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Jul. 8th, 2007 09:26 pmI finished reading the "Studying Plays" book from last semester. It took quite a lot of reading. It's skinny compared to some on the reading list, but it's written clearly and in neat sections and each section means something useful that you can apply to stuff and every time I finished a bit I wanted to stop and poke texts with the new tool. And then I got near the end and realised that most of the other books were much less fun to read and started rationing it.
But now it is finished.
I have head full of thoughts.
I liked the bit about how things considered oppositions, like predictable/surprising, often have value judgements built in, like how people think predictable is bad. But surprise depends on predictability. If you don't have an expectation of what happens next you can't be surprised when something else happens. And it's the same with lots of othe value laden apparent binaries, like flat and round characters, cartoon or realistic, naturalistic acting or exageration. They each have effects and they work with the other to create a broader spectrum of things you can do with them.
There was also a lot about audiences and expectations created by what theatres are like and what the buildings are like and if the seats are benches or armchairs. You don't get that stuff from reading the script.
On TV there's expectations created by channel, time, and what else goes in that timeslot or around it. Once a thing is on DVD it's easier to study but it has lost those levels. And once it's a transcript it gets real easy to quote it in essays but you've lost huge gigantic enormous amounts of meaning-making stuff.
My habit of watching with the subtitles on and the sound off also loses layers of meaning. I know it. I just... don't always want to listen to the TV.
Subtitles are interesting. TV and DVD say different things. I keep meaning to write that up and poke it a bit to see what effect it has. Sometimes, gigantic. Sometimes not so much.
But it's part of how people don't always see the same text even if it's got the same title. Like if something is chopped up with ad breaks in it you get a different experience than if it runs straight through, even if no minutes are removed (and really, a lot of minutes get removed quite often for many and varied reasons).
... hey, I'm interested in my degree subject again! Phew!
But now it is finished.
I have head full of thoughts.
I liked the bit about how things considered oppositions, like predictable/surprising, often have value judgements built in, like how people think predictable is bad. But surprise depends on predictability. If you don't have an expectation of what happens next you can't be surprised when something else happens. And it's the same with lots of othe value laden apparent binaries, like flat and round characters, cartoon or realistic, naturalistic acting or exageration. They each have effects and they work with the other to create a broader spectrum of things you can do with them.
There was also a lot about audiences and expectations created by what theatres are like and what the buildings are like and if the seats are benches or armchairs. You don't get that stuff from reading the script.
On TV there's expectations created by channel, time, and what else goes in that timeslot or around it. Once a thing is on DVD it's easier to study but it has lost those levels. And once it's a transcript it gets real easy to quote it in essays but you've lost huge gigantic enormous amounts of meaning-making stuff.
My habit of watching with the subtitles on and the sound off also loses layers of meaning. I know it. I just... don't always want to listen to the TV.
Subtitles are interesting. TV and DVD say different things. I keep meaning to write that up and poke it a bit to see what effect it has. Sometimes, gigantic. Sometimes not so much.
But it's part of how people don't always see the same text even if it's got the same title. Like if something is chopped up with ad breaks in it you get a different experience than if it runs straight through, even if no minutes are removed (and really, a lot of minutes get removed quite often for many and varied reasons).
... hey, I'm interested in my degree subject again! Phew!