Cinematic Language Invisibility 2024

LOOKING AT MOVIES
BEWARE OF THE FOLLOWING:
 CINEMATIC LANGUAGE
 CINEMATIC INVISIBILITY
 CINEMATIC MEANINGS
Cinematic language is the conventions of
cinema that are used to communicate with the
audience. Consider the literature conventions
used to deliver meaning/communicate with the
reader.
Literature often uses literary devices such as symbolism

or narration to portray meaning and communicate plot,
characterization, or themes. The same is done in
movies, but using cinematic devices.
Camera Angle
If the camera looks at a
character from a low angle, it
shows that the character is
important or powerful. If the
camera looks at a character
from a high angle, it can show
that the character is small
and weak.
Lighting and color
A dark or gloomy setting
makes the audience feel
tense or scared.
A colorful setting invites
the audience to feel
happy and warm.
The use of color in…
 The film is entirely in black and
white. The red coat, therefore,
stands out.
 The young girl in the red coat is
framed to be small and innocent
against the heavy backdrop, filled
with masses of people.
 It may symbolize hope, innocence,
and vitality amidst so much death
and destruction.
Performance
An actor’s performance is the
key to understanding their
emotions and character. They
can communicate this in
several ways, such as through
facial expressions, language,
or behavior.
Editing
As Michael is at a baptism becoming a
godfather, the film cross-cuts between the
church setting and Michael’s hits on his
rivals.
This is to show Michael’s range of characters.
Contrasting parallel scenes like this enables
the audience to gain an insight into
Michael’s psychological state.
 Cinematic invisibility
Cinematic makes the movie as
Invisibility immersive and
conveniently readable as
If you are watching a movie the way it
possible.
is designed to be experienced, there
is little time to contemplate the  Cinematic invisibility
various meanings of any single movie can manipulate the
moment. This situation creates viewer into perceiving
invisibility in movies, i.e., “things”
the scene in a way like
that we don’t realize because we
they are there in the
don’t have time to contemplate them.
movie.
Intentional
Cinematic Invisibility
The strategies filmmakers employ
to hide performance/actions from
the audience due to certain
“sensitive” reasons such as
violence.
Unintentional
Cinematic Invisibility
The “side-effects” of strategies employed
by filmmakers to “entertain” viewers.
 Viewers can be blind to “invisible” and
undesirable social, cultural, and
ideological messages.
 Films often ignore undesirable cultural
attitudes just as much as the audience
that watches them.
One key to entertaining customers:
Give them what they want;

reinforce their fundamental
desire or belief.
That’s why filmmakers favor stories and
themes that reinforce viewers’ shared
belief systems.
11
This explains why the
“Fast Furious” series
is so popular with
audiences, although,
in many parts, it
transgresses
acceptable and
desirable social
norms.
Its appeal to a more
fundamental value (family bonding) seems to touch society’s desires.
 No matter how many layers of
meaning a movie may have, each
layer is either explicit or implicit.
Cinematic  An implicit meaning lies below a

movie’s story and presentation. It
Meanings is an association, connection, or
(explicit, implicit,
referential) inference that a viewer makes
based on the explicit meanings
available in the movie.
Explicit Meaning
The movie is about a
rebellious but smart
sixteen-year-old girl who
gets pregnant and resolves
to tackle the problem
head-on. At first, she
decides to get an abortion,
but later, she decides to
find a couple to adopt the
kid after it’s born.
Implicit Meaning A teenager’s difficult
decision to make a
brave leap toward
adulthood.
The discovery that the
world of adults is no
less uncertain or
overwhelming than
adolescence.
Referential Meaning
The meaning depends on the
spectator’s ability to identify
specific items in the movie, for
example, the Great Depression in
America (in The wizard of Oz ).
A viewer unacquainted with such
information would miss some of
the meanings.
During the Depression, a
tornado takes a girl from her
family’s Kansas farm to the
mythical land of Oz. After a
series of adventures, she
returns home.
We call such meanings referential
because the film refers to things
or places already invested with
significance in the real world.
To understand cinematic language, to
reveal cinematic invisibility, and to
uncover the possible meanings of a
Closing film, a FORMAL ANALYSIS should be
Remarks conducted: an analysis primarily
concerned with film forms or the
means by which a subject is
expressed.
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LOOKING AT MOVIES

BEWARE OF THE FOLLOWING:

Literature often uses literary devices such as symbolism

Give them what they want;

Cinematic  An implicit meaning lies below a

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