3.2.2.2.

1 READING A FILM Approved on 19 March 2004

FILM STUDY GUIDE: READING A FILM Introduction

In the early days of cinema, the entrepreneur film maker would simply take his or her camera and tripod out into the streets and film the general public about their daily lives, leaving work, catching a train, boarding a boat etc. In the modern world, making a film is a far more complicated business, usually involving professionally trained personnel, large crews of assistants and sophisticated technology. The finished product that we see at the cinema is a sophisticated art form, apparently seamless in its production. The essence of a good film, whatever form it takes is whether we enjoy it, whether we get so caught up in what is happening on screen that we want to see more and this of course is how it should be, for cinema is primarily a form of entertainment. However, it is interesting on occasion to step back from the polished finished product and consider for a moment how it has been put together. For example at the different tools of film language which the film maker has at his/her disposal, at the way the narrative has been constructed, the atmosphere created, the style established and so forth, all the things we take for granted when we are watching a movie on screen but which can be all important to its success or failure. Remember - the more sophisticated the film, the more carefully its construction will have been planned and executed.

The opening sequence

The opening sequence of a film presents the filmmaker with quite a challenge. In a short space of time the filmmaker must attract the attention of the audience, arouse their interest to such a level that they are eager to know more, establish the narrative, introduce the major characters and set the style/genre of the film. First impressions are very important because if an audience has not engaged with a film within the first twenty minutes it will be extremely hard to retain their concentration for the rest of the film. Many modern films use a pre-credit sequence to get the attention of the audience. That is to say, the opening of the film goes straight into the story following the distributor's logo on screen and we may see anything up to ten minutes of action before the actual title of the film is displayed and the theme music begins. James Bond films are an excellent example of this, often using the pre-credit sequence to establish the incident that will provide the motivation for Bond's mission throughout the film. These initial scenes often culminate in an action-packed finale which establishes Bond as hero and displays the special effects which are so much a recognised feature of Bond films - thus firmly establishing the genre in the audience's minds. The pre-credit sequence is in contrast to earlier Hollywood productions where, not only the title, but also the whole cast list would be displayed on screen prior to the action, thus arousing interest as the audience waited eagerly to see who was to appear in the film. Following the pre-credit sequence, the title graphics and music both play an important part in attracting attention and establishing the genre of the film. Even if the title of a film does not give away what the film is about, the way in which it is presented on screen offers many indications as to what the genre will be. For instance, the titles will be very different for a horror film to that of a comedy; traditionally the former appearing in Gothic script with blood drops hanging from the tails and the latter generally having a bubbling, rounded, fun look. The colours used for both the font and the background it appears on will further illuminate the genre; science fiction often appears as silver on blue, thrillers as red on black. Modern computer technology means graphic designers can be evermore inventive in their designs, although the filmmaker may of course use the conventions of genre to trick the audience into expecting something different from what they will actually see. Modern audiences are adept at decoding title music even if they hear it on CD and have no visual images to accompany it. We all recognise the distorted electronic strains that herald a science fiction film, or the twanging banjo of the traditional western. Many modern films now release a soundtrack alongside the film and music is a key way in which a film maker can target a certain audience extremely quickly, particularly if s/he is hoping to reach a youth market.

3.2.2.2.1 READING A FILM Approved on 19 March 2004

Genre
The way we see a film is also shaped by the expectations we have of it. When we watch a certain type of film, such as a comedy or an action thriller, we bring a great deal of experience from past movies with us. We have some notion of the characters and setting, and can anticipate the plot. To describe the different types of films film scholars have adopted the term genre from literary studies. A genre can be described as a group of films that have recognisably similar plots, character types, settings, filmic techniques and themes. A genre can tell us what to expect or it can deliberately mislead us by offering us expectations that are not going to be met. Generally speaking, the function of a genre is to make a film more comprehensible and more or less familiar. Even when a genre is parodied or our expectations are not being met; the film's meaning still depends on our familiarity with the genre conventions. If we pay to see a horror film we anticipate moments of frisson, fear and special effects. We consider the film a failure, if these ingredients are missing. The difficulty filmmakers face is to meet with the audiences' existing expectations of the genre, but also not to bore them by making the film predictable. They have to try to offer us the pleasure of recognising the familiar as well as the thrill of the new, to make the predictable happen in unpredictable ways. Genre is therefore not simply a threat to the filmmakers' creativity. Working within generic conventions requires a great deal of originality and innovation. At the same time being bound by the limits of a genre has the advantage for filmmakers that they run less risk of confusing the audience. Genres also make the selling of a film much easier. As the market for entertainment is usually difficult to predict and control, profit depends largely on finding out what kind of films different kinds of audiences want. Through establishing different genres the industry has found a way of predicting markets and of making the advertising and distribution of a film easier. As a result the industry tends to repeat successful versions of popular genres - hence the sequels to big blockbuster movies. The way a movie looks and the ideas and emotions it conveys are therefore shaped by several factors: the concepts and ideas of the filmmaker, the economic demands of the film industry, generic conventions and audience expectations. After all, it is the audience that has to make sense of the images they see on the screen and, ultimately, the meaning of a film therefore depends on our interpretation and us.

Sound
Before the advent of sound audiences had to make sense of the images projected onto the screen only with the help of titles, live musical accompaniment, actors or noise-making machines. Although the first demonstration of sound on film is meant to have taken place as early as 1911 in the USA, it was only in 1927 that Warner Bros. released the first feature film with a soundtrack - The Jazz Singer. One of the main reasons for the delay in the implementation of sound technology is that the film companies were unwilling to invest large sums into sound equipment when they were already making high profits with silent movies. However, the next commercial sound film, Lights of New York (1928), was so impressive that it stimulated a rapid and total conversion to sound within the entire film industry. Sound added an extra dimension to cinema. Actors no longer had to rely on exaggerated and melodramatic gestures in order to explain the feelings and motivations of the characters they were playing. Instead a film's story could now be told by using genuine dialogue. As the soundtrack was now added at the same time as the film was made, film makers could now choose the music that they wanted to accompany the action, instead of relying on whatever the pianist had in his/her repertoire. Music is an extremely effective way of enhancing what we see on screen because it manipulates our reactions at a deep emotional level. Filmmakers frequently use music to create a mood, to tell us more about the time or place, or even to set the pace of the action. The suspense and speed of a car chase, for example, can be reinforced by music with a fast and urgent tempo.

3.2.2.2.1 READING A FILM Approved on 19 March 2004 When we watch a film, the sound that we hear on screen usually complements the images that we see. This applies not only to music but also to sound effects. For example, if we are looking at children playing on a beach, the sounds we hear will feature light, 'summery' music, laughing, ice-cream vans and so on. This is known as parallel sound. However, the film maker may chose to introduce sound which does not tie in with what we are seeing, for example we may hear in this instance a sinister 'dur dur' note in the music, as used in the film Jaws to signal the arrival of the shark attack. In this case the sound is known as contrapuntal. Sound used within a film can be of two types: diegetic and non-diegetic. Diegetic sound comes from objects or people on screen - dialogue or footsteps, for example. Non-diegetic sound is where the source of the sound does not come from someone or something on screen and often takes the form of music or other sound effects that heighten the action.

Narrative
Conventions Most films that we go to see at the cinema are narrative led. Film narrative is usually fictitious, although a documentary may be presented in the form of a factual narrative. We have certain shared expectations of film narratives, for instance we assume there will be characters and action and a series of connected incidents. We expect that the story we see portrayed on screen will involve the setting up of some sort of conflict, which is usually resolved in the closing stages of the film. As an audience, we engage with the narrative by picking up clues, recalling information and anticipating what is to follow using our knowledge of previous events and the characters leading the action. Many modern films still follow the traditional narrative structure known as Classical Hollywood Narrative. This type of narrative depends on the assumption that the action will spring from individual characters as causal agents - the narrative centres on personal psychological causes: decisions, choices and traits of character. Natural causes or social disruption, for example an impending tornado or a country at war may help set the scene up for the action, but the character will be central to what actually happens. This is why stars are so important to the Hollywood cinema industry, and in return, why this type of narration remains popular, because a big name will carry along a story - they are interdependent factors. Desire is often an important trait to get the narrative moving i.e. the character wants something. S/he will then often meet with another character whose desires are not the same, thus providing obstacles to the hero/heroine's desires. In Classical Hollywood Narrative, the chain of events that comes about through the hero's psychological needs tend to motivate the other narrative events - so we are shown only the important parts - the characters' meeting rather than the 'travelling' time, the time that does not move the plot forward in any way. Narrative time When we watch a film we are aware that time as it appears in the narrative is not always presented as it functions in real life. Events are not always seen in chronological order; for instance we may see a court case then see the actual murder take place in a flashback as the witness recounts it. Or we may see two characters separately getting ready to meet for a date at a certain time; the scenes shown are an example of parallelism, where events happen at the same time in the real world, but in film time we are able to see them in parallel. We also acknowledge that film time is not the same as real time; that it will usually be faster - the events of a week, month or even years being shown in a matter of hours. It can also be slower, for example if the filmmaker uses slow motion, or extends an event by editing techniques cutting from one scene to another. This is a common feature of the thriller, enabling the film maker to create suspense as we wait say for the killer to track down the victim trapped in the old, dark house. The frequency of events may be played around with, too, for example we may be shown the same event more than once in the film; maybe to illustrate different characters' reactions to it, for example the shooting at the end of American Beauty, or episodes from Pulp Fiction. Restricted narrative Throughout the narrative, the filmmaker constantly controls how much information the audience receives. Sometimes it will be very restricted, for instance if we are being led through the story by the eyes of the

3.2.2.2.1 READING A FILM Approved on 19 March 2004 detective hero of the film, discovering information at the same rate as s/he. It may be less restricted but still controlled by the use of a character as narrator to the action - thus leading the audience to see events from a certain perspective. However, in terms of suspense, it is often good to give the audience more information than the characters in the film have themselves. If the audience know that there is a bomb planted waiting to go off that the hero is unaware of or cannot find, they will be totally engaged with the action throughout the sequence. As a film maker you can still make the explosion of the bomb and the resulting devastation surprise and shock the audience, as Hitchcock chooses to do in Sabotage, where a little boy unwittingly carrying a bomb does not survive the blast.

Use of the camera

Framing In the early days of cinema a fixed position camera was attached to a tripod to record the action from a single perspective. The effect was like watching a play at the theatre, with the audience experiencing everything from the same distance and angle. Problems sometimes occurred if the actors inadvertently moved beyond the frame of what the camera could 'see', resulting in arms, legs and even heads disappearing and reappearing in the shot. As ideas and techniques progressed filmmakers began to experiment with moving the camera to different positions and a range of shots came into use. Gradually, certain conventions came to be established, such as a long shot at the beginning of a film to establish location or the use of a close-up to convey emotion. The positioning of the camera is a very effective way of controlling the way in which an audience engages with the action on screen. If a camera is, for example, using a high angle shot to look down on its subject, its position is one of power. A low angle shot, looking upwards, reverses the feeling to that of subordinate or victim. In this way the relationship between two characters that are looking at each other can be expressed merely by manipulating the camera angles. Camera angles can assume a character's point of view by taking on a position which corresponds to that which we imagine the particular character would occupy. Point-of-view shots are important for telling the audience about a character's motivations and feelings, and also for making the audience identify with a certain character. Movement of the camera It is not only the angle and distance of the shot that are instrumental in manipulating the audience's reaction. Moving the camera across an imagined horizontal line (panning) imitates the movement of the viewers' eyes as they survey the scene around them. Very often this technique is combined with a point-ofview shot to evoke a variety of feelings such as suspense, victory, isolation or pride. Other types of camera movement are tilting, where the camera moves up and down from a fixed axis, again useful for suggesting point-of-view. Tracking, so-called because the camera moves along tracks laid for that purpose (often used to pull back from a scene, thus signalling the end of our involvement in the action) and rolling, where the camera is tilted at an angle, so we see the action from a strange perspective (often used to suggest that a character is ill or drugged). Filmmakers can also make use of an extended depth of field, called deep focus, as an aesthetic device to enlarge our perception of depth. In deep focus, all objects from close foreground to extreme background are seen in equally sharp focus. Orson Welles's Citizen Kane was celebrated for its expressive use of deep focus effects. In one scene, for example Kane and his wife Susan are in their enormous living room. Despite the vast distance between them the deep focus photography keeps both figures in sharp focus suggesting that their separation is not only a physical but also an emotional one.

Mise en scne
The French term mise en scne, which literally means, staging an action, comes from the theatre and originally refers to the arrangement of actors, props and action on a set. It is used to describe everything that can be seen in the film frame: setting, lighting, visual composition, costumes and the behaviour of the characters. In controlling the mise en scne the filmmaker stages the event for the camera. There are four general areas a filmmaker has to consider when controlling the mise en scne: Lighting

3.2.2.2.1 READING A FILM Approved on 19 March 2004 Lighting can be considered the most important component of mise en scne. The way in which a filmmaker illuminates the objects and characters in a film frame can greatly influence our understanding of a scene. By brightly lighting an object or gesture important to the storyline, whilst keeping other minor details in relative darkness, the viewer's attention can be guided. At the same time a director can build up suspense by concealing something the audience is keen to see with a shadow. In a studio, the lighting is usually from three main sources: a) The key light, as the name suggests, is usually the brightest and the most influential. b) The backlight helps counteract the effect of the key light, thus making the figure look more 'rounded'. c) The filler light helps to soften the harsh shadows that the use of back and key lights creates. There may be more than one of these. High-key and low-key lighting The filmmaker manipulates this basic format to achieve the atmosphere he wishes to convey. If he uses only the key and backlights, he will produce a sharp contrast of dark and light areas on the screen as shadows are formed. This is known as low-key lighting and is often seen as expressive. High-key lighting means that more filler lights are used. This will appear more normal and realistic to our eyes but can also be manipulated to give a more glamorous appearance to a star's face, or add a twinkle to their eyes. Light and darkness have strong symbolic meanings that can be exploited in order to convey something about individual characters or the situations they are in. A high-contrast image, with many jagged edges of light and shadow can evoke a feeling of unease, used in so many film noir productions, whereas more even lighting across the set will promote a far more settled feel. Location The chosen location for a scene is much more than simply a background to the action and can greatly influence our expectations. A place in itself can be scary, calm, exciting or dull and thus convey the emotions of the characters in it. Colours are often used for giving a certain feel to a place. A room that is decorated in bright primary colours will give a totally different impression to one which is pale blue and would suggest that the events which take place there will be of a different nature. When part of the setting becomes a direct part of the action, for example if a kidnapper ties up his victim with a telephone chord, then it is called a 'prop'. Such a prop can re-appear throughout the entire film and thus provide a motif within the narrative. A motif can be a symbol for an underlying theme or a film's deeper meaning. In the case of our kidnapper story, a piece of jewellery could come to symbolise the importance of love between parents and their children. Costume and make-up The overall appearance of characters is extremely important for the way we see them. While costumes and make-up should not distract us from the narrative, they play an important role in providing information about characters, their motivations and their significance within the story. Characters are usually dressed to underline their personality and mood, and thus help to explain why they act in a certain way. Certain types of costume are identified closely with individual genres, for instance the black cloak of the vampire in a horror film. . Facial expression and body language When we watch a performance at the theatre we, as the audience, are usually quite a distance from the stage. On film, the camera can be at a range of distances portraying the actor in close-up or in long shot. This means there will be different emphasis placed on facial expressions and body language according to the type of shot. The way in which a filmmaker directs the actors at his or her disposal will have a strong influence on the overall style of the film - different kinds of film provide different contexts to which an actor has to adapt. Exaggerated gestures and facial expressions might not be appropriate if realism is the aim of the filmmaker but they can be in, for example, a comedy. Editing In the process of editing a film, the filmmaker looks at the footage that has been shot in production and joins (splices) shots together to make a continuous piece of film. During the editing stage the film maker selects

3.2.2.2.1 READING A FILM Approved on 19 March 2004 the best shots, determines their order and arranges them together with the soundtrack into a continuous, unified unfolding of sound and image. The order in which the footage is edited together can determine the whole structure of the film, because it is in the editing room where the different sequences of a film that are usually shot in a random order, are put together to form a sensible and coherent narrative whole. The rhythm of the editing will control the pace of the film; a sequence can be edited with many short shots or a few longer ones, or it can gradually move from longer shots to shorter ones or vice versa. Such cutting can create a sense of urgency or of slowing down. Music is often used to reinforce the rhythm of the editing. The co-ordination of different shots in the editing process can greatly influence our perception of people, places and events; for example when an image of a wide open space is juxtaposed with a shot of a small cramped room, the contrast between the two can make the small room feel even smaller. Editors can give the impression of smooth continuity or abrupt contrast at a certain point by choosing to link shots whose colours, tones of light and dark and composition are correspondingly either very similar (known as a graphic match) or opposed to each other, depending on the effect they wish to create. The way in which the shots are joined together can be used to further effect, for instance a wipe cut, where one part of the screen moves across the other often gives a cartoon or comedy feel to the action. A jump cut, where we are brought in to focus on something very suddenly will shock us, make us take notice. A dissolve shot, where one image is slowly brought in beneath another one will create a dreamlike effect or may indicate the passing of time, whilst a fade, where the screen fades to black, signals an ending of some sort. Over the years filmmakers have developed editing rules that support the illusion of continuity of space, time and action. By adhering to the rules of continuity editing an editor can set up a coherent and sensible fictional space. When, for example a character in a film walks around a house, leaving one room and entering another appears to be a smooth process even if it involves a cut in the middle. The main aspect of continuity editing is that it is hardly noticeable. A good continuity editor can map out the characters' actions coherently, clearly and in an undistracting way so that our attention is drawn to the narrative and not to how it is put together. How long does each shot last? - or rhythmic relations The filmmaker can choose to keep each image on screen for a short or longer length of time. In this way, suspense or excitement can be built up by faster editing or dramatic moments given more importance by slower editing. Prepared by Film Education for the British Council.