Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Response to Lotman Reading

In the reading, Lotman analyzes how we watch a film. He notes that we bring in outside information that influences our reaction to the film, and mentions that we notice different things when watching a film multiple times because we cannot absorb everything in only one viewing.

A point he brings up that I thought was most interesting is the idea that every single aspect of a film is purposeful, and must be taken into account when critiquing a film. This includes subtle things such as lighting and camera angle, besides story and acting. Semiotics come into play here, as they influence all of the aforementioned things; the text talks about how actors' costumes, expressions, body language and general behaviors are all semiotic cues for the audience to interpret them as a character.

Because of this complicated array of semiotics, many people have a hard time noticing all of the aspects put into a film. Therefore, Lotman says that people will skim over sections or aspects of a film that they don't understand semiotically. For instance, if you do not understand the significance of lighting in a film. chances are you will not pay much attention to the lighting in a film unless it was blatantly obvious (I'm thinking of something like Sin City or 300, but some people may skim over even that).

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