Critical Eye

Well, I haven't posted much on this book because I read it before class began so I had to skim my notes on it today. I think the book was incredibly interesting! I have written and directed dramas for community and religious organizations since I was 17 and still had no idea what all went into the making of a film. Wow! Anyway, I now have 3 sets of notes on this book: things I could use in drama to enhance the message and presentation, things I think will be important in studying jazz in film, and movies I want to watch again. For instance, I had no idea that Alfred Hitchcock used the same shot 3-4 times in 'Rear Window' and that we automatically attribute the 'appropriate' emotions to the character being shown based on the content he appears to be viewing (Jimmy Stewart). I had to rewatch that movie just because of this book! I had never caught that before!

The fact that film directors have even used a wheelchair to move a camera through doorways seems so funny to me. I guess my one comment on film-making is that I feel film companies do not have to be as creative nowadays as they used to be. Thanks to computer graphics, one can achieve astonishing special effects without really going out on the limb. I guess that's why I value older films much, much more; the crews had to have ingenuity to create the effects. Sometimes their attempts worked really well and other times, they are noticeably staged. The interesting part to me is trying to figure out what they did to create the image. This book really gave me a lot of insight! I loved it! (Of course, I'm a movie buff for these older films, mentioned within the book.)