MDA1700 - Week One

In the week one lecture and seminar, we spent time looking at the different ways film can be studied from a theoretical point of view, and different ideas and studies which have had an effect on film theory.

Different ideas we looked at were Gestalt Psychology and the work of Hugo Munsterburg, the general indication of which are that film viewing is a dynamic activity in which the mind is actively piecing together and making sense of the information, which is supported by Russian Psychological experiments, in which one unrelated image was placed between a shot of a man looking off-screen, and audiences made deductions about the footage they had seen.

While some of the methods of film study I have studied before, (such as Genre, Auteurism, Historical/Cultural, Semiotics and Feminist,) several of the other types and theories we looked at i had never come across before, so I found understanding them interesting and challenging.

For the film screening part of the module, we viewed 'Modern Times' (Charlie Chaplain, 1936, U.S.).
I found the film very entertaining, and I found the social satire (of the industrial revolution, and the state of the economy and employment at that time,) very interesting, especially when considering the similar problems faced by today's economy, do I find it easier to pick upon and understand the messages Chaplain was trying to portray in the film.

Another point I found interesting was the use of sound in the film, as it was a predominantly silent film, which was made after the inclusion of sound in mainstream cinema (which I feel is also a comment on the technological advancement at that time, and perhaps Chaplain's feeling towards the technology).
For most of the film, the only spoken dialogue to be heard was the voice of the factory boss at the start, who is monitoring and communicating with his workers on the large screens, and the voice advertising the 'Lunch-Machine'. I found it interesting that the only characters with spoken dialogue (a technological advancement) at the start were those who were affiliated with technology and/or a position of power in the economy, and I feel this fits in well with the messages and satire behind the film.