Anatomy of Film

1. Anatomy of Film Based on text by Bernard F. Dick

2. Film, Movie or Cinema? • Movie suggests popular culture • Cinema suggests art culture • Film encompasses all

3. Reading Critically • Jaxtaposition • Visual elements • Sound elements • Context • Time & Place • Social Interaction

4. 4 Formal Structure Systems • Mise-en-scene • Cinematography • Editing • Sound

5. Narrative Film • Narrative told through sound and image, that builds to a climax and culminates in a resolution • Does not require dialogue • Images themselves can tell part of the story and can carry as much weight as words

6. Time-Space Relationships • Conflict is heard and seen • Visually represents events unfolding—some occurring at the same time

7. Movie Time • Must tell a story within a certain period of time • Manipulates real time • Is elastic—time compressed or prolonged

8. Employs many forms of art • Print • Dialogue • Music • Camera movement • Settings • Costumes • Performance

9. Graphics • Logos • Main titles, credits, precredits sequences and end credits • Opening titles and end titles • Other print materials: letters, signposts, street signs, newspapers, plaques • Minimizes the need for expository dialogue

10. Sound • Actual Sounds • Sound Effects • Noise • Silence • Commentative Sounds • Music • Synchronization—sound and image are related contextually, spatially, and temporally • Asynchronization—sound and image are related symbolically, metaphorically, or ironically • An Introduction to Film Sound: http://www.filmsound.org/marshall/index.htm

11. Overlapping Sound • Sound or dialogue that either carries over from one scene to the next or anticipates the new scene • Can build narrative • http://imv.au.dk/~pba/Homepagematerial/MMproduktionmateriale/Raskin%20Sound%20%20Paper.pdf

12. Sound Overview • http://imv.au.dk/~pba/Homepagematerial/MMproduktionmateriale/Raskin%20Sound%20%20Paper.pdf

13. Voice-Over Narration • The Narrating “I” • Absurdly overused • The Voice of God • An authoritative voice that belongs to no character—completely disembodied • Weaves in and out of the action, commenting, reflecting, even questioning • Imparts a feeling of objectivity • Can insinuate itself into the characters, noting their moods and emotional states

14. Voice-Over Narration • Epistolary Voice—plot through letters • Allows the audience to hear the other characters • Plot device whose contents must be heard • Subjective Voice—the inner voice of the character

15. Voice-Over Narration • The Repetitive Voice • The Voice from the Machine • Deus ex machina—god from the machine, of Greek theater

16. Film process • The Shot • The Scene vs. The Sequence • Appear to be virtually synonymous • Chief difference—there can be scenes within a sequence, but not sequences within scenes

17. Camera Movements http://www.fis.ie/

18. Defined in terms of distance, area or the subjects they contain Types: Close-up Extreme Close-up Long Shot Full Shot Extreme Long Shot Medium Shot Establishing Shot Two-shot, Three-Shot Shot/Reverse Shot Over-the-shoulder shot The Shot http://www.fis.ie/

19. Shots http://www.fis.ie/

20. The Shot • High-angle Shot • God’s Eye • Suggest entrapment or frustration • Low-Angle shot • Makes subject appear larger • Suggests dominance or power • Objective-view of camera • Point of View Shot http://www.fis.ie/

21. The Moving Shot • Pan shot—horizontal • Tilt shot—vertical • Mobile Camera shots • Swish pan—unusually rapid & produces momentary blur • Tracking Shot—greater area and more detail • Dolly Shot • Crane Shot

22. The Moving Shot http://www.fis.ie/

23. Zooms and Freezes • Zoom in/Zoom out • camera does not move • Represents deceptive motion and distorts size • Freeze Frame • Stopped motion • Suggests stasis • Implies immobility, helplessness or indecision

24. The Sequence • A group of shots forming a self-contained segment of the film that is, by and large, intelligible in itself • Types • Linear Sequence • Associative Sequence • Montage Sequence

25. The Linear Sequence • Beginning initiates the action • Middle adds to the action • End follows and completes the action • Elliptical linear sequence • Certain details omitted • Viewers must make connections

26. The Associative Sequence • Scenes linked by an object or a series of objects • http://mcel.pacificu.edu/JAHC/JAHCV2/ARTICLES/david/david.html

27. Montage Sequence • A series of shots arranged in a particular order for a particular purpose • Rapid succession telescoping an event or several events • American Montage: 30s & 40s • Collapses time as shots blend together, wipe each other away or are superimposed • Calendar pages, headlines, etc.

28. Montage Sequence • Feature of both linear and associative sequence • Can be unified by images • http://www.vsmu.sk/rybarova/unit_7.doc

29. Cuts • Verb—terminate a shot • Noun—a strip of film • Film stages: rough cut  director’s cut  final cut

30. Cuts • Joining of two separate shots • Straight cut—one image replaces another • Contrast cut—images are dissimilar • Crosscut (Parallel)—2 actions occurring simultaneously • Jump cut—break in continuity • Form cut—a cut from one object to another of similar shape • Match cut—one shot complements or “matches” the other, following smoothly without any break in continuity of time and space

31. Transitions—Bridge Scenes • The Fade: • Fade-out & Fade-in • Denotes demarcation—the end of a narrative sequence • The Dissolve • denotes continuity by the gradual replacement of one shot by another • No sooner said than done

32. Transitions • Synecdoche or metonymy: • Two images blend in such a way that their union constitutes a symbolic equation • However, the result is a metaphorical dissolve • A sign replaces the signified • http://afronord.tripod.com/theory.html

33. Transitions • Form Dissolve—merging two images with the same shape or contours • Easy on the eyes • Can relate to plot • The Wipe—Line traveling vertically across the scene • More fluid than a cut and faster than a dissolve • Ideal for presenting a series of events in quick succession

34. The Iris • Masking Shot or Iris Shot—everything blacked out except what is to be seen telescopically • Irising In/Irising Out

35. Editing • Selecting and arranging the shots based on • Their place within the narrative • Their contribution to the mood of a particular scene or to the film as a whole • Their enhancement of the film’s rhythm • their elucidation of the film’s deeper meaning • their fulfillment of the filmmaker’s purpose

36. Continuity Editing • Assembling shots so that they follow each other smoothly without interruption • Preserves the illusion of an ongoing narrative

37. Eisenstein’s Theory of Montage • Based on contrast and conflict • http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/04/eisenstein.html • http://afronord.tripod.com/~afronord/eisen.html

38. Continuity Editing • Rhythm—variations in speed, movement, and pace • Time—parallel cutting depicts two concurrent actions • Space—parallel cutting affects sense of space as well • Tone—primarily light, shade and color • Theme—juxtaposing contrasting shots can deepen a film’s theme

39. Role of the Editor • Takes what has been shot and improves on it • The director’s alter ego • Controls the rhythm and tone • Primary purpose is to bring to completion an artistic work already in progress

40. Mise-en-Scène • French phrase used to describe the staging of a play • In film—composing a shot or a sequence with the same attention to detail (set, lighting, costumes, makeup, positioning of actors within the frame, etc) that a state director lavishes on a play • A form of framing—the art of composing a shot • http://www.mediaed.org.uk/posted_documents/Teaching_mise_en_scene.htm

41. Framing • Frame—strip of celluloid on which the image is captured • Shots can be framed • In terms of horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines • Geometrically • Iconographically • In deep or shallow focus • From a high or low angle • In a frame that has been masked or doubled

42. Framing • Tight framing • Subject appears to be confined withing the horizontal and vertical borders of the frame • Not a hint of offscreen space • Gives a feeling of oppression • Canted shot—frame looks lopsided • Geometrical compositions can be symbolic as well as visually interesting

43. Iconography • Framing a shot to imitate a painting or sculpture

44. Focus • Deep Focus • foreground, middle ground and background are equally visible • Conveys a greater sense of depth • Minimizes the need to cut from one shot to another • Brings out meanings that otherwise not be apparent • Shallow Focus • Foreground is more distinct than background

45. Takes • Long take • A shot that lasts more than a minute • Steadicam

46. Color & Lighting • Color palettes and lighting sets tone and mood • Lighting has a direct bearing on the way an image is perceived http://www.fis.ie/

47. Special Effects/Visual Effects • “Art never improves, but . . . The material of art is never quite the same.” --T. S. Eliot

48. The Musical The Western The Crime Film Film Noir Combat Film Comedies Romantic Comedy Screwball Comedy Farce Satire The Reflexive Film The Woman’s Film The Documentary The Horror Film Science-Fiction Film Genres

49. Subtext • Infranarrative • A complex structure beneath the narrative consisting of the various associations the narrative evokes in us • Film’s dual nature • Level of meanings found in • Symbols • Image patterns • References/allusions • Reading critically

50. Operates on an unconscious level, presenting us with Characters questers the enchanted and the enchanter ogres scapegoats monsters talking animals Apparitions Themes The homeward journey The quest Ancestral curses Revenge Patricide Matricide Settings Caves Wastelands Subterranean rivers Enchanted islands Flat-topped mountains Ominous castles Desolate moors Lost worlds Mythic Associations