Become a film connoisseur without even trying, thanks to John Roebuck’s Film School; exploring the cinema in bite sized episodes.

“For as long as there has been cinema there has been documentary. There was the famous film, called Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat, made by the Lumiére brothers, after they invented the first movie camera, the film that captured a train pulling up to a station. You’ve heard the story about audiences running out of the theatre. They thought that the train was going to come out of the screen and hit them. What was that film, if not a documentary? And ever since there has been documentary, filmmakers have grappled with the challenge of how to present “truth” on film. And that’s just about where something they call “Cinéma Vérité” comes into play.”

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Become a film connoisseur without even trying, thanks to John Roebuck’s Film School; exploring the cinema in bite sized episodes.

“Does it seem counterintuitive to apply strict rules to art? Well, it depends on your definition of art. A lot of art is governed by rules. If you bang your hands down on the keys of a piano, that’s not art to me. It might be to some people, because art has sort of been warped into a term that could be used to describe anything. That’s what allowed Italian artist Piero Manzoni to sell tins filled with his own faeces back in 1961. But you need components of musical theory to create a song, whether you know them or not. You need skill to paint a masterpiece, otherwise who’s to say what goes up on the walls at the Museum of Modern art and what doesn’t? So… some would say art has rules. And there are rules in filmmaking too.”

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Check out the episode at the top of this post!

Become a film connoisseur without even trying, thanks to John Roebuck’s Film School; exploring the cinema in bite sized episodes.

“I don’t know about you but there are certain elements of the cinema industry that interest me almost as much as the films themselves. And one, more than all the others. Mini phrases, like ‘one man’, ‘the world awaits’ or ‘this summer’. Strobe lighting, explosions, entire orchestras reaching climax. I’ll sit by my computer, hanging out for these things to be released, and when they are, I’ll watch and rewatch them, scrutinising every last detail until it’s all committed to memory. If there’s one part of the film industry, that isn’t strictly film, that dominates my interest out of the cinema it’s film trailers.”

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Become a film connoisseur without even trying, thanks to John Roebuck’s Film School; exploring the cinema in bite sized episodes.

“Where in the world is Alan Smithee? He was born in 1968, reportedly in Hollywood. His first screen credit is for a film of that same year; the Burt Reynolds drama Western, Fade-In. One year later, Smithee would receive notably positive reviews for his work on Death Of A Gunfighter. Over the next three decades, his presence in the film industry grew. His directorial work was sporadic but long-lived. Over the course of about thirty years, Smithee was hailed as director for over twenty films, including The Birds 2: Land’s End, National Lampoon’s Senior Trip and Ghost Fever. And he wasn’t just involved in second-rate cinema. David Lynch’s Dune, Michael Mann’s Heat and Martin Brest’s Meet Joe Black have all credited Smithee as having an integral role in their productions. But from all that work he never saw a cent. And then all of a sudden, in the year 2000, Alan Smithee went missing from Hollywood – from the world of cinema – and he’s been missing ever since. By most standards, a man with over twenty films to his name has made it, right? How can someone like that just disappear? His name is Alan Smithee.”

John Roebuck’s Film School is brought to you by Tricksy Studio. For more episodes of Film School, clickhere. If you’re digging ReelGood, sign up to our mailing list for exclusive content, early reviews and chances to win big!

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Become a film connoisseur without even trying, thanks to John Roebuck’s Film School; exploring the cinema in bite sized episodes.

If a writer writes a book, they wrote it. If a music writes a song, they wrote it. If a painter paints a painting, they painting it. So who makes a film? It’s not such an easy question as you might think but thanks to a little something known as Auteur Theory, there is, at least, an interesting method of approaching the subject. We’re talkin’ Truffaut, we’re talkin’ Sarris, we’re talkin’ directors.

John Roebuck’s Film School is brought to you by Tricksy Studio. For more episodes of Film School, click here. If you’re digging ReelGood, sign up to our mailing list for exclusive content, early reviews and chances to win big!

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Become a film connoisseur without even trying, thanks to John Roebuck’s Film School; exploring the cinema in bite sized episodes.

When was the last time you were at a party and you thought someone was staring at you lustily but really they were after the Doritos on the table behind you? No need to feel too down about it. What happened to you is sort of similar to the old film theories of Lev Kuleshov as demonstrated by the Kuleshov Effect.

Images courtesy of Holger.Ellgaard

For episodes of John Roebuck’s Film School, click here. If you’re digging ReelGood, sign up to our mailing list for exclusive content, early reviews and chances to win big!

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Become a film connoisseur without even trying, thanks to John Roebuck’s Film School; exploring the cinema in bite sized episodes.

How would you describe nothing? It’s not that easy. And yet we’re compelled to jump into the MacGuffin headfirst and try our best to explain the absolute nothingess of the concept.

Images courtesy of Holger.Ellgaard

For episodes of John Roebuck’s Film School, click here. If you’re digging ReelGood, sign up to our mailing list for exclusive content, early reviews and chances to win big!

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Become a film connoisseur without even trying, thanks to John Roebuck’s Film School; exploring the cinema in bite sized episodes.

You’ve probably heard of it dozens of times throughout your life without recognising it. It’s the greatest in-joke in the film industry. It’s the Wilhelm Scream.

Images courtesy of Holger.Ellgaard

For episodes of John Roebuck’s Film School, click here. If you’re digging ReelGood, sign up to our mailing list for exclusive content, early reviews and chances to win big!

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