A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

FM4: VARIETIES OF FILM EXPERIENCE
– ISSUES AND DEBATES
Focus of the unit
This unit contributes to synoptic assessment. Understanding will be
fostered through:
Studying complex films from different contexts, extending knowledge
of the
Diversity of film and its effects
Exploring spectatorship issues in relation to a particular type of film
Applying key concepts and critical approaches gained throughout the
course to explore one film in a synoptic manner.

FM4
Varieties of Film Experience: Issues and Debates
Three questions, one from each section:
Section A: World Cinema topics (35)
Section B: Spectatorship topics (35)
Section C: Single Film - Critical Study (30)

FM4
Exam is 2 hours 45 mins.
Total of 100 marks available.
Spectatorship (Section B) is worth of 35 marks.

FM4
This section is broken down to a further 4 areas:
A Spectatorship and Early Cinema before 1917 or
B Spectatorship and Documentary or
C Spectatorship: Experimental and Expanded Film/Video or
D Spectatorship: Popular Film and Emotional Response

FM4
This section is broken down to a further 4 areas:
A Spectatorship and Early Cinema before 1917 or
B Spectatorship and Documentary or
C Spectatorship: Experimental and Expanded Film/Video or
D Spectatorship: Popular Film and Emotional
Response

FM4 Section B // Sub-section
D
This study is concerned with the ways in which popular film (whether
deriving from Hollywood or elsewhere) produces powerful sensory and
emotional responses in the spectator. It is possible to focus on a
particular genre – such as horror and consider shock effects – or the
melodrama as 'weepie'. Alternatively, the focus may be on spectacle,
whether relating to the body of the star or to the staging/choreography of
action. This topic is not concerned specifically with either issues of
representation or value judgements but rather with developing
understanding about how films create the emotional responses they do. It
is expected that a minimum of two feature-length films will be studied for
this topic.

Lesson 1: What is emotion?
TASK:
Compile a list of the various types of emotional
response a film might elicit

TASK:
How would you define emotion, or an emotional
response?

Write this down:
What exactly is emotion, or emotional response?
A moving of the mind or soul; excitement of the
feelings, whether pleasing or painful; disturbance or
agitation of mind caused by specific exciting cause
and manifested by some sensible effect on the body

Can we control our emotions?
To what extent should emotions be seen to be
linked to thought? To what extent should
emotions be seen to be linked to thought?

As we watch films we can each experience fear, and pleasure, and desire, and surprise, and shock
and a whole array of possible emotions, but we will not all experience these emotions equally at the
same moments in a film
TASK:
What is that determines our individual predisposition to respond in particular
emotional ways at certain points in certain films?
Think carefully about this but don’t worry about a right answer, this is the debate.
Your job is to recognise that there is an intense interaction with the sounds and images occurring as
we watch films, and that film makers are deliberately setting out to create emotional responses.

As we watch films we can each experience fear, and pleasure, and desire, and surprise, and shock
and a whole array of possible emotions, but we will not all experience these emotions equally at the
same moments in a film
TASK:
What technical elements can a film maker use to create and
develop the reaction in an audience?
Extension: Think back to a scene that you had an emotional reaction to.
What was the scene? What was your reaction? Why do you think you acted in that way?

TASK:
What technical elements can a film maker use to create and
develop the reaction in an audience?

How does a (film) camera
work?
• Can you explain how a traditional film camera works?

How does a (film) camera
work?• The chemical component in a traditional camera is film. Essentially, when you
expose film to a real image, it makes a chemical record of the pattern of light. It
does this with a collection of tiny light-sensitive grains, spread out in a chemical
suspension on a strip of plastic. When exposed to light, the grains undergo a
chemical reaction. Once the roll is finished, the film is developed -- it is exposed to
other chemicals, which react with the light-sensitive grains. In black and white film,
the developer chemicals darken the grains that were exposed to light. This
produces a negative, where lighter areas appear darker and darker areas appear
lighter, which is then converted into a positive image in printing. Color film has
three different layers of light-sensitive materials, which respond, in turn, to red,
green and blue. When the film is developed, these layers are exposed to chemicals
that dye the layers of film. When you overlay the color information from all three
layers, you get a full-color negative.

Birth of Cinema
Cinema is made possible by the camera. Cameras, traditionally, let light into a
darkened box which then captured a ‘picture’ of what the camera lens saw by
imprinting this on film.
Moving cameras used the same idea, but captured many frames a second that,
when played back quickly, showed that the images were “moving”.
Imagine a flip book.
Cinema is concerned almost exclusively with spectacle and reaction. By using
moving images, an audience can be ‘made’ to feel all sorts of reactions.
If we are not concerned with moving the audience in some way, all that we seek
to do is tell the truth, to show what is real.
What genre or style of film making is concerned with showing “truth”?

Documentary
Documentary is an art form that has developed and changed dramactically
since the birth of cinema.
Films, to begin with, were concerned almost exclusively with capturing a
version of ‘real life’ on film, of showing moving images as reality.
This is most clearly the case for the Lumiere brothers who pioneered the idea of
a video camera and who documented Parisian life through the lens of cameras.

Exiting the Factory
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO0EkMKfgJI

Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat
(The Lumière Brothers, 1895)

Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat
(The Lumière Brothers, 1895)
Even this film footage, presented as real life through a camera lens, provoked
reactions from the audience.
What could those reactions have been? How might the spectators of the time
reacted to this film? Why?
What kind of reaction
do we have watching?
Why?
What kind of reaction
might have audiences
then have had? Why?
Here are some of
the Lumière
Brothers’ other
early works.

Georges Melies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4MnFACzKfQ&list=PLBC353D7404F439

The Great Train Robbery
(1903)
The Great Train Robbery is a 1903 American Western film written, produced, and directed by
Edwin S. Porter. 12 minutes long, it is considered a milestone in film making, expanding on
Porter's previous work Life of an American Fireman. The film used a number of innovative
techniques including cross cutting, double exposure composite editing, camera movement
and on location shooting. Cross-cuts were a new, sophisticated editing technique. Some
prints were also hand colored in certain scenes.
• The film was directed and photographed by Edwin S. Porter, a former Edison Studios
cameraman. Actors in the movie included Alfred C. Abadie, Broncho Billy Anderson and
Justus D. Barnes, although there were no credits. Though a Western, it was filmed in
Milltown, New Jersey. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry.

The emotional response
that some audiences would
have had to The Great Train
Robbery are drastically
different to ours. Why is
that?
Compile a list of reasons why that is.Compile a list of reasons why that is.
Emotional
response

Emotion response
What do you define emotion as now?
For the most part we’ll be dealing with cognitive responses.
Can our emotional response be different to someone else’s if
we watch the same film film? Why?
The mental process of knowing, including aspects
such as awareness, perception, reasoning, and
judgement, that which comes to be known as through
perception, reasoning or intuition; knowledge.
The mental process of knowing, including aspects
such as awareness, perception, reasoning, and
judgement, that which comes to be known as through
perception, reasoning or intuition; knowledge.

Why people share emotional
responses
Film Studies and Cultural Studies Film Studies, influenced by Cultural
Studies is increasingly likely to centre on local, small scale and precise
groups of people who share, perhaps, some social or political
‘Formation’. Their behaviour both as individuated spectators and as a
collective of people forming an audience is likely to be understood if we
respect and try to understand the importance of particular life
experiences and social; attitudes they bring with them to the viewing
situation.
What does this mean?!
In your own words, try to explain how we can be sure that people share
emotional responses.

Why people share emotional
responses
Groups of people may share a social or political group/formation.
You can be an individual with a specific and unique response, but you
can still ‘belong’ to a group of similar people as an audience.
We need to be able to understand and appreciate both.
You = cry at people who don’t win on quiz shows.
Audience = doesn’t cry.
Still aligned as an
audience because of
your appreciation
for that quiz show.

Hypodermic Needle Theory
This Theory is a suggestion that the Media (in this case, Film) has a
direct and powerful affect on its audience.
The HNT states that the Media can invoke change on those who
are exposed to it.
The use of advertising suggests that this theory is true-that by
using the Media to tell someone something, they will go along with
it. An example of this would be Hitler’s use of the Media in
promoting Nazi propaganda.
The title, Hypodermic Needle Theory, refers to the idea of directly
injecting the audience with an idea to create a response.

Hypodermic Needle
Theory
Here you can see how we,
as individuals, are treated
as one audience. The film (mass media
product) treats us as one
person, directly trying to
influence us at once.

Creating a ‘message’ for the
audience.
The HNT suggests that this decoding is not
really needed. We are ‘forced’ the message.

Case Study: War of the Worlds
• This classic example of The Hypodermic Needle Theory occurred on October
30th
1938 when Orson Welles broadcast a version of the H.G Wells novel War of
the Worlds.
• As a radio program with music started, it was then ‘interrupted’ by an
‘emergency broadcast’ by an apparent news bulletin. The bulletin told the
audience that Martians had begun an invasion of Earth in a place called
Grover’s Mill, New Jersey, America.
• This became known as the “Panic Broadcast” and changed broadcast history,
social psychology, civil defense and set a standard in provocative
entertainment. (Found footage?!) Around 1 million people in the US heard the
broadcast and approximately 1 million of those apparently believed that a
serious alien invasion was underway.

Case Study: War of the Worlds
• A wave of mass hysteria and panic disrupted households, interrupted religious
services, caused traffic jams and clogged communication systems. People fled their
homes in the city to seek shelter in more rural areas, raided grocery stores and began
to ration food. In some ways, the nation was in chaos, caused by the broadcast.
• Media theorists have classified the War of the Worlds broadcast as the perfect
example of the Hypodermic Needle Theory: the broadcast ‘injected’ the message
directly into the audience and created the same thinking for the audience-that
aliens were invading.
Broadcast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=xGUuUudv53k
Apology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2awVqsoLAKI

Criticisms of the Hypodermic
Needle Theory
The War of the Worlds case study apparently showed that the
media could directly influence and manipulate a passive and
gullible audience.
However, it also assumes that audiences are the same, that
audiences are a whole group, taking away the influence on the
individual.

Criticisms of the Hypodermic
Needle Theory
• The theory was deterministic and this did not allow for freedom of
choice. The audience were ‘injected’ with a one way propaganda.
From this light, one can confidently say that the theory undermines
the right of individuals to freely choose what media material they
consume. The theory is also noted for its passitivity and evidenced
by the fact that audience were not allowed to contribute. This
undermines the core aim of media studies which is the audience.
From the latter, one can argue that the audience could not use their
experience, intelligence and opinion to analyse messages. It will be
very difficult to operate this theory in this new world where the
audience have become sophisticated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt5MjBlvGcY <-------- Handy video for revision!

Summary of Hypodermic
Needle Theory
Name of theory:
General theory:
Positives (with example/s):
Criticisms:

Spectatorship
One of the reasons why the Hypodermic Needle theory was
discredited is because it undermines the role of the individual
spectator.
A spectator is an individual member of an audience. Spectatorship
is an important concept in film theory. Traditional models of
audience response tend to treat viewers, readers or listeners as
groups, spectatorship study suggests that the film builds a specific
relationship with every individual who experiences it. Rather than
being concerned with media effects, spectatorship study focuses
on understanding the ways films produce pleasure in their viewers.

Responses
Our response to a film draws on the whole of the self, a self that includes:
A social self who can make meaning in ways not very different from other with a
similar ideological formation
A cultural self who makes particular intertextual references (to other films, other
kinds of images and sound) based on the bank of material s/he possesses
A private self who carried the memories of his/her own experiences and who may
find person significance in a film in ways very different from others
A desiring self who brings conscious and unconscious energies and intensities to
the film event that have little to do with the film’s ‘surface’ content

Responses
Use of celebrities and the jokes about them in Family Guy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlVUKQ96VxI
Shrek fighting using ‘Bullet Time’
http://moviesimpsons.tumblr.com/
http://www.totalfilm.com/features/100-greatest-simpsons-movie-
references/harry-potter-and-the-philosopher-s-stone
Tarantino references
http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6860507/every-pop-culture-reference-from-
tarantino-movies
Use of celebrities and the jokes about them in Family Guy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlVUKQ96VxI
Shrek fighting using ‘Bullet Time’
http://moviesimpsons.tumblr.com/
http://www.totalfilm.com/features/100-greatest-simpsons-movie-
references/harry-potter-and-the-philosopher-s-stone
Tarantino references
http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6860507/every-pop-culture-reference-from-
tarantino-movies

Responses
Our response to a film draws on the whole of the self, a self that includes:
A social self who can make meaning in ways not very different from others with a
similar ideological formation.
http://cli.ps/sP6wn
http://cli.ps/uWp3L
http://cli.ps/MxCyj
http://cli.ps/KdPx
Write down your responses to these
clips.
Emotions, reactions, thoughts, opinions.
Do we share any?

Responses
• A private self who carried the memories of his/her own experiences and who may
find person significance in a film in ways very different from others
• Films which are especially brash, obvious or shallow in theme are unlikely to
provoke a strong personal response. Action films, for example, are not usually
something which someone could find a significant response in. (By significant we
mean anything other than the ‘basic’ instant emotions of gratification.)
• Films which are more subtle, dealing in themes, often universal ones but on a
micro level, are more likely to provoke a personal response because they allow for
a degree of interpretation or interaction. A specific response may be triggered by
something specific in, or suggested by, the film, but this is entirely down to the
spectator.
Can you think of any specific personal examples that you’d care to share? If not, think of an example or
two and make a note to help you recall this idea at a later stage.

• A desiring self who brings conscious and unconscious energies and
intensities to the film event that have little to do with the film’s ‘surface’
content.
Responses
Your turn.
What do you think this means? Can you rephrase it?
Can you think of any examples in films that you’d be willing to share?

Responses
The opening scenes to V for Vendetta.The opening scenes to V for Vendetta.
How do we respond? Make a note of these whilst watching.How do we respond? Make a note of these whilst watching.
Then, can you explain what type of response it is?Then, can you explain what type of response it is?
What self/selves has(have) helped to create that response?What self/selves has(have) helped to create that response?
Feel free to not share any difficult personal responses, butFeel free to not share any difficult personal responses, but
certainly make a note of them.certainly make a note of them.

Responses
How are these responses created by the filmHow are these responses created by the film
makers?makers?
Combine your understanding of response withCombine your understanding of response with
that of film-making and criticism.that of film-making and criticism.
Prepare to answer an essay question on this…Prepare to answer an essay question on this…

Emotional response and
pleasure• Filmmakers have always attempted to gain some sort of emotional response
from spectators, and for their part spectators have always responded
emotionally to film.
• More than that, spectators have always attended the cinema in order to have
their emotions aroused and with the expectation that this will take place. This is,
after all, a basic function of storytelling.
• Stories gain emotional responses from listeners, readers or viewers. Effective
storytelling encourages us to feel human emotions by allowing us to sympathise,
empathise or even identify with characters and their narrative experiences.
• As spectators (and as readers) we presumably find this process to be
pleasurable or we would not return time after time to films (and stories), but in
what ways is it pleasurable?

In what ways is it
pleasurable?• In groups, think of ways in which a spectator could find
a film pleasurable.
• (You may want to think of different genres of films to
give you ideas here)
Happy
ending
Ambiguity
Nostalgia
Twists
True stories
Inspirational
Mystery
Emotional
challenge
Challenge your
intelligence
Laughter/escapism
Justice
Adrenaline
Intrigue
Desirability
Lust

The opening to
Psycho• Psycho would seem to encourage the notion of film as
voyeuristically pleasurable but what is the connection between
voyeurism and emotional response?
• What sorts of emotional response does voyeurism bring about?
• Are we being permitted to give rein to a type of human interest in
others that might more normally be considered socially
unacceptable?
• If so, what sorts of emotion do we experience at this point?

Responses
The opening scenes to Psycho
How do we respond? Make a note of these whilst
watching.
Then, can you explain what type of response it is?
What self/selves has(have) helped to create that
response?
In what ways is this a pleasurable opening for an
audience?
How?

What emotions are
engendered here?• Reservoir Dogs (1992)
(Please note: pretty grim!)
• Do these emotions involve pleasure of some sort?
• If so, what is the nature of this pleasure?
• If it is not pleasurable, why do spectators watch these sorts of
scenes, deliberately exposing themselves to a certain type of
emotional response?

Responses
The ear cutting scene in Reservoir Dogs
Why is this scene ‘pleasurable’?
How do we respond? Make a note of these whilst watching.
Then, can you explain what type of response it is?
What self/selves has(have) helped to create that response?
In what ways is this a pleasurable opening for an audience?
How?
Use these notes to write a mini-essay as an explanation.
Make sure that this is neat as others in the class will be
reading your work.

Kill Bill
• Homework 1:
• Research Tarantino, research the film.
• Make sure you are aware of his films and the controversy around some
of them.
• Make sure you know key production details off by heart, including the
main story and characters.
• Make sure that you can pick out a few key scenes from the film.
http://movieclips.com/S3dLR-kill-
bill-vol-1-movie-videos/#p=1
http://movieclips.com/S3dLR-kill-
bill-vol-1-movie-videos/#p=1

What’s shocking to
you?
•List the range of ways in which you see film as being
potentially 'shocking', and try to give an example for each.
In order to comply with Film Studies good practice you
should try to refer to specific scenes within particular films.

What is shocking to
the viewer here?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4omQNqCMFb0
• What specifically is it here that is working to create shock?
• Refer specifically to micro features and then bring in a more detailed
response from the work we did before Easter.

Un Chien Andalou
(1929)•In carrying out the act of analysing this clip, you should now
be aware of the way in which 'shock’ in film can be talked
about in terms of either the content (or subject matter) and the
form (or style) of the film under discussion. Clearly the opening
eye-slitting subject matter of Un Chien Andalou is itself
shocking, but so too is the film construction in terms of the
way in which use is made of close-ups and an editing cut
from the blank face of the woman with her eye being held
open to the actual eyeball-cutting shot.

Un Chien Andalou vs. Reservoir
Dogs• Compare the way in which the scene from Un Chien Andalou is constructed with the slicing off
of the policemans ear in Reservoir Dogs (Tarantino, 1991) which is handled in an altogether
different way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLTqecGbdCc
• Both scenes will draw a sense of shock from most spectators on a first viewing but perhaps the
nature of the shock is different in both instances.
Make notes on:
The use of mise-en-scene, performance, cinematography, editing and sound in both cases.
• For both scenes consider whether the nature of the shock changes on a second viewing, and if so in
what ways.
• Are there other emotional responses that you or other spectators have had to either of these scenes?
Could you imagine the possibility of further emotional responses that neither you nor anyone you have
spoken to has had but which might be possible for other spectators?

Homework
• Kill Bill
• 1. Note at least 3 scenes from the film that caused you to have a strong
emotional response? Describe the emotional response
• 2. How were these emotional responses caused by the construction of
film?
• 3. How were these emotional responses shaped by YOU, the
spectator?
• 4. How would different spectators react to this film?

Shock and the
‘shocking’
• As you discuss or think about films and scenes from films that create
an emotional shock, always make sure you are considering both
content and film form.
• Try to decide on the nature of the shock experienced and the intensity
of that shock. Is it a physical shock that affects your bodily response in
some way?

Shock and the
‘shocking’• ‘ Shock’ as sudden and unexpected, or long-drawn out.
• ‘ Shock’ in film usually occurs as something sudden and
unexpected so that the viewer is as it were caught unawares.
• But it is worth bearing in mind that this is not always the case;
sometimes the shock effect is achieved in a rather more long-
drawn-out fashion.
• Can you think of any examples of scenes that are shocking or that
create shock because something is more drawn-out or longer than a
sudden jump? Why are these examples shocking?

Shock and the
‘shocking’• 'Shock' suggests a state of being stunned by what you have felt to
be repulsive in its brutality, so that you (and probably all watching
with you) are startled, surprised by what you have witnessed,
knocked off balance, and probably very silent.
• But consider another form of possible emotional response, the
tearful response. Is this part of 'shock' or is it something different?
• Why do you think we are sometime brought to tears by film?
• Consider technical, micro elements of film making, and physiological, human
reasons for this type of response.

Projecting Illusion
• Projecting Illusion: Film spectatorship and the impression of reality
(Richard Allen)
• Contemporary film theorists argue that, for a number of reasons,
the cinematic image appears to spectators as if it were reality, but
this appearance is an illusion. In fact, the cinematic image provides
“an impression of reality…”
• “ Cinema is a form of signification that creates the appearance of a
knowable reality and hence confirms the self definition of the
human subject as someone capable of knowing that reality… the
reality are the “effects” of a process of signification”

Projecting Illusion
• Projecting Illusion: Film spectatorship and the impression of reality
(Richard Allen)
• Contemporary film theorists construe the film spectator as a
passive observer of the image who is duped into believing that it is
real. It could be argued however, that the modern day film
spectator knows it is only a film but actively participates in the
experience of illusion that the cinema affords.
• Choose a ‘shocking’ scene from Kill Bill to explore.
• Looking at a scene, consider why it is shocking. What aspects of us as active
participants allow us to both understand and believe that it is a film?

• The interaction between director and
spectator can be achieved through the
manipulation of the following information:
• Textual – information provided by the text
itself
• Extra-textual – information existing in the mind
of the spectator (think carefully about where
this might come from)
Projecting Illusion

Projecting Illusion
• Watch the following extracts from Kill Bill and make notes on
the following:
• How does the director invite us (spectator) to view the film
as a construct?
• What effect does this have on your response to the film?
• How is extra-textual information used to create meaning for
the spectator?

Question practice:
• Spectatorship: Popular Film and Emotional Response
• Your answer should be based on a minimum of two films. Either,
• 15. ‘Narrative is often assumed to be the most important factor in triggering
emotional response whereas style is often overlooked.’ How far do you agree
with this? [35]
• Or,
• 16. ‘Some spectators can laugh, others cry at the same sequence.’ Explore
why spectators may react very differently to the same sequences in the films
you have studied for this topic. [35]

Question practice:
• Spectatorship: Popular Film and Emotional Response
• Your answer should be based on a minimum of two films. Either,
• 15. ‘Narrative is often assumed to be the most important factor in triggering
emotional response whereas style is often overlooked.’ How far do you agree
with this? [35]
• Or,
• 16. ‘Some spectators can laugh, others cry at the same sequence.’ Explore
why spectators may react very differently to the same sequences in the films
you have studied for this topic. [35]
HOMEWORK DUE IN ON
15th MAY

Deconstruction
• This theory challenges the assumption that a text has an
unchanging, unified meaning that is true for all readers and also
the idea that the author is the source of any text’s meaning. The
approach suggests that there is a multiplicity of legitimate
interpretations of a text.
• Theories such as this, developed particularly during the 1970s,
tended to emphasise the viewer’s control over the creation of the
film being watched.

Deconstruction
• However, other theories have attempted to demonstrate how the
spectator is fixed in place by the text (or by the system of values
within the text) so that audiences are manipulated by filmmakers
into seeing things, and therefore thinking, in certain ways.
• The tension between concepts of the reader/spectator as on the
one hand active and in control, and on the other hand passive and
as a victim, lies at the heart of ideas regarding the experience of
spectatorship, or the process that is taking place as we view films.

Censorship
• Censorship and regulation have always sought to restrict groups of
people from viewing certain films.
• Does the implementation of censorship and/or classification
suggest that there is a fear that film could create too strong an
emotional response from certain social groups?
• Films have always been seen to have the power to bring about
antisocial behaviour, particularly in the young and the working
class.
• To what extent is it a heightened emotional response that has been
feared in theses circumstances?

Censorship
class. To what extent is it a heightened emotional response that
has been feared in theses circumstances?
• Use http://www.sbbfc.co.uk/CaseStudies/ to research two films and
prepare to feedback with answers to the these questions:
• Why where those films controversial?
• What did the BBFC say about the issues of controversy?
• How might these scenes bring about a heightened emotional response-
what might the audience’s reaction be?

Censorship
HOMEWORK FOR HALF
TERM.

Censorship
HOMEWORK FOR HALF
TERM.
SO IS YOUR REVISION

Censorship
HOMEWORK FOR HALF
TERM.
SO IS YOUR REVISION
WHICH YOU REALLY SHOULDHAVE STARTED BY NOW

Reception Theory
• Reception theory hoped to be a more sophisticated approach to
studying audiences, concentrating more on those who consume a
text than the text itself.
• When a text is encoded (watched & understood; note, only
possible for active not passive, viewers) certain ideologies are
dominant in an audience member, a spectator.
• The audience decodes this message in multiple ways and this is
dependent on the background of the person.
• This links in with what 4 ideas we discussed earlier in the
course?

Reception Theory
When a text is
encoded (watched
& understood; note,
only possible for
active not passive,
viewers) certain
ideologies are
dominant in an
audience member,
a spectator.
The audience
decodes this
message in
multiple ways
and this is
dependent on
the background
of the person.

Reception Theory
• Reception Theory states that an audience may respond in one of three ways based on their
reading of a film and how they ‘decode’ the meanings / ideologies placed in to the text by
the filmmaker.
• Preferred Reading – taking an intended reading of the film
identifying and agreeing with all messages encoded in to the text
• Negotiated Reading – the viewer identifies most of the meanings
encoded in to the text but does not agree with, or take the full
meaning
• Oppositional Reading – the viewer does not identify the meanings
encoded in to the text and their own personal ideologies /
experiences form an alternate meaning within the text

Reception Theory
• Reception theory dictates that a film does not have any meaning without the
spectator . Meaning is only generated when the spectator views. the text and
‘decodes’ it.
• This makes good logical sense, after all, how can there be a meaning without it
being seen?
 What is the difference between ‘Meaning’ and ‘Response’?
 Meaning deals with themes and specific scenarios
 Response is an all-encompassing interaction with the film as a whole.

Reception Theory
the filmmaker.
• Preferred Reading – taking an intended reading of the film
identifying and agreeing with all messages encoded in to the text
• What could a preferred reading of Kill Bill be?

Reception Theory
the filmmaker.
• Negotiated Reading – the viewer identifies most of the meanings
encoded in to the text but does not agree with, or take the full
meaning
• What could a negotiated reading of Kill Bill be?

Reception Theory
the filmmaker.
• Oppositional Reading – the viewer does not identify the meanings
encoded in to the text and their own personal ideologies /
experiences form an alternate meaning within the text
• What could an oppositional reading of Kill Bill be?

Central ImaginingCentral Imagining
• Arguably the central function of spectatorship is Central Imagining.
• This refers to an immersion in the film. There are certain times when a
spectator experiences ‘central-imagining’ – when a film recreates physical
sensations such as falling over or walking in a daze.
• In theory, central imagining is the merging of the spectator with the film-when the
cinematic experience is felt physically.
• Central imaging is often expressed as “I feel…”
• Technology has always been at the forefront of the drive for spectatorship in this
regard, with the use of colour, widescreen ratios, stereo and later surround sound,
IMAX and arguably, 3D.
• What is the earliest example we know of where an immature audience responded
to technology through central imagining?

A-Central ImaginingA-Central Imagining
• Most of the time film spectators operate in the ‘I imagine that...’ mode –
meaning they do not feel the physical effects but can imagine how a certain
sensation may feel.
• “I imagine that it must be pretty terrifying seeing someone cut off a man’s head and
knowing that if you say the wrong thing, you’ll be next”
• A-Central imagining is often expressed as “I imagine that…”
• Write down 3 examples of central imagining for either Kill Bill or True Grit AND
• Write down 3 examples of A-central imagining for either Kill Bill or True Grit.

SummarySummary
• Essentially when we view films we have a combination of responses
ranging from preferred to oppositional to individual emotional responses.
• We as spectators can have our physical responses manipulated via
Central imagining and our emotional responses manipulated by A-Central
imagining
• The A-Central Imagining depends on our extra-textual reading of a film
whilst the central imagining depends on how the director uses the camera
to elicit physical responses (shock, tears...)

RevisionRevision
• Using your notes from the previous lessons answer the following
questions:
• How does Tarantino construct the characters of The Bride and Oren in the scenes that
we’ve focused on?
• What personal experiences have contributed to your personal recognition of the
characters and how you respond to them?
• Which characters do you feel the most allegiance towards?
• How is this allegiance created? (you must consider the micro elements and personal
experiences)

A2 Film A-Level Film Studies FM4 Spectatorship Revision

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