Key Concepts in Film Analysis and Cinematic Techniques

Challenging aspect of film analysis

Becoming totally immersed in the experience while maintaining critical detachment.

Unique qualities of film as an art form

It possesses qualities of free and constant motion that convey an overwhelming sense of reality.

Compromised aspect of film viewing on television

Sound.

Primary originating force within cinematic art

The screenwriter.

Number of times most movies should be viewed for fuller understanding

At least twice.

CGI

Computer generated imaging.

Three things to become more receptive viewers

Become aware of our personal biases, Watch/consider the entire film, Consider our expectations.

Panning and scanning

A technique which uses a scanning device to identify and maintain important information of the screen when transferring a widescreen image to a traditional tv-sized screen.

Letterboxing

Placing black bands at the top and bottom of the film image to transfer a movie into another format without losing any of the image.

Four places to seek out information before seeing a film

Reviews, Publicity, Word of Mouth, Dedicated Web Sites.

Theme in film

The unifying central concern of the film (i.e., the film's focus).

Thematic Statement

The film's central idea or philosophical meaning.

Standard to evaluate a film's theme

Universality.

Three types of credibility

Externally Observable (Objective) Truths: The way things really are. Both possible and probable; Internal Truths of Human Nature (Subjective): The way things are supposed to be. Possible but not probable; Artistic Semblance of Truth: The way things never were and never will be. Neither possible nor probable.

Linear plot

The Dramatic structure occurs in the correct order.

Eight ways of developing a character

Appearance, Dialogue, External Action, Internal Action, Reaction to other characters, Contrast, Caricature/Leitmotif, Choice of Name.

Static vs. Developing character

Static characters do not change/grow, whereas developing characters do.

Four ways of creating symbolic meaning

Repetition, Value placed on an object by a character, Context, Special Visual, aural, or musical emphasis.

Focus on plot

Focused on what happens. Escapist. Fast-paced and exciting action. The final outcome is all important.

Focus on emotional effect or mood

Focuses on a single emotion or mood that prevails throughout the film (in relation to the audience).

Focus on character

Focuses on the clear delineation of a single unique character.

Focus on style or texture or structure

Focuses on a quality that sets it apart from other films - a unique look, feel, rhythm, tone or organization.

Focus on ideas

Helps to clarify some aspect of life, experience, or the human condition.

Focus on moral implications

Tries to convince us of a moral principle.

Focus on the truth of human nature

Presents universal characters to illustrate some widely accepted truth about our basic nature.

Focus on social problems

Exposes social vices and follies or criticizes social institutions.

Focus on the struggle for human dignity

Explores a basic conflict between opposing sides of human nature (animal instinct vs the struggle to stand erect).

Focus on the complexity of human relationships

Focuses on the problems, frustrations, pleasures, and joys of human relationships.

Focus on coming of age / growing awareness / loss of innocence

Protagonist becomes more mature or gains new awareness of themselves in relation to the world around them.

Focus on a moral or philosophical riddle

Uses symbols and images to evoke a variety of subjective interpretations in regard to a moral or philosophical question.

Exposition

Introduces the characters, shows some of their interrelationships, and places them within a believable time and place.

The complication

Where the conflict begins and grows in clarity, intensity, and importance. Usually the longest section.

Climax

The point at which the complication reaches its maximum tension and the forces in opposition confront each other at a peak of physical or emotional action.

Denouement

A brief period of calm following the climax, in which a state of relative equilibrium returns.

In medias res

A Latin phrase meaning 'in the middle of things' that refers to a method of beginning a story with an exciting incident that, chronologically, occurs after the complication has developed.

Flashback

A filmed sequence that goes back in time to provide expository material — either when it is most dramatically appropriate and powerful or when it most effectively illuminates the theme.

Flash forward

A filmed sequence that moves forward in time — the visual scene jumps from the present into the future.

External conflict

A personal and individual struggle between the central character and another character or between the central character and some nonhuman force such as fate, society, or nature.

Internal conflict

A psychological conflict within the central character. The primary struggle is between different aspects of a single personality.

Foils

Contrasting characters whose behavior, attitudes, opinions, lifestyle, physical appearance, and so on are opposites and thus serve clearly to define their personalities.

Caricature

The exaggeration or distortion of one or more personality traits.

Leitmotif

The repetition of a single phrase or idea by a character until it becomes almost a trademark for that character.

Stock characters

Minor characters whose actions are completely predictable or typical of their job or profession.

Stereotypes

Characters who fit into preconceived patterns of behavior common to or representative of a large number of people.

Allegory

A story in which every object, event, and person has an immediately discernible abstract or metaphorical meaning.

Symbol

A literal element (such as an object, name, or gesture) that also stands for an abstract idea.

symbol

A literal element (such as an object, name, or gesture) that also stands for an abstract idea. This representation is established by triggering previously associated areas in the mind of the perceiver.

visual metaphors

A brief comparison that helps us understand or perceive one image better because of its similarity to another image, usually achieved through the editorial juxtaposition of two images in two successive shots.

extrinsic metaphors

A metaphor that has no place within the context of the scene itself but is imposed artificially into the scene by the director.

intrinsic metaphors

A metaphor found within the natural context of the scene itself.

Dramatic irony

Derives its effect primarily from a contrast between ignorance and knowledge. The filmmaker provides the audience with information that a character lacks.

Irony of situation

An irony of plot that involves a sudden reversal or backfiring of events, so that the end result of a character's actions is exactly the opposite of his or her intentions.

Irony of character

Occurs when characters embody strong opposites or contradictions or when their actions involve sharp reversals in expected patterns of behavior.

Irony of setting

Occurs when an event takes place in a setting that is exactly the opposite of the setting we usually expect for such an event.

irony of tone

Involves the juxtaposition of opposites in attitudes or feelings.

Cosmic Irony

Implies the existence of some kind of supreme-being or creator who manipulates events to deliberately frustrate and mock humankind.

Standard Screen

One of the 4 popular aspect ratios in film.

Wide Screen

One of the 4 popular aspect ratios in film.

Panavision

One of the 4 popular aspect ratios in film.

Cinemascope

One of the 4 popular aspect ratios in film.

Smooth-grain

A type of film stock that registers a wide range of subtle differences between light and dark.

Rough-Grain

A type of film stock associated with harsh contrasts between blacks and whites and almost no subtle contrasts.

forced perspective

A production design technique that physically distorts certain aspects of the set to create the illusion of greater foreground-to-background distance.

Setting

The time and place in which the film's story takes place, including all of the complex factors that come packaged with a given time and place.

Temporal

One of the 4 factors that influence setting.

Geographic

One of the 4 factors that influence setting.

Social structures and economic factors

One of the 4 factors that influence setting.

Customs, moral attitudes, and codes of behavior

One of the 4 factors that influence setting.

microcosm

Meaning 'the world in little,' a special type of isolated, self-contained setting that represents human behavior or the human condition.

objective POV

The viewpoint of a sideline observer, suggesting emotional distance between camera and subject.

subjective POV

The viewpoint of a character participating in the action.

indirect-subjective POV

A viewpoint that brings us close to the action and increases our involvement without showing the action through a participant's eyes.

director's interpretive POV

Using special techniques of the medium, the director manipulates us to see the action or character in their interpreted way.

look of outward regard

An objective shot that shows a character looking at something off-screen.

eye-line shot

A shot that shows us what a character is seeing, often follows a Look of Outward Regard shot.

shot

A strip of film produced by a single uninterrupted running of the camera.

Vertical lines

Lines that suggest strength, authority, and dignity.

Diagonal lines

Lines that suggest action and dynamic movement.

Curved lines

Lines that suggest fluidity and sensuality.

goals of cinematic composition

(1) directing attention to the object of greatest significance, (2) keeping the image in constant motion, (3) creating an illusion of depth.

ways that a cinematographer directs our attention

Size and closeness of object, sharpness of focus, extreme close-ups, movement, arrangement of people and objects, foreground framing, lighting and color.

close-up

A close shot of a person or object; a close-up of a person generally focuses on the face only.

Fixed-Frame Movement

Approximates the effect of looking through a window, with the camera remaining in one position.

Panning

Moving the camera's line of sight in a horizontal plane, to the left and right.

Dead Screen

A frame in which there is little or no dramatically or aesthetically interesting visual information.

Tilting

Moving the camera's line of sight in a vertical plane, up and down.

Steadicam

A portable, one-person camera with a built-in gyroscope that prevents any sudden jerkiness and provides a smooth, rock-steady image.

Skycam

A small, computerized, remote-controlled camera that flies on wires at speeds of up to twenty miles per hour and can go practically anywhere that cables can be strung.

Long shot

A shot, taken from some distance, that shows the subject as well as its surroundings.

Live screen

A frame packed with dramatically or aesthetically interesting visual information, usually with some form of motion incorporated into the composition.

Rack Focus

One continuous shot focusing the camera lens, in turn, on objects in different planes of depth (different distances from the camera).

Deep Focus

The use of special lenses that allow the camera to focus simultaneously and with equal clarity on objects anywhere from two feet to several hundred feet away.

Low-angle shot

A shot made with the camera below eye level, thereby exaggerating the size and importance of the subject.

High-angle shot

A shot made with the camera above eye level, thereby dwarfing the subject and diminishing its importance.

Soft Focus

A slight blurring of focus for effect.

Wide-angle

A lens that takes in a broad area and increases the illusion of depth but sometimes distorts the edges of the image.

Telephoto lens

A lens that draws objects closer but also diminishes the illusion of depth.

Fish-eye lens

A special type of extreme wide-angle lens that bends both horizontal and vertical planes and distorts depth relationships.

Slow Motion

The effect of slowed action created by exposing frames in the camera at greater-than-normal speed and then projecting that footage at normal speed (24 frames per second).

Time-lapse photography

An extreme form of fast motion in which a single frame is exposed at regular intervals (from a second to an hour or even longer) and then projected at normal speed (24 frames per second), thus compressing an action that usually takes hours or weeks into a few seconds on the screen.