Interview with Rob Ager

1. What’s the difference between film analysis and film criticism?

The very word “criticism” suggests negative judgment. In practice film critics typically communicate their initial reaction to a single viewing of a film. Film analysis involves a careful study, either by repeat viewings or scene by scene dissection – sometimes shot by shot dissection. With film critics the emphasis is on approving or disapproving a movie based on emotional reaction, whereas film analysts are more likely to explore interesting facets of a movie even if they don’t find the film entertaining or morally agreeable.

2. How did you convert from a regular film viewer into a passionate film analyst?

It happened gradually as a result of making low budget films of my own. I started breaking down classic movies, reverse engineering them, to improve my own film making, but then the study of classic movies became a venture of its own.

3. What did influence your decision to focus mostly on analyzing films rather than directing them?

I found that a lot of film fans are interested in the finer mechanics of movies, even though they don’t make movies themselves. There was an audience waiting for this stuff in 2006 / 2007. At that time there were virtually no Youtube channels studying films. Now it’s a mini-industry with whole teams, some of them well-funded, but still to this day there’s a secondary aspect of my work that I don’t see present in the works of most other film analysts – my preoccupation with psychology. I’ve spent as much of my life studying psychology as I have film so the two are now blended together in my work. On that basis I decided that film analysis was worth doing as an interesting way to communicate deep psychology to audiences who would otherwise be less interested in the academic format of most psychology writing. And of course, promoting quality movies is my way of trying to counter the decline in good film making since the mid-1990’s.

4. Does analyzing a film spoil the fun of watching it in any way?

A lot of people buy special edition releases of their favorite movies so that they can watch behind the scenes footage and director commentaries etc. Yet they still love those same movies. Usually after writing a detailed study of a particular film I don’t bother watching that movie again for at least six months. Sometimes years will pass, but eventually I always go back to whatever movie I’ve dissected and enjoy it as much as I ever did. Sometimes the film analysis process makes me appreciate a film more and thus find it even more enjoyable. I hope it does the same for my audience too

5. Is it more important for a film to be meaningfully multi-layered or spontaneously enjoyable?

I find both equally important and I tend to alternate my viewing choice to satisfy both. I find it perfectly ok for a movie to be spontaneously enjoyable, but not meaningfully multilayered. And the reverse is ok too. But when a movie is neither I get very bored and stop watching.

6. Can good cinematography “save” a film with a bad script and vice versa?

A movie that has a decent script (engaging plot and relatable characters) can get away with a lot of imperfections such as poor cinematography, a mediocre score, even poor acting. But for me personally if the story isn’t engaging and I don’t feel anything for the characters then there is no movie. If I want smooth shots and hypnotic visuals for their own sake then I’d rather watch music videos, car ads and shampoo commercials.

7. Would you ever analyse foreign films by directors such as Tarkovsky and Bergman?

So far I’ve avoided it. I do watch foreign films and like a lot of them, but the subtleties of how lines of dialogue are specifically worded and which words are emphasized by actors can have a strong effect on what the dialogue implies. Translation between languages runs a high risk of distorting meaning. I’ve had Takeshi Miike’s Audition on my to do list for some time so that will probably be the first foreign language film analysis I do.

8. Are there any TV shows that require more in-depth analysis?

For years I’ve been getting requests for studies of The Wire, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad and so on, but I don’t think these shows are as film analysis worthy as feature films. Because of the limited run time of movies skilled film makers who want to create a sophisticated story tend to cram a lot of non-verbal information around the dialogue. With long form TV shows this doesn’t happen very much. The script writers can stretch things out to a much longer length, which in turn breeds a kind of laziness. The majority of the plot and themes are expressed primarily in dialogue. Some of these shows run for more than 50 hrs in total, often padded out with mediocre subplots, but they don’t have 50 hrs worth of core story. The advantage of TV shows is that the long run time allows for more complex plots and especially more complex histories for characters, but if it’s mostly dialogue based then there’s no need for film analysis. If I had to pick a single TV show to make a film analysis of it would be the original series of The Prisoner. They crammed a ton of information into those episodes and a lot of concepts were not stated in dialogue. There are occasional sub plots in other TV shows that I consider film analysis worthy, but to study a whole series in my usual level of depth would require far too much time and in most instances would be less interesting than the movies I write about.

9. Any advice for aspiring film analysts?

I keep a lot of my own techniques to myself being that indie film analysis is now a market in which I operate against competitors, but there’s one piece of advice I’m willing to share that I consider by far the most important … Write, produce, direct and edit some low budget films of your own to get familiar with the creative process. Your films don’t have to be masterpieces, in fact even making bad films will still enhance your knowledge. However it’s essential that your films have a narrative structure in line with movies and fictional TV shows. Making music videos or obscure art house shorts with no character arcs or plots won’t cut it. Getting involved in other people’s productions might be a good start too, but I think for maximum learning you need to experience what it’s like to be the central creative force behind a film project and you should get deeply involved in EVERY aspect of your production. I learned far more from doing this than in the combined total of all the film making biographies and guides I’ve read.

Rob Ager is creating videos and articles about film/ media analysis and psychology.
Collative Learning: https://www.youtube.com/user/robag88