Film theory

1. FILM THEORY
Eman Shah
A2 Media Studies

2. WHAT IS FILM THEORY – EARLY
THEORIST AND LATER THEORISTS
Film theory is a collection of interpretative frameworks which develops over
time so people can have a better understanding of the way that films are
made and the way they are received. Film theory is not a self contained field,
it borrows from the disciplines of philosophy, art theory, social science,
cultural theory, psychology, literacy theory, linguistics, economics and political
science. :
Early film theorists had two main concerns to legitimize cinema as an art form
so that it identifies its unique properties and effects. Hugo Munsterberg and
Rudolf Arnheim were two early media theorist and worked together. They
considered films to be art because films do not record reality but on the
other hand it transforms the normal ways in which the human eye perceives,
through the use of editing, camera angles and black and white photography.
These two theorists made an attempt to understand in which cinema differed
from the other arts: Jean Epstein ensured this difference as cinema’s
photogene Bela Balazs attributed it to the unique, even spiritual,
expressiveness of the use of close ups. These concerns were then revisited by
later theorists such as Christian Metz.

3. REALISM FILM THEORY
The media always encodes reality. It is therefore impossible to gain a first hand
direct experience of the world via media no matter how transparent or virtual
their representation of reality is. When an audience watches a film they expect
what they see, listen to or read to have some connection of their own
perspectives, life and experiences or to appear to be based upon some
recognisable reality. This then help us to identify and understand the text and its
meaning. We can often judge a film of how successful it is by measuring it against
our own experiences. What is ‘real’ therefore can become a subjective and a
controversial concept, as what one person considers to be realistic which may not
be considered from another perspective.
Siegfried Kracauer, a critic of authoritarian aesthetics, argued that cinema should
focus on unpredictable, unplanned events of everyday existence so it would be
something new and would intrigue everyone.
André Bazin preferred films that use depth of field and long takes to emphasize
mise-en-scène, preserving the spatiotemporal integrity of the scene and
empowering the spectator to scan the image for meaning.

4. AUTEUR THEORY
The term auteur originates form France which translates as author which means that
a directors fil reflects their creative vision. The Auteur theory was introduced in the
1950’s by French film directors like Francois Truffaut who advocated a focus on the
contribution directors made on the style and form of film he quoted…’A true film
auteur is someone who brings something genuinely personal to his subject instead
of producing a tasteful, accurate but lifeless rendering of the original material’. An
auteur is a film maker whose style and practice is distinctive which creates a
signature auteur status for them.
It is also a film maker who has personal signature style and keeps creative control
over his or her work. Making any film needs time and effort. The director would be
the auteur but it would not be possible for them to create the whole production on
their own, so instead they will collaborate with others and team up with the writers,
cinematographers and actors but the director is still an auteur in a sense as they
control everyone and everything in the production.

5. FEMINIST FILM THEORY
Feminist film theory is theoretical film criticism derived from feminist politics and
feminist theory. Feminists have many approaches to cinema analysis, regarding the
film elements analysis and their theoretical underpinnings. In early film theory and
criticism was directed at the stereotype representation of women in classic
Hollywood film. This stereotyped image of women in classic Hollywood had a
negative effect on female spectators. Therefore their was a call for more positive
representations of women in Hollywood. In classic Hollywood film is derived
towards more positive representations of women but it is till not enough. But the
main problem is that classic cinema narrative is constructed by men. Therefore,
representing women from a male perspective. In classic cinema the representation
of women was how men viewed women.
In Hollywood films women are shown to be natural, realistic and attractive. Within
classic film narrative the following generally takes place:
- The male character is seen to be established as active and powerful. The story
will unfold around him.
- The female character is passive and powerless. She is the object of desire for
the male character.