How to View and Appreciate Great Movies

Professor Williams explains exactly what makes movies magic for him; a brief history of movies; foreshadowing elements such as music, framing and the three-act structure; familiarizing oneself with tension, one of the most important movie elements.

Gain a new set of creative and analytical tools to bring with you to the movies, enhancing your enjoyment and viewing experience for any film.

Professor Williams introduces the definitive list of genres based on films; diving into the meanings and examples of movie genres; better defining what one looks for and loves; the actual number of film genres Professor Williams has established.

Looking at three simple variations of film genre; their three important variables; discerning the difference between a heist film and an escape film; how characters often define a genre; how one movie can encapsulate multiple macro- and microgenres.

Gain a new set of creative and analytical tools to bring with you to the movies, enhancing your enjoyment and viewing experience for any film.

Examining the concept of theme through approaches from various filmmakers; creating a matrix upon which to plot several movies to help illustrate what the theme is; determining when and how the theme will make its way into the film.

Gain a new set of creative and analytical tools to bring with you to the movies, enhancing your enjoyment and viewing experience for any film.

Delve into the distinct camera moves and how each pan, zoom, and dolly brings you a different view and impression of what you're seeing.

Blocking is the way characters interact in a space; Framing is the way a camera captures blocking; how both can be broken down into elements of lines and shape and scale; exploring the sorts of messages good blocking and framing can send.

Gain a new set of creative and analytical tools to bring with you to the movies, enhancing your enjoyment and viewing experience for any film.

Gain a new set of creative and analytical tools to bring with you to the movies, enhancing your enjoyment and viewing experience for any film.

Gain a new set of creative and analytical tools to bring with you to the movies, enhancing your enjoyment and viewing experience for any film.

Gain a new set of creative and analytical tools to bring with you to the movies, enhancing your enjoyment and viewing experience for any film.

The different ways by which stars interact with characters who do not exist; the details that need to be captured when nothing that is being filmed is real; Professor Williams reveals his two surprising picks for the greatest special effects movie.

Gain a new set of creative and analytical tools to bring with you to the movies, enhancing your enjoyment and viewing experience for any film.

Looking at a variety of films that make creative use of color and light; a foundation of 12 hues, six color schemes, four characteristics of light and three ways to use light; how various combinations can alter how the audience sees the movie.

Professor Williams introduces the use of masks; he demonstrates that as characters pull each of the masks off, people get to know them better; two films provide contrasting studies in the way the masks reveal characters and their motivation.

Reading the screenplay of a movie one has not seen yet; gleaning information about the plot, characters and relationships from word choices; Professor Williams introduces the things one can learn about a character from what they say and portray.

How supporting roles are used to influence one's opinion of the protagonist; Professor Williams explores how the secondary characters define motive and reveal what the main characters are not; they represent the hearts and souls of main characters.

Breaking down the role of an actor; appreciating the nuance that goes into acting; traveling through "Psycho", "Get Out", "The Thin Red Line", "Rounders" and others; what actors do to prepare for roles; the pressure to portray believability.

Professor Williams illustrates how relationships are established; how the relationships work; how they create tension in film; Professor Williams shows how easy it is to make movies predictable; how intention can help subvert expectations.

Professor Williams shows how all great villains are a distorted reflection of the hero; why the antagonist may not always be bad but must be present; exploring the four thematic groupings; how the protagonist and antagonist are utilized in each.

Professor Williams reveals the decision trees that come with crafting the point of view; starting with three central questions; how to decipher the POV; the reason behind it; adding a whole new dimension to one's enjoyment of the story.

Why it is what the filmmaker chooses to say with their voice that is important; a list of ways audiences can be made uncomfortable; what a movie can say about itself in the first 10 minutes; introducing three movies one should not miss.