Discussion Questions Defamiliarizing Cinema/Cinematic Illusion • Discuss the transition from photography to filmmaking. What was the purpose of photographic motion studies and how does this purpose or "spirit" inform cinema as we know it? • • • • • • • Discuss how cinema and its prototypes create spatial and temporal illusions. What are the bases of these illusions? Discuss the differences between early cinema's "documentary" tendencies and its "formalist" tendencies. What filmmakers and films represent these different tendencies? Discuss the "trick" films from the lecture that took advantage of the naiveté of early film spectators. What do they tell us about how audiences in the late 19th and early 20th century saw cinema? When cinema emerged at the end of the 19th century, spectators were more interested in the novelty of film's technology than in narrative content. What comparisons might be made to emerging technologies today (3D, VR, "4D") on this front? Given the examples from other artistic media and disciplines cited in the lecture, discuss the relationship between form and content in cinema. What is an example of a formal element in cinema? Can you think of an example from a film you've seen where form functions as an extension of content? How does Inception make us think critically about the cinematic experience? What references is it making to that experience and what is it saying? What does Tom Gunning define as the "Cinema of Attractions" in his article and what qualities does this cinema have?

Discussion Questions Defamiliarizing Cinema/Cinematic Illusion • Discuss the transition from photography to filmmaking. What was the purpose of photographic motion studies and how does this purpose or "spirit" inform cinema as we know it? • • • • • • • Discuss how cinema and its prototypes create spatial and temporal illusions. What are the bases of these illusions? Discuss the differences between early cinema's "documentary" tendencies and its "formalist" tendencies. What filmmakers and films represent these different tendencies? Discuss the "trick" films from the lecture that took advantage of the naiveté of early film spectators. What do they tell us about how audiences in the late 19th and early 20th century saw cinema? When cinema emerged at the end of the 19th century, spectators were more interested in the novelty of film's technology than in narrative content. What comparisons might be made to emerging technologies today (3D, VR, "4D") on this front? Given the examples from other artistic media and disciplines cited in the lecture, discuss the relationship between form and content in cinema. What is an example of a formal element in cinema? Can you think of an example from a film you've seen where form functions as an extension of content? How does Inception make us think critically about the cinematic experience? What references is it making to that experience and what is it saying? What does Tom Gunning define as the "Cinema of Attractions" in his article and what qualities does this cinema have?