Blog Post #1

As I embarked on my research journey I knew one thing: I love to watch movies. Unsurprisingly, my initial research goal was to create a project around film analysis. Film has always been my favorite form of art and I have never gotten a chance to dive deep into analyzing specific aspects of it. In my initial research phase, I was drawn to analyzing different genres, such as Western films, or films under my favorite directors, like Quentin Tarantino. However, I was unsuccessful in generating an interesting and unique research question with these parameters. 

Film theory has also been an interest of mine that I have never thoroughly explored. Consequently, I transitioned my pathway and designed the sub-goal of looking at film theory and applying it to film analysis of certain films. This could’ve been a certain director or genre. 

Then, to avoid unintentionally conducting a film analysis that has already been done and to add some importance to the project, I decided to compare top-grossing films and critically acclaimed films as another sub-goal. My reason for doing this was the discovery of the article “American Film Industry Driven by Profit and Consumption” by Marcella Barneclo. This article brought to my attention the lack of creativity in the film industry and the sole motivation to make money with "cookie-cutter movies." After digesting this information I was disappointed that my favorite form of art is being abused for profit, therefore, motivating me to conduct a research project revolving around the intent of filmmakers. 

Thus, I decided the best way to narrow my parameters would be to look at specific directors: The director with the most money made per film he has directed and a modern director with the most Oscar Nominations. These directors are James Cameron and Martin Scorsese. 

Next, as I continued on my adventure to find the perfect research question, I chose a relevant film theory that would allow me to analyze the creativity of each director. This is the Structuralist Film Theory (derived from structuralism), which states that every film has underlying structural elements that make the story more understandable. These include things like patterns and semiotics. I decided to apply this to the two film directors to assess whether or not a higher use of structuralist patterns in films leads to higher-grossing films or films that are considered to be more artistic by critics. 

 Finally, I achieved my first victory on my research journey. I was able to formulate my final research question, which is as follows:

How do modern-day filmmakers, such as Martin Scorsese and James Cameron use different levels of structuralism to make commercially successful films versus critically acclaimed films?

With the research question taken care of, I started my next research expedition: the methodology. I began this part of my research by finding a structuralist film theory analysis of the movie The Matrix. This project showed me the different variables to look for when measuring the structuralist aspects of each movie. These include looking at and evaluating the camera work, the plot, the semiotics, the recurring themes, and the symbolism in each film. A little farther down the road, I found the research article titled “Media Portrayals of Love, Marriage & Sexuality for Child Audiences: A Select Content Analysis of Walt Disney Animated Family Films,” written by Doctor Ellen Junn. This showed me how to categorize and record each variable that I am analyzing. 

The future of my journey will include further research into which specific movies from each director I will watch and analyze for my project. I will also decide how many times I will watch each film to develop a proper analysis of each film.