Ib film 1: W24. 1 Film Research Techniques

You will be spending time learning the different modes of discussing film and how the fan, the critic, and the academic all have different approaches to coming to terms with the same film-going experience.

Eventually, you will have to be comfortable in all these modes yourself, especially for the two external assessment components of IB Film - Textual Analysis and Comparative Study (IS).

Both of these assessments will call for you to do research.

Luckily, you have a tool film scholars in the past did not have available to them - the Internet.

However, researching film is not as easy as just calling up your favorite search engine, like Google, and typing in the name of the film.

To get to the really worthwhile analysis of film theory and history, you must do a bit of digging.

There are excellent places to begin searching.

We will trace a path through what is out there in the Internet world of film analysis, and hopefully, by the end, you should have a solid sense of where to go looking when you start a search of your own.

Start With a Film You Admire

It is, of course, possible to use anything as a launching point for an investigation - a point brought up in a lecture, something someone said in class, something you saw on the special features of a movie.

However, if you are stuck, you can always just start with a film you really like, even if you do not completely know why you like it.

In fact, a great thing about researching a film you like is the knowledge when you are done researching you will know it a whole lot better, and your admiration for it will go from instinctive pleasure (the casual audience) to conscious appreciation (the critic and academic).

One of the more compelling films of recent years, and one you have probably seen or heard about (do not worry if you have not) is Christopher Nolan's Inception (2010).

After seeing the film, I am reminded of Nolan's other great films like The Dark Knight (2008) and Memento (2000).

I remember really liking Memento, talking about it for weeks with friends, discussing it, debating it.

When it came out on DVD, I bought it and watched it over and over.  I am looking at it right now on my shelf.

I know there is plenty of stuff in there to build an TA around. It is a film I admire deeply. I start there.