How To Watch A Film Without Preconceptions

The best way to watch a film is in a cinema with good sightlines and sound quality. If this isn’t possible, you should aim for as large a screen and as quiet an environment as you can manage at home. Ask friends who fancy themselves film-buffs or staff at independent cinemas for tips. Also, don’t be afraid to explore genres you’re unfamiliar with.

Set The Scene

Filmmakers understand that the audience won’t always pay attention to their work, so they do everything they can to grab the viewer’s attention and hold it. Often, this means setting the mood with music. Whether it’s a haunting song that puts you right in the middle of a spooky Gothic castle or a jangly disco tune that hints at the time period a story takes place, filmmakers use music to set the scene.

If you can, get a copy of the script for your film and read it while you watch. This will help you to understand the context of each scene and make notes about important elements, such as setting, character, and dialogue. It will also help you figure out how the director used lighting and other visual cues to create an atmosphere or evoke certain emotions in the audience.

Be Prepared

If you are going to use a ดูหนัง in class, it is worth watching it yourself first, in order to understand what you are asking the pupils to do. This could include preparing a list of questions, using the film glossary or displaying and discussing any new vocabulary or terms. It is important to watch the film without pre-judging it; whether or not a particular film works for you will be down to personal preference, your life experience or an appreciation of a certain genre. For instance, if you are a fan of revenge stories, then you are likely to respond to a film with a strong theme of vengeance differently than someone who doesn’t like these films.

It is also useful to watch the film with a focus on one or more specific techniques; for example how did they evoke emotion using sound, how does the lighting affect mood and how do the camera angles work together?

Take Notes

Taking notes is a crucial process for class work, studying, and notetaking on movies. Taking good notes can eliminate the need to pause, rewind, and replay a video and can also help students retain more of the information presented in a film.

For example, in performing arts, taking notes while watching a movie can be helpful for students who are trying to develop their skills. They can take note of things like a seasoned actor’s performance in a different kind of role or the cinematography that was used.

They can also take note of the plot, and analyze the characters. They can even evaluate the film’s themes and messages. This way, when they review their notes after the movie, they can better understand what the film was trying to say.

Be Patience

While a feel-good musical or cheesy rom com may inspire you, it’s also important to give yourself time to step back from the screen and be mindful of how it impacts your life. Immersing yourself too much in a fictional world could be unhealthy for you, especially if you compare your own struggles with those of the movie characters. It’s also a good idea to opt for bottled drinks rather than cans, and to schedule an intermission if your film is long or you’re watching with antsy children. You can use the break to take notes and pause the film for analysis.

As you watch the film again, focus on aspects of it that you might have missed the first time — like how the camera angles affect your understanding of on-screen relationships. This will help you be more critical of the film and develop your own analysis skills.

Enjoy

Research shows that people who attend a film in the cinema feel closer to their fellow audience members afterwards. That shared experience is thought to be down to the fact that moviegoers’ hearts beat in synchrony during ‘big emotional moments’ in the film. Try to view the film as a whole, realising that it’s only as good as all of its parts. The script, acting and cinematography are all important but composition, lighting, sound design, music and editing also contribute to the overall impact of a film.

Look at the film’s credits to discover its creative team, and check out reviews in newspapers or on online review aggregators. Watch the added features on DVD or Blu-ray too – commentaries, documentaries, intros and essays can be really useful in deepening your appreciation and understanding of a film.

Conclusion

The key is to approach films without preconceptions or expectations. Learn to notice how a film’s sound design makes or breaks a scene, or how its lighting or camera angles draw you into the story. You may also find that a particular film’s sense of humor or subject matter chimes with your own.