Film Analysis for Beginners

Mrs. Zwicker and Mrs. Prinz

So in this brief course we’ve tried to cover some central elements of film analysis. We were a tiny group, which made this work easy and personal and we got to know each other better as a result as well.
Starting with a scene of 4 minutes taken from the movie Forrest Gump, we first analyzed the plot, setting and the characters presented to us. In the next step, we concentrated on certain camera operations like field size, camera movement and camera angle.
Later on we had a look at how writers and screenplay writers created suspense and added our own ideas to the beginning of the novelization of the movie The Sixth Sense to make it even more captivating.
Up next we dealt with analysis of body language and had a look at different types of music and sounds being used for successful film production, taking Lalaland and Shutter Island as examples.
We wrapped up the project by watching Forrest Gump while working on different tasks like characterization of the protagonist, camera operations and/or sound effects. So much to analyze in that movie! 😄