1. A2 FILM STUDIES

2. You will learn by the numbers I will teach you!
Identify KeyTerms:
Reception Theory
Analyse the factors that influence how we
choose a film to view
Analyse how filmmakers create response and
communicate with their audience
Evaluate the use of Central & A-Central
Imagining in Full Metal Jacket

3. You will learn by the numbers I will teach you!
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 the text is
encoded certain
ideologies are in
dominance. The audience decodes
the message in multiple
ways and this is
dependant on the
cultural background of
the person.

4. You will learn by the numbers I will teach you!
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
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
Negotiated Reading – the viewer identifies most of the meanings
encoded in to the text but does not agree with, or take the full meaning

5. You will learn by the numbers I will teach you!
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
Meaning deals with themes and specific scenarios
Response is an all-encompassing interaction with the film as a
whole
What is the difference between ‘Meaning’
and ‘Response’?

6. You will learn by the numbers I will teach you!
The question ‘How do individuals make sense of feature film?’ has
been asked many times over the years and has elicited many
different answers
There are many different approaches to film criticism but most
agree on this:
Film spectatorship – or at least the most interesting aspects of it –
is a conscious activity
Joseph Anderson claims: “Making sense of film is significantly the
same as making sense of the real world”
He went on to say that the spectator uses the same conceptual
and perceptual systems when interacting with a real life 3D
object, to make sense of 2D cinematic objects
Joseph
Anderson
Author of:
‘An
Ecological
approach to
Cognitive
FilmTheory’

7. You will learn by the numbers I will teach you!
Spectatorship theorists see desire as central to our
understanding of spectatorship
This desire not only relates to our response to a film
but also to the types of film we choose to watch
If we are presented with a choice of:
1. an intellectually demanding film
2. one which is provocative
3. one which is throw away spectacular fun
we will decide which best matches your desire at that
given point

8. You will learn by the numbers I will teach you!
If we choose the ‘spectacular fun’ (aka James
Bond) option we will most likely take a preferred
reading as the experience demands a suspension
of disbelief and an acceptance if it is to be
spectacular and fun
Even though, in another state of mind I would
find the sexism, militarism, and violence as
something I would not endorse at other times.
In other words I am freely choosing to become
aligned with the characters and scenarios
The Bond movies
require a suspension of
disbelief and acceptance
of its encoded meanings
if we are to enjoy them

9. You will learn by the numbers I will teach you!
Most films are constructed in a way that enable us to
suspend our disbelief and emerge ourselves within the
narrative
Through the use of slick cinematography and invisible
editing we cease thinking of the film as a ‘film’
Instead we buy in to the ‘reality’ of the film
However other films draw attention to the film as a
‘textual construct’ –
Wayne’sWorld (1992)
frequently reminds
the audience that
they are watching a
constructed reality –
a textual construct
Directors can invite the spectator to take pleasure in
acknowledging that the film is in fact, a film – a construct
– and meaning is created between the filmmaker and the
spectator, not through the film itself

10. You will learn by the numbers I will teach you!
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

11. You will learn by the numbers I will teach you!
Watch the following extracts from Pulp Fiction 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?

12. You will learn by the numbers I will teach you!
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 Imagining is often expressed as ‘I feel...’
Imax and other technologies provide more opportunity for
‘central-imagining’
This effect was first
felt in the Lumiere
Brothers’ film:
“Entrée d'un train
en gare de la
Ciotat“ (1897)

13. You will learn by the numbers I will teach you!
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 scary to have a
gangster’s wife overdosing in front of you when
you are responsible for her...”
“I imagine that being in a fire-fight must be
terrifying and a self preservation survival
instinct would cut in”
A-Central imagining is often expressed as “I
imagine that...”

14. You will learn by the numbers I will teach you!
Using your handout from our ‘Alignment’ lesson, go
through the scenes you have identified and note
down whether you consider them to be ‘Cental-
Imagining’ or ‘A-Central-imagining’
Watch the following extracts from ‘Full Metal
Jacket’ and answer the following questions:
How does each scene align us with the characters?
Are these scenes examples of ‘Central Imagining’ or
‘A-Central Imagining’?
(use ‘I feel’ & I imagine that...’)
Justify your answers!

15. You will learn by the numbers I will teach you!
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...)

16. You will learn by the numbers I will teach you!
We begin with an overall assessment of coherence
– expectations are formed in our minds -
As a film spectator we begin a film with specific
goals formed by a given background of knowledge
and experience
We look for familiar narrative, genre conventions,
and common cinematic techniques
We do this by bringing our knowledge of previous
films and cinematic experiences to bear in
responding to a new film experience

17. You will learn by the numbers I will teach you!
Cognitive
Concerned with beauty or the appreciation of
beauty
Aesthetic
Coherence
logical interconnection; overall sense or
Understand-ability.
pertaining to the mental processes of perception,
memory, judgment, and reasoning, as contrasted
with emotional processes
Disparity
lack of similarity or equality; inequality; difference

18. You will learn by the numbers I will teach you!
Allegiance pertains to the moral evaluation of the
characters by the spectator
Allegiance is another form of ‘identification’ with a
character based on a wide range of external factors
such as attitudes towards:
•Class
•Race
•Nation
•Age
•Ethnicity
•Gender etc
Some people may
identify or experience
‘allegiance’ to Pvt. Pyle
having experienced
bullying / intense
hostility themselves

19. You will learn by the numbers I will teach you!
In what ways did you feel allegiance to characters
throughout Full Metal Jacket?
Make a list of characters and scenes in which this
has taken place
You must consider a wide range of potential
readings in your exam answers.
You must also back up all arguments with analysis
of the micro & macro elements