Introduction to Film Analysis (DELC)
Dr David Sorfa (Film Studies) The Very Basics
Image / Music / Text Methodologies
• Formal Analysis • Historical Analysis • Film as representation of history • Film as symptom of history
• Theoretical Approaches • Economic / Political (Marxist, Industrial) • Identity • Feminist / Sexualities and Gender • Race and Ethnicity • Semiotic / Structuralist • Psychological • Psychoanalysis • Cognitive Science • Philosophy Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964) The Elements of Film Language
• Mise-en-scène
• Editing
• Sound
• Narrative and Narration Two Elements of Film Writing
• Description of the form, content and texture of the film sequence
• Analysis of the meaning of the film as a whole Et Dieu... créa la femme (Roger Vadim, 1956) Three (Different) Aims
• Evaluation Is it good? • Analysis How does it work? • Interpretation
What does it mean? Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (Dany Boon, 2008) Cinematography (Distance)
• Extreme Long Shot (ELS)
• Long Shot (LS) – figures discernible
• Medium Long Shot (American Shot) - (MLS)
• Medium Shot (MS) – Gesture and expression
• Medium Close-Up (MCU) – Chest and up
• Close-Up (CU) – Head, small object
• Extreme Close-Up – Lips, eye, etc.
L'Heure d’été (Olivier Essayas, 2008) / Der siebente Kontinent (Michael Haneke, 1989) • Extreme Long Shot (ELS)
L'Heure d’été (Olivier Essayas, 2008) Cinematography (Distance)
• Extreme Long Shot (ELS)
• Long Shot (LS) – figures discernible
• Medium Long Shot (American Shot) - (MLS)
• Medium Shot (MS) – Gesture and expression
• Medium Close-Up (MCU) – Chest and up
• Close-Up (CU) – Head, small object
• Extreme Close-Up – Lips, eye, etc.
L'Heure d’été (Olivier Essayas, 2008) / Der siebente Kontinent (Michael Haneke, 1989) • Long Shot (LS) – figures discernible
L'Heure d’été (Olivier Essayas, 2008) Cinematography (Distance)
• Extreme Long Shot (ELS)
• Long Shot (LS) – figures discernible
• Medium Long Shot (American Shot) - (MLS)
• Medium Shot (MS) – Gesture and expression
• Medium Close-Up (MCU) – Chest and up
• Close-Up (CU) – Head, small object
• Extreme Close-Up – Lips, eye, etc.
L'Heure d’été (Olivier Essayas, 2008) / Der siebente Kontinent (Michael Haneke, 1989) • Medium Long Shot (American Shot) - (MLS)
L'Heure d’été (Olivier Essayas, 2008) Cinematography (Distance)
• Extreme Long Shot (ELS)
• Long Shot (LS) – figures discernible
• Medium Long Shot (American Shot) - (MLS)
• Medium Shot (MS) – Gesture and expression
• Medium Close-Up (MCU) – Chest and up
• Close-Up (CU) – Head, small object
• Extreme Close-Up – Lips, eye, etc.
L'Heure d’été (Olivier Essayas, 2008) / Der siebente Kontinent (Michael Haneke, 1989) • Medium Shot (MS) – Gesture and expression
L'Heure d’été (Olivier Essayas, 2008) Cinematography (Distance)
• Extreme Long Shot (ELS)
• Long Shot (LS) – figures discernible
• Medium Long Shot (American Shot) - (MLS)
• Medium Shot (MS) – Gesture and expression
• Medium Close-Up (MCU) – Chest and up
• Close-Up (CU) – Head, small object
• Extreme Close-Up – Lips, eye, etc.
L'Heure d’été (Olivier Essayas, 2008) / Der siebente Kontinent (Michael Haneke, 1989) • Medium Close-Up (MCU) – Chest and up
L'Heure d’été (Olivier Essayas, 2008) Cinematography (Distance)
• Extreme Long Shot (ELS)
• Long Shot (LS) – figures discernible
• Medium Long Shot (American Shot) - (MLS)
• Medium Shot (MS) – Gesture and expression
• Medium Close-Up (MCU) – Chest and up
• Close-Up (CU) – Head, small object
• Extreme Close-Up – Lips, eye, etc.
L'Heure d’été (Olivier Essayas, 2008) / Der siebente Kontinent (Michael Haneke, 1989) • Close-Up (CU) – Head, small object
L'Heure d’été (Olivier Essayas, 2008) Cinematography (Distance)
• Extreme Long Shot (ELS)
• Long Shot (LS) – figures discernible
• Medium Long Shot (American Shot) - (MLS)
• Medium Shot (MS) – Gesture and expression
• Medium Close-Up (MCU) – Chest and up
• Close-Up (CU) – Head, small object
• Extreme Close-Up – Lips, eye, etc.
L'Heure d’été (Olivier Essayas, 2008) / Der siebente Kontinent (Michael Haneke, 1989) • Extreme Close-Up – Lips, eye, etc.
Der siebente Kontinent (Michael Haneke, 1989) Mobile Framing
• Pan (panorama): camera pivots horizontally
• Tilt: camera pivots vertically
• Track (dolly): camera as a whole changes position
• Crane shot: camera moves above ground level (sometimes: helicopter shot)
• Overhead/Bird’s Eye-view shot
• Hand-held
• Zoom in/out Defining Narrative
• The ‘story’ of a text. • A series of cause and effect relationships. • Minimal narratives: • The queen died. Then the king died. • The queen died. Then the king died of grief. Cause
Effect Cause
Effect Cause
Effect Cause
Effect Defining Narration
• The way that the narrative is presented. The way the story is told. • Flashbacks / Flashforwards • Ellipses • Mise en scène, Cinematography, Sound, Editing Classical Film Narrative
Strict cause and effect narrative logic: • Causes planted early in the film will always have an effect later. Character motivation clearly defined: • Characters have set goals (revenge, love, etc), and often deadlines. Narrative goes through clear stages: • Equilibrium • Disruption • Restoration of equilibrium Transformation Dual focus Damsels in Distress (Whit Stillman, 2011) Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964)