someone here learned from giannetti's book "understanding movies"?

M

MadaBidyoni

New member
Hi
someone here learned from giannetti's book "understanding movies"?
putting his citizen kane chapter aside, do you have a film that could demonstrate all the terms from the book? (preferably "the godfather" and/or "annie hall". preferably if you could demonstrate all the terms in 1-2 sequences from the films).
that could help a lot
thanks
 
Hey - I'm currently reading that book, I'm halfway into it now. What is it that you're asking for? Could you give a little more detail on what you're asking about the book?
 
a film that could demonstrate all the issues & the terms that the book is dealing with... i'm looking for examples...all from 1 film
 
MadaBidyoni said:
a film that could demonstrate all the issues & the terms that the book is dealing with... i'm looking for examples...all from 1 film
Click to expand...

I haven't read the book so take this with a dumptruck of salt: I think asking for 1 film that deals with everything in the book is a bit of a tall order. You might not see one issue illustrated well enough as oppose to others.

Just a thought. But like I said, I haven't read the book so I have no idea what it is really about.
 
Yeah, @Inprogress is right. I'm half way into the book and Gianetti has already used examples from dozens of movies - almost every page has a sample from a different film.

The book is a commentary on movies. To ask for a film that illustrates the points made in the book is like asking for the answer without knowing what the question is.

As an example:

I was watching the Walking Dead the other day, and the camera was slowly dollying in towards two characters who were talking. There was no music, they were outside during the day, and they were fenced in safely from the zombies - with no zombies to be seen. But it felt really uneasy. If I had watched that before reading the chapter on Mise en Scene in Gianetti's book, I would have felt the uneasiness that the makers of The Walking Dead intended to convey, but I wouldn't have known how they achieved it.

I now think it was chalked up to two big things:

1. The sound. It was quiet - almost awkwardly quiet.
2. Slowly tightening the framing (and this was more important in my opinion). Psychologically, tighter framing tends to convey a feeling of entrapment or confinement. As the camera moves slowly in on the characters, they're pushed to the very edges of the frame and we sense they're trapped in the frame. We can't see around them, which insinuates they are limited in where they can go. Because the story has already established that they are hiding out in an old abandoned prison, this shot choice very much fits the plot and reinforces the story.

That's just one example amidst hundreds in the book.

If you have a specific question, I'd be happy to tell you about what I'm learning. But you'll have to narrow down what it is you want to learn about. And I can say. I already highly recommend the book!

- Cole
 
colebennett said:
Yeah, @Inprogress is right. I'm half way into the book and Gianetti has already used examples from dozens of movies - almost every page has a sample from a different film.

The book is a commentary on movies. To ask for a film that illustrates the points made in the book is like asking for the answer without knowing what the question is.

As an example:

I was watching the Walking Dead the other day, and the camera was slowly dollying in towards two characters who were talking. There was no music, they were outside during the day, and they were fenced in safely from the zombies - with no zombies to be seen. But it felt really uneasy. If I had watched that before reading the chapter on Mise en Scene in Gianetti's book, I would have felt the uneasiness that the makers of The Walking Dead intended to convey, but I wouldn't have known how they achieved it.

I now think it was chalked up to two big things:

1. The sound. It was quiet - almost awkwardly quiet.
2. Slowly tightening the framing (and this was more important in my opinion). Psychologically, tighter framing tends to convey a feeling of entrapment or confinement. As the camera moves slowly in on the characters, they're pushed to the very edges of the frame and we sense they're trapped in the frame. We can't see around them, which insinuates they are limited in where they can go. Because the story has already established that they are hiding out in an old abandoned prison, this shot choice very much fits the plot and reinforces the story.

That's just one example amidst hundreds in the book.

If you have a specific question, I'd be happy to tell you about what I'm learning. But you'll have to narrow down what it is you want to learn about. And I can say. I already highly recommend the book!

- Cole
Click to expand...

yes, well, in the 1st post i said it could be from few several films :)
it just will help me remember all the terms... if it's from a lot of other films it's a bit harder.
but yes it's a nice book. do you know about some other useful things? (maybe some good dvds that could teach you cinema?)
 
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