General principles Essay Example for Free

General principles Essay 1. Film theory is how we study movies based general principles. It serves as a model for understanding movies and their different meanings. It is looking at film using a particular perspective, much like using different approaches in analyzing literature. Film criticism meanwhile, is focused more on the artistic value and appeal of the movie to the viewing public. It has two forms: reviews for the common viewer and critical essays for scholars. 2. Realist theory explains that our experiences can be emulated in movies by the help of cinematic language and technology, meaning movies as a representation of reality. Formalist theory explains films are more than a representation of reality. The film artists give form to reality 3. Explicit meaning is what the movie presents on the surface. Meaning the movie clearly shows what it is trying to project, viewers instantly get it without much effort. Implicit meaning is the message within the movie that is not obvious. It is the meaning behind the actions of the film. It is the message of the filmmaker that requires more or less critical analysis. 4. Mimesis is the Greek word for the imitative representation of the world in art and literature. It is basically the violence portrayed in films, suggesting that it is part of reality. Katharsis (catharsis) popularized by Aristotle in his Poetics, on the other hand is what Aristotle used to describe tragedy, it produces emotions of pity and fear. 5. Kathrarsis (catharsis) means purgation or purification. Aristotle used this Greek term in his definition of a tragedy in his Poetics, he said that tragedy must have katharsis, meaning tragedies should produce emotions of pity and fear from the audience. Looking for catharsis in movies is beneficial because it can either have a positive or negative effect on the viewers. 6. Ideology does not simply mean an idea. Ideology means a variety of related ideas, how humans see life and culture. In film, ideology is the ideas of individuals, group, class, or culture that reflects their social needs and aspirations. Ideological meaning in movies is the beliefs depicted in it. It is the belief of the filmmakers, the belief of the characters, or the population’s belief during the movie was made. Feminism, Marxism, and cultural studies are considered ideological theories because they represent ideas that attempt to explain how people and societies function. 7. Auteur theory states that the director is the author of a film. Its application has two forms: the director is judged by looking at all the films he or she has made as a whole, looking at style. The other is a classification of great directors based on a hierarchy of styles. The director must have directed numerous films to be an auteur. The style of the director should be as unique as novelist’s 8. Genre study is the process of understanding some basic ways of how genre functions to develop interesting critiques of genre films. The evolution of major film genres made filmmakers conscious about genre history and conventions, thus the remakes, parodies, sequels, and hybridization that we see today. 9. The study of the phenomenon (or art) known as film and studying film using a certain perspective or approach are involved in the study of film history. 10. Aesthetic approach evaluates movies and directors by looking at how artistic they and their films are. It is sometimes called the masterpiece approach or great man approach. Social approaches evaluate movies on the criteria of how significant they are in relation to the society. Questions when evaluating film are: What is the film’s significance to the society? What social issues does it present? and if it provides solutions.