1 / 6

Film Analysis: Movies and Meaning

Film Analysis: Movies and Meaning. Taken from a lecture by Willie Tolliver Bogozan. ELEMENTS OF FILM. THE NARRATIVE- literally, what story is being told? What is implied? (past events, things that we don’t see but assume happens, such as the rape scene in the film version of Streetcar , etc.)

temima
Download Presentation

Film Analysis: Movies and Meaning

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Film Analysis: Movies and Meaning Taken from a lecture by Willie Tolliver Bogozan

  2. ELEMENTS OF FILM • THE NARRATIVE- literally, what story is being told? What is implied? (past events, things that we don’t see but assume happens, such as the rape scene in the film version of Streetcar, etc.) • THE STYLISTIC SYSTEM- the way in which the film’s plot is presented helps to create meaning. • IDEOLOGY- What beliefs or belief systems are at work in the direction, writing, or style of the film?

  3. NARRATIVE • Time compression- typically a film has two hours or less to convey the meaning, however most plots span several hours, days, or weeks. • Hierarchy of knowledge- the story is also told with different levels of what the audience knows and what each character knows. Do the viewers or the characters know more? Does one character know more than another? • Various levels of meaning- we’ll use The Wizard of Oz to give examples • referential- literal meaning- “The Wizard of Oz is about Dorothy, who . . .” • explicit- “There is no place like home” • implicit- subtext- “The Wizard of Oz is really about the crisis in the development of adolescent girls; do I grow up to be a good or bad witch?” • symptomatic- “The Wizard of Oz is about the importance of family in the 1930’s.”

  4. STYLISTIC ELEMENTS • Consider the controlled environment- everything in a movie is chosen for a reason, so always consider the following elements: • Acting/ casting- for example, Lawrence Fishburn was cast as Othello- why not Chris Rock or Eddie Murphy? • Costumes- why are the characters wearing certain colors, certain styles, over the top outfits or understated ones? (What Dreams May Come has very interesting costume choices) • Scenery- where is the story set? How does weather, time of day, etc. influence the meaning? • Lighting- colors used? shading, shadows, or bright lights? • Props- what is used? how? why?

  5. STYLISTIC ELEMENTS CON’T • Cinematography • How does the frame move? • Focus- what is in the foreground? What is in the background? Are any images blurry, while other images are in focus? • Editing- are there any jump cuts? What is the composition of each frame? • Sound • What music is used? How? When? Why? • Diegetic sound- sound that the characters and audience can hear. • Nondiegetic sound- sound that only the audience can hear.

  6. IDEOLOGY • What value systems are at work here? Consider: • Is the ideology didactic or based around pleasure and senses? • What is accepted? Violence, sex, drugs, etc. (think about the violence in Kill Bill; is it accepted?) • How is the audience manipulated? • Who are the villains? Heroes? • Who are the privileged? • Who are the “fleshed- out” characters?

More Related