The Movie Project

The purpose of the movie project is to study a film in distinct minutae.

The shot sheets are designed to show how detailed you can be without inserting your opinion. Yes, the shots mean something, and yes, they have both symbolic an metaphoric significance, but that significance is understood once you gather the evidence.

The first part of the project, the shot sheet, tests how observant you are.

What I notice is that most people are excessively observant when it comes to things they like. A male or female can spot the price tag on a pair of shoes, or the type of rims on a car from across the street, and summarily they make it a point of personal necessity to know in-depth specifics of something if they think it is important.

Apply this concept to College--the difference is, that most students really don't wish to be in college--Sure they would like the percs that come with a degree--the better job, the paycheck, the respect of having a degree, but when it comes to the work, and the ability to teach something to yourself, most students are looking for the easy way out--what can the teacher teach me so I can do the minimal work.

This is something encountered over and over--and the truth of the matter is that professors go away--yes, they do, they move, they die, they stop teaching, but they are more than simply machines for spitting out everything you want to learn.

College is supposed to give you the tools with which to learn something yourself, long after you leave college--so that you can continue to learn yourself.

The movie project teaches you to look analytically, but the first part of the project is a gathering excersize. John Berger's book Ways of Seeing is a very short book, but what his book shows the student is is that looking is never enough. If one doesn't understand what one sees, then one had best look closely.

When doing this project pay very close attention to the things you see.

For the shot sheet, record what you see, no matter how insignificant it seems, no matter how small. Pay close attention. For this project, the pause button is going to be your friend.

Record the details of your shots as closely as possible--without opinion.

The First Shot

In order to really understand a film, you must find the first shot. How is this done? Within a film there are many shots, and the first usually shown is called the "Chronilogical First Shot." The Chronilogical First Shot is literally the first shot that comes after the Movie Company and Production Company Logos have Dissapeared.

In this opening to "Touch of Evil." The chronilogical first shot is in fact the first Conflict shot of the film, but this is not always the case. As you can see the Universal Logo is also a shot, and this is technically the first shot you, see, but what we are looking for is called the "Conflict Shot" or the "Opening Shot."

The first conflict shot, leads you then to the opening shots. Let me make this utterly clear, some filmmakers play around for a bit, but the way you usually know the first opening shot of something is there will be a conflict presented. This conflict is clearly connected to the plot. In Touch of Evil, the "opening shot" is the visual and setting of the bomb? The conflict here is very clear, a bomb has been activated, and it is going to go off.

Here is an example from "Chariots of Fire," This literally begins with a image of a church and the date 1978. This is the first Chronilogical shot of the film, but it is not the "Opening shot." We then cut to a old man talking about the "Death" of someone important, who was a member of a group of athletes who are now mostly dead, and then we cut to a shot of the runners running down the surf, the intensity and committment to the craft on their faces. One is slightly alive, when he runs, meaning, he feels almost angelic. Another is having a great time, running, and the front of his white shirt has caught quite a bit of mud from the running. Another is disciplined and serious and the last we clearly see has a pensive look on his face, as if running for him conflicts with something inside him--something we will soon find out about. These are the first shots of the film and essentially, they reveal everything about what we will soon be watching and everything is outlined from the beginning.