Teach Yourself Film Studies (Teach
Yourself: General Reference) by
Warren Buckland
How To Watch Movies Like A Pro
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Teach Yourself Film Studies offers an unpretentious method for
learning how to analyze, understand, and evaluate films. It discusses the
most recent developments in film scholarship, with in-depth discussion of
contemporary films.
Personal Review: Teach Yourself Film Studies (Teach Yourself:
General Reference) by Warren Buckland
We all go to the movies, and some of us read the reviews in the
magazines and newspapers, or watch reviews on TV. if you're like me,

you've sometimes wondered why a movie you liked didn't get a good
review, or more interestingly, a movie you didn't like got a rave review.
What up? Why? Isn't a movie just a movie?
Well, no. Movies are a lot of things to a lot of people: a way to make a
living for some, a place in out of the cold for some, art for some. Some
movies we all sleep through, others keep us on the edge of our seats.
Others have scenes we still remember after so many years, like the
shower scene in Psycho, where Janet Leigh "gets it", at Bates Motel.
I think the answer is, the many of the people who make movies are very
smart, are very well versed in literature, art, sculpture, music, history. As
such, the movies they make or star in often seem to be a melding or
conglomeration of "all of the above". Often, unless we're very alert, these
things go over or past our head, and we don't consciously even notice
them, but they sink in, and stay with us.
So what should we be looking for, and how can we recognize it? One
place to start is to begin thinking like a screenwriter, or a director, or an
actor. This little book is a great start on how to do that.
Some chapter headings: Film Aesthetics: Formalism and Realism; Why is
the music the way it is? What emotions is it evoking in us? Why afre close-
ups used? Why long shots? Why is the camera moving? What is it trying to
tell us?
Film Structure: Narrative and Narration: whose perspective and point of
view is the camera taking? Why? How much of the plot doe we know, as
opposed to the principal characters?
Film Authorship: the Director as auteur: Which is more important: the script
or how it's interpreted into voice inflections, emotions and body language?
Were there phases, or periods, movies went through, and what does that
mean to us today?
Film Genres: Defining the Typical Film. This is sort of like putting numbers
on the backs of the players: we expect a certain "structure" in a western,
that we wouldn't expect it a slapstick farce or in a WW II based spy thriller.
Well, what are the basic structures?
the No-Fiction film: Five Types of Documentary. Do you feel a bit
uncomfortable watching a Michael Moore documentary? WE often forget
that in addition to Mr. Moore, there is a camera person, probably an audio
person, most likely a director, all there but out of sight. What might that tell
us about what we see on the eleven o'clock "news"?
I have a small library of books on film studies and film criticism. However, if
I could only have one, this book would be it. If you go to the movies for
anything other than a warm place out of the cold, or to eat popcorn in a

darkened room, get this book. It will make your movie watching infinitely
more interesting.
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