YEAR 12 FEATURE FILM ANALYSIS

Syllabus Requirements

Students will give attention to discern themes - ideas and view of human experience - in each film they study, and will explore the values and attitudes underlying these themes.

In studying the shaping of each film, students will examine the role of verbal language, traditional narrative elements such as plot and character, and appropriate elements of film language such as music, lighting, camera work, sets, montage and performance.

It is assumed that the films chosen for study in this subject will be treated in their own right and not simply compared with texts of other genres.

This sheet will be looking at how an audience is made to feel the way it does about a film

It is always easy to see how a novel or a short story tell their story - through the use of words. The information is given to us through the use of dialogue, action and setting etc. Film also uses these devices but because it is a visual medium, characters’ body language, the lighting in which they are presented and even the music associated with them are further sources of information. ( Camera angles will often indicate the strength or weakness of a character ).

All the following techniques can also be used to create SUSPENSE

CHARACTERS

In novels and stories, writers can actually tell you what a character is like. On film, character must be shown, not stated. This is often done through;

• appearance
• body language - facial expressions. posture
• possessions
• surroundings - setting
• lighting and camera angles
• symbolism - see below

SYMBOLISM OF CHARACTERS

Narratives often centre on the conflict between two or more characters. As the narrative continues, these characters might begin to symbolise particular ideas or forces. For example, in STAR WARS , Luke Skywalker stands for everything that is good and noble while Darth Vader stands for evil. In a film this can be made obvious not only by the words and actions of a character but also by the way they are clothed and the angle from which they are photographed and the setting in which we see them.

STEREOTYPES

A stereotype is an accepted way of looking at someone and judging what type of person they are by the way they dress, talk or act or look or by how old they are. So, for example, we say all baby boys should wear blue and baby girls should wear pink or foreigners stereotype Australians and say that we are all bushmen.

CAMERA SHOTS, CAMERA ANGLES AND CAMERA MOVEMENT -

Clearly, camera angles play a very important part in creating meaning in film. There are many different names used to distinguish these camera angles apart.

SHOTS

• extreme long shot - contains a lot of landscape
• long shot - as above but closer so you can recognise the figures
• full shots - much less landscape and you can see the whole body of the character
• medium shot - figures seen only from the waste up
• close - up - focuses on the whole of an object or just the face of a person
• extreme close- up - focuses on an aspect of the object in great detail

ANGLES

• overhead - camera is directly above the object or scene - objects look vulnerable or small
• high angle shot - camera is above and looking down on the scene or object but NOT directly overhead
• eye-level shot - camera is level with the object - real-life effect
• low angle shot - camera is below or looking up at the object or figure - object looks powerful
• undershot - camera is directly below the object- danger, power

CAMERA MOVEMENT

• panning - camera moves from left to right or right to left or up and down
• tracking shot - camera moves with the moving object
• zoom - camera moves in quickly to an object or out away from it
• point of view - camera becomes the eyes of a character and moves where the character’s eyes would

SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC

The soundtrack is a vital part of any film and helps to tell its story. It is made up of;

• natural sound - sound from the natural setting; river, birds etc.
• sound effects - deliberately used - police sirens, a door creaking , etc.
• dialogue - words of the characters
• voice- over - words spoken by someone not in the picture either a narrator or another character
• theme music - instrumental music

COLOUR

Colours create meaning in a film too. Certain colours make us think of certain qualities. For example, green means fresh or natural.

• white - pure, clean or innocent
• black - evil, darkness
• blue - masculinity, strength
• pink - femininity
• grey - mystery

AN ADVANCED ORGANISER FOR FEATURE FILM GENRE AND ANALYSIS