Introduction to Film Studies: Critical Comparison of First Man and Mission Mangal

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO FILM STUDIES
Introduction to Film Studies
Name of the Student
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INTRODUCTION TO FILM STUDIES
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Film 1 Evaluation.......................................................................................................................3
Film 2 Evaluation.......................................................................................................................5
Critical Comparison...................................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................10

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INTRODUCTION TO FILM STUDIES
Introduction
The goal of film studies is to deal with various historical, theoretical and critical
aspects of film. Films are the genre of entertainment and it is a part of media studies.
Sometimes people confuse it with television studies. The studies in films are less concerned
with its commercial success. Rather they are directed towards its cultural, artistic, narrative
and political implications. Analysing a film critically involves all the contexts like
understanding its theoretical framework, production analysis, creation and content context.
Many film theories are present in the film culture to analyse and criticise the conflicts and
comparisons in the films. This study will be directed to understand two film critically and
making an effective comparison between its aesthetic and cultural aspects. The two films
selected for this research are – First Man and Mission Mangal. There will individual analysis
of these films along with critical comparison between these two.

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INTRODUCTION TO FILM STUDIES
Film 1 Evaluation
The first film that is to evaluate in this study is First Man. This movie has earned
critical acclaim in the film industry though it has failed to impress the box office collection in
that respect. In order to understand the aesthetic and critical value of the film, one must
explore the ways of different elements of film theories used in this film (Riis). This is the film
that have the story of the first moon mission by NASA in 1961. Neil Armstrong was the test
pilot of the rocket-powered spaceplane X-15 that once bounced back from the atmosphere.
Though Neil managed to land to the earth, some of the records accused his distraction for this
mishap and he was grounded. The film has several layers in it that moves round the central
characters, especially, the character of Neil Armstrong, played by Ryan Gosling.
The film was the venture of DreamWorks and Universal and it started in 2010s. The
movie is based on James R. Hansen’s “First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong. The
director of the film is Client Eastwood who has the experience to direct another space-based
film Space Cowboys. The film production has been aided by PIX systems. The principal
photography of the film has been done in Atlanta in 2017. The aesthetic structure of the
photography is divided in three format- Super 16mm, 35mm Techniscope & Super 35 3-perf,
and finally the IMAX 70mm film to show the moon sequence. The scenes inside the
spacecraft was been shot by using 16mm format, whereas, Armstrong’s house and NASA
faculty scenes are developed through 35mm format. The speciality of the film is that though
there are many space scenes to be created, it was shot without green screen.
The director has used different types of shots in the course of movie to make it more
appealing. The move goes parallaly in two different plots. One is the space life and the other
is the complex life story of the protagonist. Therefore, there are shots like extreme close ups,
close ups, wide shots, long shots and some over the shoulder shots in the film. The director