B0041VYHGW EBOK (4 page)

How does a film get from the planning stages to the screen?
To understand film as an art, it helps to know how people create a film and get it to audiences. This question leads to a study in
Part One
, “Film Art and Filmmaking,” of film production, distribution, and exhibition. We can then see how these activities shape the final product. Decisions at every stage affect what we see and hear on the screen.

How does an entire film function?
We assume that like all artworks, a film has a
form.
It’s made up of parts that relate to one another in specific and deliberate ways, in order to have an effect on an audience. In
Part Two
, “Film Form,” we examine the idea of film form and how it affects us. We also introduce the most familiar type of form, the narrative.

How do film techniques contribute to film form?
Film is a distinct medium, and every film integrates various techniques into its overall form. In
Part Three
, “Film Style,” we examine the artistic possibilities of the primary film techniques: mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, and sound. A chapter is devoted to each one, and each chapter ends with an analysis of how these techniques contribute to a film’s overall form.

How do we classify films?
We seldom go to the movies without having some idea of the kind of film we’ll be seeing.
Part Four
, “Types of Films,” examines two principal ways of grouping films. One way is by
genre.
When we label a film a science-fiction movie, a horror film, or a musical, we’re using genre categories. We also usually classify films by some conception of the film’s relation to reality or to its manner of production. So, besides live-action fiction films, we recognize
documentaries, animated films,
and
experimental films.
These types also exemplify non-narrative approaches to overall form.

How may we analyze a film critically?
Once we have some conception of the possibilities of the medium, we can go on to analyze specific films. We try to show techniques of analysis by studying several important films in
Part Five
, “Critical Analysis of Films.”

How does film art change through history?
We conclude our book by suggesting how formal aspects of film have changed in historical contexts. In
Part Six
, “Film Art and Film History,” we survey some noteworthy periods and movements in film history to show how understanding form helps us define films’s larger context.

Our holistic approach to film resulted from several years of teaching. We wanted students to see and hear more in the films we studied, but simply providing the lecturer’s view wouldn’t help students understand cinema on their own. Ideally, we decided, students should master a toolkit of principles that would help them examine films. We became convinced that the best way to introduce film’s artistic potential is to highlight general principles of form and style and to show those principles at work in particular movies. That is, we emphasized skills. By studying basic concepts of technique and form, students can sharpen their appreciation of any film that comes their way.

The stress on skills has another consequence. We refer to a great many films, largely to show the range and variety of cinema. But we know that most readers won’t recognize all of them. Because
Film Art
stresses the importance of conceptual skills, readers don’t have to have seen the films we mention in order to grasp the general principles. Many other films could be used to make similar points.

For example, many possibilities of camera movement could be illustrated as easily with
La Ronde
or
Elephant
as with
Grand Illusion.
To exemplify classical Hollywood filmmaking,
My Darling Clementine
could serve as well as
North by Northwest.
Although a course syllabus could adhere closely to the series of major examples used in
Film Art,
teachers might decide to use a wholly different set of films. Our book rests not on titles but on concepts.

That said, we do believe that an introduction to any art should balance familiar examples with unfamiliar ones. If we want to suggest the range of creative possibilities in cinema, we can’t limit ourselves just to recent Hollywood releases. One of an educator’s tasks is to broaden the horizons and tastes of students, to take them beyond what they’re accustomed to. Films can change the ways we think and feel, and we benefit from opening ourselves up to them as widely as possible. So we haven’t hesitated to mention films that lie off the beaten track, coming from the silent era, from other countries, and from experimental traditions. Many of these films have changed our own lives, and maybe they can change others’ lives as well.

A book on film must be heavily illustrated, and most are. Many film books, however, use production stills—photographs taken during filming. These are shot with a still camera, almost never placed in the same position as the motion picture camera. The result is a picture that doesn’t correspond to any image in the finished film. Nearly all of our images from films are frame enlargements—magnified photographs taken from images on 16mm and 35mm film copies.
Film Art
contains more illustrations than any other book of its type, and all stills from color films appear in full color. (For more on frame enlargements, see the
“Where to Go from Here”
section in
Chapter 1
.)

In the first edition of
Film Art,
we thought it was important to include a section at the end of each chapter that would steer readers to other sources, but without the simple listing of ordinary bibliographies. So our chapter supplements, called “Where to Go from Here,” raise issues, provoke discussion, and suggest further reading and viewing. They also indicate websites and DVD supplements that illustrate or develop ideas in the chapter.

These boxes relate ideas in the main text to issues in current filmmaking. For example, computer-generated imagery (CGI) is addressed in a discussion of
The Lord of the Rings.

Throughout the book, quotes from authors, screenwriters, producers, directors, cinematographers, and actors appear in the margin. Whether amusing or insightful, informative or opinionated, these marginal quotes seek to engage students from a filmmaker’s point of view.

Like all art forms, film has specialized terminology, and so we’ve included a glossary. The initial mention of a term in the text is signaled in boldface, which indicates that the glossary provides further information.

Chapter 1
has been completely recast to take account of the increasing merger of photochemically based cinema and digital cinema. Along with information on how digital technologies are inserted into production, distribution, and exhibition, the chapter takes as a case study the making of Michael Mann’s film
Collateral.
The material on
Shadow of a Doubt,
which was highlighted in the first chapter of the eighth edition and which many instructors found useful, has been moved to
Chapter 8
. There it serves as a summary example of the functions of film style.

Since the first edition, our chapter on sound has included an analysis of Robert Bresson’s
A Man Escaped.
The fact that the film is in French rather than English poses a problem for some instructors; their students found that reading the subtitles distracted them from concentrating on the sound track. We have therefore replaced
A Man Escaped
with Christopher Nolan’s
The Prestige,
another film that makes wide-ranging uses of noise, music, and voice-over commentary. The original
Man Escaped
analysis is available at
www.davidbordwell.net/filmart/index.php
.

Appearing at the end of each chapter, these sections raise issues that provoke class discussions. They also suggest further reading for research, acting as a bibliographic source for specific issues in the chapter.

David and Kristin share their ideas and experiences with teachers and students on their blog. Updated frequently, the blog features film and book reviews, reports from festivals, and essays that connect ideas in
Film Art
to the current film scene.

To make the blog entries more accessible, this ninth edition has listed relevant URLs in the margins of chapters. These will take instructors and students to entries keyed to specific ideas, terms, and film examples.

A
text-specific tutorial CD-ROM
will help clarify and reinforce specific concepts addressed in the text with the use of film clips (1–2 per chapter), a corresponding commentary for each film clip, and a quiz for students to take to test their understanding of the materials. This CD-ROM is packaged free with all new copies of
Film Art, Ninth Edition.

The
student website
to accompany
Film Art
is
www.mhhe.com/filmart9
. Students will find numerous opportunities here to reinforce what they’ve learned from the text, as well as extend their knowledge. Sample Multiple Choice Quizzes, Essay Questions, Internet Exercises, and links tied to each chapter are included.

All instructor resources can be found at
www.mhhe.com/filmart9
. For lecture preparations, the
Instructor’s Manual
contains chapter outlines, goals for the chapter, and suggestions for guest lectures, case studies, bibliography, and suggestions for essay assignments and DVD supplements.

For quizzes and tests, you can also find a
Password Protected Test Bank
at the book website. This contains sample multiple-choice, true/false, and essay questions.

Over three decades, many people have aided us in the writing and revision of this book. We are grateful to Ernest R. Acevedo-Muñoz, David Allen, Rick Altman, Tino Balio, Lucius Barre, John Belton, Joe Beres, Ralph Berets, Jake Black, Robin Blaetz, Les Blank, Vince Bohlinger, Eileen Bowser, Edward Branigan, Martin Bresnick, Ben Brewster, Michael Budd, Peter Bukalski, Colin Burnett, Elaine Burrows, Richard B. Byrne, Mary Carbine, Jerome Carolfi, Corbin Carnell, Jerry Carlson, Kent Carroll, Noël Carroll, Paolo Cherchi Usai, Jeffrey Chown, Gary Christenson, Anne Ciecko, Gabrielle Claes and the staff of the Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique, Bruce Conner, Kelley Conway, Mary Corliss of the Museum of Modern Art Film Stills Department, Susan Dalton, Robert E. Davis, Ethan De Seife, Dorothy Desmond, Marshall Deutelbaum, Kathleen Domenig, Suzanne Fedak, Susan Felleman, Maxine Fleckner-Ducey of the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, Don Fredericksen, Jon Gartenberg, Ernie Gehr, Kristi Gehring, Kathe Geist, Rocky Gersbach, Douglas Gomery, Claudia Gorbman, Ron Gottesman, Eric Gunneson, Debbie Hanson, Howard Harper, Dorinda Hartman, Denise Hartsough, Kevin Heffernan, Paul Helford, Linda Henzl, Rodney Hill, Michele Hilmes, Richard Hincha, Jan-Christopher Horak of the UCLA Film Archive, Lea Jacobs, Bruce Jenkins, Derek Johnson, Kathryn Kalinak, Charlie Keil, Vance Kepley, Laura Kipnis, Barbara Klinger, Jim Kreul, Don Larsson, Jenny Lau, Thomas M. Leitch, Gary London, José Lopez, Patrick Loughney of the Library of Congress Motion Picture Division, Moya Luckett, Mike Maggiore of the Film Forum, Charles Maland, Mark McClelland, Roger L. Mayer, Norman McLaren, Donald Meckiffe, Jackie Morris of the National Film Archive, Charles Musser, Kazuto Ohira of Toho Films, David Popowski, Badia Rahman, Hema Ramachandran, Paul Rayton, Matt Rockwell, Cynthia S. Runions, Leo Salzman, James Schamus of Focus Features, Ethan de Seife, Rob Silberman, Charles Silver of the Museum of Modern Art Film Study Center, John Simons, Ben Singer, Scott Sklenar, Joseph Evans Slate, Harry W. Smith, Jeff Smith, Michael Snow, Katerina Soukup, Katherine Spring, John C. Stubbs, Dan Talbot of New Yorker Films, Richard Terrill, Jim Udden, Edyth von Slyck, Susan White, Tona Williams, Beth Wintour, Chuck Wolfe, James Yates, and Andrew Yonda.

In preparing this edition, we are grateful to many of the above, as well as to George Angell, Michael Barker of Sony Pictures Classics, Christina King, James Naremore, Daniel Reynolds, and Jonathan Rosenbaum. We also appreciate the suggestions for revision offered by Kevin Joel Berland (Pennsylvania State–Shenango), María Elena de las Carreras (California State University–Northridge, University of California–Los Angeles), Anna Froula (East Carolina University), Gregory Leon Miller (University of Lodz), Randall Moon (Hazard Community and Tech College), Brian Price (Oklahoma State University), Lynn Ramey (Vanderbilt University), Todd Rendleman (Seattle Pacific University), Laura E. Ruberto (Berkeley City College), Ann Sorenson (Northwestern College), Nicholas Tanis (New York University), Theresa Villeneuve (Citrus College), Diane Waldman (University of Denver), and Ken Windrum (Los Angeles Pierce College).