French Impressionism. (Blog post 4)

For this blog post, i'm going to be writing about Menilmontant.

One of the most obvious stylistic devices used by the filmmaker to represent the subjectivity and emotional state of a character is the use to flashbacks. After the main female character has been seduced by the male character, she has flashbacks of her childhood. This is used possibly as contrast of the innocence and simplicity of childhood, or to foreshadow the birth of her own child. Nonetheless, by breaking the chronological order with memories of the past, it creates a melancholic tone and emphasizes the subjectivity of the main character.

Another example is the use of double exposure to express the point of view of the subject. One interesting scene where this is used is while the older sister is laying in bed. The film was edited to that at one moment you see the girl laying about in bed, looking at the alarm clock and then intermixed with that is double exposed images of a rapid street scene mixed with possibly images of a woman's body. It was as if the film maker was trying to show us inside the mind of the older sister.

The third way that the filmmaker used stylistic devices to represent the emotional state of a character is by using rapid montages. After the main female character gave birth to her child and is thinking about suicide there is a very intense moment where the film maker focuses on her eyes and and then mixes that shot with a rapid montage of a hectic street scene. Its almost as if the audience sees reality though the eyes of the girl and then sees the confusion and disparity on the close-up of the expressive face.

Blog post 3

Types of Meaning


1. Referential Meaning- A concrete plot summary, that refers to things or places already invested with        significance.

2. Explicit Meaning- A concrete, specific meaning that deals with the characters' change during the film. Change here mean their understanding of their dilemma, what they learn about their problems and themselves.  

3. Implicit Meaning- An abstract meaning that goes beyond what is explicitly stated in the film. It is a was to interpret the film.  

4. Symptomatic Meaning- Describing a film's meaning by explaining a particular set of social values that make up the point of the film.

Evaluation Criteria

1. Coherence- Whether the film has a sense of unity and all the parts are clearly connected. 

2. Intensity of Effect- Whether the film is vivid, striking and emotionally engaging. 

3. Complexity- Whether the film engages out interests on many levels, creating a multiplicity of relations among many separate formal elements, and tends to create intriguing patterns of feelings and meanings. 

4. Originality- When an artist takes a familiar convention and uses it in a way that makes it a fresh experience.

Principles of Film Form 

1.Function- The role of effect of any element within the film's form. 

2. Similarity and Repetition- Any significant repeated element in a film.  

3. Difference and Variation- Significant deviations from what is expected or established. 

4. Development- A progression moving from beginning through middle to end. 

4. Unity and Disunity- How relationships in a film are interwoven and how communicative and cohesive it is.