Anatomy of Film BERNARD F. DICK Third Edition a St. Martin's Press New YorkFilm, Cinema, or Movie Understanding the Medium sions widely onderstod term it means the invented, the image inate, the fancifal—the opposite of fac. Theres also bis i= IMI ion, 2s well a bitorcal drama terms for works ofthe imagination ‘that draw on history for narrative or dramati purposes (Gore Vida nlm Shakespeare’ Flow V). Thus, 3 novel ora play ean sil be co sidered Scion, even though iis derived frm fet. “There ae other forms of Biton as well—gothie, romantic, pica esque, detective, steatiof-consiovsness, © name a few. Fin hen, {San umbrell tenm-—one with many differen spokes il is another word tht means differeat ching in diferent con- text rl ln film stock fil, fi, We were ll exposed wo some kind tf film before we saw our fist example of classic moviemaking Te may fave Been something we saw on television: a eatoon, a Three Stoogesshort a Lane rerun. Or pchape fe wa an edcational lin we sn school oa chest lft intended tbe shown a mone theres) “er asked to define fl, many of vs would estate, Bats would profesional filmmakers. Animators, documentary lunar, and exper= Inset linmater peeve themselves ar working inthe sme med flim. The fins they produce, however, difer cota a lok, subject, ‘mater, and spe fom shore of talaseam Hollywod. To the general publi, ln means “mde” ere sesepeble em nd on ache ote American rte Pasline Kael at alway championed ‘nforaately, mesg popular entre rather than ar, wile ina soggets a ther than popular cule Toil exon, hgh t ‘Fa French words dered from the Greek ites (eo more; choy whether essen ome me ing aon a fo weet {own a “moring picres”—appropatey named bese the pisars e= sBymvadThev rg Fete sow he vor mes rail foe of tegen example of ln st ve produce any of which ar isused in ths ext) ae, nd aay lb, moves. Alough Kael finds sone pretensions, eis commonly med to cteorze Hts according to Kind (entenporary cinema, world cna) od gas (Amencan cinta, French cinema, Third Werid cine, andthe Me). Maney then jr synonym forthe marae Hun and implies nothing aboot asic worth ‘Since we are dealing ony with the nase, say «Gti tion ein onder However, good dsfinion is aio a dexaipon. In t= tempting to dfn fil the American lay, screener, and x Jn Howard Laon offered this deseipon “fn fn advise ‘onli embodies te-sace eatondhp proces frm premise, fhroagh a progremion, toa climax or uitmate te ofthe action Note that Lawson has ot dsb fn x acy he hs desided neo its pur ‘slr forms: the nartve film, or what is commonly ald» movie Eee ceeeemnacteeartan felons fisrmansin eee dcene ‘ite lon had no spoke gui ye fe ome ind fund iiaSopl meinen ateratene Hiimiecneninmine bas “afl, the images dhennseves can tll part ofthe tory, indepen dently of anguage. Some of the most unforgetable momen in fil are wordless. We should not go 9 far as Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) Inilly Wilder’ Siner Bndewerd (1950), who made ony silent lms and ‘sw no need for spoken dialogue. “We had fice chen! she exclaims. On the other hand, the coming of sound ushered in the golden age of the ‘American film Graghly 1930 to the end ofthe 1950), daring which avast ‘humber of close ils appeared that were the result of outstanding Screenplays. Orson Welles Ctzen Kane (1941) would never have been the Inasterpicc its without the script that Herman J. Mankiewicz and Welles treated, Even contemporaty flakes suchas Woody Allen and Joel and Ethan Coen cealize te parsmoune importance ofthe sip. Sil there are moments when words are unnecesary because the vsuals ae doing the iarrating: the burning sled in Citizen Kane chat reveals the meaning of “Rasebud a man, dened to be Toner, sanding inthe doorway of Ihowse chat everyone enters but himself John Fords The Strser, 1956) fn sstronaot clearing the window of his spaceship tthe same ime that his ‘hifi ooking out ofthe window of thei home 5o that seems asi they Tee cach other —if only in thei imagination (Apolo 13, 1995). The great ‘lmmakers always knew tat the diffrence between theater and flat was the eiference between a play anda Screenpley, the ater is precisely what the tm implies a play designed forthe crea, wher images can cry a8 och weght 35 words "Joseph L, Mankiewir’s All lvue Boe (1950) and Alfred Hitchcock’ ‘Poco 1960 ilstate the way images advance o enhance the action with= tut the use of dialogue, Al Abo Bes the story ofan aspiring actress, Eve Flarington (Anne Baste), who deceives the Broadway star Margo ‘Channing (Bette Davis) into befending her. After she betrays Margo and ‘becomes star herself, Eve becomes the victim of similar scheme: Phoebe, a stursrucketadnt, will do to Bve what Bve did to Margo. As Phoebe stands in font ofa tsee-way mirror bowing to an imaginary au ience a f she were accepting an avard, er image is mulled wna the ‘een is filled with what teers tobe an infinity of Phoebe. The fn se- ‘quence i enizely without dialogue. None is needed; the visuals them= Selves make the point. As long as there are stars, there will be the Starstruck, some of whom wil top at nothing to achive fame. "Poel wil alvaya be remembered forthe shower murder of Marion ‘Crane Janet Leigh) The episode is completely wordless. There is sound, ‘of courses msi that realy shrieks, sf nticpating the audience’ reac= ‘Son. As Macion prepares for a shower in her room at the Bates Motel, ‘Norman Bates (Ahony Perkins) in the adjacene parlor, where heres peephole, covered by a picture of Susanna andthe Piers. Removing theete Oa ft) a age harang arn ones Seo Sans sa 10st (Cures Tron Caray) plete, Norman watches Marion undres, She goes into the shower, lx ‘rating in he spray of water. Suddenly a shadow, presumably of a elderly ‘woman appears aguns the shower cstain The "woman" pall the cor ‘ain aside and proceeds to stab Mation repeatedly 2 blood mingles with the water and swirls down the drain. Although the etre epitode lt es ‘han a minut,» great deal of information hs been imparted. Hitchook’s choice of panting was not arbitrary; just asthe Elders in the Book of Danie! spied on Susanna as she entered her bath, so the voyeuristic Norman spies on Marion. A shower i a place of privacy, relation, and cleansing. Mario’ pivay has hen iavadd. Tnstend of elasaton, she ex- Derences che repore of death, Instead of her body being lense its de Fed. Acta, eis the shower sal that aust be cleansed, becuse i as been splattered with blood. ‘Wang down everything that happens in that episode woold take longer than it does seit In his Fimuide to Poco, James Naremore devotes ive pages to a description of those fory-fve seconds of Flin? Like any narrative, «goad movie involves conflict: personalities clas, oasis, interests diverge, characters are at odds With each other of With soci Ina movie, however, the conflict audiovisual iis heard and seen rather than written and read. A movie “embodies time-space rla- Lonshps.” While writen narradve can sugges that two evens are oc- curing a the same ime and in diferent place, a move can do more than suggest ican sw them occurting a their accounts of the Pasion, the four evangelist imply that Peters denial of Christ coincided with Chet interrogation By the ‘Sanhedrin: while Peter was outside in the courtyard denying Chit, Christ, ‘ves within, being questioned by the chief priests ad scabes. A fim ould take i clear chat this was the case by switching back and fore from ‘Peers denials to the Suahedsins questions. In Shakespeare’ Romeo ad “let (1), Romeo buys poison from an apechecary and plans to commit ‘hicide becouse he has ot received a crac leter- Inthe nest scene, Pit John explains to Friar Laurence that he was wnable to dliver the lerter teense he had been confined t «house chat was under quarantine. Both Ations—the purchase ofthe poison andthe explanation about the letter— fem tobe occurring simultaneously. A fm could eut from Romeo's buy- Ing the poison to Friar John’s detention; ft could even do so without dislogee if the botle were labeled poison and the house in which fin was confined were depicted as plagueridden, Since « movie wells «stony, t most do so within a certain period of cme, [Anyone who attends movies regularly checks the movie dnetble in the newspaper. Tlevision programmers ate especially conscious of 2 movie's fnning time, since film are ofen ev St Sn a particular time slot ‘Renning ine, however, real dane—90 minutes, 108 minutes and on, Morie time i ot movie time manipolates real me, so dat an event ean ‘be prolonged or shortened, and an action slowed down or sped up. ‘Morie tne arity In a movie, an endze day canbe eompresed nwo few minutes or even seconds Likewise, afew minutes or seconds can te prolonged into what seems tobe an entre day. Inthe famous Odes ep sequence in Patan (1925), the Rossian director Sergei Fisenstin stort real tine, He makes the massacre seem longer than it wis because fhe wants to emphasize the atrocities the nari troops committed aginst the people of Ose. Toward the end ofthe sequence, sole swings his Saber striking the right eye of women wearing s pince-nez. In eli the Soldier would have slashed her eye with one movement of his arm, but ‘Elsenstcn fragments the act. First, we se the soldier, his arm raised with the blade behind his heads then we see his savage fce, but not the saber, how his fae dominates the screen. Next e shouts something as is ased tron begins co descend. Finally, we se the woman-—her mouth gaping, the Tight les of her pnce-ner shattered, blood sparing from her eye and run- ng down er fice "Removing a key from 2 key sing i a simple operation. In Alfred “Hitcheoc’ films, however, nothing is simple. Ta Narre (1940), Alii (Ingrid Berga) ian American inteligence agent whose jo requires her tomarry Sebastian (Claude Rains), an exINae. She has keys to every roomiin cher house except the wine cellar. Since her coworker (Cary Grant) sus ‘eet tha the cella contains nore than wine, Alicia mas remove that key From her husband’ key ring while hei inthe batroor geting ready for pany they are giving that evening. To erate suspense, Hitchcock pro Tongs the action, making the audience wonder whether she will succeed, tnd fshe does, what wll happen when her husband disovers hat the key is missing —which he does when the champagne runs out and he mast make trip tothe wine cela Inteal if,» wine botle perched to close tothe edge ofthe shelf ‘will simply ll and smash In Notrowa wine bole does smash, but fst it lingers onthe edge, causing us to wonder i wil fall and fe does, ‘whats contents will reveal. In Hitehcoc, things are not always what they seem; needless to say, his wine boee does noe contin wine, "The pary in Newrous, which lasted several hours acuples about ten minutes of sereen time, Similarly in Frank Caprat Meet Jobn Doe (941, a cross-country politcal eampaign occurs ina few seconds, The climax of Neteladen (1976) ithe premiere of D, W. Grit The Bir ‘f« Navon (1915). To make the premiere a credible as posible, clips from the actual fila were sed. The premiere iso authently and the at diencet reaction so spontaneous, that we forge that Grifih three-hour ‘epic has been reduced toa few minutes. Likewise, Robert Alan's ‘Nasbile (1975), whieh ran two and a half hours 0 absorbing thot we forget we have spent five days with twenty-four people, whose destinies have been interconnected ‘We must observe the lavs of time, but movies donot they can ex: pand or contract ime. Ifthe Hin enyates our attention, as James Whales ‘Show Bas (1986) dow, we are oblivion tothe fact that a sory that spanned three generations took only 113 minus wo tell fe filme exhibit perfect ‘unity of dime: che running time coincides withthe story time, Sach fs are, amity rare, bot Robert Wises Tbe Set-Up (1049) and Fred Zinne= mann’ High Nao (1982) ran seveny-cwo and eighty-four minutes, r= Specialy. Clocs ae important markers of in bot ils as reals ‘we realize that there was no difference benteen the time it took to Se the fm andthe time ito forthe plot to unfold ‘We have tested films like Al! Abou Bs, Pac, and Nereus as texts—works wo be analyzed and interpreted, A move is «text and i is ‘ilar to anyother text, including a textbook wsedin a course Tx comes. from the Latin es (@ weave). A text weaves the materia together in sn ‘orderly and coherent fashion. A movie ia txt that interwesres sound in any oral ofits aspees (noise, musi, speech) and image (everything frm the printed word to physical action, movement, gaze, nd gesture) forthe prpose of eling «soy Norms "et ows Lawton Fle The Cnt Pr er Yr il oe Whng 1967, 292 James Naren, Flu Pos ua: Indie Usversiy Prem, 1977,in lm print should be wed a means of supplying informacion that e- ther cannot be imparted in anyother way or ta wl rece the amount ‘of exponton, Somes the ssp calls for print. In Dark Vist (1939), Jadth Traerne (te Dai lero hat she terial when she {omnes scrote eda le and ses the words “PROGNOSIS NEGA TIVE! ine sina Bn, At of Minder (1940, «woman ler fom 4 Jeter he physician ha wren co her band ne he dying: When Bob Woodward (bers Redford) realizes at Cari Berstns (Darn Hotinar) apartments bugged in ee Pree Me (1978 be ess the area and pen “Deap Tron sye our ives may bein danger. SURVEILLANCE. BUGGING” Since somputers are now part of aur erenday ifthe computer screen avo become a portant narrative to), cpable of advancing the plot ince ame way the pewrher once dit The computer Cathe ‘ila in Gur (190) wes to tsfer Runde becomes the means of reve Ing hs tenn, Te Ne (195) revolves around an atempe tow com ptr echnolgy to ake charcrer deny Filan, wes print a avrg of ways gna, plgpes, posers eadlnes ker ape ete, nodes ivan, eras nt OE ‘eno compurtrgeneatd tet and soon. Thom pan can perform Iimportant native ction, aval shordhod nies the ned Tov epostory dlogoe Secings narrative film withowt sound would bean abomination. Even the silent ils (which wer silent ony in the sens chat there was no spoken Galogue) had some kind of sound effcs ax wel 8 msiealaocompani- sent. Niledon illustrates the importance of sound inthe sient fm by ‘Showing the world premiere of The Birzh fs Nason, in which nen fe cap pistols Backstage to simulate che gunire inthe bate scenes, GGontire staple in western, war Sls nd eine movies is one of ‘any sound effects ued inf, Under the heading ofsound effec: come All de sounds heard ina filn except dialogue, must, and ofsreennarra~ tion. Noise i an important sound effect in film, and it canbe a legit= mate, even powerfl, device Jacques Tourer’ Cat Ppl (1942) would ‘hot Be the horror casi ee ifaose were absent in two eral scenes. As ‘Alice Jane Randolph) walls home a ight she hear the ominous sound ‘of footsteps Jurt when we think tht whatever i following her wil etch ‘op with he, we hear the sound of brakes, «bus has pulled up alongside ‘Alice, and she quickly boards i. Later, a8 she is swiruming in an indoor pool she hears growling sounds, aif ferocious beast were nearby. WM pnotomy of Film "The noise in Gr Popes atmospheric iis intended to heighten the suapense. In many fllns, however, ois is essential tothe plot. A scene from Hitchoock’s Marne (1964), for example, demands noise—a noise that ‘the audience and Marnie must har but that another character in the seme ‘cannot hear. Aer king money fom her employer safe, Maraie Tipp “Hedren)szalthily leaves the ofc. Inthe adjacent ares, cleaning woman is washing the floors In order not tobe heard, Marie removes her shoes, placing them in the pockets of er jacket. One of her shoes falls to the floor Anyone inthe vicinity would have heard the sound yet the cleaning ‘woman docs not lok vp from her work. As we wonder whether Marnie ‘will be discovered, dhe janitor cals to the leaning woman in enunnati- Pally lon woe, making i lear that she shard of hearing ‘And Nive Tamerres (194) consis an interesting example of nose that, onder ordinary circumstances would be audible bat which, inthe context ofthe fm, mast be inaudible. When Emily Baie (Loretta Young) ‘wakes one morning, she sees the windoupnes streaked with rain hut doss ‘othesr the rainfall. The audience discovers that Eau as lot her hear~ ing at the sane moment che does: when the ran slenty bests upon the swindon, [up ctuaL and Commentative Sound __ Aes form found, noise can emanate fom sours thi ithe on of cifecrcn We do or hve oss the sure ofthe oie we oly ive 0 now theres source, We nee ce the oon in Lang Day or ‘oe Nigh (962), bu we hea chem, and now they are smi om ery hs ln Jong Manlwis Lemr ore We {99 Treryhng in he Pianey Kitchen sakes when the tan pastes by WO Shere the unin, btw hearin wine th et of he ons Sound, he, cn be asl (rnc inthe sens of coming fom a ral wuce that ye mayor may nots, Tso be commer a dharma come om sours ous the pial ong of the acon Perham the most mia pe of conmentaie sound backgrowad Ii the ecuring mots orate themes tnt cn seni {Lars thome ia Dr Ziegs 1965, ce (he Ts thet i Gore ‘Fi tend 1939 yi xt enn heme Dk Vor, ‘ran obeion (he power then in tisen Kao In Dark Vitory when adh Tere dsr tha se wegen short prod of ind ‘sr rot det the bine heme ard on he ound Jeh Cinna hear he misc bene tnt coming rom sore wt he Son, bt she tence hear an, hing hear tlre nae En ecogunsit ars gnof Joh te[mg Svnchronization and Asynchronization Another way of looking a sound is from the perspective of synchroniza- tion and asynchroaizaton. In synchronization, sound and image ae pop ‘erly matched; the sound comes from within the image or from an Sdenifabe source Synchronization i not js ited tos itera correla tion of sound and image. In many fms charters maybe in wane eg, ina car ora plane) and the audience will se the car onthe freeway or the plane in the ai but not sce ch chaacer. Yet we esr thir conversion, In posiproducsion, the dialogue hasbeen added and synchronized with the image "There ae, however, more sophisticated forms of synchronization, For example, nonhuman sound may be combined with the image of person In Cat Ppl, Lena (Sone Simon tactfully tls her husband on their wedding night tht she isnot ready to consutunate thee mariage, As they retire to separate ooms, Irena, who isa descendant of «Serbian ‘ateultand peiodieally reverts to panther frm, fale oer kes, ast ing an animal posture. Ar that momeat, the stl ofa panther is heard ‘The audience knows the source ofthe sound: the Cental Park Zoo, which Irena frequents. However, within the new cantext ofan unconsommated ‘wedding night, che combisation of sound coming from an identifiable Source snd the image of the crouching Irena adds aaoter dimension to ‘the narrative: her repressed sexuality i given “voice” While sound and lage have been synchronized inthis instance, we know the sound source tnd se the image befare us ie now seems af the image ir making the Sound. The combiaation (growling panther» crouching wot) suggests ‘hat within Irena there is something waiting tobe unleashed ‘Synchronization, ees, ean be quite mapinative, Ica be partially effecive when a characer remembers the past. The voce ofthe person re- ‘membering an be combined with the image of wha is remembered, or the face ofthe person remembering can be combined with the sound that membered In Speecar Newed Deir (1951), Blanche da Boe (Vivien Leigh periodically reals the mosic that ws played the night her husband committed rucide. At the end of Farrer Amber (1947), Amber (Linda Darnell) watches hes son go off with his father, never wo see either of them gun. Earlier, the ch ftherArsberk former lover—had say "May God have mercy on both of ws fr our sins.” Inthe inal sene, Amber, standing a the window, recalls his words—her image synchronized with the sound of his woe ‘In synchronization, sound and image ae related context, spa- aly, and temporally Tn agynchronizaton, sound and image ace ceated symbolically, metaphorically, or irony. With the laser, the image the ‘Viewer expects ose after hearing spatula sound turns out to be some sapererinonn “Bese empre nk ‘etal vis ace sting (Couey GUAR ard ‘ere ie) thing quite different, Asyachronizaion allows filmmakers to contrast sound and image, substitute a sound for an image, or jitapose sounds and images hat woald aot normally acca atthe sare time Ta Frce Langs (1931) Mis. Beckmann i waiting anxiously for her daughter Elsie to return from school. She leans out ofthe window, calling, "Elsie! Elsie!" On the screen we donot see Elsie bu ater a series of i ages an empry stairwell an empty ati, Ee place atthe dinner table, her tll on the grass, nd finally a blloon that momentary engi in some telephone wires and then float away. “The asynchronizaton is remarkably sul. Ironically, Mrs. eck ‘mann calli heard, but she i answered only by images thar denote ab= sence and emptines. Elie wil never return. Like the ballon that was ‘cght inthe wires and then blown skyward by the wind, she was ented bya child molester and led away to er death, Overiap ‘What might seem to be synchronization could overlp—sound o de alogue tht either care over fom one sen tothe nr aniates he ne sene by sting atthe end ofthe previous on. Than, soloing tnund is realy synchronous, since ie exanates from known soars, Bridging scenes trough sound was ae the 1930-1950 polo an ects sch device would hae stack sens aio 1 The Age of nme had been release in 1993 instead fin 1993, dere would never fave ben the scene in which Newland Archer (Daniel Duy Lens) stands in ont of flower shop and, before he evn enters wie ys,“ le ‘Ascher. Good evening” The florist would have extended the cen afer “Archer had entered Today, however, ovelspping sound as become 0 ‘commonplace tht is juts efor s scene cage.Sil shere ae instances in which the scenes being bridged are con- nected in ways that develop the narrative rather than merely link segments ‘ofc together. In Spike Lee Mali X (1992), a5 Malcolm was along Street thronged with prosuss we hear the words “What has happened ‘tw our women” Is us what Malcolm is thinking? The nex sone clarifies ‘the sivaton: the questions partof a sermon tats about to end. The i= cident inthe fist seene inspted the subject mater ofthe sermon inthe Second, wih the question becoming the ink between them, In Three De ofthe Condor (1975), a CIA ofa in Washington i Asking questions about an agent, who at that moment is hiding out in & Brookiyn Heights apartment. The offical’ voice carrie ico the next scene, which takes place in the aparunen. The overlapping voice gives tus che unseting impression that the CTA is presen everywhere, including Brooklyn Height. At the end of Medion Cal (1969), set in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic convention, the director, Haskell Weve, allows the audience to hear about an event before ie happens. Aa a TV cxmersperson and an Appalachian schoolteacher ae driving away from a bloody confronation between the police and Viewnam Wa protesters, a newscsters voice de- scribes ther death in car crash before iti actualy shown, Like the fm, ‘the untimely newscast disturbing; eis not just a mater of ovelap but ‘of omniscience. Tt sas if the “cool medium,” as media cide Marshall ‘McLuhan called television, knows our destiny and can therefore compose ‘our obituary before we die ilmmakers seeking alternatives othe sound bridge might consider what Robert Zemeckis di in Foret Gap. On s summer night, as Forest. tnd Jenny (Robin Wright) are sting together in Alsbams, rework ight up the sy. Tis is nota Krew display in an Alabama town, however, bbe in Liberty Parkin Jersey City, New Jersey, and the occasion isthe ‘American bicencensial, 5 we lean from the nex scene, ave telecast of ‘he event. Even though thew ae the Liberty Park firework the tansition ‘snot jarring; such display on July 4 was as common in Alabama etwas anywhere in the county, ialading Liberty Park [up\oice-over Narration ‘Voice-over, of camera naration or commentary hasbeen a standard fea ture of fm since the beginning ofthe sound er and is now so common in film and elevision thar we scarcely nodce i. We have become accustomed to the television voices of unseen individuals promoting produc, eading labels or atesting tothe miraculous results of headache remedy. Taste ors and train stations we continally hear voices announcing arcvas ‘nd deparcres, We seldom inguire about de soure or identity of the ‘ice became we are uly interexed only inthe information the voice [Seameying. Beas duembodied ace are everywhere ed ove lide ough to voie-ver aration in fi, Is notes ese of scope ing the fie src Voie-over nals oe ofthe mot suse schniqe in fn. A ied Sinmater ike Woody Allen vse voces ieligey in ade De ‘Allen mais voie-over intl to the ly which i reminiscence by ¢ narrator whose younger self spears av achat Unfortunately et ‘ver ean abo br coneniene for wets who anata of ny oer ‘ay ofimpring information. Vaceovr fr undersandate in memory fil ike Redo Day but here ae eer moves hae ae not reminisces in which the technique i used without sny conencyo loge To John Fords When Wile Come Marching Han (1950) the main characters toice ep intraing even though thre soo reson for him to el is om ony “Historie, when the movies learned to tll faker seied upon yoie-over asa arate device and sempted to se ea chey ha ‘ed des. Aten pen the quest for novel led to erent and Son voice-over naridon was bing entrusted fo evtyone—anl ery thing, The Pot Time (1952), nara by an anborn baby, dames the ‘ruins thatcome wth at lA variation the sae eve oo rs Leak Hoy Taig (1985), which olf the pont ofa a 2 newhor baby ith Broce Wis providing the voice-over). The Sn fads cortain charm unite 1950 snd 1993 soqucl which had lie lence peat, suggesting tas once ray Have been enh ‘Since wecesner hs become so widespread i ppropiatenes e- serves amcnment Ist convention like sllguy «play? Does emetion as an expository prologue? Or ist an einergenc) cod f= inner ul wha he or shes une o think of noe way to comme in formation? There is no manos Almnaker ean conve to dering ‘ether to we voic-ne ode, ot me nether and work the expos don int the dialogue Sometimes oe aver nees some Lind of arr Infrcement afew sounds, some chor «mal acme, Sometimes che ‘econ infoanton ean be incopoated into te dlogve so that bt ‘elcever nd tile se uonecs “The bet finales now freely when ose voice-over and when te some kind of ede. They also Enow tat in some instances Combinan is required. The 1935 alapaton of Chats Dien 4 Te Of Te Cities, deta by Jack Conway, is a good example of theses Sse of print and wice-ener. "The noel incdestwo ofthe most famous lines ia English rare: th pening ine lr was the est of tne the worsof tine" andthe cloig line (es fi fr eer thing tat ‘lo, chan have ever done: isa afr beter ret hat | goto ha have Graphics ana Souna NEErer known’). The opening appear a le without voice-over. This ting because thes are the wards of Dickens, not one of his characters; tho, the tr alone fnufcen. At the end, however, voice-over neeea- sary. The last words ofthe film ike those ofthe nove, are the thooghts fof Sydney Carton, the main characte, they ae not Dickens’ reflesons. Since those are Carton’ thoughts, the audience mast hear them. Since Caron doesnot verbalize his thovghs, the audience hears them throogh The dominant forms of voice-over are the narrating "T” and the vice of God, “The Narrating “I” “The nareting “tells the story, ora portion ofthe sory, that we see on the sereen, There ean be one “I” or sever Some fms are nrrted by fone character (Marder My Sweet, 1944); ers by multiple narrators (Gisen Kane Sor, Wrong Number 1948) Since anyone can tells tryin the movies, even corpse ha the opporcaity in Billy Wilders Sumer Braleord (950), Naration by a dead person would pose severe problems of evil in «work of cton unless it were ale ofthe preterm, Ye che narration works in Sumer Bound which, forall ts realism, is Einilar to many other Sime about old Hllywood that resemble ales ofthe ‘inert. In the fl, Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), 4 former Silencscrecn star haf crazed by memories ofa pas that will never retarn, believes she ean makes comeback ina movie about Salome, She hies an ‘out-of work sereenriter, Joe Gils (Wiliam Holden) to write the sxipt. In which she plans to star. When Gilis decides to leave her, Nora ills him. Semt Becood begins with Gills body Gating in a pool, ill’, ice chen proceeds to tll the story of his fatal association with Norma Desmond, ‘The narration i ionialyfting. a corpee talking about the living dead ‘Another Billy Wilder fl, Deal Indemmty (1944), i considered 2 casi of T” narration. Ie opens with Walter Nef (Fred MacMrry)en= tering a Los Angeles ofice bulding shor before dawn, Neff describes bimeelf as having “no vse sars"—ngne, that seit cam be seen, ‘Actually, he ha just been shot by hs mistress, whom he then lle. While [Neff sil has the strength, he recites his whole story into a diceaphone “The lim then becomes Mshbackin the forma of testimony that is being recorded and dramatied atthe sre tine In"T” narration if there only ane narstor, the narrator voice will recor periodically thoughout the course ofthe film. Narration by one charac i a more dificult method, since the aration must unify the film, bridging the scenes ay the action shifts fom present to past. Nfs tra (Fin Marya natn im ou sty), ono th tat cpa fe person ran ne (gh Parone es ‘Cory oA Pasag igh « vo 0 MCA he) narration in Dale Indmaty succeeds because che Hashbacks frequently tend with ee ing, line tha triggers the next it of logue so tha the Scion can return tothe present without an awkeard tasition. When [Neff and Phils Ditrichson (Barbara Stanwyet) are ina supermarket plotting her husband’ murder, Phylis sys, "Remember, we'e in itt [ether “Yes, remember” Neff answers into the dcaphone Sometimes the" lls his or her sory in the hope of leering from i RobereBresons Une Femme Dawe (1969) opens witha susie. Some fone rushes tothe veranda, a chris overtmmed« white shawl Ruters {through the ar anda woman body falls tothe pavement A man, later re= ‘elled to be the woman’ husband, begins to speskofher Bresion keeps re- ‘timing to her body, which nw les on a bed, to remind us tat her husband isnarradng the Elm. The approach i prychologsaly ai, for dhe husband isnot so much recalling his wife as eying to undersand why she commit- tel suicide, At the end he knows no more than he did atthe beginning. The voice of the“ is atand dispassionate, the narration wll have4 dtancing effet, which may be desirable ina fm in which the charac- tersare not empatheti.T” aration works well in Badlands (1973), whose ‘Shrsctes are ft ffom endearing. The heroine i a 6fcen-year-old with ‘comnflower eye tht lola if they have lost their phyial and moral een- ten the hero, er boyiend, can shoot a an in the back and then elk to him av if sotbing had happened. Llly (Seny Spel) the heroine, na ‘tts Badlond ina voice a fa asthe westera pains she and Ki (Martin Sheen) traverse, She is presumably telling the soy tows, bu it sounds 3 if she mighe be writing i fora polp magazine. Some ofthe narration i ily amusing, paricolnly when Molly tes o ura apse apd instead produce a cliche (Little iI elie et what began nthe Dacoways and ley of thistle own wold end in the badlands of Montana), oF when She testo be pede and succeeds ony in being trite "When the leaves rusted overhead wat aif te spies were whispering about all he ie things that were bothering them). Her boyfriend’ inclinations eause lly to remark, “Suddenly twas thrown into a state of shock: Kit was the ost uigger-happy peron I ever met" The lin is delivered so apathesi- fly that audiences laugh, perhaps withowt realizing the implistons of ‘heir nughter.Atany rate, Holy’ monotone prevents us fom sympathiz- Sng with her and Ki ‘The Voice of God ecveen 1945 and the early 1950s, the semidocumeatary was 2 poplar ‘ype of fil, While a docamentary x nonfiction, + semidocumentay I fc- fiom bse on fact (The Hons om 92nd See, 1945; Boomerang, 1947), Inthe semidocimenary the eed often appear ina “typewriter™ typeface to give the movie a “eae history” look An authoritative voice delivers the prologue, reminding the audience tae the fm speang fom todays hea Fes or the FBT ies and that it wae sho on loason nce the voice be- longs to no character, i is completly disembodied. AS a result can weve ih nd out ofthe action, commenting, reflecting, even questioning, I the semidocumentay the disembodied voice (or toice-ofGod tech niga, a ies somerimes called) has two advantages icean impart a feeling tf objeciviy, which is rouired bya fm of this Kind, and it can esinate itself into the character, noting their moods and emodonal sates. The ice in The Naked City (1948) speaks dec to the characters as fit were tm aler ego, confidant, and conscience combined. “How are your feet folding out, lan?” cask, of, "Liewtenant Muldoon, whats your hurry?” Te even seals tothe audience: “Ever uy to catch a murderer” Since the voice had the at word, tie Biting tht it should have the ast: "There are ‘ght million stores in the naked cy ‘This has been one of them.” ‘The disembodied voice is not restricted to the semidocumentary ‘Banyo aut bt oman ud ey onan wa (pod arden ahr Haines ‘son pce pace ie party He eae {ea (rye, S Stanley Kubrick used it ingeniously in his 1975 adaptation of Thackeray's rovel Barry Lyndon. Bot se novel and the Sz have a narrator; however, In hel, he nanator isnot Lydan—a twas inthe aovel—but voice ‘behind the senes, very mach ike the ane in Th Naked Ci, bot mach wite tee and more urbane. Tis actualy the voice ofthe Bris setor Michel “Hordern, which, ke the traditional voice of God, is omnistent. The ‘oie tellus about someting before i happens or informs us ofthe out- ome ofan event without drasatiing ie foras, When Lyndon i abou to ti, the voice even reas is obioary The voice can speak with authority this moment becouse it has been speaking with audhority since the fm began ‘Voce-overisofen used in moves hat are not narrated by one ofthe char- acters but for parposeof plot, requir a characer voice to be head. Such Voices are variously labeled the spay oi, the subjective co, the reper Tv oe and the from the machine. ‘The Epistolary Voice [Adrancng the plot through letersi device common to both feton and fl. The epscolary novel has slong tration the reaches back o Samuel ‘Richardson's Pamala and Clarina, writen inthe mid-ighteenth century. Inf, the letra fail means of vering the plorin motion (Wiliam ‘Wyler The Lette, 1940; A Lerer to Three Wve) or of tridging the years (Sesof Gras, 1947), When an exchange of letersi used to marth pas Sage of time, voice-over is rolfiiet. In Frangis Trffauts The Story of (ZA H. (1973), the epistolary voie is put to variety of uses. We hear ‘Adele woice as she writes to Lieutenant Pinson, whom she has pursued to Graphics anc Sound“Halifax in an atempr to regain his affeon. When she wrivs to her fa- ‘the ater dscovered wo be Victor Hug), we hear his reply. In aditon Adele correspondence, we alto hear her diy ents, When Pinson reads ‘the love notes Adele has concealed in his packets, her voice diclosestheit ‘concent tous. Afr following Pinson to Barbado, she eollapos in the Street native woman brings Adele to her home, Aer learning that she is Vitor Hogot daughter, the woman writes lever tothe novi i= focming him of his daughter’ pisful condition Than er of film censorship, the epistolary voice was one way of av ing a character repent by voice-over confesion. Robere Anderson play ‘ea and Sympathy was considered wnflmable in the 1950s because of it subject mater: Tom Lee, a prep-school aden thought to be homosertal ‘beease of his fandnes for mune and poetry is initiated sexually by Laura Reynolds, the headmaster wife The pla is best remembered forthe nal Scene, in which Laura comes to Toms room and slowly begins to unbut- ton her blouse. Pressing his hand aginst her bres, she ines one re quest “Yers from now, when you tlk about eis and you wil be Kind” ‘When MGM decided to flim the playin 1956, the Johnston Office” fle {hat any woman who would ofer her body wo an aolesentshoold ‘After much wrangling, the director, Vincente Minneli, decided to make the plot a flashback occasioned bya class reunion at which Tem discovers ‘letter Laura had writen to him. As Tom reads the lee, Laur epe- tant voice i herd urging him eo forgce what wey have done (whith i “rong” and go out into the world and write edifying novel. ‘What we have heen discussing are filme in which the lester is «plot device whose contents most be beard. There ate few fms thet are tty pistlay that, in which the entire fm ta dramaceation of letter ot 2 series of eters In Talk be Se (1045) and Plato (1986), the nar- ‘tors writing ltersto is sister and grandmother, respectively however, itdoes not follow that each fl sa dramatization of the letter the char- cere writing 1 fis torally epistolary (and such fs are ere, it relly san cxampl ofthe narrating "since the episolary voice is wed oni 0 tll fhe comtens of s letter Max Ophulst Lester fom an Untnoon Women (1948), which revolves entirely around a Tete? Lisa Goan Fontsine) has ‘wren w her former lover as she ly dying, is totaly epistolary. Becase the leer is ach personal document, we Se only is powerfl beginning (By the time you read chi letter Tmay be dead) and it unfinished end Ing. Otherwise we hea List voice, and experince the visualization ofher ‘Th Motion Pe Padce td Diba of Ameria, Hala lamp pti, med tn Oe when vtec by Ene {Ses peasy thd tenet the ae Or sal the Ben Ofer ‘words Yer the letter tht i being dramatized i ao being read by Lists Tove who never even bothered to lean her name. Thus, the audience and the lover lear about Lisa at che same ine ‘The Subjective Voice “Movies abound with examples ofthe inner voice thu tral speaks is ‘mind (led bei oi) because the audience requires acces wo the thariters thoughts. Pip in Great Expectations (1947) wonders how Joe (Gargey, he blackemith, mill greet him when he resurns home dresed 35 a genseman. In Tee cruel (1988), we hear what 2 psychology profesor, ‘vo ha led a student in self-defense, stinking wien she realizes the ‘onsequences of her act. During er fight from Phoenix in Pye, Marion (Grane imagines what her employer will say on Monday morning when she fils to report for work. “hme complex frm ofthe subjective voice appears i the stresm=| ‘of-conscionmess fim, Although seam of emma bas been applied 0 ‘rerything from inarticulate rambling to incoherent prose telly the ‘unbroken flow of thoughts, memories, and associations in the waking {tind Hirhime Mon insur (1959) a stream-of-eonsiousness ll, opens ‘with a man and a woman making love. At first ther san looks charred ike that ofthe Hiroshima victims; then it becomes dew, as thou cleansed ‘y the act oflve. She isa French aco, and he is Japanese architec she meetin Hirorhimma while making Gln. As hee hodies move word fle Elimest, we her their vices—hie denying that she knows the ignificance ‘of Hiroshima, hers ining that she does. Bur these ae not their ecial ‘voices they sound dian, anesthetized. We are hearing the ehythms of poetry not prose It seach characters interior that we hear, an interior ex presng iselfin the language of memory which t made up of both words tnd images, When the architects voice sys, "You know nothing of Hiroshima,” her consciowsness replies with cares of uh arias she as seen at the muscum and with newsreel footage of the bombing of Hiroshima, When the woman says, "Who are you?," instead ofa verbal reply wesc a tee in Hiroshima ‘The man s Hiroshima, the only name she wl ever asocate with him ‘The Repetitive Voice A charscter, offen the hero oF the heroine, tosses restless in bed while oman’ voice reverberate in is or her unconscious epeating bey di Togue from an earlier scene Gn case the anience mises significance). ‘This kindof repetition, called he rpeiive zie, oceurs in Hitchcock’ Reb (1940) when some comments made about Rebeccs give JoanFontsine’ character a sleepless night. The sme technique appeasin Cat Prope wine Iba kegps hearing the voice of he pychiatit Halloween ‘xs prow! across the Screen The repeiive voice has become so fie that ic rans the risk of becoming a eich. Yer at times some Kind of recapitulation is necesry, tnd the flmmaker most decide whether the repetition should be aul ot vival. Ifthe character’ words ae important, hea itis only nccosary heat what he or she has sid Ache en of Gone with be Wind Sealer ro calls the words er father had spoken ecir aboot the value of land and the importance of Trs. Hearing his words is aulficent. Oa the other Inand, in Murder on te Oven Espa (1978), the epeison is vival. Since the fm i a whodunit, eral shoss are repeated: gilts ofen a question not of what one says bat of haw one seats, so the passenger reactions, ot jst heir words, af recalled for us visa, ‘The Voice from the Machine Some filmmakers regard voice-over as the moder equivalent ofthe det tx machina (god from the machine) of Greek theater. In certain Greek tragedies, god would descend from a crane to resolve the action and bing the play toa eonclsion. Some movies festurea "voice frm the ma- chinese belongs to none of the characters and materiales near the end {0 Ge up ay lose plot reads or offer some commentary onthe action, ‘The voice ffom the machine isnot the veie of God, which i eonsitent ‘thronghou the fii; che vice om the machine i heard only at the end A the end of Te Lady andthe Monster (1948), a voice intrudes to remind ‘that Paik Cory (Richard Ale) has ben sen to prson for his ole in tn experiment to keep dead mans brain alive. The voice ls reminds ws that this it bea film with «happy ending, and thet Cory wil emerge from ile find his beloved waiting fr him. Since ao wice hasbeen heard ‘upto this point, we wonder whose i Te mus belong to + sopernatita, power that knaws more sbout the sexpe than the sreenwiter does. ‘Despite it le, Jacques Tourneur 1 Waled with a Zmbie (1943) 4 superior horror fil. Initially, the movie is narated by the "of the tidea Canadian nore who has come tothe West Indies to tend to « ‘woman who tars out tobe s zombie. A the end, the zombie skilled by her brochein-law, who then commits suicide Suddenly» mae oie sls God to parion the unboly couple. ‘The swith from the marek voice to che voice oa beyond imparts 4 moraiie tome to fm that otherwise has remained aloof from moral issues. Parhape the coda was + sop to the Legion of Decency, which owned on sicide. (The Legion of Decency ‘was a Catholic organization that rated lms along moral ines from 1934 WEEE snocomy of Flim through the mid-1960s) Sil vite the artistry ofan unusually intel- ligentB movie. Voiceover, then s not jus faceless sound; i sa narrative device ‘hat can seve diferent purposes. Tecan be personal (he narrating TP) oF impersonal (voice of God ican eveal the contents of lector the con tents ofthe unconscious; i ean ree a characters memory or out own, Because of is versatility, voice-over i often abused for this reason, one should always be sure co approach its use erica Norss "Fora ie oie al hn iacedin he main oma ee sa, (an, Gran er By Ser Yr Sern Pres 187) Grephice end Souns NEEMs discussed in chapter 1 fl can manipulate time, But it can also ‘manipalte space. The subject canbe neu rf, partial o fll st tionary oF moving. How we see the image, and how much of we see, are the result ofthe lmmakers choice of hot. A shot i imply wha is ecorded by single operation ofthe camer Sho can be define nw of tsance. oes he cama spe be clot the abject? fo, the shot cos-vp (CU) intro aman tanya sbotaf he head for example Perhaps it isa head shoul des shot in which ae tia coe sho (CS) itis spei par of hc bbodyon eye, mouth—the shots an extreme close-up (ECU). A sho of the complet man figure, with some ofthe background visible, i fll Shot (3) or along shot (LS) Ifthe camera iso fr aay that he resale is ‘broad, panoramic view ts an extreme long shot (ELS). A shoe tht is ‘either a close shot nor «long sho bot somerhing in between isa medium Shor (MS), showing for example, the subject head to waist or wait Ices Pethops the shot defines an area room, sy, wih all is appoint ments sec shot san establishing shot (ES) 2 typeof long shot that fs ‘fen broken dwn into is components. Heablsbing sor can also mean a Shor that establishes location (eg, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fran ‘sco, the Eifel Tower in Pars so thatthe viewer knows the seting and ‘there the action takes place ‘Shots can also be defined by whae chy contain, A two-shot nckes vo characters; three shot inches thre characters. “Shovteverse sho" {ste principle of altemating shot of characters n a conversation so that first one character, then the othe is een Jean-Luc Godard was fond of saying thatthe close-up was invented for ‘raged the lng shor for comedy This is something ofan oversimplifcs- tion, sine long shots and extreme long shots are sles ofthe western. Bat atleast Godard was saggesting that makers have reasons for ‘choonng one shot over another depending onthe kindof movie they are Inaking or the ype of scene they ae shooting, A clse-ap can reveal «pr {ular cmotion for which, under the ceumstances, + long sbot would have been inappropriate, When Lucy (Lillian Gish) is denoanced by her father in Brater Blas, Gefith uses close-up to express her fear "The close-up iano a means of emphasis. Hitchcock found ic dea for object ike sueicions glass of mile (Supison, 1981), an envelope dropped bya Nan agent Sabscu, 1942),anda wine bot filed with art- nium ore (Notorious, 1946), Thee object are so ereial vo the plot that ‘Hitchcock was unwilling to assume they would be noticed unless their presence was empasived ‘Hitchcock also wed the extreme close-up for reasons having to do ‘with genre. Py isa horor film; aulences exper he proverbial cil up the spine, and Hitchcock doesnot ail them: the extreme close-ups of Mar ton Crane scretming mouth and staring even the shower sequence stayin the memory: Extreme close-aps ofthe eje ae in fat, andar in horor ls, especially ifthe eye ofthe Ll spyng on a prospective vies through a pephole ee the casein che and The Spiral Sure (1946)The extreme close-up i nt just an embellishment ike any shot, i cam havea direct beating on the plo. The words "Prognosis Negi: ‘which confirm Judith Traherse' terminal condition in Dark Vit, mast. bbe vile, and that can only be dane in extreme close. If scr ideni= ies a murderer, as it os in A Stranger Kak (1963), che car needs to be photographed ia ECU. “The ECU should be used sparingly, however too many such shots create an imbalance ia the lin. ‘They are such at extreme form of en ‘hiss thar preponderance of them isk the speech pattern of someone ‘who gives equal emphasis to every word including # ad be, ‘While the close-up is useful to poine up the intense emotion of| tragedy, the long shor~despite Godard aerertion-—can be ideal for teogedy a wel since ie males death less pinfl to watch The death of Santiago (Arthur Kenned) in Edgar G- Unser The Noted Dav (1953) is photographed in long shot. Santiago ie on horseback when che bullet strkes him; we se neither srunnel eyes nor sporting bod. The sho hes 8 formalized beauty about ie that is reminisent of » painting like Breoghel®s Pal of Tar in which the death of Torus is mace pat of the setting ‘Wester filmmakers for long shots nd extreme long shots because these shots make the subject par of the environment in aditon to con veying the vasness and atesomenes of nature, In George Stevens Shone (1853), deer laps water from seam wth anow-fringed mountains in the Background. Aman bids farewell to a woman who menge with the land scape ashe rides offi Joba Ford My Darling Clmenine (1940) Many of Tord’ lng shos have an intensely pictorial uty. In Clementi we see stretch of sky brooding over the dusty main seer of Tombstone, ber hronged by men—-sorietimes in showets, sometimes illuminated by the kerosene lamps that hang oveshead—and Monument Valley with its lif and mess ssing skyward from a at plan and dwafing ll who pass be neath dem, ‘Shots ae also defined by the position af the camera in relation tothe subs ject When Lillan Jane Fonda) looks oat of her hotel window in jal (G97, what she ses on che sree elow is rendered as «high-angle shoe In high-angle shor, the camera is positioned above (ometines “hi above") the subject This is oceasionaly refered to a « Gad’ ee 0 ‘ype of shor used by Hitchcock to suggest an unseen presence looking ‘omen Was paparsoacangisot Salo oota nC Kare (18) {Goarsy NOWLFSA and PH) down on the subjeceIthe camera shoots up athe subject from below it fsa low-angle shot A low-angle shot makes the subject Jom larger than it actualy is Soch a shot can suggest dominance or power, asi does in Cis Kane ‘when Kane guardian hovers over him athe presents the young Kane with 2 sled. Conversely a high-angle shot makes the subject seem svallr than itis: When a member of che French underground interrogates the tile tharacterin Wen Wile Comes Marching Home, te high angle from which Wiles photographed suggests the fling of helplessness thatthe intense coss-exarination produces The high angle-shot ofthe president pacing the floor ia D. W. (Gates Arabom Linc (1930) reminds we that che burdens ofthe office