Introduction to Film Analysis

Michael Ryan is Emeritus Professor in the Center for the Arts at Temple University, USA. His books include Marxism and Deconstruction (1982), Politics and Culture (1989), Camera Politica (1988), An Introduction to Criticism (2012), and Literary Theory: A Practical Introduction (2017). His book, Politics and Evolution: Conservatism and Liberalism in Human History, is forthcoming. He is at work on a book entitled The Politics of Form.Melissa Lenos is Chair of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Donnelly College in Kansas City, USA. Her primary areas of research are narratology and media pedagogy and her work has appeared in Cinema Journal: In Focus, Antenna, and In Media Res. She is co-author (with Kevin L. Ferguson) of the forthcoming Generation X: The Popular Culture that Defined the MTV Generation.

• IntroductionMeaning in MoviesShot-by-Shot AnalysisWriting About Film: The Art of Active ViewingPart 1: Technique and Meaning1. Composition2. Camera Work3. Editing4. Set Design5. Lighting6. Sound7. Color8. Narration9. Structure, Character, Motif10. Film Style: Realism and ExpressionismPart 2: Critical Analysis11. Historical Criticism12. Structuralist Criticism13. Psychological Criticism14. Ideological Criticism15. Gender Criticism16. Ethnic Criticism17. Post-Colonial / Transnational Criticism18. Post-Structuralist Criticism19. Political Criticism20. Evolutionary Theory21. Affect & EmotionPart 3: Sample Analyses22. The Birds23. The Shining24. Vagabond25. In the Mood for Love26. Before the Devil Knows You're DeadStudent AssignmentsFurther ReadingBibliographyIndex

An exceptionally clear and thorough account of the explicit and implicit ways that narrative cinema makes meaning for viewers. Filled with lucid writing and a profitably wide variety of examples, An Introduction to Film Analysis empowers students to analyze film technique from a range of diverse perspectives.