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 unfoldingsome
  occurring at the same time

7
Movie Time

• Must tell a story within a certain period of time
• Manipulates real time
• Is elastictime 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
• Synchronizationsound and image are related
  contextually, spatially, and temporally
• Asynchronizationsound 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/MMproduktio
  nmateriale/Raskin20Sound2020Paper.pdf

12
Sound Overview

• http//imv.au.dk/pba/Homepagematerial/MMproduktio
  nmateriale/Raskin20Sound2020Paper.pdf

13
Voice-Over Narration

• The Narrating I
• Absurdly overused
• The Voice of God
• An authoritative voice that belongs to no
  charactercompletely 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 Voiceplot through letters
• Allows the audience to hear the other characters
• Plot device whose contents must be heard
• Subjective Voicethe inner voice of the character

15
Voice-Over Narration

• The Repetitive Voice
• The Voice from the Machine
• Deus ex machinagod from the machine, of Greek
  theater

16
Film process

• The Shot
• The Scene vs. The Sequence
• Appear to be virtually synonymous
• Chief differencethere can be scenes within a
  sequence, but not sequences within scenes

17
Camera Movements
http//www.fis.ie/
18
The Shot

• 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

http//www.fis.ie/
19
Shots
http//www.fis.ie/
20
The Shot

• High-angle Shot
• Gods 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 shothorizontal
• Tilt shotvertical
• Mobile Camera shots
• Swish panunusually rapid produces momentary
  blur
• Tracking Shotgreater 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/davi
  d/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

• Verbterminate a shot
• Nouna strip of film
• Film stages rough cut ? directors cut ? final
  cut

30
Cuts

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

31
TransitionsBridge Scenes

• The Fade
• Fade-out Fade-in
• Denotes demarcationthe 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 Dissolvemerging two images with the same
  shape or contours
• Easy on the eyes
• Can relate to plot
• The WipeLine 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 Shoteverything 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 films rhythm
• their elucidation of the films deeper meaning
• their fulfillment of the filmmakers purpose

36
Continuity Editing

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

37
Eisensteins Theory of Montage

• Based on contrast and conflict
• http//www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/0
  4/eisenstein.html
• http//afronord.tripod.com/afronord/eisen.html

38
Continuity Editing

• Rhythmvariations in speed, movement, and pace
• Timeparallel cutting depicts two concurrent
  actions
• Spaceparallel cutting affects sense of space as
  well
• Toneprimarily light, shade and color
• Themejuxtaposing contrasting shots can deepen a
  films theme

39
Role of the Editor

• Takes what has been shot and improves on it
• The directors 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 filmcomposing 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 framingthe art of composing a shot
• http//www.mediaed.org.uk/posted_documents/Teachin
  g_mise_en_scene.htm

41
Framing

• Framestrip 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 shotframe 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
Film Genres

• The Reflexive Film
• The Womans Film
• The Documentary
• The Horror Film
• Science-Fiction

• The Musical
• The Western
• The Crime Film
• Film Noir
• Combat Film
• Comedies
• Romantic Comedy
• Screwball Comedy
• Farce
• Satire

49
Subtext

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

50
Mythic Associations

• 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

51
Myths

• Tap into our collective memory
• Themes of myth are universal
• Return of the hero
• The desire for forbidden knowledge
• The quest for identity
• Coming of age
• Rebellion against tyranny
• Transcends time and place
• Ultimate truths about life and death, fate and
  nature, gods and humans

52
Film and Myth

• Speak the same languagepicture language
• Both are oral and visual
• Both are intimately associated with dreams
• Making a mythic association involves remembering
  a pattern of experience that is universal.

53
Mythic Types

• The quester
• The convert
• The foundling
• The exile
• The knight-errant
• The blessed damsel
• The earth mother
• The lost child
• The eternal child
• The alien
• The shadow selfdoppelganger
• The liberator

54
Mythic Themes

• The descent to the underworld
• The quest for the grail, sword, ring, or chalice
• The journey into the unknown
• The homeward journey
• The birth of the hero
• The life force versus the force of reason
• Wilderness versus civilization
• The transformation myth
• The savior myth
• Good versus evil

55
Visual/Iconic Associations

• Icons dual nature
• Depicts not just a person but a person who stands
  out from the ordinary

56
Icons

• Definition http//www.bartleby.com/65/ic/iconogr
  a.html
• Greek Icons http//web.uvic.ca/grs/bowman/myth/i
  nfo/attributes.html
• Australian Icons http//www.jintaart.com.au/icon
  ography/iconhmpg.htm
• Christian Icons http//www.traditionaliconograph
  y.com/
• Cemetery Iconography http//freepages.genealogy.
  rootsweb.com/txcemeteries/symbol.htm

57
Intellectual Associations

• We relate the film as a wholenot just one aspect
  of itto history, to another medium such as
  literature or opera, to another film, or even to
  an earlier version of itself.
• Intertextuality

58
Musical Associations

• Music has 2 main functions
• Advances narrative
• plot device
• not subtextual
• Enhances narrative
• functions as subtext
• Deepens the narrative by bringing it to another
  level of interpretation

59
Music

• Capable of forging ethnic and national
  connections
• Has the power to reinforce stereotypes
• Can evoke certain associations
• Classical music can constitute the entire subtext

60
The Film Director

• The Auteurdirector as primary creative force
  behind a film
• May collaborate with a screenwriter, a
  cinematographer, a composer, an actor, an editor,
  a producer, or a studio

61
Literary Techniques

• Flashback
• Flash-forward
• Dramatic foreshadowing
• Point-of-view
• Omniscient narrator
• Implied author
• Film Adaptation

62
Analyzing Films

1. What techniques did the filmmaker use to create
   the feeling of a complete film rather than a mere
   collection of scenes?
2. Could it have been anything other than a filma
   novel, a short story, a play, for exampleand
   still have been as effective or was film the
   medium in which it reached its level of
   excellence?

63
Analyzing Films

1. How much of the film is told through images or
   camera movement, without recourse to dialogue?
2. Does the use of film deepen or enhance the story
   being told?

64
Analyzing Film

• Do the camera and the script work together, each
  doing what it does best, so that word and image
  are allies rather than enemies?
• What is the subtext, or infranarrative? How does
  it enrich the film?

65
Rebel Without a Cause

• The Director Nicholas Ray talks about heros  
  http//www.youtube.com/watch?vWcZU1WYfzJYNatali
  e Wood interviewhow she got role  http//www.yo
  utube.com/watch?vpY9Lf_7o-94featurerelated

66
Credits

• Material taken from Bernard F. Dicks Anatomy of
  Film, Fifth Edition. Boston Bedford/St.
  Martins, 2005.
• Presentation by Patricia Burgey

67
On-line Guides

• Readfilm.com http//www.readfilm.com/HTRBook/HTR
  3.pdf
• Yale Film Studies http//classes.yale.edu/film-an
  alysis/
• http//www.cwrl.utexas.edu/hogan/fall04/FilmAnaly
  sis.doc
• http//www.filmsite.org/genres.html
• Film Terms
• http//homepage.newschool.edu/schlemoj/film_cours
  es/glossary_of_film_terms/glossary.html
• http//www.psu.edu/dept/inart10_110/inart10/film.h
  tml