How To Read A Film 1:
02. Reading And Film
Some Definitions:
- Is “reading” the right word to use when thinking about how we relate to a film ?
- What do we mean by a film ? Is this different from a “movie” ?
I think “reading” here is metaphorically used, and it means "How to understand", how to "really" understand a film, or how to really "manage to find out" what the filmmaker intended to say.
For example, I admire the film L'Avventura by Michelangelo Antonioni very, very much. However, although it is for me the absolute STANDARD for cinematography, I do not understand it, I do not think that I really understood it, and I still sometimes think about its end (or ending) and I wonder what it means.
Maybe it is not wrong to watch and enjoy watching a great film like L'Avventura, but it is certainly much better to – at least – be able to “interpret” on your own — even if your own interpretation might be wrong, but at least you will have some kind of a “view” !!
While I think that watching a film, an Art Film, is somehow a “personal” experience, so that I mainly watch films on my laptop, I can only think of the opening scene of the "Sound Of Music" which definitely will be much more fascinating to watch on a huge screen.
A Film:
What do we actually mean by the word “film” ?
- Is film simply the latest blockbuster ?
- Does the word “film” connote something more artistic ?
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Does film need to be seen in the cinema or
is it still a film when we stream it onto our laptop or mobile device ? - Does a film need to tell a story ?
- Is film an art form ?
- If so, how do we define what is “artistic” ?
Over the last hundred or so years the idea of what a film is has developed.
So not only the way that we view film but also the ways in which films are created and constructed have changed.
Film is not a fixed term but rather a plurality of different creative possibilities.
I like none of them. All of them are BORING.
Maybe only the scene of Touching The Void is telling a story of SURVIVAL, but boring, too.
From my point of view, the absolute standard of a real film is a combination of the “story” of La Strada (Federico Fellini, 1954), the “dialogue” of Le Notte de Cabiria (Federico Fellini, 1955), the “cruelty” of Rocco et soi Fratelli (Luchino Visconti, 1962) and the very wonderful “cinematography” of L'Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960).
However, I got a wonderful idea while watching these boring clips:
Can I, if I were a filmmaker, tell a “story” in a minute–and–half "very short" film ?
For this idea, I think, I should be thankful for watching these clips — though boring !