The Language of Film Blog Entry

So far I have used the film notes for a lot of films while watching just to see if I can noticed any techniques. I really like knowing all the different techniques. Now I feel smart when I can say oh there doing crane work there and there they are doing deep focus. Personally I have liked learning all the techniques because it gives me a different perspective on films and it allows me to learn more about photography as well which I really like.

One example of crane is in Citizen Kane they do a crane shot in the beginning when they are going up the fence and when they are looking at the room of all the things he owned. Crane is a good technique because it gives a smooth view of a variety of things like a dance or a location.

My other favorite technique is spatial relations because it gives you a feel for the relationship the people in the scene have with each other whether they are good or bad. In not only Citizen Kane but also almost every movie we are shown almost every scene this way so we know the relationships and what each character is thinking. An example of this in Citizen Kane would be when he is with his first wife at the dinner table and each time we get a different time segment in their relationship we still see both of them and the things around them so that we get a feel for how they are acting towards each other. Like in the first segment she is in love with him and by the end they are far apart and her love for him is lost and we get a since that she is going to leave him.

Sound is another important aspect in a movie because it can other build or break a moment. For the most part music is used to build suspense for the watcher. Just recently I watched Pride and Prejudice and there is a scene where it seems like the music is nondiegetic but then we find out that she can also hear the music coming from the piano so it changes to diegetic. Another example of this would be in Jaws when we hear that dreadful music that tells us something bad is going to happen but its nondiegetic so the actor in the story has no idea what is about to happen.

So far these are the most noticeable techniques in films that I have seen so far. I look forward to learning techniques into finding these techniques easier when watching a film. I also think its very interesting when you learn the techniques that the director uses because some of them are so interesting and something you wouldn't think would fit with the film's setting but they do.