"Neoformalist Film Analysis"

I found Kristin Thompson's article on the Neoformalist approach to film analysis to be very intriguing. Thompson explained the general need and utilization for methods and approaches when it comes to film, but specifically zeroed in on the neoformalist approach - an approach to aesthetic analysis. Neoformalist approach applies a two way interchange between theory and criticism. It also "offers a series of broad assumptions about how artworks are constructed and how they operate in cueing audience response" (6). Thompson's breakdown of the sender/medium/receiver component was helpful in analyzing key formal elements of the Wizard of Oz. Thompson explains neoformalism as a communications model of art. In this case, the medium must serve as practical - it's effectiveness judged by how clearly the message is conveyed to the receivers. I previously decided to analyze lighting, which is a key formal element from the Wizard of Oz, using a neoformal approach. This would then suggest that the sender of the message is the scenes from the film. The medium is the light which is meant to convey a message (the mood of the film: cheery or dark), to the receiver which is the viewer. The Neoformal approach makes assumptions about the aesthetic of films, including the idea that: films are artificial constructs (they have no natural qualities) and that they involve a perception of specific aesthetic which is non-practical. Therefore, Thompson explains that the Neoformal approach specifically stresses the idea of being inventive  and original. I found this Neoformal approach as a very interesting and different way of analyzing films.