How to View and Appreciate Great Movies

Professor Williams introduces his passion for film by explaining exactly what makes movies magic for him. He provides a brief history of movies and foreshadows elements of the course that he will be digging deeper into including music, framing, and the three-act structure, tying the whole thing together by familiarizing you with what he considers one of the most important movie elements: tension.

Professor Williams introduces you to the story of a young hero whisked off on a journey through new lands full of strange and colorful characters, and introduced to a dangerous foe. The hero rises to various challenges, finds friends, and defeats the bad guy in a happy ending. Uncover the foundation of Joseph Campbell's "hero's journey" and explore how it shows up in unrelated films and genres.

Professor Williams spends this lecture introducing you to the definitive list of genres based on what happens in the film and how it makes you feel. Diving deeply into the meanings and examples of movie genres can help you better define what you look for and love. As for the actual number of film genres Professor Williams has established? You'll have to watch the lecture to find out the answer.

Become familiar with three simple variations of film genre (super genre, macrogenres, and microgenres) and their three important variables. Discern the difference between a heist film and an escape film, learn how characters often define the genre you are viewing, and discover how one movie can encapsulate multiple macro- and microgenres, with each additional label changing your expectations.

Professor Williams introduces the relationship between story shape and story rhythm. By examining the shape for several genres, start to see the rhythm of a story. To keep us coming back, sometimes filmmakers break the rhythm, while at other times they present the same pattern out of order. Characters, dialogue, and plot all play a part. Ultimately, building tension is what keeps us in our seats.

Examine the concept of theme through approaches from traditional filmmakers to non-traditional filmmakers. Professor Williams then layers on the method of storytelling chosen to present the movie theme - active vs. didactic vs. both - creating a matrix upon which he plots several movies to help illustrate what the theme is and to determine when and how the theme will make its way into the film.

Professor Williams looks at the lasting influence two films have made on every component of movie making over the last 75 years. As Professor Williams breaks down Casablanca, you'll better understand the three factors that made this movie an instant classic, suitable for repeat viewing. With Citizen Kane, he'll introduce you to seven groundbreaking film techniques that changed movies forever.

Learn how to look at a film as a painting. Professor Williams explains how visual literacy is based upon at least four factors. He then delves into the distinct camera moves and how each brings you a different impression of what you're seeing. Using beautifully shot movies such as Blow Up and Jaws, you'll examine framing and filming constructs such as the "rule of thirds" and point of interest.

On a basic level, blocking is the way that characters interact in a space. Framing is the way in which the blocking is captured by a camera. Professor Williams explains how both can be broken down into elements of lines and shape and scale. Using a plethora of examples including The Wizard of Oz and Good Will Hunting, you'll explore what sorts of messages good blocking and framing can send.

Professor Williams illuminates how an editor removes, inserts, and organizes hours and hours of footage into a comprehensive, visually literate film that resonates with the audience. Looking at movies including Roshomon, and Reservoir Dogs, you'll explore examples of how editing can visually manipulate us, while setting the tone, pace, and thematic intention of the movie.

Professor Williams introduces you to the four approaches to film sound, provides eye-opening (or perhaps "ear-opening") insights into where the sound made a scene memorable in films such as The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, and The Hurt Locker, and how tuning us into what our character hears provides us with more than just background noise.

Dive into Apollo 13, The Shining, Room, Clockwork Orange, and more, to discover how props and set design can set a story up, introduce the characters, and provide clues about what to expect before the first line of dialogue has been spoken. Professor Williams demonstrates how the evolution or degradation of the set and props can often act as a mirror to the character's mental state.

In the first of two lectures focused on the gamut of special effects from puppets to AI, you'll learn the history and the science behind the magic we see and believe. Professor Williams unpacks the two types of special effects, complete with plenty of examples, and teases what two movies he believes are among the greatest special effects movies of all time.

You'll go behind the scenes to discover the different ways stars interact with characters who don't exist and the details that need to be captured - such as the correct angle of a non-existent sun reflection - when nothing you are filming is real. Plus, Professor Williams reveals his two picks for greatest special effects movie, and we're pretty sure you'll be surprised when you hear them.

Professor Williams demonstrates how music becomes a motif or a leitmotif, acting as a guide for our subconscious attention, escorting us from scene to scene, or carrying us across continents, providing emotional cues, and setting the stage for what to expect. Using examples from Rocky, Star Wars, and more, he demonstrates how filmmakers can use a score to adhere to - or subvert - expectations.

Looking at a variety of films that make creative use of color and light, including Do The Right Thing, The Martian, and Schindler's List, you'll become familiar with a foundation of 12 hues, six color schemes, four characteristics of light, and three ways to use light - as well as what each means and how various combinations can alter how the audience sees the movie (literally and figuratively).

Professor Williams introduces the use of masks: public, private, and personal. He demonstrates that as characters pull each one off, we get to know them (and connect with them) better. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Imitation Game provide contrasting studies in the way the masks reveal characters, and more importantly, their motivation.

Professor Williams challenges you to read the screenplay of a movie you haven't seen yet as if you were a detective, gleaning what you can about the plot, characters, and relationships simply from the word choices. Through a reading of Lean on Me, Professor Williams introduces you to the things you can learn about a character from what he or she says and what he or she portrays - or doesn't say.

Thelma and Louise, The Godfather, and Barton Fink provide the backdrop for a consideration of how supporting roles are used to influence our opinion of the protagonist. Professor Williams explores the idea that by pushing, reacting, and reflecting, the secondary characters define motive and reveal what the main characters are not. They represent the hearts and souls of our main characters.

Professor Williams acknowledges he can't tell you how an actor does what he or she does, but through this lecture he helps you appreciate the nuance that goes into acting as he breaks down the role of an actor. As you travel through Psycho, Get Out, The Thin Red Line, Rounders, and others, you discover what actors do (or should do) to prepare for roles and the pressure to portray believability.

Professor Williams uses Precious and The Piano, and sprinkles in theories from Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell, to illustrate how relationships are established, how the relationships work, and how they create tension in film. Examining established archetypes and character types, Professor Williams shows how easy it is to make movies predictable and how intention can help subvert expectations.

Professor Williams demonstrates how all great villains are a distorted reflection of the hero, through movies including The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, The Silence of the Lambs, and Rocky. He unpacks why the antagonist may not always be bad, but must be present. Additionally, you'll explore the four thematic groupings (pathways) and 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. Using Annie Hall, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Sherlock Holmes, No Country for Old Men, and more, you get a handle on how to decipher the POV and the reason behind it, adding a whole new dimension to your enjoyment of the story.

Looking at films such as Anomolisa and The Artist, you'll see why it is what the filmmaker chooses to say with their voice that is important. Professor Williams also provides a list of ways audiences can be made uncomfortable, reveals what a movie can tell you about itself in the first 10 minutes, and introduces three movies you've probably never heard of, but shouldn't miss.