Anatomy of Cinema is a result of my work with Thomas Ethan Harris. For 8 years my wife, Film Producer Marjorie Engesser and I, produced his Seminar Series at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles.
As a Stage and Film Director, in my opinion, deconstructing a scene is one of the best ways to do that. When trying to analyze a complete film in one fell swoop, we often miss the little things.
Not unlike a human or animal anatomy class, a detailed examination or analysis of the film is presented to study the structure, position, and interrelation of its various parts. In film this is called mise-en-scene. An autopsy is conducted to break it apart into little pieces and find out how and why these pieces work together to give us a deeper experience.
Bryan W. Simon
bryanwsimon.com
In order to understand films and filmmaking, deconstructing a scene is in my opinion, one of the best ways to do that. When trying to analyze a complete film in one fell swoop, we can often miss the little things. Not unlike a human or…
Lucrecia Martel’s LA MUJER SIN CABEZA (THE HEADLESS WOMAN) 2008, is one of my favorite films by her. An extremely talented and innovative filmmaker, Martel consistently moves the art form forward. On the surface the story appears to be fairly simple and straight forward; a…
Very few films affected me on such a visceral way as did Michael Mann’s first feature THIEF. I saw it at the right time in my life. I love con and caper films, but this hit me on a truly emotional level. It was a…
I like war films. Maybe it’s a male thing. Maybe it’s because my father was a military officer who served in World War Two. Who knows, but I viewed three of my favorite war films the other day and noticed that they all echoed and…
Bob Fosse’s ALL THAT JAZZ is a wonderful film on so many levels. The film was a semi-autobiographical interpretation of Fosse’s own life. And hits rather close to home as Ann Reinking even portrays a version of herself and her relationship with Fosse. This clip…
IDA is Director Pawel Pawlikowski’s exploration of a dark family secret by a young novitiate nun, Ida, on the verge of taking her vows. IDA won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film 2015, as well as BAFTA Best Non-English Film, LA Film Critics,…
Aside from great performances by Richard Burton, Sandy Dennis, George Segal and Best Actress Oscar winner Elizabeth Taylor, there is the remarkable direction of Mike Nichols. In my opinion, Mike Nichols may be the most underrated director in Hollywood history. Here’s a short clip of…
There are a few films that critics and film fans agree are classics in every sense of the word. THE KILLERS (1946) is one of these. An oft neglected, but extremely powerful film noir, it was directed by Robert Siodmak with a screenplay by Anthony…
This Billy Wilder noir classic starring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck was groundbreaking on several fronts. Many have called it the quintessential or definitive film noir. Often tossed aside as “just one of those noirs”, many people don’t realize that it was nominated for SEVEN…
It’s during this time of year, when films jockey for awards positions, I’m reminded of an excellent film that was left off of the Academy Awards Best Picture category last year. And they had room for 10 nominees and only chose eight. That film is…
“Art is a lie that tells the truth.” – Picasso. It’s a great way to describe the art of filmmaking. It is not only a great lie, it is the perfect lie. Films are the only art form in which you can have the same…
The Top 13 Things New Filmmakers Should Think About But Rarely Do Taking these steps will make your production go more smoothly and get you that much closer to pro status. New and emerging filmmakers’ first thoughts – understandably – tend to center around technical…