The Theory of Cinema and Film

To start of, Yuri Lotman talks about a lot of interesting issues when it comes to the semiotics of cinema. I agree with this ideas that as with everything in life there is some sort of language. When it comes to cinema, there are a number of languages out there. I'm not just talking about actual linguistics here. I'm talking about the language that the director share with his audience. The deep profound underlying subliminal messages that a video might have. These messages aren't obvious, because they're not supposed to be. They do however communicate something to us and that in itself is cinema language. With cinema, you have to look out for a number of things because everything is broken down into shots, so the canvas is broad and the opportunity to interpret something is there, you just have to look for it. It's great when in cinema you see something metaphorical, and you interpret it as something personal in your life. It evokes emotions and past experiences that can be figurative or literal. It all has to do with shots, and how they are broken apart and it's a wonderful thing how meanings change from shot to shot, and learning how to capture those meanings as a viewer is a great thing. Sure films are made for mainly entertainment purposes, but every film has some sort of rooted message or theme. While a movie may seem shallow, when analyzed and dug deeper in it's core, the true meanings are brought to the surface.

Sergei Eisenstein was considered one of the greatest film makers in the 20th century. His theory of montage really gets you thinking about the acctual characteristics of a film and how it's broken up to little bits and pieces for analysis. Films are linked together by scenes and those scenes provoke some sort of emotional response. The emotional response is brought upon us by certain techniques like the volume of the soundtrack, lighting, directions, close and long shots and the duration something is filmed. Eisenstein argues that a montage isn't just shot after shot as it is used like blocks to make a building. Montages are what links the movie together emotionally, not technically. He wanted to focus on the fact that cutting up images of reality allows us to create emotional responses in people. These are then the foundations of our sensations, emotions and ideas.