Genres approaches to studying film history

As you study a particular film or film artist, style, or movement, learn as much as you can about its historical context. When researchers realized that not all people responded to mass media the same way, scholars began studying it by examining it directly. Art house avant guard bmovie biopic blaxploitation cartoons. Malcolm turvey 2014 has articulated a critique of my biocultural approach to film studies, argued that if i argue that we do not only need. The birth of film and the triumph of movie culture. Scholars discuss historiography by topicsuch as the historiography of the united kingdom, that of wwii, the british empire, early islam, and chinaand different approaches and genres, such.

This is a survey of over 100 years of cinema history, from its beginnings in 1895, to. The idea that the director is the single misunderstood artistic genius responsible for creating a. Thus, a broad range of materials are needed to write a full history of the cinema as part of cultural life. Advanced courses in specific national genres, forms, movements, and filmmakersboth western and nonwesternprovide a superb background in the history of film and a basis for sound critical judgment. This lesson uses the theme of justice to explain how different. It has to be accommodating and accurate to the structure and picture of the story, otherwise, you make it hard on your audience. The term is commonly used in literary circle to refer to the major genres of poetry. Film history traces the development of moving images from early experiments with image reproduction and photography through the invention of movies in the 1890s approaches to studying film history. A genre of film that deals with a major historical event and the actual historical figures involved in it. Bordwells analysis is perceptive and lucid in its discussion of how historians and theorists have sought to explain the changes in film style in the relatively short history of the cinema.

An introduction appeared in 1994, the second in 2003, and the third will be published in spring of 2009. Historical film a genre of film that deals with a major historical event and the actual historical figures involved in it. This course is an introduction to film history covering the period 18951941. What are methodologies in film studies that could be used. This volume in the mlas series approaches to teaching world literature is the first devoted to a lyric poet who did not write in english, and it seeks to promote the study, teaching, and enjoyment of this intriguing and sometimes troubling french poet. How different literary genres approach similar themes. Not to be confused with the technical aspects of film production, film studies exists only with the creation of film theorywhich approaches film critically as an artand the writing of film historiography. Film production and film going are social practices and important aspects of twentiethcentury life. On the history of film style is an important addition to the growing body of scholarly work in film historiography.

Apr 10, 2020 genre studies typically refer to processes by which someone approaches the study of literature, film, or another medium of storytelling through categorization of story types. The approach taken presents a substantial and readable overview of the field and provides students with a tool of reference that will be valuable throughout their studies. Genre or type is a core concept in both film production and the history of film. European or asian cinema that are so often neglected by other studies in the.

An introduction to genre theory university of washington. Historical films film genres research guides at dartmouth college. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians have studied that topic using particular sources, techniques, and theoretical approaches. The pages discuss particular issues and list key resources on those topics. The american west as symbol and myth 1950 suggested that the emerging field. Film studies is an academic discipline that deals with various theoretical, historical, and critical approaches to films. The ba history and film studies degree is an innovative degree programme combining these two interlinking subjects, offering opportunities for critically engaging with how historical events have been recorded and reconstructed through visual media. Genre has occupied an important part in the study of cinema for years. But when we focus on social and cultural history, especially the important role of leisure in the lives of ordinary people, film not only provides evidence and records but takes on a key role. This section of the film studies research guide provides assistance in many of the particular subjects in film studies. The western and film studies westerns movie, cinema, role. First and foremost, literature opens our eyes and makes us see more than just what the front door shows. We think that studying film history is so interesting and important that during the late 1980s we began to write a book surveying the field. One flew over the cuckoos nest is worthy of every bit of acclaim it has earned over the past four decades, and the reasons for that are numerous.

The study of a genre in this way examines the structural elements that combine in the telling of a story and finds patterns in collections of stories. Ba history and film studies undergraduate study uea. Brent toplin appears to consider genre a safety valve that filmmakers employ in. The module will also have a practical aspect, offering students the opportunity to write critical pieces on the films screened for the class. Allen delineated these approaches in their pioneering work, film history. Often great liberties are taken with the facts to facilitate a 2hour running time or a particular political agenda. It is sometimes subsumed within media studies and is often compared to television studies. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Historical facts dont answer the basic questions of film history. French new wave techniques are still used by contemporary filmmakers. The setting is the environment where the story and action take place e. The aesthetic, technological, economic, and social.

Otherwise they would be off experimenting with our equipment, sniffing out the best internships, auditioning actors and musicians, attending corporate mixers or toiling in the editing room. Apr 06, 2014 a screenplay is a puzzle made up of pieces you cut yourself that you fit together to form a picture you make up as you go. After all, both film and history claim to bear a reference or relation to the real. Rick altmans a semanticsyntactic approach to film genre. Using science such as neuroscience and psychology to help explain how audiences. A semanticsyntactic approach to film genre generos.

How film genres are a product of biology, evolution and culturean. Genre in asian film and television takes a dynamic approach to the study of asian screen media previously underrepresented in academic writing. This means that stories are often categorized according to a number of established genres to make comparison and differentiation between these stories easier or more precise. For readers who wish to understand the way that academic film historians since the 1980s have come to divide silent era filmmaking into multiple historical and stylistic periods, thompson 1985 offers a useful point of entry. Fantasy cinema and media studies oxford bibliographies. This class meets at south puget sound community college, 2011 mottman road, sw, olympia, wa 98512, in building 21, room, monday and wednesday evenings from 6. It combines historical overviews of developments within national contexts with detailed case studies on the use of generic conventions and genre hybridity.

Genre studies is an academic subject which studies genre theory as a branch of general critical theory in several different fields, including the literary or artistic, linguistic, or rhetorical. Film theory sometimes seems difficult and complicated, but fundamentally its a range of different tools that you can use to explain how film works. Film studies studying chapter 10 film film history. Descriptions of the film genres will range from 7501,000 words. Long the mainstay of academic film history, the technical approach seeks to determine. The uncertainty is also associated with the relative contradicting status of theory and history genre studies. Usai 2000 shares with card a dual focus on film history and film preservation as it relates to the study of the silent era. This extensive genre shares territory with the biopic, costume drama, heritage film.

You can get to the topical pages from the main navigation bar above or from the links below. A theoretical approach to film simply recognises that we need to consciously apply specific ways. Will involve reading and analyzing the works of the more sophisticated film theorists and critics as well as studying approaches to the teaching of film the auteur theory. Film history includes the history of technologies, the people and industrial organizations that produce movies.

A film genre is a motionpicture category based for example on similarities either in the. Production issues analyzes the entire scope of the film s developmentin addition, studies of particular studios analyze the film industry from economic, political, or corporate perspectives 5. Film studies as an academic discipline emerged in the twentieth century, decades after the invention of motion pictures. In addition to the primarily nonfiction or documentary films discussed above, we must consider hollywoods primary output, feature films. Seeks to evaluate individual movies andor directors using criteria.

Following are a few of the most helpful theoretical methods used in film studies. Whether youre preparing to study film at university or you simply have a passion for cinema, having some of the essential info under your belt before you get underway can really help you set out on the right foot. Different genres may approach themes in different ways, but similarities are always present when dealing with complementary ideas. Incorporating film analysis, advertisements, merchandise and internet forums. The aesthetic approach the technological approach the economic approach film as social history. In this book we have tried to introduce the history of cinema as. There are many aspects and contexts that could be interesting in analyzing this film. Still further problems with definitional approaches will become apparent in. Film history traces the development of moving images from early experiments with image reproduction and photography through the invention of the movies in the early 1890s and subsequent stylistic, financial, technological, and social developments in cinema that have occurred up to now. This film history course introduces approaches to film history, including the study of periods, genres, directors, national cinemas, and critical theories. In an enlightening article, raindance lists 10 techniques that sell.

Film as social history examines the complex interaction between the movies as a social institution and other social institutions. History, as this fascinating book shows, is more than the simple accumulation of film titles, facts and figures. Film studies is less concerned with advancing proficiency in film production than it is with exploring the narrative, artistic, cultural, economic, and political implications of. What are the four traditional approaches to film history. Why do jeanluc godards french new wave films from the early 1960s still look modern to todays audiences. We might therefore ask ourselves whose genre is it anyway. This course introduces students to the history and theory of film criticism, emphasising the coexistence of different approaches to the analysis, evaluation and appreciation of film. Genre studies is an academic subject which studies genre theory as a branch of general critical theory in several different fields, including the literary or artistic, linguistic, or rhetorical literary genre studies is a structuralist approach to the study of genre and genre theory in literary theory, film theory, and other cultural theories. The aesthetic approach, otherwise known as the masterpiece approach, focuses on movies that are said by the filmwatching population at large to be works of arts, and. Historical film cinema and media studies oxford bibliographies.

The four traditional approaches to film history are. Policing cinema 2004 demonstrate the ways that studying film history and. In 1984 rick altman set out to scratch an itch that he claimed no one working in the field of film genre criticism seemed to even feel 6. Silent film cinema and media studies oxford bibliographies. And if a screenplay is a puzzle, think of genre as the box it came in. Even casual discussion about movies often reveals a recognition of, and a cultural investment in, the auteur as the source of the films meaning. In his essay a semanticsyntactic approach to film genre he claims that the field is befuddled with uncertainty, confusion and contradiction because it lacks an adequate theory. Basic approaches to studying film history the four traditional approaches that a beginner should know. Jan 04, 2016 although the four main approaches for studying film provide a scientific method for that end, every viewer has their own criteria for determining what makes a film great. The idea that the director is the single misunderstood artistic genius responsible. Includes studying the exhibition practices of films as social events and considers such factors as religion, politics, and cultural trends and taboos interrogates the relationship between films and the. They may study films of specific genres to find examples. Mar 20, 20 in 1984 rick altman set out to scratch an itch that he claimed no one working in the field of film genre criticism seemed to even feel 6.

Genres, styles, categories, series film studies research guide. Additional ways of categorizing film genres may involve the target audience for. When it comes to studying the history of film, there are four main approaches employed by historians, theorists, critics, and fans to assign importance or value to any given film. The following are examples of orbis subject headings for books about and sometimes examples of films of various genres and types. Cinema verite claymation comedy crime cult documentary. Historical film studies is a burgeoning field, with a large and ever. Youll explore world history alongside the history of film. Genre in asian film and television new approaches f.

One of the most comprehensive overviews of silent film to be released in recent decades, with dedicated chapters on stars, directors, genres, sound and color, the press, the film business, and silent film outside the united states. Fantasy films can be traced to the early years of film history and georges. Mar 29, 2020 this section of the film studies research guide provides assistance in many of the particular subjects in film studies. Students will study the major industrial, technological, aesthetic, and cultural developments in motion picture history. Historical films also suggest new ways of understanding the past, and. The routledge companion to film history is an indispensable guide for anyone studying film history for the first time. To understand them we need to investigate technology, economics including business and industrial organization, advertising, and. Within the academic community over the past 35 years, the study of film has developed across three kinds of enquiry. This reader of key writing on action cinema from the silent period to the 21st century is divided into thematic sections addressing major areas such as defining the genre, film history and style, action and spectacle, genres and meaning, stars and bodies, action auteurs and the film industry. These sketches and examples should, however, help you to identify approaches that can direct your writing about film and give you asense of how aparticular method might organize and use information.

Approaches to teaching world literature modern language. A guide to conducting research in film studies at yale university, including key resources and crucial search strategies. All approaches to studying film are theoretical to a greater or lesser extent. It helps us realize the wide world outside, surrounding us. And within the discipline, the study of film gives students insight into stylistic techniques and how they shape meaning.