Table Of Content82751 00 i-xxii r10 rp 8/24/09 12:04 PM Page i
THIRD EDITION
LOOKING AT
MOVIES
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T H I R D E D I T I O N
LOOKING AT
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Barsam, Richard Meran.
Looking at movies : an introduction to film / Richard Barsam and Dave Monahan.—3rd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-393-93279-9 (pbk.)
1. Motion pictures. 2. Cinematography. I. Monahan, Dave, 1962– II. Title.
PN1994.B313 2009
791.43—dc22
2009033758
ISBN 978-0-393-11652-6 (ebook)
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110
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MOVIES
AN INTRODUCTION TO FILM
RICHARD BARSAM & DAVE MONAHAN
B
W. W. NORTON & COMPANY
NEW YORK • LONDON
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About the Authors
RICHARD BARSAM (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is
Professor Emeritus of Film Studies at Hunter College, City University of
New York. He is the author of Nonfiction Film: A Critical History (rev. and
exp. ed., 1992), The Vision of Robert Flaherty: The Artist as Myth and
Filmmaker(1988), In the Dark: A Primer for the Movies(1977), and Filmguide
to “Triumph of the Will”(1975); editor of Nonfiction Film: Theory and Criticism
(1976); and contributing author to Paul Monaco’s The Sixties: 1960–1969
(Vol.8 in the History of the American Cinema series, 2001) and Filming
Robert Flaherty’s “Louisiana Story”: The Helen Van Dongen Diary (ed. Eva
Orbanz, 1998). His articles and book reviews have appeared in Cinema
Journal, Quarterly Review of Film Studies, Film Comment, Studies in Visual
Communication, and Harper’s. He has been a member of the Executive
Council of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies and the Editorial
Board ofCinema Journal,and he cofounded the journal Persistence of Vision.
DAVE MONAHAN(M.F.A., Columbia University) is an Associate Professor
of Film Studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. His work as
a writer, director, or editor includes Ringo (2005); Monkey Junction (2005);
Prime Time (1996); and Angels Watching over Me (1993). His work has been
screened internationally in over fifty film festivals and has earned numerous
awards, including the New Line Cinema Award for Most Original Film
(Prime Time) and the Seattle International Film Festival Grand Jury Prize
for Best Animated Short Film (Ringo).
ABOUT THE AUTHORS v
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Contents
To Students xiii
About the Book xv
Acknowledgments xix
CHAPTER 2 Principles of Film
Form 27
Learning Objectives 28
CHAPTER 1 Looking at Movies 1 Film Form 28
Form and Content 28
Learning Objectives 2
Form and Expectations 33
Looking at Movies 2
Patterns 35
What Is a Movie? 3
Fundamentals of Film Form 39
Ways of Looking at Movies 5
Movies Depend on Light 39
Invisibility and Cinematic Language 7
Movies Provide an Illusion of Movement 42
Cultural Invisibility 9
Movies Manipulate Space and Time in Unique
Implicit and Explicit Meaning 11 Ways 44
Viewer Expectations 13
Realism and Antirealism 50
Formal Analysis 14
Verisimilitude 52
Alternative Approaches to Analysis 20
Cinematic Language 53
Analyzing Movies 23
Screening Checklist: Looking at Movies 23 Analyzing Movies 56
Questions for Review 24 Screening Checklist: Principles of Film Form 56
Movies Described or Illustrated in This Chapter 24 Questions for Review 57
Movies Described or Illustrated in This Chapter 57
CONTENTS vii
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CHAPTER 3 Types of Movies 59 CHAPTER 4 Elements of
Narrative 113
Learning Objectives 60
The Idea of Narrative 60 Learning Objectives 114
Types of Movies 64 What Is Narrative? 114
Narrative Movies 64 The Screenwriter 115
Documentary Movies 65 Evolution of a Typical Screenplay 116
Experimental Movies 70
Elements of Narrative 119
Hybrid Movies 76 Story and Plot 120
Genre 78 Order 125
Genre Conventions 81 Events 127
Theme 81 Duration 128
Setting 82 Suspense versus Surprise 132
Presentation 82
Repetition 133
Character Types 83
Characters 134
Story Formulas 83
Stars 83 Setting 138
Scope 139
Six Major American Genres 83
Narration and Narrators 140
Gangster 83
Looking at Narrative: John Ford’s
Film Noir 86
Science Fiction 89 Stagecoach 142
Horror 92 Story 142
The Western 95 Plot 144
The Musical 98 Order 144
Diegetic and Nondiegetic Elements 144
Evolution and Transformation of Genre 101
Events 144
What about Animation? 103 Duration 147
Analyzing Types of Movies 108 Suspense 147
Screening Checklist: Types of Movies 108 Repetition 147
Questions for Review 109 Characters 147
Movies Described or Illustrated in This Chapter 109 Setting 147
Scope 149
Narration 149
Analyzing Elements of Narrative 151
Screening Checklist: Elements of Narrative 151
Questions for Review 151
Movies Described or Illustrated in This Chapter 152
viii CONTENTS
