Understanding Movies

Louis Giannetti is a Professor Emeritus of English and Film at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He has taught courses in film, literature, writing, drama, and humanities. He has published many articles, both popular and scholarly, on political subjects, literature, and drama. In addition to being a professional film critic for several years, he has written about movies for such scholarly journals as Literature/Film Quarterly, The Western Humanities Review, and Film Criticism. Professor Giannetti is also the author of a book on cinema theory, Godard and Others: Essays on Film Form, published in both Britain and the Unites States. Giannetti's other books include Masters of the American Cinema (Prentice Hall, 1981), a survey of American fiction films from the perspective of eighteen key figures. Flashback: A Brief History of Film, Sixth Edition (Allyn & Bacon, 2010), written with Scott Eyman, is a history organized by decade outlining the major events, trends, and important filmmakers and their work, with emphasis on the American cinema. Both books are copiously illustrated. Understanding Movies has been a bestselling text in all its previous editions, widely used in the United States and in such countries as Australia, Britain, Singapore, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and Japan.

In this Section: 1) Brief Table of Contents 2) Full Table of Contents 1) Brief Table of Contents Chapter 1: Photography Chapter 2: Mise en Scene Chapter 3: Movement Chapter 4: Editing Chapter 5: Sound Chapter 6: Acting Chapter 7: Dramatization Chapter 8: Story Chapter 9: Writing Chapter 10: Ideology Chapter 11: Critique Chapter 12: Synthesis 2) Full Table of Contents Chapter 1: Photography Realism and Formalism The Shots The Angles Light and Dark Color Lenses, Filters, and Stocks The Digital Revolution The Cinematographer Further Reading Chapter 2: Mise en Scene The Frame Composition and Design Territorial Space Proxemic Patterns Open and Closed Forms Further Reading Chapter 3: Movement Kinetics The Moving Camera Mechanical Distortions of Movement Further Reading Chapter 4: Editing Continuity D. W. Griffith and Classical Cutting Soviet Montage and the Formalist Tradition Andre Bazin and the Tradition of Realism Further Reading Chapter 5: Sound Historical Background Sound Effects Music Musicals Spoken Language Further Reading Chapter 6: Acting Stage and Screen Acting The American Star System Styles of Acting Casting Further Reading Chapter 7: Dramatization Time, Space, and Language The Director Settings and Decor Costumes and Makeup Further Reading Chapter 8: Story Narratology The Spectator The Classical Paradigm Realistic Narratives Formalistic Narratives Nonfictional Narratives Genre and Myth Further Reading Chapter 9: Writing The Screenwriter The Screenplay North by Northwest: the Screenplay Figurative Comparisons Point of View Literary Adaptations Further Reading Chapter 10: Ideology The Left-Center-Right Model Culture, Religion, and Ethnicity Feminism Queer Cinema Tone Further Reading Chapter 11: Critique Theories of Realism Formalist Film Theories The Auteur Theory Eclectic and Synthesizing Approaches Structuralism and Semiology Historiography Further Reading Chapter 12: Synthesis Photography Mise En Scene Movement Editing Sound Acting Dramatization Story Writing Ideology Critique Further Reading