An Introduction to Film Analysis

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. * Kevin L. Ferguson, Associate Professor, Queens College, CUNY, USA * This step-by-step guide to film analysis by Ryan and Lenos is full of beautiful and instructive photography to make the art of moving images come alive on the page. It will entice students into a passion for film through its sophisticated and thorough discussions of a wide range of films, including historical classics, contemporary movies, independent films, and global cinema. This is a textbook that teaches by doing, modeling different approaches to film analysis through thorough and insightful case studies of a unique set of films, including The Silence of the Lambs, Mildred Pierce, Run, Lola, Run, and others. Worthy of special note, Ryan and Lenos provide accessible and productive tools for teachers, including student assignment instructions for specific clips from different films that invite students to develop and demonstrate their analytical skills. Through their many examples, the authors empower students to articulate not only how they react to a movie but also why, drawing clear lines between the cinematic vocabulary they are building with the work of meaning making. * Karen Petruska, Assistant Professor in Communication Studies, Gonzaga University, USA *