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FILM AS TEXTStudying Films in the English Curriculum
WHY STUDY FILM? Film is a complex text form. The reason for its
complexity is that film includes aspects of spoken and visual text forms and can even sometimes include
written text forms. It is important to learn each aspect of film before you can fully understand a text.
It is imperative to view the film in the right conditions and only begin your deconstruction & analyses after
multiple viewings.
It is not popcorn time!
FILM AS TEXTHow a film is deconstructed for analysis:
Plot• Analyze key moments/scenes in the film
Characters• Closely examine how characters are established and developed
Setting• Focus on where the film is set (time and place) and how it
impacts on the storyline.
Themes• Note the underlying meaning and messages of the film. What is
the directors intention?
Social Values• How attitudes and ideas of a particular time and place presented
WE ALSO ‘READ’ FILMEmploying reading strategies to have a greater connection with the text:
Text to Self• Reflect on personal experiences and attitudes to shape your own interpretation
of the film
Text to World• Films often reflect real world issues and events; perhaps you can think of a
film that raised ideas based on reality (sci fi and horror, even though far removed from realism provide interesting social commentaries).
Text to Text• Many films are adapted from written forms, such as memoirs and novels,
including Hugo, others are merely inspired and similar stylistic signatures
Questioning• Throughout a film clues are provided to give audience members an idea of the
film’s direction, this known as foreshadowing.
Inferring• Sometimes the viewer needs to draw their own conclusions about the film
based on information provided by the filmmakers
THE ROLE OF THE AUDIENCE
Audience• It is your job to make sense of the film based
on your own prior knowledge, beliefs and active engagement.
Story ElementsProduction ElementsGenreAdaptationViewing Context
INTRODUCTION TO FILM TECHNIQUES
How a film is constructed for greater meaning?
Camera• Shot Types, Angles & Movement
Editing• Invisible Editing, Pacing, Tone & Rhythm, Ellipsis of Time,
Juxtaposition, Montage
Mise-en-scene• What’s in the scene
Sound & Music• Diegetic & Non-diegetic
Lighting• High & Low Key Lighting
SHO T S IZES & ANG LES
Types of shots: The followings are types of shots commonly used in film, video, and animation.
Extreme Close Up (ECU)
Close Up (CU)
Medium Close Up (MCU)
Medium (MS)
Wide (WS)
Extreme Long (ELS)
CAMERA MOVEMENT
The main types of camera movements that are used in film are:
Panning
Tilting
Crane
Tracking
Zooming
Handheld & Steadi-Cam
FILM TEXT EXAMPLESPsycho - Hitchcock
Raising Arizona – Coen Bros.
Gattaca – Niccol
The Third Man – Wells
Panic Room – Fincher
Inception - Nolan
INTRODUCTION TO STORY ELEMENTS
How elements of the story are developed, delivered and interrupted?
Cause & Effect
Setting
Structuring of Time
Narrative Possibilities
Multiple Storylines (plots & subplots)
Character Establishment & Development
Opening Sequences
FILM TEXT EXAMPLES
Where the Wild Things Are – Jonze
Run Lola Run – Tykwer
The Matrix – Warkowski Bros.
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly – Leone
NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
In what order is the story told?
Analysis of narrative structure:• Plot Progressions• Linear• Non-linear• Parallel• Flashback
FILM TEXT EXAMPLES
Run Lola Run - Tykwer
Sliding Doors - Howitt
Memento – Nolan
Donnie Darko – Kelly
THE ROLE OF THE AUDIENCEDiversity of interpretation
How meaning is created via the viewer’s background
• Beliefs • Values • Likes & Dislikes• Cultural backgrounds • Personal experiences
Viewing Context
SOCIAL CONTEXT
A film is a product of it’s time
Influenced by social values of the day
Historical events
Political context
FIL M STYL E
Intertextuality - intended or not
Cinema Influences
Genre
Filmmakers – The rise of the auteurs
Cinematic Motifs
Three-Act Structure
S Y M B O L I S M
What is the filmmaker really trying to say? Finding meaning beneath the obvious.
Representations
Denotation/Connotation
THE END