"The Goal of Film Analysis: Articulating Meaning" Summary

     The excerpt we read from the book emphasized the goal of film analysis, which is to articulate and draw a meaning from a film. It said, "The purpose of film analysis is to make statements about a film's themes and meaning," and went on to describe the three different forms that those statements could take, with each form related to a different level of meaning. 
     The first form of statement is a descriptive one. A descriptive claim is a neutral account of the basic characteristics of the film, which usually involves plot events. An example of a descriptive claim would be a simple plot summary, or a sequential account of the important events in a film. Descriptive statements could also illustrate specific details about a film's visual or audio style, or go beyond events to refer to intertextual connections. Describing how a film or shot resembles or copies the style of another film is an example of this type of descriptive claim.
     The second form of statement, and arguably the most important, is an interpretive one. An interpretive claim presents an argument about a film's meaning and significance. It addresses a film's themes and abstract ideas, or makes an argument about what a film does with subject matter rather than just describing what that subject matter is. Interpretive claims make an argument about the careful orchestration of scenes in a film, and to support this argument it needs to construct a logical thread of more narrow interpretive claims about how individual scenes, motifs, parallels, turning points, sounds, etc. all cohere. Based on what different knowledge people have, there can be many different interpretive claims for a single film, however they can sometimes contradict. To be considered the more valid claim, you must have more evidence, and take all aspects of the film into thorough consideration. 
     The third form of statement is an evaluative claim. An evaluative claim expresses one's belief that a film is bad, good, or mediocre. They are usually expressed in measurements such as grades, thumbs up, or stars in popular media outlets; however, those would be basic examples. Stronger evaluative claims explain why an evaluation is positive or negative. Evaluative claims are based on the standards of the reviewer, and standards obviously differ, so it is up to the viewer to decide if they agree the reviewer's opinion. Good evaluative claims rely on rely on the speaker's ability to describe details from a film accurately and interpret what the film is trying to accomplish using these details.