A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

89
A2 Film Studies Unit 4 // FM4

description

A PowerPoint that collates a range of key ideas for the FM4 Spectatorhship area of A2 Film Studies. There may be some formatting issues with the presentation as it was created using Keynote and there are often compatibility issues. The contents of this presentation is a mix of original work and ideas and words taken from a multitude of various sources. I haven't credited anyone directly and if you have any objection to your content appearing in this presentation, please get in touch and I'll be more than happy to accomodate your needs.

Transcript of A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Page 1: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

A2 Film StudiesUnit 4 // FM4

Page 2: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

FM4: VARIETIES OF FILM EXPERIENCE – ISSUES AND DEBATES

Focus of the unit

This unit contributes to synoptic assessment. Understanding will be fostered through:

Studying complex films from different contexts, extending knowledge of the

Diversity of film and its effects

Exploring spectatorship issues in relation to a particular type of film

Applying key concepts and critical approaches gained throughout the course to explore one film in a synoptic manner.

Page 3: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

FM4 Varieties of Film Experience: Issues and Debates

Three questions, one from each section:

Section A: World Cinema topics (35)

Section B: Spectatorship topics (35)

Section C: Single Film - Critical Study (30)

Page 4: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

FM4 Section B: Spectatorship topics (35)

Exam is 2 hours 45 mins.

Total of 100 marks available.

Spectatorship (Section B) is worth of 35 marks.

Page 5: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

FM4 Section B: Spectatorship topics (35)

This section is broken down to a further 4 areas:

A Spectatorship and Early Cinema before 1917 or

B Spectatorship and Documentary or

C Spectatorship: Experimental and Expanded Film/Video or

D Spectatorship: Popular Film and Emotional Response

Page 6: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

FM4 Section B: Spectatorship topics (35)

This section is broken down to a further 4 areas:

A Spectatorship and Early Cinema before 1917 or

B Spectatorship and Documentary or

C Spectatorship: Experimental and Expanded Film/Video or

D Spectatorship: Popular Film and Emotional Response

Page 7: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

FM4 Section B // Sub-section D

This study is concerned with the ways in which popular film (whether deriving from Hollywood or elsewhere) produces powerful sensory and emotional responses in the spectator. It is possible to focus on a particular genre – such as horror and consider shock effects – or the melodrama as 'weepie'. Alternatively, the focus may be on spectacle, whether relating to the body of the star or to the staging/choreography of action. This topic is not concerned specifically with either issues of representation or value judgements but rather with developing understanding about how films create the emotional responses they do. It is expected that a minimum of two feature-length films will be studied for this topic.

Page 8: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Lesson 1: What is emotion? TASK:

Compile a list of the various types of emotional response a film might elicit

Page 9: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Lesson 1: What is emotion? TASK:

How would you define emotion, or an emotional response?

Page 10: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Lesson 1: What is emotion? Write this down:What exactly is emotion, or emotional response?

A moving of the mind or soul; excitement of the feelings, whether pleasing or painful; disturbance or agitation of mind caused by specific exciting cause and manifested by some sensible effect on the body

Page 11: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Lesson 1: What is emotion?

Can we control our emotions?

To what extent should emotions be seen to be linked to thought? To what extent should emotions be seen to be linked to thought?

Page 12: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

As we watch films we can each experience fear, and pleasure, and desire, and surprise, and shock and a whole array of possible emotions, but we will not all experience these emotions equally at the same moments in a film

TASK: What is that determines our individual predisposition to respond in

particular emotional ways at certain points in certain films?

Think carefully about this but don’t worry about a right answer, this is the debate.

Your job is to recognise that there is an intense interaction with the sounds and images occurring as we watch films, and that film makers are deliberately setting out to create emotional responses.

Lesson 1: What is emotion?

Page 13: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

As we watch films we can each experience fear, and pleasure, and desire, and surprise, and shock and a whole array of possible emotions, but we will not all experience these emotions equally at the same moments in a film

TASK:

What technical elements can a film maker use to create and develop the reaction in an audience?

Extension: Think back to a scene that you had an emotional reaction to.

What was the scene? What was your reaction? Why do you think you acted in that way?

Lesson 1: What is emotion?

Page 14: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

TASK:

What technical elements can a film maker use to create and develop the reaction in an audience?

Lesson 1: What is emotion?

Page 15: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

How does a (film) camera work?

• Can you explain how a traditional film camera works?

Page 16: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

How does a (film) camera work?• The chemical component in a traditional camera is film. Essentially, when

you expose film to a real image, it makes a chemical record of the pattern of light. It does this with a collection of tiny light-sensitive grains, spread out in a chemical suspension on a strip of plastic. When exposed to light, the grains undergo a chemical reaction. Once the roll is finished, the film is developed -- it is exposed to other chemicals, which react with the light-sensitive grains. In black and white film, the developer chemicals darken the grains that were exposed to light. This produces a negative, where lighter areas appear darker and darker areas appear lighter, which is then converted into a positive image in printing. Color film has three different layers of light-sensitive materials, which respond, in turn, to red, green and blue. When the film is developed, these layers are exposed to chemicals that dye the layers of film. When you overlay the color information from all three layers, you get a full-color negative.

Page 17: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

How does a camera work?

Page 18: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Birth of Cinema

Cinema is made possible by the camera. Cameras, traditionally, let light into a darkened box which then captured a ‘picture’ of what the camera lens saw by imprinting this on film.

Moving cameras used the same idea, but captured many frames a second that, when played back quickly, showed that the images were “moving”.

Imagine a flip book.

Cinema is concerned almost exclusively with spectacle and reaction. By using moving images, an audience can be ‘made’ to feel all sorts of reactions.

If we are not concerned with moving the audience in some way, all that we seek to do is tell the truth, to show what is real.

What genre or style of film making is concerned with showing “truth”?

Page 19: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Documentary

Documentary is an art form that has developed and changed dramactically since the birth of cinema.

Films, to begin with, were concerned almost exclusively with capturing a version of ‘real life’ on film, of showing moving images as reality.

This is most clearly the case for the Lumiere brothers who pioneered the idea of a video camera and who documented Parisian life through the lens of cameras.

Page 20: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Exiting the Factory

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO0EkMKfgJI

Page 21: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (The Lumière Brothers, 1895)

Page 22: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (The Lumière Brothers, 1895)

Even this film footage, presented as real life through a camera lens, provoked reactions from the audience.

What could those reactions have been? How might the spectators of the time reacted to this film? Why?

What kind of reaction do we have watching?

Why?What kind of

reaction might have audiences then have had? Why?

Here are some of the

Lumière Brothers’

other early works.

Page 23: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Story of Film

8:10 - 23:15

Page 24: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Georges Melies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4MnFACzKfQ&list=PLBC353D7404F4393D

Page 25: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision
Page 26: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

The Great Train Robbery (1903)The Great Train Robbery is a 1903 American Western film written, produced, and directed by Edwin S. Porter. 12 minutes long, it is considered a milestone in film making, expanding on Porter's previous work Life of an American Fireman. The film used a number of innovative techniques including cross cutting, double exposure composite editing, camera movement and on location shooting. Cross-cuts were a new, sophisticated editing technique. Some prints were also hand colored in certain scenes.

• The film was directed and photographed by Edwin S. Porter, a former Edison Studios cameraman. Actors in the movie included Alfred C. Abadie, Broncho Billy Anderson and Justus D. Barnes, although there were no credits. Though a Western, it was filmed in Milltown, New Jersey. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

Page 27: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision
Page 28: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

The emotional response that some

audiences would have had to The Great Train Robbery are drastically different to ours. Why

is that? Compile a list of reasons why that is. Compile a list of reasons why that is.

Emotional

response

Page 29: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Emotion response

What do you define emotion as now?

For the most part we’ll be dealing with cognitive responses.

Can our emotional response be different to someone else’s if we watch the same film film? Why?

The mental process of knowing, including aspects such as awareness, perception,

reasoning, and judgement, that which comes to be known as through perception, reasoning or

intuition; knowledge.

The mental process of knowing, including aspects such as awareness, perception,

reasoning, and judgement, that which comes to be known as through perception, reasoning or

intuition; knowledge.

Page 30: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Why people share emotional responsesFilm Studies and Cultural Studies Film Studies, influenced by Cultural Studies is increasingly likely to centre on local, small scale and precise groups of people who share, perhaps, some social or political ‘Formation ’. Their behaviour both as individuated spectators and as a collective of people forming an audience is likely to be understood if we respect and try to understand the importance of particular life experiences and social; attitudes they bring with them to the viewing situation.

What does this mean?!

In your own words, try to explain how we can be sure that people share emotional responses.

Page 31: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Why people share emotional responses

Groups of people may share a social or political group/formation.

You can be an individual with a specific and unique response, but you can still ‘belong’ to a group of similar people as an audience.

We need to be able to understand and appreciate both.

You = cry at people who don’t win on quiz shows.

Audience = doesn’t cry.

Still aligned as an audience

because of your appreciation for that quiz show.

Page 32: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Hypodermic Needle Theory

This Theory is a suggestion that the Media (in this case, Film) has a direct and powerful affect on its audience.

The HNT states that the Media can invoke change on those who are exposed to it.

The use of advertising suggests that this theory is true-that by using the Media to tell someone something, they will go along with it. An example of this would be Hitler’s use of the Media in promoting Nazi propaganda.

The title, Hypodermic Needle Theory, refers to the idea of directly injecting the audience with an idea to create a response.

Page 33: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Hypodermic Needle Theory

Here you can see how we, as

individuals, are treated as one

audience.

The film (mass media product) treats us as one person, directly

trying to influence us at once.

Page 34: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Creating a ‘message’ for the audience.

The HNT suggests that this decoding is not really needed. We are ‘forced’

the message.

Page 35: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Hypodermic Needle TheoryCase Study: War of the Worlds

• This classic example of The Hypodermic Needle Theory occurred on October 30th 1938 when Orson Welles broadcast a version of the H.G Wells novel War of the Worlds.

• As a radio program with music started, it was then ‘interrupted’ by an ‘emergency broadcast’ by an apparent news bulletin. The bulletin told the audience that Martians had begun an invasion of Earth in a place called Grover’s Mill, New Jersey, America.

• This became known as the “Panic Broadcast” and changed broadcast history, social psychology, civil defense and set a standard in provocative entertainment. (Found footage?!) Around 1 million people in the US heard the broadcast and approximately 1 million of those apparently believed that a serious alien invasion was underway.

Page 36: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Hypodermic Needle TheoryCase Study: War of the Worlds

• A wave of mass hysteria and panic disrupted households, interrupted religious services, caused traffic jams and clogged communication systems. People fled their homes in the city to seek shelter in more rural areas, raided grocery stores and began to ration food. In some ways, the nation was in chaos, caused by the broadcast.

• Media theorists have classified the War of the Worlds broadcast as the perfect example of the Hypodermic Needle Theory: the broadcast ‘injected’ the message directly into the audience and created the same thinking for the audience-that aliens were invading. Broadcast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?

NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=xGUuUudv53k

Apology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2awVqsoLAKI

Page 37: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Criticisms of the Hypodermic Needle Theory

The War of the Worlds case study apparently showed that the media could directly influence and manipulate a passive and gullible audience.

However, it also assumes that audiences are the same, that audiences are a whole group, taking away the influence on the individual.

Page 38: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Criticisms of the Hypodermic Needle Theory

• The theory was deterministic and this did not allow for freedom of choice. The audience were ‘injected’ with a one way propaganda. From this light, one can confidently say that the theory undermines the right of individuals to freely choose what media material they consume. The theory is also noted for its passitivity and evidenced by the fact that audience were not allowed to contribute. This undermines the core aim of media studies which is the audience. From the latter, one can argue that the audience could not use their experience, intelligence and opinion to analyse messages. It will be very difficult to operate this theory in this new world where the audience have become sophisticated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt5MjBlvGcY<-------- Handy video for revision!

Page 39: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Summary of Hypodermic Needle Theory

Name of theory:

General theory:

Positives (with example/s):

Criticisms:

Page 40: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

SpectatorshipOne of the reasons why the Hypodermic Needle theory was discredited is because it undermines the role of the individual spectator.

A spectator is an individual member of an audience. Spectatorship is an important concept in film theory. Traditional models of audience response tend to treat viewers, readers or listeners as groups, spectatorship study suggests that the film builds a specific relationship with every individual who experiences it. Rather than being concerned with media effects, spectatorship study focuses on understanding the ways films produce pleasure in their viewers.

Page 41: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

ResponsesOur response to a film draws on the whole of the self, a self that includes:

A social self who can make meaning in ways not very different from other with a similar ideological formation

A cultural self who makes particular intertextual references (to other films, other kinds of images and sound) based on the bank of material s/he possesses

A private self who carried the memories of his/her own experiences and who may find person significance in a film in ways very different from others

A desiring self who brings conscious and unconscious energies and intensities to the film event that have little to do with the film’s ‘surface’ content

Page 42: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

ResponsesA cultural self who makes particular intertextual references (to other films, other kinds of images and sound) based on the bank of material s/he possesses

Use of celebrities and the jokes about them in Family Guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlVUKQ96VxI

Shrek fighting using ‘Bullet Time’

http://moviesimpsons.tumblr.com/

http://www.totalfilm.com/features/100-greatest-simpsons-movie-references/harry-potter-and-the-philosopher-s-stone

Tarantino references

http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6860507/every-pop-culture-reference-from-tarantino-movies

A cultural self who makes particular intertextual references (to other films, other kinds of images and sound) based on the bank of material s/he possesses

Use of celebrities and the jokes about them in Family Guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlVUKQ96VxI

Shrek fighting using ‘Bullet Time’

http://moviesimpsons.tumblr.com/

http://www.totalfilm.com/features/100-greatest-simpsons-movie-references/harry-potter-and-the-philosopher-s-stone

Tarantino references

http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6860507/every-pop-culture-reference-from-tarantino-movies

Page 43: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

ResponsesOur response to a film draws on the whole of the self, a self that includes:

A social self who can make meaning in ways not very different from others with a similar ideological formation.

http://cli.ps/sP6wn

http://cli.ps/uWp3L

http://cli.ps/MxCyj

http://cli.ps/KdPx

Write down your responses to these clips.

Emotions, reactions, thoughts, opinions.

Do we share any?

Page 44: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Responses• A private self who carried the memories of his/her own experiences and

who may find person significance in a film in ways very different from others

• Films which are especially brash, obvious or shallow in theme are unlikely to provoke a strong personal response. Action films, for example, are not usually something which someone could find a significant response in. (By significant we mean anything other than the ‘basic’ instant emotions of gratification.)

• Films which are more subtle, dealing in themes, often universal ones but on a micro level, are more likely to provoke a personal response because they allow for a degree of interpretation or interaction. A specific response may be triggered by something specific in, or suggested by, the film, but this is entirely down to the spectator.

Can you think of any specific personal examples that you’d care to share? If not, think of an example or two and make a note to help you recall this idea at a later stage.

Page 45: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

• A desiring self who brings conscious and unconscious energies and intensities to the film event that have little to do with the film’s ‘surface’ content.

Responses

Your turn.

What do you think this means? Can you rephrase it?

Can you think of any examples in films that you’d be willing to share?

Page 46: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

ResponsesThe opening scenes to V for The opening scenes to V for

Vendetta. Vendetta.

How do we respond? Make a note of these whilst How do we respond? Make a note of these whilst watching. watching.

Then, can you explain what type of response it is? Then, can you explain what type of response it is? What self/selves has(have) helped to create that What self/selves has(have) helped to create that

response? response?

Feel free to not share any difficult personal Feel free to not share any difficult personal responses, but certainly make a note of them. responses, but certainly make a note of them.

Page 47: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

ResponsesHow are these responses created by the How are these responses created by the

film makers?film makers?

Combine your understanding of Combine your understanding of response with that of film-making and response with that of film-making and

criticism. criticism.

Prepare to answer an essay question on Prepare to answer an essay question on this… this…

Page 48: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Emotional response and pleasure• Filmmakers have always attempted to gain some sort of emotional response from spectators, and for their part spectators have always responded emotionally to film.

• More than that, spectators have always attended the cinema in order to have their emotions aroused and with the expectation that this will take place. This is, after all, a basic function of storytelling.

• Stories gain emotional responses from listeners, readers or viewers. Effective storytelling encourages us to feel human emotions by allowing us to sympathise, empathise or even identify with characters and their narrative experiences.

• As spectators (and as readers) we presumably find this process to be pleasurable or we would not return time after time to films (and stories), but in what ways is it pleasurable?

Page 49: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

In what ways is it pleasurable? • In groups, think of ways in which a spectator could find a film pleasurable.

• (You may want to think of different genres of films to give you ideas here)

Happy ending

AmbiguityNostalgia

TwistsTrue

storiesInspirational

MysteryEmotional challenge

Challenge your intelligence

Laughter/escapismJustice

AdrenalineIntrigue

Desirability

Lust

Page 50: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

The opening to Psycho

Page 51: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

The opening to Psycho• Psycho would seem to encourage the notion of film as

voyeuristically pleasurable but what is the connection between voyeurism and emotional response?

• What sorts of emotional response does voyeurism bring about?

• Are we being permitted to give rein to a type of human interest in others that might more normally be considered socially unacceptable?

• If so, what sorts of emotion do we experience at this point?

Page 52: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Responses

The opening scenes to Psycho

How do we respond? Make a note of these whilst watching.

Then, can you explain what type of response it is?

What self/selves has(have) helped to create that response?

In what ways is this a pleasurable opening for an audience?

How?

Feel free to not share any difficult personal responses, but certainly make a note of them.

Page 53: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

What emotions are engendered here?• Reservoir Dogs (1992)

(Please note: pretty grim!)

• Do these emotions involve pleasure of some sort?

• If so, what is the nature of this pleasure?

• If it is not pleasurable, why do spectators watch these sorts of scenes, deliberately exposing themselves to a certain type of emotional response?

Page 54: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Responses

The ear cutting scene in Reservoir Dogs

Why is this scene ‘pleasurable’?

How do we respond? Make a note of these whilst watching. Then, can you explain what type of response it is?

What self/selves has(have) helped to create that response?In what ways is this a pleasurable opening for an audience?

How?

Use these notes to write a mini-essay as an explanation.

Make sure that this is neat as others in the class will be reading your work.

Page 55: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Kill Bill

• Homework 1:

• Research Tarantino, research the film.

• Make sure you are aware of his films and the controversy around some of them.

• Make sure you know key production details off by heart, including the main story and characters.

• Make sure that you can pick out a few key scenes from the film.

http://movieclips.com/S3dLR-

kill-bill-vol-1-movie-videos/#p=1

http://movieclips.com/S3dLR-

kill-bill-vol-1-movie-videos/#p=1

Page 56: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision
Page 57: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

What’s shocking to you?

•List the range of ways in which you see film as being potentially 'shocking', and try to give an example for each. In order to comply with Film Studies good practice you should try to refer to specific scenes within particular films.

Page 58: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

What is shocking to the viewer here?

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4omQNqCMFb0

• What specifically is it here that is working to create shock?

• Refer specifically to micro features and then bring in a more detailed response from the work we did before Easter.

Page 59: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Un Chien Andalou (1929)

•In carrying out the act of analysing this clip, you should now be aware of the way in which 'shock’ in film can be talked about in terms of either the content (or subject matter) and the form (or style) of the film under discussion. Clearly the opening eye-slitting subject matter of Un Chien Andalou is itself shocking, but so too is the film construction in terms of the way in which use is made of close-ups and an editing cut from the blank face of the woman with her eye being held open to the actual eyeball-cutting shot.

Page 60: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Un Chien Andalou vs. Reservoir Dogs

• Compare the way in which the scene from Un Chien Andalou is constructed with the slicing off of the policemans ear in Reservoir Dogs (Tarantino, 1991) which is handled in an altogether different way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLTqecGbdCc

• Both scenes will draw a sense of shock from most spectators on a first viewing but perhaps the nature of the shock is different in both instances.

Make notes on:

The use of mise-en-scene, performance, cinematography, editing and sound in both cases.

• For both scenes consider whether the nature of the shock changes on a second viewing, and if so in what ways.

• Are there other emotional responses that you or other spectators have had to either of these scenes? Could you imagine the possibility of further emotional responses that neither you nor anyone you have spoken to

has had but which might be possible for other spectators?

Page 61: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Homework• Kill Bill

• 1. Note at least 3 scenes from the film that caused you to have a strong emotional response? Describe the emotional response

• 2. How were these emotional responses caused by the construction of film?

• 3. How were these emotional responses shaped by YOU, the spectator?

• 4. How would different spectators react to this film?

Page 62: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Shock and the ‘shocking’

• As you discuss or think about films and scenes from films that create an emotional shock, always make sure you are considering both content and film form.

• Try to decide on the nature of the shock experienced and the intensity of that shock. Is it a physical shock that affects your bodily response in some way?

Page 63: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Shock and the ‘shocking’• ‘ Shock’ as sudden and unexpected, or long-drawn out.

• ‘ Shock’ in film usually occurs as something sudden and unexpected so that the viewer is as it were caught unawares.

• But it is worth bearing in mind that this is not always the case; sometimes the shock effect is achieved in a rather more long-drawn-out fashion.

• Can you think of any examples of scenes that are shocking or that create shock because something is more drawn-out or

longer than a sudden jump? Why are these examples shocking?

Page 64: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Shock and the ‘shocking’• 'Shock' suggests a state of being stunned by what you have felt

to be repulsive in its brutality, so that you (and probably all watching with you) are startled, surprised by what you have witnessed, knocked off balance, and probably very silent.

• But consider another form of possible emotional response, the tearful response. Is this part of 'shock' or is it something different?

• Why do you think we are sometime brought to tears by film?

• Consider technical, micro elements of film making, and physiological, human reasons for this type of response.

Page 65: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Projecting Illusion • Projecting Illusion: Film spectatorship and the impression of

reality (Richard Allen)

• Contemporary film theorists argue that, for a number of reasons, the cinematic image appears to spectators as if it were reality, but this appearance is an illusion. In fact, the cinematic image provides “an impression of reality…”

• “ Cinema is a form of signification that creates the appearance of a knowable reality and hence confirms the self definition of the human subject as someone capable of knowing that reality… the reality are the “effects” of a process of signification”

Page 66: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Projecting Illusion • Projecting Illusion: Film spectatorship and the impression of

reality (Richard Allen)

• Contemporary film theorists construe the film spectator as a passive observer of the image who is duped into believing that it is real. It could be argued however, that the modern day film spectator knows it is only a film but actively participates in the experience of illusion that the cinema affords.

• Choose a ‘shocking’ scene from Kill Bill to explore.

• Looking at a scene, consider why it is shocking. What aspects of us as active participants allow us to both understand and believe that it is a

film?

Page 67: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

• The interaction between director and spectator can be achieved through the manipulation of the following information:

• Textual – information provided by the text itself

• Extra-textual – information existing in the mind of the spectator (think carefully about where this might come from)

Projecting Illusion

Page 68: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Projecting Illusion • Watch the following extracts from Kill Bill and make

notes on the following:

• How does the director invite us (spectator) to view the film as a construct?

• What effect does this have on your response to the film?

• How is extra-textual information used to create meaning for the spectator?

Page 69: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Question practice:

• Spectatorship: Popular Film and Emotional Response

• Your answer should be based on a minimum of two films. Either,

• 15. ‘Narrative is often assumed to be the most important factor in triggering emotional response whereas style is often overlooked.’ How far do you agree with this? [35]

• Or,

• 16. ‘Some spectators can laugh, others cry at the same sequence.’ Explore why spectators may react very differently to the same sequences in the films you have studied for this topic. [35]

Page 70: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Question practice:

• Spectatorship: Popular Film and Emotional Response

• Your answer should be based on a minimum of two films. Either,

• 15. ‘Narrative is often assumed to be the most important factor in triggering emotional response whereas style is often overlooked.’ How far do you agree with this? [35]

• Or,

• 16. ‘Some spectators can laugh, others cry at the same sequence.’ Explore why spectators may react very differently to the same sequences in the films you have studied for this topic. [35]

HOMEWORK DUE IN

ON 15th MAY

Page 71: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Deconstruction

• This theory challenges the assumption that a text has an unchanging, unified meaning that is true for all readers and also the idea that the author is the source of any text’s meaning. The approach suggests that there is a multiplicity of legitimate interpretations of a text.

• Theories such as this, developed particularly during the 1970s, tended to emphasise the viewer’s control over the creation of the film being watched.

Page 72: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Deconstruction

• However, other theories have attempted to demonstrate how the spectator is fixed in place by the text (or by the system of values within the text) so that audiences are manipulated by filmmakers into seeing things, and therefore thinking, in certain ways.

• The tension between concepts of the reader/spectator as on the one hand active and in control, and on the other hand passive and as a victim, lies at the heart of ideas regarding the experience of spectatorship, or the process that is taking place as we view films.

Page 73: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Censorship• Censorship and regulation have always sought to restrict

groups of people from viewing certain films.

• Does the implementation of censorship and/or classification suggest that there is a fear that film could create too strong an emotional response from certain social groups?

• Films have always been seen to have the power to bring about antisocial behaviour, particularly in the young and the working class.

• To what extent is it a heightened emotional response that has been feared in theses circumstances?

Page 74: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Censorship• Films have always been seen to have the power to bring about

antisocial behaviour, particularly in the young and the working class. To what extent is it a heightened emotional response that has been feared in theses circumstances?

• Use http://www.sbbfc.co.uk/CaseStudies/ to research two films and prepare to feedback with answers to the these questions:

• Why where those films controversial?

• What did the BBFC say about the issues of controversy?

• How might these scenes bring about a heightened emotional response-what might the audience’s reaction be?

Page 75: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Censorship• Films have always been seen to have the power to bring about

antisocial behaviour, particularly in the young and the working class. To what extent is it a heightened emotional response that has been feared in theses circumstances?

• Use http://www.sbbfc.co.uk/CaseStudies/ to research two films and prepare to feedback with answers to the these questions:

• Why where those films controversial?

• What did the BBFC say about the issues of controversy?

• How might these scenes bring about a heightened emotional response-what might the audience’s reaction be?

HOMEWORK FOR

HALF TERM.

Page 76: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Censorship• Films have always been seen to have the power to bring about

antisocial behaviour, particularly in the young and the working class. To what extent is it a heightened emotional response that has been feared in theses circumstances?

• Use http://www.sbbfc.co.uk/CaseStudies/ to research two films and prepare to feedback with answers to the these questions:

• Why where those films controversial?

• What did the BBFC say about the issues of controversy?

• How might these scenes bring about a heightened emotional response-what might the audience’s reaction be?

HOMEWORK FOR

HALF TERM. SO IS YOUR REVISION

Page 77: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Censorship• Films have always been seen to have the power to bring about

antisocial behaviour, particularly in the young and the working class. To what extent is it a heightened emotional response that has been feared in theses circumstances?

• Use http://www.sbbfc.co.uk/CaseStudies/ to research two films and prepare to feedback with answers to the these questions:

• Why where those films controversial?

• What did the BBFC say about the issues of controversy?

• How might these scenes bring about a heightened emotional response-what might the audience’s reaction be?

HOMEWORK FOR

HALF TERM. SO IS YOUR REVISION

WHICH YOU REALLY SHOULD HAVE STARTED BY NOW

Page 78: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Reception Theory• Reception theory hoped to be a more sophisticated

approach to studying audiences, concentrating more on those who consume a text than the text itself.

• When a text is encoded (watched & understood; note, only possible for active not passive, viewers) certain ideologies are dominant in an audience member, a spectator.

• The audience decodes this message in multiple ways and this is dependent on the background of the person.

• This links in with what 4 ideas we discussed earlier in the course?

Page 79: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Reception Theory

When a text is encoded

(watched & understood; note, only

possible for active not passive,

viewers) certain ideologies are dominant in an

audience member, a spectator.

The audience decodes this message in

multiple ways and this is

dependent on the

background of the person.

Page 80: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Reception Theory• Reception Theory states that an audience may respond in one of three ways based on their

reading of a film and how they ‘decode’ the meanings / ideologies placed in to the text by the filmmaker.

• Preferred Reading – taking an intended reading of the film identifying and agreeing with all messages encoded in to the text

• Negotiated Reading – the viewer identifies most of the meanings encoded in to the text but does not agree with, or take the full meaning

• Oppositional Reading – the viewer does not identify the meanings encoded in to the text and their own personal ideologies / experiences form an alternate meaning within the text

Page 81: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Reception Theory• Reception theory dictates that a film does not have any meaning without

the spectator . Meaning is only generated when the spectator views. the text and ‘decodes’ it.

• This makes good logical sense, after all, how can there be a meaning without it being seen?

What is the difference between ‘Meaning’ and ‘Response’?

Meaning deals with themes and specific scenarios

Response is an all-encompassing interaction with the film as a whole.

Page 82: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Reception Theory• Reception Theory states that an audience may respond in one of three ways based on their reading of a film and how they ‘decode’ the meanings / ideologies

placed in to the text by the filmmaker.

• Preferred Reading – taking an intended reading of the film identifying and agreeing with all messages encoded in to the text

• What could a preferred reading of Kill Bill be?

Page 83: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Reception Theory• Reception Theory states that an audience may respond in one of three ways based on their reading of a film and how they ‘decode’ the meanings / ideologies

placed in to the text by the filmmaker.

• Negotiated Reading – the viewer identifies most of the meanings encoded in to the text but does not agree with, or take the full meaning

• What could a negotiated reading of Kill Bill be?

Page 84: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Reception Theory• Reception Theory states that an audience may respond in one of three ways based on their reading of a film and how they ‘decode’ the meanings / ideologies

placed in to the text by the filmmaker.

• Oppositional Reading – the viewer does not identify the meanings encoded in to the text and their own personal ideologies / experiences form an alternate meaning within the text

• What could an oppositional reading of Kill Bill be?

Page 85: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Central Imagining Central Imagining • Arguably the central function of spectatorship is Central Imagining.

• This refers to an immersion in the film. There are certain times when a spectator experiences ‘central-imagining’ – when a film recreates physical sensations such as falling over or walking in a daze.

• In theory, central imagining is the merging of the spectator with the film-when the cinematic experience is felt physically.

• Central imaging is often expressed as “I feel…”

• Technology has always been at the forefront of the drive for spectatorship in this regard, with the use of colour, widescreen ratios, stereo and later

surround sound, IMAX and arguably, 3D.

• What is the earliest example we know of where an immature audience responded to technology through central imagining?

Page 86: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (The Lumière Brothers, 1895)

Page 87: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

A-Central Imagining A-Central Imagining • Most of the time film spectators operate in the ‘I imagine that...’

mode – meaning they do not feel the physical effects but can imagine how a certain sensation may feel.

• “I imagine that it must be pretty terrifying seeing someone cut off a man’s head and knowing that if you say the wrong thing, you’ll be next”

• A-Central imagining is often expressed as “I imagine that…”

• Write down 3 examples of central imagining for either Kill Bill or True Grit AND

• Write down 3 examples of A-central imagining for either Kill Bill or True Grit.

Page 88: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

SummarySummary

• Essentially when we view films we have a combination of responses ranging from preferred to oppositional to individual emotional responses.

• We as spectators can have our physical responses manipulated via Central imagining and our emotional responses manipulated by A-Central imagining

• The A-Central Imagining depends on our extra-textual reading of a film whilst the central imagining depends on how the director uses the camera to elicit physical responses (shock, tears...)

Page 89: A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

RevisionRevision• Using your notes from the previous lessons answer the

following questions:

• How does Tarantino construct the characters of The Bride and Oren in the scenes that we’ve focused on?

• What personal experiences have contributed to your personal recognition of the characters and how you respond to them?

• Which characters do you feel the most allegiance towards?

• How is this allegiance created? (you must consider the micro elements and personal experiences)