This investigation, based on the phenomenological philosophy of Alfred Schutz, was an attempt to determine how people view films by determining the meaning that the action has for them. Twenty college freshmen and sophomores and two seniors viewed the film "Tilt," a production of the National Film Board of Canada. All subjects were asked to tape record their reactions to the film while it was being shown. Half of the original group was asked the following questions immediately after viewing: What does the film mean to you? What visual and narrative elements do you remember? What were your expectations before and during viewing? A tape-recorded, stimulated-recall session, in which subjects attempted to remember the specific image that was on the screen during the time of response, was then conducted. The other half of the group responded to questioning and participated in the recall session three weeks later. Interpretation of data indicated that viewers retain only a few salient images, and the creation of meaning is a process of "re-editing" these memorable images. The special problems of phenomenological research and of this study in particular are also examined. (Author/KS)