How valuable has ideological analysis been in developing your understanding of the themes in your chosen films? Ideology, in terms of filmmaking, relates to how the filmmaker represents a particular idea. This idea isn’t simply a narrative or stylistic one that serves that craft of the production, but instead a philosophy of sorts or a selection of values relating to society or us as individuals. It’s a specific perspective (the perspective of the main creative force behind the work, in this case the director). Different groups of people have unique and intricate beliefs about life and how to ..read more

How far do your chosen films demonstrate the importance of visual and soundtrack cues in influencing spectator response? Introduction: Begin by discussing the ideas relating spectatorship, specifically how both Beasts of The Southern Wild and La La Land conform to a subjective and emotionally evolving style of storytelling. Explain how this is achieved through varying cinematic techniques such as camera movement, sound, colour etc. Link this to the extremely stylised manner in which La La Land is told to adhere to a nostalgia cinematic sensibility as well as influencing how the audience respon ..read more

How valuable has ideological analysis been in developing your understanding of the themes in your chosen films? Introduction: Discuss ideas of audience response in relation to political or social intentions that come from the filmmaker. Explain that whilst films are often viewed as entertainment, they can also be a creative form of demonstrating or supporting an ideological standpoint. For example, some of the oldest and most famous of these come in the form of propaganda such as Sergei Eisenstein’s two 1925 films ‘Strike’ and ‘Battleship Potemkin’. Also discuss how audience members will apply ..read more

Context La La Land (Damien Chazelle, 2016) is a homage to old Hollywood and the iconic studio films of the golden age. It’s a film whose premise is completely based on the idea of cinematic ‘nostalgia’ as filmmaker Chazelle affectionately indulges in the pristine and glamorous artistry, techniques, and romanticism of a films from the past. Being nominated for multiple awards and most famously for Best Picture at the Academy in which the famous ‘mix up’ took place, the film tells the heartfelt, and heartbreaking, love story between the characters of Sebastian and Mia (played by Ryan Gosling and ..read more

Context Beasts Of The Southern Wild (Benh Zeitlin, 2012) is an award winning indie film which tells the story of a poor father and daughter living in a small Delta community under the threat of flood. The central character ‘Hushpuppy’ wants to find her mother as life gradually becomes more challenging and her father experiences a sickness. This drama follows the story of these two characters and all the problems they encounter in this particular environment of poverty. The film opened to fantastic reviews following its success at the Sundance film festival and would go on to be nominated for B ..read more

La La Land (Damien Chazelle, 2016) is a homage to old Hollywood and the iconic studio films of the golden age. It’s a film whose premise is completely based on the idea of cinematic ‘nostalgia’ as filmmaker Chazelle affectionately indulges in the pristine and glamorous artistry, techniques, and romanticism of a films from the past. Being nominated for multiple awards and most famously for Best Picture at the Academy in which the famous ‘mix up’ took place, the film tells the heartfelt, and heartbreaking, love story between the characters of Sebastian and Mia (played by Ryan Gosling and Emma St ..read more

Beasts Of The Southern Wild (Benh Zeitlin, 2012) is an award winning indie film which tells the story of a poor father and daughter living in a small Delta community under the threat of flood. The central character ‘Hushpuppy’ wants to find her mother as life gradually becomes more challenging and her father experiences a sickness. This drama follows the story of these two characters and all the problems they encounter in this particular environment of poverty. The film opened to fantastic reviews following its success at the Sundance film festival and would go on to be nominated for Best Pict ..read more

Ideology definition: “1. A belief system or world view; a coherent structure of thinking.” “2. A set of values shared by a social/cultural group.” Ideology, in terms of filmmaking, relates to how the filmmaker represents a particular idea. This idea isn’t simply a narrative or stylistic one that serves that craft of the production, but instead a philosophy of sorts or a selection of values relating to society or us as individuals. It’s a specific perspective (the perspective of the main creative force behind the work, in this case the director). Different groups of people have unique and intri ..read more

Spectatorship, in relation to how cinema is perceived, is a concept defined by how an individual responds to a film based on the contexts of the environment they view it in. This kind of environment being less of a physical one and more of a political, psychological or sociological perspective driven by opinions and morals and natural responses from the viewer. How a viewer infers meaning from the sound and imagery of a particular moment or overall narrative of a feature is what ‘spectatorship’ is concerned with. And yet it goes further than this as when analysing spectatorship, we are no long ..read more

Compare how far your chosen films reflect the auteur signature features of their filmmakers. It could be argued that both Michael Curtiz and Arthur Penn are filmmakers who prove themselves to be more the products of other artistic, economical or financial influences and not in any way ‘auteur’ figures of cinema. Casablanca (Michael Curtis, 1942) and Bonnie And Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) are two prime examples of each of their work that demonstrate that not only are these directors lacking in a sense of creative individualism, but that their application of style and cinematic technique are compl ..read more