WU Film Characteristics and Viewers Analysis

Overview

1. Questions that require the use of a textbook should reference specific passages from the book (the page(s) + quotation marks if some information is cited). Specific elements from films should be referenced by providing a screenshot, timestamp, or verbal description of the analyzed fragment in the film. When complete, upload your assignment in a MS Word or any other compatible file format.1) What are defining characteristics that distinguish films from other forms of art? Briefly explain the difference between two interacting optical and perceptual phenomena.
   2) What can affect the way viewers react to films? What makes us automatically interpret visual information and thus absorb the meanings of films intuitively/instantly? Explain the work of one of the techniques described in the Invisibility and Cinematic Language section of Ch. 1.
   3) What are the differences between implicit and explicit meanings in films? Identify the explicit meaning of L'Enfant and the implicit meaning of L'Enfant.
   4) What is a formal analysis of a film? What formal elements draw your attention in L'Enfant? Describe why you think they may be important to understanding L'Enfant.
   5) What are other approaches to the analysis of films (the ones that do not focus on formal elements but explore the relationship between culture and films)? Which approach do you find the most useful in relation to analyzing L'Enfant?