Anatomy of Film

Based on text by Bernard F. Dick

Film, Movie or Cinema?
 Movie suggests popular
culture
 Cinema suggests art
culture
 Film encompasses all
 Reading Critically
 Jaxtaposition
 Visual elements
 Sound elements
 Context
 Time & Place
 Social Interaction
4 Formal Structure Systems
 Mise-en-scene
 Cinematography
 Editing
 Sound
 Narrative Film
 Narrative told through sound
and image, that builds to a
climax and culminates in a
resolution
 Does not require dialogue
 Images themselves can tell
part of the story and can carry
as much weight as words
Time-Space Relationships
 Conflict is heard and seen
 Visually represents events
unfolding—some occurring at
the same time
 Movie Time
 Must tell a story within a
certain period of time
 Manipulates real time
 Is elastic—time compressed or
prolonged
Employs many forms of art

 Print
 Dialogue
 Music
 Camera movement
 Settings
 Costumes
 Performance
 Graphics
 Logos
 Main titles, credits, precredits
sequences and end credits
 Opening titles and end titles
 Other print materials: letters,
signposts, street signs,
newspapers, plaques
 Minimizes the need for
expository dialogue
 Sound
 Actual Sounds
 Sound Effects
 Noise
 Silence
 Commentative Sounds
 Music
 Synchronization—sound and image are
related contextually, spatially, and
temporally
 Asynchronization—sound and image are
related symbolically, metaphorically, or
ironically
 An Introduction to Film Sound:
http://www.filmsound.org/marshal
l/index.htm
 Overlapping Sound
 Sound or dialogue that either
carries over from one scene to
the next or anticipates the
new scene
 Can build narrative
 http://imv.au.dk/~pba/Homep
agematerial/MMproduktionmat
eriale/Raskin%20Sound%20%
20Paper.pdf
Sound Overview

http://imv.au.dk/~pb


a/Homepagematerial
/MMproduktionmat
eriale/Raskin%20So
und%20%20Paper.p
df
 Voice-Over Narration
 The Narrating “I”
 Absurdly overused
 The Voice of God
 An authoritative voice that belongs to
no character—completely disembodied
 Weaves in and out of the action,
commenting, reflecting, even
questioning
 Imparts a feeling of objectivity
 Can insinuate itself into the
characters, noting their moods and
emotional states
 Voice-Over Narration
 Epistolary Voice—plot through
letters
 Allows the audience to hear the
other characters
 Plot device whose contents must
be heard
 Subjective Voice—the inner
voice of the character
 Voice-Over Narration

 The Repetitive Voice

 The Voice from the Machine
 Deus ex machina—god from
the machine, of Greek theater
 Film process
 The Shot
 The Scene vs. The Sequence
 Appear to be virtually
synonymous
 Chief difference—there can be
scenes within a sequence, but
not sequences within scenes
Camera Movements

http://www.fis.ie/
 The Shot
 Defined in terms  Types:
of distance, area  Close-up
or the subjects  Extreme Close-up
they contain  Long Shot
 Full Shot
 Extreme Long
Shot
 Medium Shot
 Establishing Shot
 Two-shot, Three-
Shot
 Shot/Reverse Shot
 Over-the-shoulder
shot
http://www.fis.ie/
 Shots

http://www.fis.ie/
 The Shot
 High-angle Shot
 God’s Eye
http://www.fis.ie/
 Suggest entrapment or
frustration
 Low-Angle shot
 Makes subject appear larger
 Suggests dominance or power
 Objective-view of camera
 Point of View Shot
 The Moving Shot
 Pan shot—horizontal
 Tilt shot—vertical
 Mobile Camera shots
 Swish pan—unusually rapid &
produces momentary blur
 Tracking Shot—greater area
and more detail
 Dolly Shot
 Crane Shot
The Moving Shot

http://www.fis.ie/
 Zooms and Freezes
 Zoom in/Zoom out
 camera does not move
 Represents deceptive motion
and distorts size
 Freeze Frame
 Stopped motion
 Suggests stasis
 Implies immobility, helplessness
or indecision
 The Sequence
 A group of shots forming a
self-contained segment of the
film that is, by and large,
intelligible in itself
 Types
 Linear Sequence
 Associative Sequence
 Montage Sequence
 The Linear Sequence
 Beginning initiates the action
 Middle adds to the action
 End follows and completes the
action
 Elliptical linear sequence
 Certain details omitted
 Viewers must make connections
 The Associative Sequence

 Scenes linked by an object or

a series of objects
 http://mcel.pacificu.edu/JAHC
/JAHCV2/ARTICLES/david/davi
d.html
 Montage Sequence
 A series of shots arranged in a
particular order for a
particular purpose
 Rapid succession telescoping
an event or several events
 American Montage: 30s & 40s
 Collapses time as shots blend
together, wipe each other away
or are superimposed
 Calendar pages, headlines, etc.
 Montage Sequence
 Feature of both linear and
associative sequence
 Can be unified by images
 http://www.vsmu.sk/rybarova
/unit_7.doc
 Cuts
 Verb—terminate a shot
 Noun—a strip of film
 Film stages: rough cut 
director’s cut  final cut
 Cuts
 Joining of two separate shots
 Straight cut—one image replaces
another
 Contrast cut—images are dissimilar
 Crosscut (Parallel)—2 actions
occurring simultaneously
 Jump cut—break in continuity
 Form cut—a cut from one object to
another of similar shape
 Match cut—one shot complements or
“matches” the other, following
smoothly without any break in
continuity of time and space
 Transitions—Bridge Scenes

 The Fade:
 Fade-out & Fade-in
 Denotes demarcation—the end
of a narrative sequence
 The Dissolve
 denotes continuity by the
gradual replacement of one shot
by another
 No sooner said than done
 Transitions
 Synecdoche or metonymy:
 Two images blend in such a way
that their union constitutes a
symbolic equation
 However, the result is a
metaphorical dissolve
 A sign replaces the signified
 http://afronord.tripod.com/theor
y.html
 Transitions
 Form Dissolve—merging two
images with the same shape
or contours
 Easy on the eyes
 Can relate to plot
 The Wipe—Line traveling
vertically across the scene
 More fluid than a cut and faster
than a dissolve
 Ideal for presenting a series of
events in quick succession
 The Iris
 Masking Shot or Iris Shot—
everything blacked out except
what is to be seen
telescopically
 Irising In/Irising Out
 Editing
 Selecting and arranging the shots
based on
 Their place within the narrative
 Their contribution to the mood of a
particular scene or to the film as a
whole
 Their enhancement of the film’s
rhythm
 their elucidation of the film’s deeper
meaning
 their fulfillment of the filmmaker’s
purpose
 Continuity Editing
 Assembling shots so that they
follow each other smoothly
without interruption
 Preserves the illusion of an
ongoing narrative
Eisenstein’s Theory of Montage

 Based on contrast and conflict

 http://www.sensesofcinema.c
om/contents/directors/04/eise
nstein.html
 http://afronord.tripod.com/~a
fronord/eisen.html
 Continuity Editing
 Rhythm—variations in speed,
movement, and pace
 Time—parallel cutting depicts two
concurrent actions
 Space—parallel cutting affects
sense of space as well
 Tone—primarily light, shade and
color
 Theme—juxtaposing contrasting
shots can deepen a film’s theme
 Role of the Editor
 Takes what has been shot and
improves on it
 The director’s alter ego
 Controls the rhythm and tone
 Primary purpose is to bring to
completion an artistic work
already in progress
 Mise-en-Scène
 French phrase used to describe the
staging of a play
 In film—composing a shot or a
sequence with the same attention
to detail (set, lighting, costumes,
makeup, positioning of actors
within the frame, etc) that a state
director lavishes on a play
 A form of framing—the art of
composing a shot
 http://www.mediaed.org.uk/poste
d_documents/Teaching_mise_en_s
cene.htm
 Framing
 Frame—strip of celluloid on
which the image is captured
 Shots can be framed
 In terms of horizontal, vertical
and diagonal lines
 Geometrically
 Iconographically
 In deep or shallow focus
 From a high or low angle
 In a frame that has been
masked or doubled
 Framing
 Tight framing
 Subject appears to be confined
withing the horizontal and
vertical borders of the frame
 Not a hint of offscreen space
 Gives a feeling of oppression
 Canted shot—frame looks
lopsided
 Geometrical compositions can
be symbolic as well as visually
interesting
 Iconography
 Framing a shot to imitate a
painting or sculpture
 Focus
 Deep Focus
 foreground, middle ground and
background are equally visible
 Conveys a greater sense of depth
 Minimizes the need to cut from one
shot to another
 Brings out meanings that otherwise
not be apparent
 Shallow Focus
 Foreground is more distinct than
background
 Takes
 Long take
 A shot that lasts more than a
minute
 Steadicam
 Color & Lighting
 Color palettes and lighting
sets tone and mood
 Lighting has a direct bearing
on the way an image is
perceived

http://www.fis.ie/
Special Effects/Visual Effects

 “Art never improves, but . . .

The material of art is never
quite the same.”
--T. S. Eliot
 Film Genres
 The Musical  The Reflexive Film
 The Western  The Woman’s Film
 The Crime Film  The Documentary
 Film Noir  The Horror Film
 Combat Film  Science-Fiction
 Comedies
 Romantic
Comedy
 Screwball
Comedy
 Farce
 Satire
 Subtext
 Infranarrative
 A complex structure beneath the
narrative consisting of the
various associations the
narrative evokes in us
 Film’s dual nature
 Level of meanings found in
 Symbols
 Image patterns
 References/allusions
 Reading critically
 Mythic Associations
 Operates on an  Settings
unconscious level,  Caves
presenting us with  Wastelands
 Characters  Subterranean rivers
 questers  Enchanted islands
 the enchanted and
the enchanter
 Flat-topped
 ogres mountains
 scapegoats
 Ominous castles
 monsters  Desolate moors
 talking animals  Lost worlds
 Apparitions
 Themes
 The homeward
journey
 The quest
 Ancestral curses
 Revenge
 Patricide
 Matricide
 Myths
 Tap into our collective memory
 Themes of myth are universal
 Return of the hero
 The desire for forbidden knowledge
 The quest for identity
 Coming of age
 Rebellion against tyranny
 Transcends time and place
 Ultimate truths about life and
death, fate and nature, gods and
humans
 Film and Myth
 Speak the same language—
picture language
 Both are oral and visual
 Both are intimately associated
with dreams
 Making a mythic association
involves remembering a
pattern of experience that is
universal.
 Mythic Types
 The quester
 The convert
 The foundling
 The exile
 The knight-errant
 The blessed damsel
 The earth mother
 The lost child
 The eternal child
 The alien
 The shadow self—doppelganger
 The liberator
 Mythic Themes
 The descent to the underworld
 The quest for the grail, sword,
ring, or chalice
 The journey into the unknown
 The homeward journey
 The birth of the hero
 The life force versus the force of
reason
 Wilderness versus civilization
 The transformation myth
 The savior myth
 Good versus evil
Visual/Iconic Associations
 Icon’s dual nature
 Depicts not just a person but a
person who stands out from the
ordinary
 Icons
 Definition:
http://www.bartleby.com/65/ic/iconogra
.html
 Greek Icons:
http://web.uvic.ca/grs/bowman/myth/in
fo/attributes.html
 Australian Icons:
http://www.jintaart.com.au/iconography
/iconhmpg.htm
 Christian Icons:
http://www.traditionaliconography.com/
 Cemetery Iconography:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.co
m/~txcemeteries/symbol.htm
 Intellectual Associations
 We relate the film as a whole
—not just one aspect of it—to
history, to another medium
such as literature or opera, to
another film, or even to an
earlier version of itself.
 Intertextuality
 Musical Associations
 Music has 2 main functions
 Advances narrative
 plot device
 not subtextual
 Enhances narrative
 functions as subtext
 Deepens the narrative by bringing
it to another level of interpretation
 Music
 Capable of forging ethnic and
national connections
 Has the power to reinforce
stereotypes
 Can evoke certain associations
 Classical music can constitute
the entire subtext
 The Film Director
 The Auteur—director as
primary creative force behind
a film
 May collaborate with a
screenwriter, a
cinematographer, a composer,
an actor, an editor, a
producer, or a studio
 Literary Techniques
 Flashback
 Flash-forward
 Dramatic foreshadowing
 Point-of-view
 Omniscient narrator
 Implied author
 Film Adaptation
 Analyzing Films
1. What techniques did the
filmmaker use to create the
feeling of a complete film rather
than a mere collection of scenes?
2. Could it have been anything other
than a film—a novel, a short
story, a play, for example—and
still have been as effective; or
was film the medium in which it
reached its level of excellence?
 Analyzing Films

3. How much of the film is told

through images or camera
movement, without recourse
to dialogue?
4. Does the use of film deepen
or enhance the story being
told?
 Analyzing Film

5. Do the camera and the script

work together, each doing
what it does best, so that
word and image are allies
rather than enemies?
6. What is the subtext, or
infranarrative? How does it
enrich the film?
 Rebel Without a Cause
 The Director: Nicholas Ray
talks about heros:  
http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=WcZU1WYfzJY

Natalie Wood interview—
how she got role:  
http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=pY9Lf_7o-
94&feature=related
 Credits
 Material taken from Bernard F.
Dick’s Anatomy of Film, Fifth
Edition. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 2005.
 Presentation by Patricia
Burgey
 On-line Guides
 Readfilm.com
http://www.readfilm.com/HTRBook/HTR
3.pdf
 Yale Film Studies
http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/
 http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~hogan/fall
04/FilmAnalysis.doc
 http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html
 Film Terms
 http://homepage.newschool.edu/~schlemoj/fi
lm_courses/glossary_of_film_terms/glossary.
html
 http://www.psu.edu/dept/inart10_110/inart1
0/film.html