Wow!

Monday, June 3, 2011

How Do I Do This Movie Analysis?

1. Characters

Protagonist – main character

-       character’s Before and After – How do we meet the lead, and what is wrong with him/her? And then, after the “process” of the plot, how does he/she change? How does he/she end up? What has he/she learned?

-       How does the movie make you like/love/care about this lead?  What attributes does he/she have?

-       What is the quest or the conflict or the problem or the drive or the engine for this lead?

-       Deeper things – symbolism? Anything there that teaches us something? Any lesson?

Next character – because it could be the antagonist, or the best friend, or the husband, or whatever – you can choose the second most important character and do the same for him/her – thing you might notice – he/she will have less to do, less to change, less to learn

2. Plot

What happens? Why is it good? Why is this exciting or interesting? Is there anything new or surprising? Assume that surprise might be good in a movie. Assume that you are trying to figure out if this is worth watching.

A good plot pulls the viewer in. We are IN the story.

What is at stake? What is to be gained or lost? Is it big enough to hook you?

You might examine the plot thinking about that pattern I showed you. (ie Taken)

3. Technical Elements

The way the movie is made.

Camera work, lighting, editing, special effects, costumes, make up, stunts, action set pieces (action scenes that require “stuff” to happen in a big way), sets, props, design, etc

What do we say about these things? – good or bad, and why so?

This is the Level 4 type observation – this is the good mark stuff

4. Music and sound – again, level 4 stuff – stuff most people don’t notice – makes a huge difference in some movies – you want to point out where it works and where it might not