The Art of Watching Films Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Art of Watching Films - Essay Example But this is not as simple as it apparently looks like. Time and again in the history of cinema, the chemistry of success has eluded the most talented of filmmakers and producers. It’s been seen an umpteen number of times that films that had promised sensational performances fell flat on their faces upon release. On the other hand, many films that had initially been panned by critics managed to generate remarkable following later on. Despite this ambiguous analogy with no particular frame of reference to success, cinema is widely acknowledged to be a potent aesthetic medium, much in the same league of painting, music, literature, and drama. In defense of cinema as a visual medium of singularity, Boggs and Petrie (1999) argue that films are different from literature or other art forms in that they capture the essence of good, old-fashioned private reading just as much as the tokens of mass culture. In a way, motion pictures are compendiums of all the aesthetic and technical details associated with other independent art forms. It compounds within a single unit narrative of the novel, interplay between the audio and the visuals of the drama, synchronization of music, and textures of painting. The final outcome of such a blending is quite unique to say the least. This is because motion pictures allow for a freedom of watching as well as interpreting. There is always a mobility of expression and sense of displacement involved with films, which are conveyed through the deployment of light, sound and dialogs (p. 2). Moreover, the use of space can be regulated at will by using rapid camera movements. This also allows for alterations in perspectives for the viewers (Manchel, 1990, p. 98).