CINEMAGIC: How to Analyze and Interpret Film

OVERVIEW

With storytelling, it's important to think about not only the story itself (content: plot, setting, character) but also about how the story is being told and who is actually telling it.  As with most things in life, asking who, what, when, where, why, and how will take you deep and wide. Ultimately, you can only make sense of the story if you examine the perspective from which it’s being told.  But, as with life in general, we are easily swept away by the plot and characters and seldom ponder the narrator's point of view.  In film, many times the viewer will literally look through a particular character’s eyes, forging an automatic psychological affinity with that particular character. 

• What is the difference between a story narrated from a first person point of view and a story told from a third person point of view? 
• What’s the difference between a third person limited and a third person omniscient point of view? 
• How close are we to the characters in each case?
• Think about the effect of a hero telling his own story as opposed to another person who witnessed the heroic deed telling the tale.

 

Probably the most distinctive quality about film as an artform is the fact that it is, by its very nature, a creative collaboration whose creators are its screenwriters and composers, actors and cinematographers, directors and producers, make-up artists and other technicians…The list goes on and on, as you well know if you've ever sat through the entire list of credits at the end of a film! In the end, however, what does it tell us about a particular film to say that it is a Hitchcock or Tarantino film as opposed to a Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt box-office-blockbuster?

 

FILM CODES & TECHNIQUES

Sound-How do the music/sound effects manipulate your emotions or mood? Instruments? Lyrics? Volume? Intensity? Tempo? Rhythm? Background or foreground?
Diagetic sound is sound that is natural to the environment of the scene: birds chirping, dialogue between characters, traffic and street noises, gravel crunching beneath feet, music playing on the stereo, etc. Nondiagetic sound is sound that is not within the scene, such as voiceover narration or background music.

 

Mise-en-scene--whatever appears within the frame of the shot (organization of things like stage props, acting, movement, lighting, makeup, costumes, etc.)

 

Lighting—can be used various ways and varying degrees to create particular moods; can be used symbolically

·         High-key lighting: brightly lit scene; creates cheerful, light atmosphere

·         Low-key lighting:  illuminations create contrast and a chiaroscuro effect; creates a mysterious, suspenseful, eerie, or ominous mood

·         Front lighting—softens or flattens; may suggest innocence by casting a halo effect

·         Bottom lighting—casts shadows from below; eerie, ghoulish, sinister effect

·        Side lighting—casts images in light or shadow

Camera Angles:—can be used various ways and varying degrees; can be used to show power or vulnerability

·         Low angle shot from below—shows power or status of the subject or object viewed from that angle, and conversely, the possible vulnerability or powerlessness of the POV the camera is reflecting (this can be the viewer or a character in the story).

·         High angle shot from above—shows weakness or vulnerability or an objective overview, i.e., God's eye view.  If you're looking into a small space, like a jail cell, it intensifies the claustrophobic feel of the cramped space.

·       Dutch angle shot tilted sideways on the horizontal axis--creates a sinister or distorted effect that skews the view of a character and perhaps indicates a distorted viewpoint or confused state.

·      Eye-level angle shot (90-95% of all shots used)--camera is level with the key character's point of view

 Framing/Shots:  what the camera sets as the perimeter of our view.  What's in and what's out?

·         Establishing shot:  shot taken from a distance that establishes important locations or situates/contextualizes important characters in place, time or in relationship.

·         Long shot:  shot from far away; gives overview and is often used in establishing shots at beginning and final shot.

·         Medium shot: shot that's neither near nor far

·         Close-ups: used to impart an emotion, to show us inside a character's thoughts,  or to emphasize a particular aspect of something/someone.

·         Matching shot—change from one scene to the next by matching images and placement.

·         Pan—the stationary camera moves from left to right or right to left

·       Tilt—the stationary camera moves up or down

·         Tracking or dolly shot —the camera itself moves in or out by traveling rather than using the zoom feature

·         Following shot—the camera keeps pace with a moving figure

·         Crane shot—the camera is attached to a crane and moves up or down

·         Hand-held shot—the camera is carried or strapped onto a character or camera operator

·        Point of view shot—the camera films something as if looking through a character's eyes so that when the camera movement reflects the gaze of the character; forges an identification with character and puts us inside the character's mind &/or experience.

Transitions:

·         Fade in and out--scene fades to black or white; usually implies the passage of time or a lapse of consciousness

·         Jump cut—most commonly used transition where the camera shot jumps from one thing to another without benefit of fading or superimposition

·       Smash cut—abrupt, unexpected cut without transition with the intention of perplexing or startling viewer; usually occurs at seminal moments in scene; shifts radically from one type of scene to another; can be frenzied to tranquil; a very versatile type of transition.

·         Dissolve—one image fades out over another image that is simultaneously fading in—sometimes used to show the unfolding or condensed passage of time.

·        Wipe —one image appears to wipe over another, replacing it; this can also be done with black or white or colored screens and can also be horizonal, verticle, diagonal, or circular.

·        Rack (or pulling) focus—an obvious shift in focus from foreground to background or vice versa.  This shifts your attention from one thing to another and directs your focus. Shifts in perspective.

·        Eye-line match —a shot that begins with what the person is looking at that then shifts to what they are seeing; usually followed by a response or reaction to what they have just seen.

·       Crosscutting—cutting back and forth between actions that happening simultaneously; also known as parallel editing

·     Montage sequence—events are connected by circumstance, theme, or idea but are disconnected physically; spliced together to show movement toward one another or parallel or converging events unfolding.

NOTE:

 

·         Film technique/codes

·        Costumes and props

·         Movement on the set / camera movement / body movement and facial expressions

·         Rhythm and timing of actions and events (real time, condensed time, elapsed time--how are these shown?)

·         Color—visually imparts emotional, symbolic, and cultural perceptions

Also note the following: narrator/point of view character, allusions, symbolism, character development, passage of time, names, setting (historical, cultural), circularity.

 

Contemplate these questions:

How do films reflect and inform culture?

How do filmmakers deal with the rhythm and passage of time within the narrative flow of the story?

What qualities does film have that literature does not and vice versa?

What is it about particular films that qualify them to be considered works of art rather than mere entertainment?

After watching the entire film, analyze the structure of the film by pondering the following:
* What is the generating circumstance leading into the story?

* What is the plot structure--what parts of the story comprise beginning, middle, end?

* Watch the opening segment of the film again (ten minutes or so, roughly the equivalent of the opening chapter of a book) to see how the filmmakers foreshadow coming events.  The opening scenes of a film usually tell the whole story in a broad, general, &/or symbolic way that can be seen clearly in retrospect. Note how the film lures you into the story.

* Watch the closing scene with an eye toward how the filmmaker reaches closure (usually by circling back to the beginning and/or zooming out).

* What range of feelings did you experience when watching this film?  How do you think you were made to feel that way?  Music?  Lighting?  Dialogue?  Camera angles? Color?

* Did you notice any allusions, names, or symbols that gave you insight into the subtext expressed in the film?

 

Kulshov Experiment
http://vimeo.com/8082147