Film is a young medium, atleast compared to other media. Painting,literature, and theater have existed for thousand's of years, but film came into existence only a little more than a century ago.Yet in this fairly short span, the newcomer has established its powerful art form.
But this art has some unusual features. More than most arts, film depends on complex technology. Without machines, movies wouldn't move, and film-makers would have no tools.In addition, film art usually requires collaboration among many participants. Films are not only created but produced.Just as important, they are firmly tied to their social and economic context.Films are distributed and exhibited for audiences, and money matters at every step.
Films are designed to have effects on viewers. Film offers ways of seeing and feeling that we find deeply gratifying. A film takes us on a journey, offering a patterned experience that engages our minds and emotions. The men and women who made these films discovered that they could control aspects of cinema to give their audience richer, more engaging experiences.
Art and Entertainment
Art and Entertainment
The origins of cinema suggests that some common ways of talking won't help us much in understanding film. Take the distinction between art and entertainment. Some people would say that blockbusters playing at the multiplex are merely "entertainment," while films for a narrower public--perhaps independent films, or festival fare--are true art. Cinema is an art because it offers film-makers ways to design experience for viewers, and those experiences can be valuable regardless of their origin.Films for audiences both small and large belong to that very inclusive art we call Cinema.
Art and Business
Sometimes, people treat film art as opposed to film as business. This split is related to the issue of entertainment, since entertainment generally is sold to a mass audience. Again however,in,modern societies, no art is free of economic ties. Novels good, or bad are published because publishers expect to sell them. Films are no different. The crucial point is that considerations of money don't necessarily make a artist any less creative or the project any less worthwhile.
Similarly we don't think that film art rises above commercial demands, but we also won't assume that money rules everything. Any art form offers a vast range of creative possibilities. The basic assumption is that as an art, film offers experiences that viewers find worthwhile--diverting, provocative, puzzling or rapturous.
|"There are two kinds of directors:those who have the public in mind when they conceive and make their films, and those who don't consider the public at all.For the former, cinema is an art of spectacle; for the later, it is an individual adventure. There is nothing intrinsically better about one or the other; it's simply a matter of different approaches."|
|- Francois Truffaut, Director,(400 blows)|