2. This module is concerned with the way in which
popular film produces powerful sensory and
emotional responses in the spectator
This module is not concerned with issues of
representation or value judgements but rather with
developing understanding of how films create the
emotional responses they do
We will focus on TWO films in preparation for your
FM4 Examination
3. In addition to our TWO focus films we will
also look at ‘Shocking Cinema’
The aims of the module are to:
Consider the relationship between the film on
screen and the audience in terms of the
communication process
Consider the idea that the ‘spectator’ will find
particular films or sequences resulting in strong
emotional responses
Consider how ‘shock’ can be used in a variety of
ways that it may be challenging / disturbing to a
spectator
4. In your exam you will be expected to bring your own personal
experiences in to your answers.
2010 Exam Questions
One of the great pleasures of popular cinema is surrendering to
the film experience and allowing ourselves to be emotionally
manipulated’.
Discuss this statement with reference to the films that you have
studied for this topic.
‘Emotional response to a popular film is dependent on the ways in
which we are made to identify with particular characters’.
How far has this been your experience?
5.
6. In order to be successful in this module you MUST demonstrate that you
know the difference between AUDIENCE and SPECTATOR
Note down a definition for the following terms:
AUDIENCE
A group. A group experience who share the same or similar
meanings
SPECTATOR
Individual. An individual experience characterised by certain
personal connections to the text
7. 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 and listeners as
groups.
Spectatorship study suggests that films build a
specific relationship with every individual who
experiences it.
Spectatorship focuses on understanding the ways in
which films produce pleasure in their viewers.
8. Spectatorship theories suggest that our responses to film draws upon
our entire psychological make up. Including:
A Social Self – who can make meaning in ways not different from others
with a similar ideological formation
A Cultural Self – who makes particular inter-textual references (to other
films, kinds of images / music/sound) based on the material s/he
possesses
The Private Self – who carried the memories of her own experiences and
who may find personal significance in a film in a way very different from
others
9. 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
Think of one cinema experience for each of the previous points.
What films / sequences have appealed to the 4 different ‘selves’ identified
above?
10. What is emotion, or an emotional response?
The experience of an individuals state of mind
interacting with an environmental (External)
influence
The word emotion embodies the wide range of
feelings that human beings are subjected to whilst
under the influence of external stimuli
Create a list of the various emotional responses films have elicited from you
in the past.
What films have made you respond on an emotional level and why / how?
11. As a Spectator we can experience fear, and
pleasure, desire, surprise and shock and a
whole array of emotions. But we will not
experience these emotions equally at the
same moment in a film
Watch the following extract
and note down all the different
emotions you and other
spectators may experience
whilst watching this scene.
12. What is it that determines our own individual predisposition to
respond in a certain emotional way at certain points in films?
In pairs, make a list of the factors that will contribute to how we
respond emotionally to films.
14. Watch the following Martin Scorsese short
‘The Big Shave’ (1968)
Make notes on your own personal response
to the film
Why did you respond to the film in this way?
What factors contributed to your emotional
response?
How have the micro elements (camera /
mise-en-scene) been used to elicit emotional
responses?
15. Your job is to recognise that there is an intense
interaction with the sounds and images
occurring as we watch films, and the film
makers are deliberately setting out to
engender emotional responses.
Through your observation of the use of mise-
en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound
and narrative structures you will be able to
explore the ways in which emotional
responses are created
