Are You Watching Closely?

Are You Watching Closely?

Author: Seth Friedman

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 2017-08-16

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 1438465912

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Identifies a new genre—misdirection films—and explains its appeal to contemporary producers and audiences. Are You Watching Closely? is the first book to explore the recent spate of “misdirection films,” a previously unidentified Hollywood genre characterized by narratives that inspire viewers to reinterpret them retrospectively. Since 1990, Hollywood has backed more of these films than ever before, many of which, including The Sixth Sense (1999), A Beautiful Mind (2001), and Inception (2010), were both commercial and critical successes. Seth Friedman examines this genre in its sociocultural, industrial, and technological contexts to explain why it has become more attractive to producers and audiences. The recent popularity of misdirection films, Friedman argues, is linked to new technologies that enable repeat viewings and online discussion, which makes it enticing to an industry that depends increasingly on the aftermarket, as well as to historically specific cultural developments. That is, in addition to being well suited for shifting industrial and technological conditions, these films are appealing because they suggest that it remains possible to know what “actually” occurred and who was “really” responsible for events at a time when it is also becoming increasingly recognized that “truth” is relative. Are You Watching Closely? shows how Hollywood’s effective strategies for these changing circumstances put it at the forefront of a storytelling trend that has increasingly become important across media. Through close analyses of how misdirection films have been designed, marketed, and received in relation to their contexts, Friedman demonstrates the ways in which they epitomize a kind of narrative experimentation that has become a crucial facet of twenty-first-century audiovisual storytelling.


Are You Watching Closely?

Are You Watching Closely?

Author: Seth Friedman

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2017-08-15

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 1438465920

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Are You Watching Closely? is the first book to explore the recent spate of "misdirection films," a previously unidentified Hollywood genre characterized by narratives that inspire viewers to reinterpret them retrospectively. Since 1990, Hollywood has backed more of these films than ever before, many of which, including The Sixth Sense (1999), A Beautiful Mind (2001), and Inception (2010), were both commercial and critical successes. Seth Friedman examines this genre in its sociocultural, industrial, and technological contexts to explain why it has become more attractive to producers and audiences. The recent popularity of misdirection films, Friedman argues, is linked to new technologies that enable repeat viewings and online discussion, which makes it enticing to an industry that depends increasingly on the aftermarket, as well as to historically specific cultural developments. That is, in addition to being well suited for shifting industrial and technological conditions, these films are appealing because they suggest that it remains possible to know what "actually" occurred and who was "really" responsible for events at a time when it is also becoming increasingly recognized that "truth" is relative. Are You Watching Closely? shows how Hollywood's effective strategies for these changing circumstances put it at the forefront of a storytelling trend that has increasingly become important across media. Through close analyses of how misdirection films have been designed, marketed, and received in relation to their contexts, Friedman demonstrates the ways in which they epitomize a kind of narrative experimentation that has become a crucial facet of twenty-first-century audiovisual storytelling.


Watching Closely

Watching Closely

Author: Christena E. Nippert-Eng

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 293

ISBN-13: 0190235527

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Watching Closely provides a practical, interactive guide for improving one's powers of observation, synthesizing data, and tapping into more visual elements of observation, such as photography and sketching, encouraging both a more creative and more scientific approach to fieldwork. Geared towards ethnographic field work, the book includes nine exercises for practicing and strengthening observational skills. Watching Closely will appeal to students and scholars of the social and behavioral sciences, as well as designers, architects, and anyone engaged in fieldwork.


Watching Closely

Watching Closely

Author: Christena Nippert-Eng

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2015-10-01

Total Pages: 293

ISBN-13: 0190235535

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Ethnographers rely on three related activities to conduct research in the field: observation, conversation, and participation. Observing others in their environments and using this data to inform and share conclusions is an essential part of any fieldworker's toolkit. However, many ethnographers' observational muscles tend to be their weakest. Fortunately, Christena Nippert-Eng's Watching Closely: A Guide to Ethnographic Observation provides a practical, interactive guide for improving one's powers of observation. The book includes nine exercises for practicing observational skills, including a preparatory briefing and post-exercise discussion. Nippert-Eng also offers a weblink (global.oup.com/us/watchingclosely) to sample responses from her previous students, providing an additional resource beyond the text itself. Beyond the traditional tenets of field work, Watching Closely encourages readers to pursue more creative ways of collecting and analyzing data, such as sketching, diagramming, and photography, as well as developing more concrete expectations for the potential uses and meanings of ethnographic data. Engaging and accessible, Watching Closely offers a guide for readers to not only strengthen their core skills and mindset as fieldworkers, but also to produce research that is more scientifically rigorous and persuasive. From social and behavioral scientists to user-centered designers and architects, undergraduate students to experienced fieldworkers, a vast array of readers will reap the benefits of learning more about how we observe.


The Prestige

The Prestige

Author: Christopher Priest

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 1997-09-15

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 9780312858865

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In 1878, two young stage magicians clash in a darkened salon during the course of a fraudulent séance, and from this moment they try to expose and outwit each other at every turn.


Lights In Dark Corners

Lights In Dark Corners

Author: Shamiel Taylor

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2016-09-20

Total Pages: 134

ISBN-13: 1365364216

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This poetry collection sums up the basic human emotions and often things every one is too scared to admit. Typed out on a typewriter and nights spent alone, this journey takes you into the life of a young man that cannot come to grips with love, lust and loss. It is truly magical.


Ghosts of the Near Future

Ghosts of the Near Future

Author: Emma Clark

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2022-08-24

Total Pages: 106

ISBN-13: 1350358088

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It's easy to make you disappear, she says. And the figure is gone. Just like that. In Vegas, a magician performs a final disappearing act. The end of the world is a magic trick – are you watching closely? Ghosts of the Near Future is a cowboy-noir fever dream about extinction. Colliding music, storytelling, and live micro-cinema, it is a hallucinatory road-trip through a vanishing landscape, a haunting collage of miracles and misdirection. It takes us to the brink of disaster and asks whether we're ready for what comes next. This edition was published to coincide with the production at Summerhall, Edinburgh, in August 2022.


Closely Watched Films

Closely Watched Films

Author: Marilyn Fabe

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2014-10-14

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 0520279972

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"Through detailed examinations of passages from classic films, Marilyn Fabe supplies the analytic tools and background in film history and theory to enable us to see more in every film we watch"--Page [4] of cover.