Film Studies
Classic vs Modern film narratives
The Narrative differences between Classic Hollywood movies and modern movies We can condense all the movements in the history of cinema into 2 very broad categories: Classic and Modern. In this post, we will be discussing the difference between Classic and modern film narratives. The Narrative in Classic Hollywood Movies In classical movies, the narrative is told in chronological order. There is...
What is a Movie Genre (and why are genres used)
To best understand movie genre, I like to compare it to cooking! Each genre has specific ingredients (characters, setting, narrative...) And movies that belong to a certain genre all share the same recipe or genre formula. Directors play around with these ingredients and recipes to develop the genre or even create a new one. In the coming posts of this Film Genre series, we will be identifying...
The Ingredients of the Horror Film Genre
Here are the main elements of the horror film genre. Or as we like to call them, the ingredients and recipe of horror movies. Horror movies have been popular since the early beginnings of movie production. The genre started to develop with Georges Méliès. The director made a silent film called The House of the Devil in 1896. It is the first horror movie ever made. What is the horror film genre?...
Why All Film Students Must Watch These Movies?
Here is a list of must-watch movies for film students. This list contains 20 movies for 20 directors that you need to watch and know if you are a film student, filmmaker, and if you consider yourself a cinema lover. If you are reading this post, then We are sure you have already seen some of these movies and you would be familiar with many of the directors. We recommend that you add the ones...
What Western movies tell us about Western Culture
We have heard that the cinema reflects society. In film studies, many theorists connect movie genres to cultural believes and ideologies. This is the Genre Theory. Genre Theory In the early history of film, genre studies was condemned and associated with commercial and low art films. Genres were only regarded as a restrictive formula to replicate financially successful films. Around the 50s,...
The 5 major plot points of a Screenplay
We all know that movies can be mostly divided into 3 acts. In this post, we will show how movie scripts can be actually divided into 5 major plot points. When learning the basics of screenplay structure, writers generally talk about stories having 3 acts. That is a beginning, middle and end with a turning point at the end of act 1 and act 2. Although it's important to understand how these two...
Film Theory: The Auteur Theory
Simply, the auteur theory considers the film director as an author of the film where the directors have their signature on the whole film. Auteur is the French translation to "the author". Auteur directors make films with their unique style and can express ideas and ideologies through cinema. In this sense, the audience can read the film instead of just watching it. When we look at the auteur...
The Death of Cinema: Is TV taking the Place of Cinema?
TV shows are being more and more cinematic... This would make us think if TV is taking the place of cinema. If so, will cinema eventually die and become history? The Second Golden Age of TV In an era that is described as the television’s second golden age, TV stations ( HBO, FX...) and online streaming platforms (Netflix, Hulu...) are competing to produce TV series with interesting plots,...
Why is Citizen Kane Important?
Citizen Kane is a film produced in 1941 and written, directed, and produced by Orson Welles who also starred in it as the role of the main character. Not only that, but the movie was Welles’s first feature film! Citizen Kane is considered by many critics and fans as the greatest film ever made. The movie is ranked 93rd top rated movie on IMDB and 4th on Rotten Tomatoes with a 100% positive...
Film Narrative
What is a Narrative film? Simply put, a narrative film is a movie that tells a story. So any form of film that follows a chain of events is narrative. Many people think that only fiction movies are narrative. But documentaries and movies that tell a real story can also be considered narrative films as long as there is a beginning point that develops throughout the events and leads to a sort of...
What is “Art” in Film
Art is an imitation of realityPlato Plato defines the term "art" as an imitation or representation of reality. Other philosophers also considered art as a medium for the transmission of feelings. Regarding art in film, almost all films can be considered art. But we can differentiate between high-art and low-art. In that sense, we can't consider anything filmed on a camera and screened on any...
Hiroshima Mon Amour
Cast: Emmanuelle Riva (Elle), Eiji Okada (Lui), Stella Dassus (Mother), Pierre Barbaud (Father), Bernard Fresson (German Lover).Directed by Alain Resnais.Written by Marguerite Duras. Story Set in the summer of 1957 in Hiroshima. A French actress comes from Paris to Japan to make an international movie about peace. The actress meets a Japanese architect and has a short but passionate affair...
French New Wave
History Background The French New Wave can be considered as a reaction to the World War II. During the war, American films were banned in France by the Nazi occupation. This left the French cinema lovers hungry for films especially that the only available movie entertainment was the very few french produced films and German movies. After the war ended, the ban on American movies was lifted in...