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