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Film Art Textbook notes
FILM AS ART: Chapter 1: CREATIVITY, TECHNOLOGY, AND BUSINESS
Introduction: The Unique Nature of Film
Film is a relatively young art form, having existed for just over a century, compared to older arts like painting, literature, theater, and dance.
Despite its youth, film has developed into a powerful medium that tells stories, expresses emotions, and conveys ideas.
The book’s approach to studying film:
Examines how creative people use moving images to shape experiences.
Analyzes principles and techniques that make films emotionally and intellectually compelling.
Recognizes that technology, collaboration, and economics shape film as much as artistic vision.
What Makes Film Unique?
Technological Dependence
Film requires machines: cameras, projectors, lighting equipment, sound recorders, editing software, etc.
Unlike a novelist (who only needs a pen) or a musician (who needs an instrument), filmmakers rely on technology at every stage.
Collaboration
Film is a collective effort requiring multiple specialists:
Directors guide artistic vision.
Cinematographers control lighting and framing.
Screenwriters develop narratives.
Actors embody characters.
Editors construct the final structure.
Each decision impacts the final experience.
Economic Factors
Film is both artistic expression and commercial enterprise.
A film must be funded, produced, distributed, marketed, and exhibited to reach an audience.
Financial constraints influence artistic choices (e.g., using CGI instead of practical effects to reduce costs).
FILM AS AN ART FORM
The Creative Choices Behind Film
Films are deliberately designed to create particular responses from viewers.
Filmmakers make decisions at every stage:
Storytelling Choices → Plot structure, pacing, character arcs.
Visual Composition → Shot angles, lighting, mise-en-scène.
Sound Design → Dialogue, music, sound effects.
Editing → How scenes transition, rhythm, continuity.
Key question for analysis: Why is a film designed the way it is?
Example: If an ending makes us cry or feel inspired, what decisions led to that effect?
Thinking like a filmmaker helps us understand and appreciate films more deeply.
The Intersection of Art and Commerce
1. Art vs. Entertainment
Some believe that blockbusters are "just entertainment", while independent or experimental films qualify as "true art."
However, this distinction is not clear-cut:
Hollywood directors have pushed artistic boundaries (e.g., Stanley Kubrick, Christopher Nolan).
Films made purely for entertainment can still be aesthetically rich (Mad Max: Fury Road has stunning cinematography).
Many artistic innovations (editing, sound design) emerged from commercial cinema.
2. Art vs. Business
Some argue that film art is compromised by commercial pressures.
However, all art requires funding:
Renaissance painters like Michelangelo and da Vinci worked on commissioned projects.
Musicians depend on record sales, streaming, and concerts.
Authors write books for publishing houses that aim to sell copies.
Film is no different—financial success enables artistic ambition.
CASE STUDY: CREATIVE DECISIONS IN LA LA LAND
To illustrate how filmmakers make creative choices, the book examines Damien Chazelle’s La La Land (2016).
1. Mise-en-Scène (Visual Design)
Inspired by classic musicals (Singin’ in the Rain, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg).
Bold, saturated colors evoke a dreamlike atmosphere.
Use of costume, set design, and lighting:
Early scenes have bright colors (representing optimism).
Later scenes become muted and naturalistic (as reality sets in).
The final fantasy sequence returns to vibrant colors, symbolizing an idealized "what could have been."
2. Cinematography
Shot in CinemaScope (2.55:1 widescreen) to mimic 1950s musicals.
35mm film chosen over digital to capture rich, nostalgic visuals.
Camera moves fluidly, like a dancer, using:
Steadicam shots to follow performers.
Crane shots for sweeping movements.
Oculus remote mount to move dynamically during musical sequences.
3. Editing
Many scenes were filmed as single continuous takes.
Instead of traditional "coverage" (filming multiple angles and cutting between them), Chazelle planned each shot meticulously.
Example: The opening freeway sequence was staged as a long take but had hidden cuts through whip pans.
4. Sound & Music
The songs were composed before lyrics to integrate them naturally into the narrative.
Most musical numbers used pre-recorded playback, except for "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)," which was recorded live for emotional authenticity.
Composer Justin Hurwitz’s score reinforces themes of nostalgia and ambition.
Overall Impact
La La Land reimagines classic Hollywood musicals in a modern setting.
Blends fantasy and reality, capturing the idealism and heartbreak of artistic ambition.
THE TECHNOLOGY OF CINEMA
How Film Creates Motion
The illusion of movement relies on two visual phenomena:
Critical Flicker Fusion – When a light flashes faster than 50 times per second, it appears continuous.
Apparent Motion – If images change rapidly, our brain perceives them as continuous motion.
Photochemical Film vs. Digital
Traditional Film:
Uses physical film stock (35mm, 16mm, 70mm).
Film stock is expensive and requires chemical processing.
Higher resolution and dynamic range than many digital formats.
Digital Filmmaking:
Uses sensors instead of film reels.
Resolutions range from HD (1080p) to 4K, 6K, and beyond.
Digital cameras store footage on hard drives rather than physical reels.
Editing and color correction are done digitally.
FILM PRODUCTION: THE BUSINESS OF MAKING MOVIES
The Three Phases of the Film Industry
Production – Creating the film.
Distribution – Getting the film to cinemas, streaming platforms, physical media.
Exhibition – Showing the film to audiences.
The Four Stages of Production
Scriptwriting & Funding
Developing the idea, screenplay, and securing financial backing.
Producers handle budgeting, hiring directors & actors.
Pre-Production
Storyboarding, location scouting, set design.
Casting and hiring the crew.
Shooting (Principal Photography)
The actual filming process.
Scenes rarely shot in order (due to scheduling, locations, etc.).
Post-Production
Editing, sound mixing, CGI, color grading.
Marketing and preparing for distribution.
Film Art - Chapter 2: The Significance of Film Form
Filmmakers must decide how to start their movies to engage the audience effectively. Two common strategies include:
Hard Openings: Begin with an intense or dramatic moment to immediately capture attention.
Soft Openings: Gradually immerse the audience into the story, allowing them to absorb the world and characters at a slower pace.
Both hard and soft openings are effective but set different expectations for the viewer.
The choice of opening influences how audiences engage with the film’s themes and structure.
Screenwriters and directors make intentional choices to shape audience reactions.
The Concept of Form in Film
Form refers to how different elements within a film work together to create meaning and emotional responses.
Filmmakers structure their work to shape audience experience, guiding attention and engagement.
Form is integral to storytelling and stylistic elements, not separate from them.
Form as Pattern
Form = in it’s broadest sense, the overall set of relationships among a film’s parts
Films create patterns that audiences recognise and anticipate.
Patterns can be found in:
Narrative Structure: How events unfold and relate to each other.
Stylistic Elements: Camera movements, colour schemes, music, and editing techniques.
Audiences naturally look for connections
Form Versus Content
People often think of form as separate from content (i.e., form is just a container for content).
However, form actively shapes content and audience perception.
Formal Expectations
Film form generates expectations by setting up patterns that guide audience anticipation.
Filmmakers manipulate expectations by either fulfilling, delaying, or subverting them.
Advertisements, titles, and trailers also establish expectations before viewing.
Conventions and Experience
The first scenes of a film often explain background information about characters and action, a convention in storytelling.
Genres use conventions heavily, for example, action movies often feature car crashes or spectacular stunts, and musicals feature characters singing and dancing.
Filmmakers rely on conventions to meet audience expectations but also innovate within or break these conventions to create fresh experiences.
Audience Expectations and Artistic Form
Audiences rely on their prior life and artistic experiences to engage with films.
There is a separation between everyday life and artistic conventions.
Evolution of Conventions
Conventions can change over time. For instance, flashbacks were once considered rare but have become commonplace in contemporary films.
Some directors have created films with unconventional pacing or structure, like Béla Tarr's Satan's Tango, which challenges the fast-paced expectations of Hollywood films.
Form and Feeling
The form of a film shapes how the audience responds emotionally.
Form also creates expectation and emotion. Suspense can build anxiety, while gratified expectations may provide relief.
Filmmakers create films to convey meaning, which the audience interprets based on the formal elements of the film.
Filmmakers might present referential, explicit, or implicit meanings through their work.
Types of Meaning
Referential Meaning:
Concrete meanings that relate to real-world references. For example, The Wizard of Oz refers to the Depression era and life on a Kansas farm.
Explicit Meaning:
Clear, openly stated messages in the film. For example, Dorothy’s line, "There’s no place like home," sums up the film’s lesson about the importance of home.
Implicit Meaning:
More abstract meanings that suggest a deeper theme, such as the passage from childhood to adulthood in The Wizard of Oz.
Interpretations of films can vary widely. For instance, The Wizard of Oz could be interpreted as a story about adolescence, courage, or the conflict between childhood and adulthood.
The meaning in a film is often derived from the relationships between the film's formal elements (e.g., narrative and style).
In The Wizard of Oz, the Yellow Brick Road’s meaning is shaped by its narrative function, colour scheme, and music, contributing to the overall meaning of the film.
Evaluation: Good, Bad, or Indifferent?
People frequently evaluate films, offering judgments about their quality.
Personal Taste vs. Evaluative Judgment
Personal taste, such as saying “I liked this film” or “I hated it,” differs from evaluative judgment like saying, “It’s a good film” or “It’s wretched.”
Viewers often have a range of preferences; for example, some people enjoy films that are considered bad by critics (e.g., “guilty pleasures”).
Evaluations can be made using specific criteria rather than relying solely on personal taste.
Criteria are standards used to judge films objectively and compare their relative quality.
Types of Evaluation Criteria
Realistic Criteria
Some people assess films based on how realistic they are.
However, realism isn’t always an applicable criterion, as many films break the rules of reality (e.g., romantic comedies often feature unrealistic coincidences).
Moral Criteria
Films can be evaluated based on moral considerations, such as their depiction of nudity, profanity, or violence.
Some viewers might condemn these elements, while others may defend them as realistic in context.
Broadly, moral criteria can also judge a film's overall significance, including its view on life, emotional range, or ability to show different perspectives.
Artistic Criteria
Artistic evaluation focuses on assessing films as cohesive, emotionally engaging works. This includes:
Coherence: Films that maintain unity in their form are valued for this consistency.
Intensity of Effect: Films that are vivid and emotionally engaging tend to be regarded more highly.
Complexity
Complexity in films can indicate quality. Complex films engage audiences on multiple levels and offer rich, layered meanings.
Originality
Originality is a significant criterion when evaluating films, although it should not be valued for its own sake. A film that takes familiar conventions and uses them innovatively can be considered good aesthetically.
Weighing Criteria involves:
Degree and Balance
Evaluation criteria are matters of degree. One film may be more complex than another, but other criteria like coherence or intensity might be lacking.
There is often a balance between criteria.
For example, a film may be original but lack complexity or coherence, or a slasher film may be intense but unoriginal or poorly organised.
Purpose of Evaluation is usually:
Personal Taste vs. Objective Evaluation
Sharing personal preferences can be fun, but objective evaluation helps us better understand how films work and their artistic significance.
A deep, objective evaluation often helps uncover overlooked aspects of a film or offers new perspectives on widely accepted classics.
Close Examination of the Film
General statements about a film's quality, like calling The Wizard of Oz a "masterpiece," are less informative.
A more productive evaluation would point to specific aspects of the film, such as its coherence or symbolic connections, to explain its value.
Evaluation and Formal Analysis
Just like interpretation, evaluation is most effective when it is backed by formal analysis.
This helps us understand the connections and qualities we may have missed.
Principles of Film Form
Form in film does not equal formula.
While science has definitive laws, in the arts, including film, there are no strict rules that all artists must follow. Filmmakers create within cultural conventions, and while no two films must follow the same rules, certain broad principles of form are often utilised.
Function
Elements Fulfill Purposes
Every element in a film serves a function in the larger narrative. The key question is not “How did this element get there?” but “What is this element doing there?” and “How does it guide the audience’s response?”
Motivation
Motivation is about asking why something is in the film and justifying the presence of any element.
It can be applied to characters, actions, or even the setting.
For example, if a character is dressed oddly in a formal setting, we ask why. Is it motivated by the character’s backstory or the plot?
Directors and cinematographers make decisions to motivate camera movements, lighting choices, and other elements based on character actions or plot needs.
For instance, chiaroscuro lighting might be used without a clear motivation, but it can be designed to create a particular mood.
Similarity and Repetition
Repetition as a Structural Tool
Similarity and repetition are vital to creating formal patterns in a film.
These principles help establish expectations and build a cohesive structure.
Key elements like character appearances, themes, and motifs often reappear throughout the film.
Example – Character Repetition: The main character should appear consistently to be recognised as central to the plot. Also, dialogue often reiterates key themes or conflicts.
Motifs
A motif is a repeated significant element (object, sound, place, etc.) that contributes to the film’s form.
For instance, in Guardians of the Galaxy, the song “O-O-H Child” is a motif that recalls Peter’s connection to his mother.
Parallels
Parallels involve comparing elements across the narrative to highlight similarities.
For example, in The Wizard of Oz, the Kansas farmhands have counterparts in Oz, like the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion, which creates parallel relationships between characters in both the real and fantasy worlds.
Difference and Variation
A filmmaker cannot rely solely on repetition, as it can become monotonous.
Variation, even in small doses, is key to sustaining interest and engagement.
Variation can be shown through:
Filming in different styles to underscore the emotional significance of the moment
Character conflict to drive the narrative and engage the viewer through dramatic tension
Use of settings, costumes, colours
Voice quality
Musical motifs
Repetition and variation work together to create the film’s form.
Noticing one element leads to noticing the other, and understanding both is key to understanding the film’s structure.
Development
Development refers to how a film progresses by alternating between repetition and differences.
This creates a pattern that moves the narrative forward and provides structure.
Types of Development:
Journeys (Wizard of Oz, LoTR)
Searching for something (meaning, characters, etc)
Psychological development
Filmmakers often break down a film into parts to map its development.
A segmentation is a written outline that divides a film into its major and minor sections, helping to illustrate its overall progression.
This process helps viewers understand how the parts contribute to the whole.
Example: By segmenting a film like The Wizard of Oz, we can see how each part contributes to the development of the film's themes, such as the journey, the search for home, and the mystery surrounding the Wizard.
A key way to understand a film’s development is by comparing its beginning and ending.
In The Wizard of Oz, the final scene mirrors the opening scene, reinforcing the film’s cyclical structure and its themes of home and belonging.
Unity and Disunity
A film achieves unity when its elements are seamlessly interwoven to create a cohesive, complete narrative.
In a unified film, every part has a function, and the similarities and differences between elements contribute to the overall structure.
Perfect unity is rare in films.
Pulp Fiction also contains moments of disunity, such as the unexplained contents of the briefcase. This lack of closure contributes to the film’s theme of mystery and the characters' obsession with material value.
The film’s disunities serve larger thematic purposes, highlighting the importance of character reactions rather than the mystery itself.
Disunities are not necessarily a flaw; they can enhance the film’s themes.
Moments of disunity add complexity, leaving space for interpretation and emphasising key narrative elements.
Film Art - Chapter 3: Narrative Form
Humans have an inherent and endless desire for stories, starting in childhood with fairy tales and myths.
In politics and journalism, the concept of “changing the narrative” is central, while in courts, competing stories influence decisions.
Stories create curiosity, suspense, and emotional investment in the audience, driving them to seek resolutions and the development of characters.
Principles of Narrative Form in Film
Audience Expectations
Viewers approach films with expectations based on familiarity with the story, such as adaptations or sequels.
Common expectations for a narrative film include:
Characters involved in action and relationships.
A connected sequence of events.
Problems or conflicts that are resolved or re-examined.
Active Engagement:
Audiences interpret a film through cues, anticipate developments, and contribute to understanding the narrative structure.
The ending of a story may either resolve or manipulate expectations, often leading to revisiting earlier events
What is Narrative
Narrative = refers to a sequence of events linked by cause and effect, unfolding over time and space.
Structure:
A typical narrative begins with an initial situation, follows a sequence of cause-effect events, and ends with a resolution or change.
A random sequence is not a story because it lacks clear causality and connections.
Example of a Simple Narrative:
Conflict: A man argues with his boss.
Development: The man struggles with sleeplessness and destroys a mirror out of anger.
Resolution: The phone rings, and the boss calls to apologize.
The narrative is understandable because the events are causally linked and occur in time and space
Narrative Techniques in Film
Cause, Time, and Space:
A coherent narrative requires causality, time, and space to connect events logically.
Even though a narrative depends on these principles, films can also incorporate other formal techniques to enrich the narrative.
Parallelism:
Parallelism refers to the use of similar story elements (characters, situations, etc.) to create connections or contrasts.
Examples of Parallelism:
The Wizard of Oz: Parallelism between Kansas farmhands and Dorothy’s companions in Oz.
Julie & Julia: Parallel narratives of two women in different times, both balancing marriage and a passion for cuisine.
Something Different: Alternating between two separate women's lives—no causal connection but encourages comparison of life choices.
Hoop Dreams: Follows two high school basketball players with parallels drawn between their struggles and choices.
Effect of Parallelism:
While the events may not be causally linked, parallelism adds complexity and depth to the film’s narrative structure, inviting the audience to compare themes and characters.
Deeper Engagement with Narrative
Filmmaker’s Role:
Filmmakers actively create engagement by shaping how the viewer processes the narrative.
The audience’s role is dynamic, actively constructing meaning based on cause and effect, time, space, and parallel elements.
Complex Narratives:
More complex stories use parallelism and other narrative techniques to enrich the audience’s understanding and engagement, such as in Julie & Julia and Hoop Dreams.
These films remain structured as narratives, with time, space, and causality framing the events, but parallelism introduces additional layers of meaning.
Plot and Story
Story: The chain of events in chronological order.
The story is about the love affair from the first meeting to the wedding.
The presentation of the story may differ depending on how the plot is structured (e.g., flashbacks, different character focus, etc.).
Plot: The way the filmmakers present the story.
The plot can differ from the story through decisions like non-linear storytelling, emphasis on certain characters, or narrative style.
Viewers understand the story through the plot but have to infer unshown events based on the plot’s presentation.
For example, in North by Northwest, the plot presents a busy Manhattan scene. From this, viewers infer Roger Thornhill’s executive role and that he had been dictating before we see him.
Diegesis: The world of the story, including both what is shown and what is inferred by viewers.
The world of the story can be built from the plot
Anything outside of the story world is considered nondiegetic (e.g., music, credits, superimposed titles).
Nondiegetic Elements: Components not part of the story world.
Examples: Credits, musical scores, and intertitles in silent films.
These elements affect the viewer’s experience but are not experienced by the characters in the film.
Cause and Effect
Characters as Causes:
Most films use characters to trigger events and respond to them, driving the narrative forward.
Characters can have visible bodies or be represented by unique traits
Traits of characters, like Indiana Jones’s courage, directly affect the story.
Complex Characters:
Characters are considered complex if they have multiple, sometimes conflicting traits (e.g., Sherlock Holmes’s intelligence, arrogance, and gallantry).
These traits influence narrative outcomes.
Protagonists and Antagonists:
Protagonists are central to the plot, engaging more often with the action and typically undergoing the most change (e.g., Indiana Jones).
Antagonists oppose protagonists, creating conflict (e.g., villains in superhero films).
Some films may not have a single antagonist but several minor ones or none at all (e.g., M. Hulot’s Holiday).
External Causes:
Events like natural disasters (e.g., earthquake, shark in Jaws) can serve as external forces that propel the narrative.
While external forces set the stage, characters’ actions usually continue the narrative development.
Hiding Causes and Effects
Curiosity and Speculation:
Viewers actively seek causal connections between events.
Sometimes, films withhold certain causes or effects to build suspense and curiosity (e.g., My Man Godfrey using a scavenger hunt).
Films may also withhold story effects to create intrigue, such as in detective films where the mystery is only solved in the climax.
Mysteries in Film:
In mystery films, the plot may start with an effect (e.g., a murder) but withhold the causes (e.g., the killer or motive) until the end.
Horror and science fiction films also often suppress story causes to maintain suspense.
Some films like Moonlight invite viewers to speculate about the changes in the character, leaving certain motivations and transformations unclear.
Causal Motivation
Planting Information:
Filmmakers often plant details in advance to create causal motivation (e.g., the "Rollo Tomasi" motif in L.A. Confidential).
These planted details may seem minor at first but later play a significant role in the story.
Withholding Causes and Effects:
Films may withhold certain causes (e.g., character development in Moonlight) to invite the viewer’s imagination in constructing the full narrative.
Time in Narrative Film
General Concept of Time in Narrative:
Causes and effects in narrative are grounded in time.
Story and plot distinctions help understand filmmakers’ manipulation of time.
Viewers build story time based on the plot’s presentation of events.
Manipulating Chronological Order:
Plot may present events out of chronological order.
Example: Citizen Kane shows the character’s death before his youth; viewers must construct a chronological life version.
Not every detail of the story is shown in chronological order; irrelevant periods (sleeping, eating) are skipped.
Repetition of events can occur
Temporal Order:
Filmmakers may present events out of story order to create narrative impact.
Flashbacks:
A portion of the story shown out of chronological sequence.
Example: Edward Scissorhands starts with an old woman telling a story, then shifts to her high school years.
Flashbacks help the viewer mentally reorder events chronologically.
Flashforwards:
A flashforward moves from present to future, then back to present (e.g., Inside Man).
Rarer than flashbacks, as they can give away plot details.
Reordering Scenes:
Reordering of scenes can create surprises or suspense.
Example: Pulp Fiction starts with a late scene, revealing its true position in the story later on.
Temporal Duration:
Duration refers to how long events take in the story.
Filmmakers manipulate the relationship between:
Story Duration: The overall duration of events in the narrative.
Plot Duration: The duration presented in the plot (e.g., a four-day span in North by Northwest).
Screen Duration: The length of the film.
Example: North by Northwest has a story duration spanning years, but its plot duration covers four days and nights.
Screen duration can stretch or condense story duration, emphasizing specific moments.
Example: October (Sergei Eisenstein) stretches a brief action (raising bridges) to emphasize it.
Temporal Frequency:
Events can be presented once or multiple times in the plot.
Repetition of Events:
Repeating events increases frequency and provides new perspectives or information.
Example: Amores Perros shows a traffic accident three times, each revealing different character perspectives.
Purpose of Repetition:
Filmmakers use repetition to remind viewers of events or to reveal new layers of information.
Example: In For a Few Dollars More, a repeated event gains more detail with each retelling.
A single line of dialogue can also reappear, haunting a character's memory.
Viewer’s Role in Constructing Story Time:
Viewers are active participants in constructing the timeline of the film.
Filmmakers design the plot to guide the viewer’s understanding of chronological sequence, time span, and event frequency.
Flashbacks and Other Cues:
Flashbacks are often motivated by a character’s memory.
Cues like clothing, settings, and age help viewers organize events.
Complex Time Structures:
Films like The Usual Suspects and Wonderstruck present multiple narratives or parallel timelines, challenging viewers’ understanding of the story's temporal structure.
Example: The Usual Suspects uses unreliable narration and flashbacks to confuse the timeline.
Christopher Nolan's Experimentation with Time:
Inception manipulates dream time with each layer of the dream unfolding at different rates.
Dunkirk creates three simultaneous timelines with varying durations (week, day, hour), building suspense as they intersect.
Space
Role of Space in Film Narrative: Events typically occur in specific locations, like Kansas in The Wizard of Oz or Manhattan in North by Northwest.
Plot and Story Space: Usually, the story’s locale aligns with the plot, but sometimes the plot leads to imagined locations
Offscreen Space: Important for emotional impact, such as when emotional power relies on the viewer imagining offscreen spaces
Screen Space: Refers to the visible space within the frame, with filmmakers selecting portions of the plot space for screen presentation.
Openings, Closings, and Patterns of Development
Film Openings:
A film doesn’t simply start, it begins and sets up expectations.
Often introduces characters and their situation or opens in medias res (in the middle of events), generating curiosity
The opening part of the plot is called the setup.
Exposition: Lays out the backstory and initial situation; may be delayed to build suspense
Development Sections:
Change is Central to Narrative: Often involves characters learning or discovering new information, leading to the climax (e.g., Witness).
Goal-Oriented Plot: Characters strive to achieve a specific object or condition
Time-Based Patterns: Flashbacks or specific timeframes
Spatial Patterns: The plot may occur within a single, confined space, and action progresses through this space
Films can combine multiple patterns
Pattern Development:
Expectation Creation: Patterns of development lead viewers to expect certain outcomes, which may be delayed, cheated, or gratified .
Delays and Surprises: The middle of the film may delay the expected outcome, creating suspense
Cheating Expectations: Films sometimes create a twist that defies viewer expectations
Climaxes and Closings
Climaxes:
The climax resolves the film's causal issues, with a narrow range of possible outcomes
Emotionally, the climax heightens viewer tension and provides satisfaction upon resolution
Anticlimactic Endings:
Some films subvert expectations by avoiding a clear resolution
Open-Ended: The absence of a clear-cut climax can leave viewers imagining what happens next, offering reflective space for the narrative.
Narration: The Flow of Story Information
Narration's Role in Film
Determines how story information is presented to the audience.
Affects the viewer's experience through decisions about plot structure and character perspective.
Involves whether to reveal information to the audience that the character does not know.
Point of View and Perspective Choices
Can choose to focus on one character’s perspective or multiple characters.
Example: Little Red Riding Hood told from the girl’s perspective vs. the wolf’s perspective.
Should the viewer know more than the character? Example: stalking scenes – reveal what the stalker does or not?
Deciding between objective or subjective scenes:
Objective: only shows what characters do.
Subjective: reveals thoughts, dreams, and inner experiences (e.g., voice-over, POV shots).
Range of Story Information: Restricted vs. Unrestricted
Restricted Narration
Limited to the knowledge and experience of a character.
Suited for mystery genres to keep information hidden and engage viewer curiosity.
Unrestricted Narration
The audience knows more than the characters.
Creates a broader sense of interconnected events and multiple fates, enriching the narrative.
Often referred to as omniscient narration (all-knowing).
Examples of Narration Range
Fail-Safe: Omniscient narration — we know more than characters, such as the B52 crew’s orders and the glitch in the bomber’s communication.
The Big Sleep: Restricted to Marlowe’s perspective, the mystery is maintained through what is withheld from the viewer.
North by Northwest: Initially restricted to Roger Thornhill’s perspective, but later shifts to reveal more knowledge (e.g., George Kaplan’s non-existence).
Lebanon: Extremely restricted narration — viewers see only what the soldiers inside a tank know, using external communications for necessary outside info.
Analysing Range of Narration
Key Question: "Who knows what when?"
Helps understand the audience’s knowledge compared to the characters.
Example: In Citizen Kane, the viewer learns more than the characters due to the structure of the story.
Techniques like point-of-view shots and subjective camera work highlight the differences in what characters and viewers know.
Effect on Viewer Experience
Restricted Narration: Increases curiosity and suspense.
Unrestricted Narration: Builds dramatic irony and tension, as viewers anticipate what characters don’t yet know.
Depth of Story Information: Objective vs. Subjective
Objective Narration
Focuses on characters' actions and speech without delving into their inner thoughts.
Example: The film shows only what characters do, leaving their internal state unexpressed.
Subjective Narration
Explores the characters' psychological states and inner thoughts.
Perceptual Subjectivity: Filming from a character’s perspective using POV shots or sound perspective.
Mental Subjectivity: Reveals characters’ memories, fantasies, or hallucinations.
Blurring Objective and Subjective
Films like 8½, Belle de Jour, and Memento mix objective and subjective narration in ambiguous ways, often leading to a more complex viewing experience.
Techniques such as blurred imagery, slow-motion, and distorted sound signal perceptual subjectivity, especially in scenes involving altered states (e.g., intoxication or dreams).
Examples of Subjectivity in Action
Slumdog Millionaire: Jamal’s memories of Latika are shown as flashes, adding depth to his experience beyond the objective action.
Slumdog Millionaire: In a later scene, Jamal imagines throwing Salim off a skyscraper, and the film briefly suggests it might be happening before revealing that it’s only in his mind.
Narrative Tension and Information Withholding
Suspense vs. Surprise
Hitchcock’s theory: Suspense is built by informing the audience of upcoming dangers (e.g., a bomb under the table) while characters remain unaware.
Psycho uses restricted knowledge to build suspense, as the audience knows more about the dangers than the character (e.g., Mrs. Bates in the house).
Importance of Withholding Information
Narration is a tool for controlling how much the audience knows at any given moment, guiding their emotional responses (e.g., surprise or suspense).
Narration Overview:
The process of presenting story information to the audience.
Filmmakers can shift between restricted and unrestricted knowledge, and varying levels of subjectivity and objectivity.
A narrator may be a character in the story or not.
Character Narrators:
Common in literature (e.g., Huckleberry Finn, Jane Eyre).
Non-character Narrators:
Common in documentaries (e.g., The River, Primary, Hoop Dreams).
Fictional films can also employ this technique
Narrator’s Knowledge:
A character narrator might be restricted or unrestricted in what they know.
They can recount events not directly witnessed, such as in The Quiet Man (village priest narrates).
Non-character narrators can offer varying degrees of insight into subjective or external events
Subjectivity vs. Objectivity:
Character narrators can be subjective (insight into inner life) or objective (external events).
Non-character narrators can range from subjective to objective
The choice of narrator shapes the audience’s experience and understanding of the plot.
Classical Hollywood Cinema
Overview:
Classical Hollywood narrative traditions shaped American and international films.
Features individual characters making things happen, with psychological causes behind events (e.g., decisions, traits).
Plot often focuses on central characters with specific goals, which creates conflict and change.
Goals and Conflict:
Central character wants something; the plot develops around achieving that goal.
Protagonist faces opposition from another character with conflicting goals.
Process of Change:
Classical plots often show both external and internal change.
Characters not only change situations (e.g., fame, survival) but also their values or attitudes.
Psychological Motivation:
Classical Hollywood emphasizes clear motivation for characters' actions, especially when abrupt changes occur.
Time Management:
Classical films adjust time to fit the cause-effect chain, skipping over irrelevant stretches of time.
Deadlines and appointments are used to create time pressure in the plot.
Narration Style:
Films usually present an objective story reality with unrestricted narration
Some genres, like detective films, may employ restricted narration to maintain mystery
Closure:
Classical films tend to provide clear closure, resolving conflicts and answering mysteries.
The audience expects all plot points to be addressed by the end.
Variations in Narrative:
Filmmakers can play with time, subjectivity, and causality to break away from classical conventions.
Narrative Form in Citizen Kane
Innovations in Storytelling:
Citizen Kane is regarded as an original and influential film.
Director Orson Welles and screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz made creative narrative choices that continue to shape modern filmmaking.
Audience Expectations:
1941 audience anticipated a film about William Randolph Hearst, based on rumours.
Early sequences hint at the genre conventions: fictional biography, newspaper reporter genre, and detective genre.
The "News on the March" sequence sets up the biographical and investigative tone.
Genre Conventions:
Citizen Kane draws from several genres but subverts them:
Biographical genre: focuses on Kane's psychological states more than his public deeds.
Reporter genre: The reporter (Thompson) does not succeed in revealing the full story, breaking conventions.
Mystery genre: the film answers some questions (e.g., Rosebud) but leaves others unresolved.
Subverting Classical Hollywood Narrative:
The plot does not follow a traditional chronological structure.
Flashbacks are used to tell Kane’s life story, framed around Thompson’s investigation of his dying word, "Rosebud."
The narrative unfolds through different characters' perspectives, giving a fragmented view of Kane’s life.
Plot and Story Structure in Citizen Kane
Flashbacks and Investigative Structure:
Instead of a linear biography, the story is told through flashbacks triggered by the investigation of Kane’s final word.
The reporter’s search for the meaning of "Rosebud" provides a secondary narrative line.
Segmentation of Plot:
The plot is segmented into distinct sections, often based on character perspectives and significant events.
These segments are not always chronological, contributing to the film's non-traditional structure.
Unconventional Plot Structure:
The film challenges audience expectations by mixing genres and providing partial answers to the central mystery.
Citizen Kane presents an innovative form of storytelling that deviates from classical Hollywood norms, creating an ambiguous narrative experience.
Citizen Kane: Causality, Time, Motivation, and Parallelism
Causality in Citizen Kane
The plot is driven by two main lines of action: Thompson’s investigation and Kane’s life.
Thompson’s goal: uncover the meaning of "Rosebud" and, by doing so, understand who Kane was.
Kane’s life is driven by his uncertain goals, such as fame, social justice, and love, making him an unusual central character in Hollywood cinema.
Secondary characters: Thatcher, Bernstein, Leland, Susan, and Raymond provide testimonies that reveal Kane’s past and help Thompson in his investigation.
The absence of Emily and her son is explained by their deaths before the investigation starts, avoiding redundancy in the story.
Time in Citizen Kane
The narrative spans roughly 65 years of Kane’s life, plus Thompson’s week-long investigation.
Duration and Frequency:
The plot condenses time through montage sequences (e.g., Kane’s newspaper empire, Susan’s opera career, and the Depression).
A unique feature of the film is the use of temporal frequency—certain events are repeated (e.g., Susan’s opera debut from two perspectives).
Chronology and Flashbacks:
The plot employs flashbacks, moving back and forth in Kane’s life rather than following a linear chronology.
Early sections use disjointed flashbacks (newsreel, Thatcher’s manuscript) to present key moments in Kane’s life.
Later sections follow a more chronological order, allowing for clearer understanding of Kane’s evolution.
Flashbacks focus on different stages of Kane’s life: boyhood, youth, adulthood, and old age, often presented by characters who knew him at specific points.
The manipulation of chronology builds suspense, as we know key relationships (e.g., marriages, friendships) will deteriorate, but the details of how and when are unclear.
"News on the March" as a Map
The opening newsreel serves as a capsule preview of Kane’s life, providing a broad overview that sets up the investigation.
The sequence of events in the newsreel offers a rough guide to the flashbacks that follow.
Newsreel Breakdown:
A. Shots of Xanadu
B. Funeral and headlines
C. Kane’s financial empire
D. Gold mine and Mrs. Kane’s boardinghouse
E. Thatcher’s testimony
F. Political career
G. Personal life (marriages, divorces)
H. Opera house and Xanadu
I. Political campaign
J. The Depression
K. Kane’s old age (1935)
L. Isolation of Xanadu
M. Death announced
The newsreel’s structure mirrors the flashbacks, offering a chronological map of the plot’s events.
Motivation in Citizen Kane
Causality is essential in motivating the events of Kane’s life.
Thatcher’s Role:
Thatcher’s wealth and social position create a foundation for Kane’s later power.
His involvement in Kane’s early life helps Thompson with his research, establishing his importance in the story.
Susan’s Flashback:
Susan’s delayed flashback allows other characters (Thatcher, Bernstein, Leland) to provide the earlier history of Kane, enriching our understanding of his transformation.
Her refusal to speak in a drunken haze heightens the mystery around Kane and reflects his damage to those closest to him.
The Rosebud Mystery:
Rosebud serves as a key motivator for Thompson’s investigation, but its significance is not definitively explained.
Thompson’s uncertainty about Rosebud’s meaning and Leland’s dismissal of it suggest that it may not provide a complete answer to Kane’s character.
Psychological Motivation:
The film’s ambiguity regarding Kane’s motivations invites speculation about his actions and personality.
The characters offer varying opinions on Kane, adding to the complexity of understanding his true nature.
Parallelism in Citizen Kane
Parallelism is not a major principle but is employed in more localized ways.
The newsreel (and later flashbacks) create structural parallels, linking characters and events across time.
These parallels enhance the narrative by reinforcing thematic elements, such as Kane’s quest for control, love, and success.
Narration in Citizen Kane
Overall Structure:
The plot manipulates the flow of information moment-by-moment, making Kane's life a puzzle, presented through different perspectives.
Kane is only directly seen in the present at his death; otherwise, he is portrayed through newsreels or various characters' flashbacks.
Character Narrators:
Five narrators:
Thatcher: Offers his account through writing, only witnessing scenes he's present in (e.g., Kane's newspaper crusade via Inquirer).
Bernstein: Flashback reveals his perspective, sticking mostly to what he witnessed. Knowledge of events like Kane in Europe is relayed through telegrams.
Leland: Flashbacks deviate most from his knowledge (e.g., Kane’s affair, detailed moments like breakfast scenes).
Susan: Flashbacks mostly align with her knowledge, though she is unconscious during part of the action (scene 7f).
Raymond (Butler): Flashback aligns with his perspective; he stands in the hallway as Kane wrecks Susan's room.
Functions of Multiple Narrators:
Mimics the process of journalistic investigation, piecing together Kane's story.
Enhances curiosity and suspense regarding the meaning of “Rosebud” and Kane’s downfall.
Provides a structure where narrators reveal and conceal information. This builds intrigue, especially regarding the mystery of Rosebud.
The restriction of knowledge creates dramatic tension and uncertainty about Kane's character.
Subjectivity vs Objectivity:
Flashbacks are mostly presented objectively, with the exception of Susan’s, which convey some subjectivity (e.g., her optical point of view, phantasmagoric montage of her career).
Susan’s flashbacks present her as the most sympathetic narrator, underlining her victimization by Kane.
Role of the Newsreel:
Acts as a broad, objective source of knowledge at the start of the film.
Introduces Kane's life and death with little insight into his inner self.
Provides a superficial view of Kane, with Thompson tasked to add depth through interviews.
Thompson's Role:
Functions as a surrogate for the audience, gathering and assembling the puzzle pieces of Kane's life.
Is portrayed minimally to avoid overshadowing the investigation itself; his lack of development prevents him from becoming a central protagonist.
His conclusion, “I don’t think any word can explain a man’s life,” suggests he is changed by the investigation, but this doesn’t make him the focus.
Omniscient Narration:
The film includes omniscient moments that transcend the individual narrators' limited knowledge.
At the film’s start, the wide-ranging narration guides us through Kane’s estate, Xanadu, offering a god’s-eye view of the action.
During the opening scenes, the narration’s ability to control story information is revealed through the snowflake image on the paperweight, teasing the audience about Kane’s life.
Omniscient narration is used throughout, with a key moment in Susan's opera debut (scene 6i), where we see reactions from high above, beyond what the narrators could know.
Final Revelation and Framing:
The omniscient narration at the end of the film reveals the true meaning of Rosebud—the sled from Kane’s childhood.
The film’s unity is derived from its careful narration, which withholds information to create suspense, and ultimately offers a surprising revelation about Kane’s past.
The return to the "No Trespassing" sign at the film's conclusion symbolizes the narrative’s point of entry and the closed loop of the story.
Narration and Film Form:
The fragmented structure, with different character perspectives, creates suspense and curiosity.
The shifting narrative styles and degrees of subjectivity enhance the complexity of Kane’s character and make the film’s plot more intricate.
The final revelation of Rosebud ties back to early motifs in the film (snow, paperweight), revealing the cohesive nature of the narration’s construction.
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