How to Read a Film: Introduction

By Nate Marshall

So this is the introduction.  I will be spending a lot of time on this topic as I have been developing multiple posts on this topic.  This post will outline what I want to talk about and the breadth of the discussion as I have planed currently.  But as my philosophy requires I will be change focus as the discussion requires.

Let me start with a little bit of a retraction.  “How to read a film” is a bad way to think of this but since it is the way most commonly spoken about how to watch film I will use it still.  in reality reading a film is not al that we want to do.  After reading a bit of a great book “Reframing Theology and Film” I was affirmed in my belief that there is more than just “reading” a film.

What I want to emphasize is the idea if critical analysis.  Watching  a film involves more than just careful watching and a sincere intention to understand it.  It takes an entire shift in our thought process.  So the big deal of watching a film is the attention to all the elements that come into making a film.  Since film is made over possibly years and by hundreds of people and all over the world we have a lot to analyze.  there are so many issues to look at from the basic story, sound and Image all the way to budgets, buisness and cultural issues.  We should be examining political, sociological, phisiological and historical issues. So maybe we should be reading books like films or more likely we are terrible at both and need to be beter educated.

So next time I will be talking about the first thing that we should look at when learning how to watch a film properly.  We will start discussing how to prepare for a film and what to do when you watch the film.

see ya on the next reel!