SUSSEX COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CINEMA:
COURSE MODULES

Professor Gary Mielo

MODULE TWO: ESTABLISHING A FILM VOCABULARY (Jan. 31 - Feb. 13) Every art form has its own special vocabulary. Because film embraces a great deal of technical as well as aesthetic elements, there are some very important concepts that you need to understand. These will serve to enhance your appreciation of the films we will be screening this semester. Discussing his film PSYCHO, Alfred Hitchcock in the book HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT (A Touchstone Book) is quoted as saying, "I don't care about the subject matter; I don't care about the acting; but I do care about the pieces of film and the photography and the sound track and all of the technical ingredients that made the audience scream." So, let's examine some of the more important "technical ingredients." Log onto SOFIA's "Camera" section. The URL for this is homepages.unl.ac.uk/sofia/camera/index.html. Within this section, examine: "Introduction," "Elements of Cinematography," "Cinematography," "Framing," "Mise-en-Scene," "Space," "Movement," and "Shots."Feel free to peruse any other sections that interest you. If you are unclear or have any questions about a concept, e-mail me.