Writing About Film? I'm having a very hard time...?

Question

Ok, so this is the situation: I'm supposed to find a film (in this case Mr and Mrs Smith) to analyze. Ok, done. Then I'm supposed to find a scene with 15 to 20 shots (the car conversations after the tango scene). I have to analyze these shots somehow. My teacher sent me this: "The shot-by-shot analysis is very straightforward. It's sounds to me like you're over intellectualizing it. Select a film and watch it a couple of times taking general notes about your imagery that sticks with you, interesting scenes, and distinctive use of lighting, or other formal devices. In the paper, you'd pick one of the scenes and create an analysis of the film's larger themes from that scene. As for symbolism--pay attention to repeated motifs. What do these images, taken collectively, symbolize or mean? What meanings do they create for the viewer?In this paper you're not providing a full analysis of every aspect of the film, you're picking one." Does that make sense to anyone?! HELP ME, PLEASE!!!

I'm not analyzing the characters; I'm analyzing the FILM. The whole film. Thanks for the answer, though!!!

Answer 1

Sure it makes perfect sense. I haven't seen "Mr & Mrs Smith" so I can't speak to your specific film. But generally, look at the problem as this...

A good film is going to have a theme (sometimes moral. political, philosophical, etc), or it may have a prevailing motif (fear, helplessness, despair -- whatever). Your teacher is asking you to analyse a scene of a film and show how various formal devices like lighting, camera angles, set design (whatever) are being employed in this scene to illustrate the general theme or motif of the film.

For example, Hitchcock loved to use lighting as a means of reinforcing motif. He would sometimes show someone who was trapped in a bad situation, standing in a room with the shadow of a circular window casting a shadow in on the wall in back of the person. The radial spokes of the windowframe would cast a shadow on the wall that looked like a spider's web, and the person appeared to be trapped in this web. It's a lighting technique used to enhance the general motif of fear.

If you ever saw the film Shawshank Redemption. Andy is locked away and yet never looses hope. What devices or symbols does the director use to reinforce the motif of hope? He uses the Posters of Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe and Raquel Welch. These are not only the symbols of hope, but also the mask covering the tunnel by which he realizes that hope. Do you see how device can reinforce symbolism? That's what you're being asked to convey.

What your teacher wants you to do is describe the general theme and/or motif of your film, and then choose one scene to analyse and show how technique is being used to illustrate that.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

I think most film critical studies teachers are trying to get students to think in the shoes of the filmmaker, the film critic, and the voyeur. In other words, if you are trying to pass this class, it might be a good idea to start reading other film articles, to get you thinking about filmic structures the way critics do. And it might be good to start listening to the director's commentary to get a sense of how these ideas got in there. What you have in your papers, I am assuming, is your first impression of the film as a viewer, and what you're probably missing is what ever it is in this film that made it worth millions of dollars to produce. If you can think of the film in terms of the story as just a plain idea that suddenly became a worthy enough project for Brad and Angelina and you can explain how that happened, I think you've got yourself a very good paper.

Answer 3

sounds like your professor is saying your only analyzing that particular moment, rather than relating the scene to the entire movie. What are the underlying meanings in their conversation? How does it relate to their overall character?