How you experience movies

[Brian0787]

I thought this might be an interesting topic and how it relates to autism. Does anyone notice how you experience movies when you watch them? For me I see movies as a whole experience in terms of cinematography and sound as well as the characters and story. How a movie is shot and the lighting that's used as well as the sound tells as much as a story as the characters itself, I feel. I love nighttime visuals in a movie.

I recently seen the movie "Margin Call" which was made in 2011 about the 2008 financial crisis and loved the use of lighting and reflection. "Collateral" made in 2004 is another terrific example of the use of lighting and cinematography that really stands out. Movies to me feels like it can be a whole sensory experience.

 

[Shevek]

It sounds as if you think like a movie maker, but can still be immersed without analyzing the techniques. That's rare. For me, a movie can easily be overwhelming with all the constant input, and I often miss significant, but brief activities.

 

[UFO]

I would say that a movie evening with a popcorn and cola is one of my few routines that I won't miss lightly. As Shevek pointed out, they might be overwhelming and exhausting to watch. I often turn quiet and withdrawn after a movie (or I get so excited by a really good movie, that I can't stop talking about it). But that is in a good way. Overall, movies are to me relaxation, forgetting stress, problems, unwanted emotions, ruminating thoughts etc. A movie is not necessarily an experience of its own, but I wouldn't have developed my daily movie evening habit if I wouldn't love movies.

I don't usually put much attention on artistic values. But when there are some, I do admire, for example, good use of a Dutch angle (a sidenote: The Batman tv-series of 60s uses that effect perfectly to express how nuts the characters are, or at least it uses the effect much better than most movies), or light and shadow (Citizen Kane casts shadows on people's faces to foreshadow future events...). But I can have fun with the most moronic movie script if otherwise the movie is something spectacular (Bad Boys...) or spectacularly dumb (Sharknado).

 

[Lou Laurinen]

For me I see movies as a whole experience in terms of cinematography and sound as well as the characters and story. How a movie is shot and the lighting that's used as well as the sound tells as much as a story as the characters itself, I feel. I love nighttime visuals in a movie.

Completely agree with this. TV series as well. I'm picky with visual media, and if a movie or a show has decent writing but lackluster cinematography, it loses its appeal for me. As someone with a lot of passion for video editing and filmmaking myself (just less focused on it than I used to be), I really appreciate good cinematography, lighting, use of angles and lenses, soundtrack and score, etc.
I'm also a writer who really values characters and use of dialogue, and exceptional character writing and character development will sell me on a movie or a show too.
Great post!

 

[Masked Man]

Yes, I am one who can get completely sucked in to watching aspects of a movie - the lighting, the shots, what the director has chosen to focus the viewers attention on. Before the pandemic changed things, I was forever dragging my friends to screenings of weird or foreign movies, lol. Now the local art movie house has shut down forever, so I still do that at home. I watched Skinamarink yesterday, made it about halfway through. Think it's a bit too experimental for me lol, but I will finish it. I'm always interested in seeing someone's artwork.

This is not to say I can't enjoy a movie just for the story as well or because it's fun.

 

[JayLapointe]

I wish I had that kind of eye and focus for movies but sadly I don't. I enjoy them greatly and always love when there is good directors commentary explaining things aspects of how it was shot and why. Honestly I just don't have the attention span to stay focused in long enough to really appreciate and pick up on those things. The only way I'm able to actually watch a movie start to finish is at a theatre, otherwise I'm looking at days to watch anything. To many squirrel sidequests with the ADHD side of my brain.

One of the best directors commentaries, and subsequently amazing for how they did things in the movie was for Lucky Number Slevin. It's a murder mystery with several plot twists. But the way they shoot certain scenes once it is explained why is an amazing detail I won't give away as it would spoil the movie. If you haven't watched it I highly recommend. It is the only movie that has both Ben Kingsley and Morgan Freeman together, and they do a double monologue scene back to back which is gold.

 

[Judge]

Reminds me of the very first seconds and minutes of the film "Schindler's List". With minimal dialogue at first, yet it was masterful and visual story-telling of a very manipulative personality- Oscar Schindler.

One of Steven Spielberg's finest films.

Also reminds me of another one of his films, "Saving Private Ryan". In which he masterfully projected those first incredible minutes of what it must have been like for soldiers on the beaches of Normandy France, on June 6, 1944.

Terrifying, even exhausting...while comfortably sitting in a movie theater.

Yet when it comes to great cinematography itself, I've always thought that David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) was the best. With so many scenes so artfully depicted. But then I've always been attracted by the desolation of the desert itself.

 

[BrianWV39]

Movies in many respects were my first love in life. Like perhaps all of us, I had an almost intuitive enjoyment of movies.

From about the start of high school until maybe the start of my sophomore year in college movies were arguably the most important thing in the world to me. Looking back at that time in my life I was spending literally all the free money I had on either musical CD's or DVD's. I would spend 80 or even 100 dollars on something like a sixty-year commemorative DVD edition. I wasn't doing it for the collector's status; I just wanted all the bonus features on the DVD. Something about the past being a foreign country or something like that

In truth as college progressed, I found myself far more interested in literature. In novels, poetry and drama. I still occasionally watched movies, but movies never quite held the same place in my heart as it once did.

So essentially, I have spent the past twenty years enjoying movies less and less. I have not really been able to sit down and watch a full movie for two or three years now. I have my own unique personal reasons for this (I am autistic after all) but there are other reasons I have fallen out of love with movies and television and no longer watch them.

For starters CGI and computer graphics mean nothing to me anymore. I just have no desire to ever watch a green screen movie. Second, I am out of tune with modern acting. All I can say is I prefer a more theatrical form of acting. I prefer a less realistic form of acting and a more theatrical one. I seem to be in a distinct minority on that front.

Movies and television no longer interest me to any degree. The only thing I wish is that they would just stop remaking everything endlessly. I just wish people had an interest in new movies, new characters and new ideas again. Stop remaking everything.

 

[Ken]

I love watching movies. For me, it's an escape. I get totally consumed in the story. However, I generally have to watch any movie several times to truly get it. Most scenes, speech, etc. are just to fast for me to process. So, I have to watch it again and again... because it drives me crazy to not get the whole story. When I do, it's beautiful.

I love movies that are life lessons and especially ones that can I relate to. Otherwise they are just ho hum boring. Production flaws and/or logic flaws drive me crazy.

I can watch my favorite movies over and over and never get tired of them.

 

[UFO]

I generally have to watch any movie several times to truly get it. Most scenes, speech, etc. are just to fast for me to process.

Well... Same thing here. Also, I don't remember character names, so I often get confused what the plot is as they just throw names around. Mostly I just accept that I didn't get every detail and move on. Plot twists can be read from internet, after all. Good movies I watch again sooner or later, and then I can focus on things I didn't notice at the first time. Real good movies are designed so, that they must be watched multiple times to get a different experience when you now know what to look at. Bad movies I register "didn't like, never watch it again" and then forget the whole movie.

 

[UFO]

For starters CGI and computer graphics mean nothing to me anymore. I just have no desire to ever watch a green screen movie.

I agree. Puppets and artisan made props have completely different feeling. They don't look real, but they look good. CGI used to look both unreal and bad. Only during last decade (or two) CGI has began to look real, but it still does not look good. I don't think that CGI has managed to get out from the uncanny valley yet.

The only thing I wish is that they would just stop remaking everything endlessly. I just wish people had an interest in new movies, new characters and new ideas again. Stop remaking everything.

I agree. But I could allow remake if its creators would really have new ideas or approaches or something else that would really make the remake stand out from the original. And, of course, same applies as with other movies: I am more receptive even towards an identical clone, if it is actually a good movie on its own.

 

[DJ-Daz]

I am a movie fan and I've watched a LOT of movies in my lifetime. Margin Call is one of them, The Big Short another. In the same space, watch The Zeitgeist Addendum, it's on YouTube. It's all true, and it will blow your mind.
I tend not to see good cinematography, or rather appreciate it, until later. On further viewing I notice it.

Also as @Shevek said I miss things, so if a movie is good I'll watch it several times and let things sink in. Silence of the Lambs for instance, I rewatched it last year and FINALLY understood the part the Lector plays in Wild Bill's psychology. I enjoyed it immensely, but I miss a lot of important details.

As Steve Martin said in Grand Canyon (a great film BTW) "All of life's riddles are answered in the movies", I think I took that one to heart. He was wrong, mostly. I've also waited 35 years to use that as a quote.

There's a couple of spectacular people who break down movies on YouTube, one is Rob Ager, I've watched him for years, the other is CinemaStix

I'll watch their breakdowns and then watch the movie again and I'll see the things I missed.

But the great movies, they give you space to breathe, take it in, then hit you again.
The Exorcist. Jaws. Alien. Terminator 2. The Thing. 2001. Dawn of the Dead. The Shawshank Redemption. And many many more. A great movie makes you want to watch it again. The Matrix. It ended. I watched it again immediately. I'm a horror fan if you can't tell.

Today movies are too quick to cut, long scenes barely exist, though it's an art that is returning. Attention spans are too short to enjoy anything that's longer than 5 seconds.

One thing I do now that I have the ability, I use IMDB a lot during a movie, it's a habit I need to break.
I think what I'm trying to say, great movies combine all things discussed above in everybody's posts, I just never see it first time, I have to rewatch to see the details. I let the film wash over me first.

 

[DJ-Daz]

BTW my take on Fight Club. It's a romance. The narrator is in love with Marlene but feels inadequate, so he literally tears himself to pieces so he can build himself back, to be a better man and fit for his queen.