Thursday, January 30, 2014

BLOG NUBMER III (3)

Question: In our book, Nichols writes, "An attentive viewer must also be familiar with the repertoire of choices a director faces to recognize her decisions as choices rather than as simply the product of the camera's mechanical ability to record images". What do you think Nichols is trying to say in this statement and what are your thoughts?

I think that in this statement Nichols is trying to say that in order for us as viewers of a movie to fully understand why things are how they appear to be in movies that we need to understand the choices a director makes to put all of those images into our head. In order for us to see the movie how a director wants they have to successfully portray that desired image to us in a successful manner. We also as viewers have to understand that the movie making process is a very long one. Movies are not created by an at home video recorder and then released to the public. Movies take a long time to come together and also a lot of work from many different people. My thoughts about this quote is that Nichols is exactly right. In order to understand a movie, we really need to understand the director and what they want us to see in their movie.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Blog Number Two!

After reading the introduction chapter to Engaging Cinema, what are your initial thoughts as to studying the subject of film?

My thoughts on studying the subject of film changed a lot after reading the first chapter. I didn't realize how much the point-of-view of the director came into play in the creation of a movie. We never honestly think of how a movie comes together while we are watching it and reading this chapter definitely put it all into a different perspective for me. I also liked how the author talked about everything we are going through this year in the first chapter. It gave us all a lot to look forward to when it comes to this class. I think by reading these chapters and having class discussion we are all going to learn a lot about everything that goes into the movie creation process.

Are movies a social danger or a social benefit?

I have never really thought of movies as being dangerous to society in any way. But, now that I consider everything that can be seen in a movie might have a huge effect on society. Young children see things in movies and think that that makes bad activities okay. In my opinion, that is the only way a movie can be a social danger. When it influences people or young children in a negative way. Other than that, I see movies as a social benefit because there are many things we can learn from movies. They can teach us about the past and there are also a lot of movies that have a really good and inspirational meaning behind them.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

First Blog!

I am definitely looking forward to the class History Through Film. This class is going to be a great learning experience for all of us that are taking it. Learning about the history of our country through famous Hollywood films is going to be a very different way of thinking for most of us. Visually learning is an approach teachers don't always take and that is what this class is all about so I am very excited to see what this semester and this class has to offer.

From this class I hope to develop a better understanding of what has happened in our past and what interpretations of the past Hollywood is trying to represent in their films. I also want to be able to tell the difference between a historically correct and a historically incorrect film.

The strength I bring to this class is that I have a very strong opinion and I'm not afraid to express my ideas. This can help the class because my opinion could possibly influence others to think about the film or the subject we are talking about from a different perspective rather than just their own.