearance of black stones. The repetitive appearance of these two could not be regarded as a major theme such as alien invasion; instead, they serve as a clue for John to solve the mystery (Blumenthal, Tisch, Black Proyas, 2009). The Story After identifying the theme of the movie, the critic can now proceed to dissecting the story that the film is trying to narrate to the audience. A film story is composed of the plot, the characters, and the symbolic element. In analyzing a movie story, one must carefully and critically look at the storyline and dialogues that were used in the movie. Moreover, to analyze a story is to look whether the plot flows easily from one scene to another, thus making the film realistic or believable. According to Boggs and Petrie (2008), in analyzing a plot, one should explore the time element used in the movie (linear, nonlinear) and the relationship of the scenes portrayed in the climax and in the ending of the film. Are the use of time element and the scenes believable? Does the plot convey a universal truth about the world or human nature, or is it just a fantastic adaptation of truth? One should also take into account if the actors are being realistic on their actions, facial expressions, delivery of dialogue, and manner of wearing their costume. Are the characters credible in making the audience believe that they are part of the whole reality? This is important because even if the movie has a fascinating and catchy cinematography, the movie will result in a catastrophe if the dialogues are not appealing or interesting and the dialogue delivery by the actors is poor and not convincing. In the film â€Å"Knowing,† the plot was presented in a linear (time) manner in which the scenes developed from less complicated to more complex portrayal. The film was able to explain how the conflict arrived (this was narrated in the first part of the movie), and the solution to the conflict, as expected, was presented in the denouement. However, the incorporation of the alien beings in the story makes it unbelievable, and the given solution to the problem was not viable. In the film, aliens were portrayed as the savior of mankind. They are the ones predicting the occurrence of the tragedy or accident and communicating it to human beings with the use of numbers. They were also the ones to decide who will die and who will be saved to continue the race of the living (Blumenthal, Tisch, Black Proyas, 2009). On the other hand, the characters in the movie are presented effectively such that their actions and dialogues depict the theme and the story of the movie that the filmmakers are trying to relate to the audience. John is a cosmology professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His son is Caleb, a seven-year old boy with a hearing defect so he is using hearing aid. John’s wife died in a fire tragedy, which made him believe that in the randomness of the occurrence of events, meaning that there are no specific relationships of events; everything that happens is purely coincidence. He lived with this belief until the day Caleb received the letter written by Lucinda Emerly (a gifted girl who was used by aliens to predict the future) from the time capsule buried in Caleb’s school 50 years ago. This letter was composed of numbers arranged in a pattern. As John was trying to decode the numbers, he found out that the numbers represent the dates, specific locations, and number of people who died in different tragedies, but there were events that are yet to happen. This urged him to solve the mystery. In the process of unraveling the mystery behind the numbers, John sought Diana, the daughter of Lucinda. Incidentally, Abby, daughter of Diana, also happened to inherit her grandmother’s gift, and like Caleb, she can also hear the voice of the aliens who seemed to be whispering into their heads. Thus, in the movie, the portrayal of the characters was in accordance to what is needed by the prophecy. John is an intelligent professor of science and Caleb is a gifted boy, while Diana and Abby are both related to Lucinda, the one who wrote the numbers. The story of Knowing revolves around these characters each of who play a part in solving the mystery. The two men have the intelligence or information that could be helpful in solving the problem while the two ladies have the history of Lucinda (Blumenthal, Tisch, Black Proyas, 2009). The setting or background used in the film is also important to analyze. A film with a fascinating story, good characters, appealing dialogues, and uniform scenes but was shot in a location not adequate to its portrayal is a disaster. Thus, film directors are careful in choosing shot locations which would enhance not only the cinematography of the film but also the story as a whole. Scientific films mostly have research laboratories as setting; environmental films are set in forest and seas; and horror films are shot in a scary location such as a haunted house. Familiar locations could made films appear realistic and could also establish relationship with the audience. To analyze the setting, one must look at the storyline and the portrayals of actions. Lastly, symbolisms are used in the film to add depth to the story or reinforce the film’s theme. According to Boggs and Petrie (2008), symbols are repeated to emphasize the theme of the film. They could be metaphoric in nature, for their value in the story surpasses the value they normally signify. In films, actors can give specific value of an object to increase its significance to the audience. Critical reception of symbolism in movies depends on whether the symbol is novel or a cliche. In the movie â€Å"Knowing,† numbers are symbols of components (date, location, number of victims) of events that need to be interpreted by actors and the audience. Moreover, the black stones are signs where the solution for the given problem could be found. The hearing aid of Caleb malfunctions when the aliens are near him and when they are trying to communicate something. The Genre To find out whether one is doing the right thing in analyzing the film, one should take into consideration the genre of the film. Genre classification of film could be science fiction, action, comedy, horror, drama, romance, character sketch of a renowned personality, and social or political representation of an issue, among others. The recognition of a film’s genre can help the film critic to distinguish the truths presented in the movie. For film critics, a movie which has lots of symbols and metaphors, is not novel (same old stories), has no originality, and relies too much on cliches is merely a junk. It is also important to note that there are films which cannot be categorized into one particular genre. The movie â€Å"Knowing† falls under the genres science fiction, drama, and action (Blumenthal, Tisch, Black Proyas, 2009).