Video Essay Transcript for My Students For this film theory and criticism course, some of you may not find this very appealing, especially if you are more of a production person and not someone who would prefer spending more time in reading books about film theories and criticism and engage in intellectual discourse relating films watched with assigned readings. But think of this way, being filmmakers, knowing film’s roots, how it develops and how it manages to survive and thrive through
Tag: film criticism
‘The Red Balloon’ Short Film Critique: Relationship and Poetry Through a Child’s Gaze
A short essay for my Film Theory and Criticism Class The 1956 French short film classic “The Red Balloon” (Le ballon rouge) features a tender drama with a fine touch of flight of fancy. Its subdued setting features a lot of grays, suggesting the depressing quality of the film’s mood and tone, which is then contrasted with the blazing red balloon in mid air. This post-war motion-picture classic written and directed by Albert Lamorisse features a seemingly cynical world that turns magical
‘Hedgehog in the Fog’ Short Film Critique: The Phantasm of Venturing Into the Unknown
A short essay for my Film Theory and Criticism Class The 1975 short animated film “Hedgehog in the Fog” (Yozhik v tumane) by Yuri Norstein offers an amalgam of terror and pleasure using the phantasm of venturing into the unknown. This evocative work of imagination features the journey of a hedgehog one evening to see his bear cub friend. As he travels in the foggy forest, he encounters many scary things that eventually become transformative moments of wonder. This 11-minute Russian
‘Tango’ Short Film Critique: Overlapping Routines as a Collective Ritual
A short essay for my Film Theory and Criticism Class Filmmaker Zbigniew Rybczyński presents his critically acclaimed 1981 Polish short film “Tango” as a rhythmic play set in a stage that gradually progresses. It begins with a vaguely minimalist room where there are three points of entrance and exit: two doors and a window. These points become the gateways of a plethora of characters that initially starts with easily recognizable parts until each one’s repetitive acts create layer after layer of
Film Theorists: Hugo Munsterberg
Film Theorists: Sergei Eisenstein
(Response Paper) David Bordwell: The Blurred Line Separating Art Cinema with Classical Hollywood Cinema
In response to: The David Bordwell essay “The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice” from the journal “Film Criticism” A response paper for my Advanced Film Theory and Criticism class In the essay “The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice,” American film theorist and film historian David Bordwell primarily discussed how art cinema can be considered as a distinct mode of film practice by comparing it to classical narrative cinema (which can be traced to studio feature filmmaking in Hollywood since
(Response Paper) Ideology, Reality, and the Apparatus Film Theory with Jean-Louis Baudry
In response to: The Jean-Louis Baudry essay “The Apparatus: Metapsychological Approaches to the Impression of Reality in Cinema” from the Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen book “Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings” A response paper for my Advanced Film Theory and Criticism class In this essay “The Apparatus: Metapsychological Approaches to the Impression of Reality in Cinema,” French psychoanalytic film theorist Jean-Louis Baudry asserted that cinema is, by nature, ideological. This is because films are created to represent reality and the mechanics
(Response Paper) Cinema and Ideology with Jean-Luc Comolli and Jean Narboni
In response to: The Jean-Luc Comolli and Jean Narboni essay “Cinema/Ideology/Criticism” from the journal “Screen” A response paper for my Advanced Film Theory and Criticism class This essay entitled “Cinema/Ideology/Criticism” by French writers Jean-Luc Comolli and Jean Narboni started with an introduction of the pioneering French film magazine Cahiers du Cinema, offering a general overview of its objectives, goals, and ideology. It also presented the perennial question “What is film?” and “What is cinema?” – questions that continue to linger around many
(Response Paper) Film Semiotics in the Earlier Lens of Christian Metz
In response to: The chapter “Some Points in the Semiotics of the Cinema” from the book “Film Language: A Semiotics of the Cinema” by Christian Metz A response paper for my Advanced Film Theory and Criticism class Being not very much used to the way it approached its scientific methodology, particularly his semiotic approach to film studies, I found the chapter “Some Points in the Semiotics of the Cinema” from French film theorist Christian Metz’s seminal work “Film Language: A Semiotics of the